Congrats to Rusty's Hawaiian on the 2011 US Barista Champion Pete Licata

A coffee used by one of our star coffee farmers Rusty's Hawaiian was used to win the US Barista Championship on Sunday in Houston TX.

Pete Licata of Honolulu Coffee Company won the US Barista Championship.  

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It's an AMAZING recognition of how both his skill and how far Hawaiian coffee has come.

Rusty's Hawaiian first caught my eye when it won the 2010 Hawaiian Coffee Association's Cupping Competition.  Rusty's has been experimenting with cutting edge coffee. It's a family-owned farm of the Obra family.  Miguel Meza, a founder of famous Paradise Roasters (also selling on ROASTe) has helped them experiment with dry processed coffee (it's flavorful and fruity) and with natural salt water processing.  Farm owner Lorie Obra tells me she literally takes empty water jugs down to the beach and collects salt water she later uses to wet process the coffee.

This is the kind of stuff that artisanal coffee is made of.

Here's a video from "Team Hawaii" as Rusty's Hawaiian and its sister company Isla Coffee call it, of Pete Licata, the new 2011 US Barista Champion. Hail to the chief.