Butler buries competition at Southeast Regional
Posted: Feb 24, 2010
Lem Butler has come a long way since his first Southeast Regional Barista Competition. For that 2005 performance, Butler had no formal competition training and finished almost dead last. At last weekend’s 2010 SERBC, however, Butler walked away with his third regional crown, and did so in dominating fashion. Butler—of Counter Culture Coffee in Durham, N.C.—amassed 617.5 points in the final round, 65.5 points more than second-place finisher Chandler Rentz of Atlanta’s Batdorf & Bronson. “I’m kind of amazed,” Butler said. “Those guys are great baristas and all have great skills. I knew the competition was going to be pretty tough, so I was pretty shocked by the final score.”
The impressive point total was due in large part to Butler’s innovative signature drink, which showed that a milk substitute doesn’t have to be bland or chemical-based. Butler, who says he tends to “lay low on the dairy,” combined two slices of cucumber, ice, water, shaved ginger and two shots of Counter Culture’s naturally processed Ethiopian Shakisso espresso in a shaker. He then strained the mixture into a whipped cream charger along with a well-beaten egg white and charged the concoction with nitrous oxide. The resulting “cream” was used to top a shot of Counter Culture’s La Forza espresso blend, which had been infused with honey.
Butler could describe the flavor more succinctly than he could the creation process. “It just reminds me of a spicy, fruity melon,” he said. “You got the cucumber, which is kind of like the rind of a watermelon, and then you got the spicy ginger and the fruitiness of the coffees coming through.”
Though Butler’s signature drink clearly impressed the judges, he says Rentz produced a beverage that got more wows from the crowd. “He had these orange rinds and had his sig bevs all lined up on the judges table,” Butler explained. “The rinds must have had something flammable on them because as soon as he lit them, they would flare up and he’d drop it in the drink.”
Butler’s win qualifies him for the semifinals of the United States Barista Championship, to be held April 15-18 as part of the SCAA expo in Anaheim, Calif.
For more coverage of the SERBC as well as rundowns of the Western and Mid-Atlantic regionals, check out the April issue of Fresh Cup. See coverage of the Mountain, South Central and Northwest elsewhere on freshcup.com.
