I said this on Facebook earlier but I’m going to repeat it on here for those of you that aren’t connected with me there. My good friend Pete Licata was recently recognized as the best barista in the United States.
On Saturday he is being flown to Australia to compete in, and most likely win the world championships. So here’s the thing. I’ve known this man for a long time. So long in fact that I can’t actually remember exactly how old I was when we met, but it’s been at least half of my life. In that entire time (since he started pursuing coffee anyway) I have never once had any sort of beverage from him outside of some chai creation he made. To be fair, I wasn’t a big fan of coffee in general until a couple of years ago…but he had been moved to Hawaii by then so I was too late. I wouldn’t have really known enough to appreciate how good he is then anyway. I don’t know that I do now either, but I definitely understand more than I did.
To get to the point, I was finally able to meet up with him while coffee was present to see if he would make me something. This moment has been something like 8 years in the making.
It was incredible. I hate to say it but I was so excited that I completely forgot to put the moment into an image. Ooops.
He made me a salted caramel espresso (a drink I’ve definitely had before)and it was like nothing I’ve ever tasted. People I don’t even know I could start describing it. As if that wasn’t enough he blew me away again when my girlfriend ordered an americano. I had no idea that one could be so good. I mean, it’s coffee and water…how do you make that life-changing? Ask Pete.
Thank God we’re friends cause I can’t ever have regular coffee again. I’ve been ruined.
Thank you Pete.
See you tomorrow,
D