By Jason KUROSU

After 10 years of working as a barista for Starbucks, Todd Goldsworthy decided to take his coffee prowess and knowledge to the next step, earning himself the title of Coffee Guru at Klatch Coffee and competing in international competitions on a regular basis. Goldsworthy, a foothills native, recently won the US Brewers Cup Regional Competition in April that was held in Seattle.

As part of the competition’s emphasis on manual brewing, Goldsworthy was given 10 minutes to produce three cups of coffee for the judges, one set from an unlabeled 12 oz. bag of coffee and another from a coffee of his choice. Out of brewers hailing from a seven-state region, Goldsworthy emerged as United States Brewers Cup Champion, finishing just above Todd Carmichael of the Travel Channel’s “Dangerous Grounds.”

Goldsworthy attributed his success to “a ton of practice and a lot of days of little sleep.” Preparation for the Brewers Cup included a year’s worth of practice and ample time put in selecting his coffee of choice, Esmeralda Trapiche Geisha from Panama. Goldsworthy’s practice time also included usurping his kitchen at home for his brewing experimentation, until “my wife exiled me to the garage,” as he put it. There, he worked on perfecting his brew from 6 a.m. every morning.

Even with all the preparation, the competition provided opportunities for improvisation. Aspects such as the judges and even the temperature of the room allowed for changes to be made on the fly.

“Even on the day of, I make changes and small tweaks to the recipe,” said Goldsworthy.

After the U.S. competition, Goldsworthy took his skills overseas to Rimini, Italy in June, where he placed eighth worldwide amongst 27 competing countries in the international competition.

Goldsworthy anticipates that he will be back in the garage soon, practicing for next year’s competitions.

  Jason Kurosu