Colter Jones. The first Champion from Canada since Sammy Piccolo's dynasty ended with his retirement.

In the very recent past, some have said "well, who have you got besides Sammy?" Those of us in Canada who have heard this from just a few minor quarters mainly sat back, said little, and thought to ourselves.... "you'll see". And finally, that time has arrived.

Canada's current champion got his chance to show that Canada perhaps isn't just a one hit wonder, and that we've got our own growing cadre of world calibre baristas. Sammy may have put Canada in the top three in 2004, 2005, and 2006, but now we get a chance to show the world that there's other world calibre competitors in the WBC to come from this huge country with a tiny population.

Here's a little secret too - Sammy didn't actually have much input in training Colter - in fact, not many of us here did. Colter wanted to do this on his own, and more importantly, wanted to show that it's not a Sammy machine that got him there (all due respect to Sammy!), but a community of people passionate about coffee as a whole, that is able to put out world-calibre baristas every year.

We'll soon find out if Canada has another top five or ten Barista, putting this country in the same league with countries like Australia, New Zealand, and the Nordic countries. I think Colter's performance, and more importantly, the calibre of his coffees poured, will convince many that the hits will keep on rolling.

I'm dying here waiting to find out if Colter's in the finals, as is everyone else here in Vancouver - I think just about everyone I know involved in coffee in my neck of the woods is still up, waiting to hear (midnight here, 4pm Tokyo time - two hours to go) but in the meantime, here's a couple of photos, and the video that Zachary and Catie shot.

update: Well we now know Colter didn't finish in the top six, but what's both particularly impressive and also crazy is that he's the seventh' best barista in the world, and only 1/2 point back from the 6th place finisher. If Colter had managed to finish one second sooner (he was, depending on what report is true - 15 or 19 seconds overtime), he would have been in the finals. Oh man, the fates were having fun that day.

But regardless, Colter showed that Canada isn't a one hit wonder when it comes to barista champions! Seventh out of 45 is pretty damned good, and considering he finished ahead of all the Nordic countries, and even Scotti Callaghan's absolutely brilliant performance for Australia, says a lot.

Colter's Menu Signature drink is called Compliments. Made up of Brasilian, Indian Mysore, and Bin 35.

Like a hawk Colter watches his pours like a hawk, as he prepares his second portafilter for shots.

Signature Drink Colter pours the sweet ingredients in his signature drink, Compliments.