Coffee Roaster Wins Top Prize Down Under

More news from a coffee roaster based in North Carolina called
Counter Culture Coffee. Seems that a barista named Erin McCarthy (pictured above) won the much-coveted top prize at the 2013 World Brewers Cup in Melbourne, Australia. McCarthy has also won a number of other awards, including the U.S. Brewers Cup in Boston, Massachusetts, which was held earlier this year. McCarthy won the world-wide title using a coffee from Panama.

According to Counter Culture's press release, McCarthy was raised in Long Island. In 2003, McCarthy moved to Ithaca, New York, where his first job in the coffee industry was with Gimme! Coffee. Later, McCarthy worked as a Trainer/Manager and worked on wholesale accounts in New York city. Later, he moved to Athens, Georgia, joining the team at 1000 Faces Coffee, where he trained baristas, ran a stand at the local farmers' market and helped open a cafe. In 2012, McCarthy joined Counter Culture Coffee in the city of New York and presently works as a machine technician, teaches labs and guides coffee cuppings (a process in which various coffee blends are sampled and evaluated).

Counter Culture Coffee is (according to their press release) a coffee roaster dedicated to finding and introducing to the market coffees from around the world. Counter Culture's mission is to preserve the environment through efficient operations and creating sustainable partnerships with coffee producers. Counter Culture Coffee has eight training centres operating nationally, including locations in New York, Chicago, Boston and Atlanta.