North End’s Thinking Cup Barista Cabell Tice Wins Coffee Fest Latte Art World Championship

Open since December 2012 and still the “new place” on Hanover Street, the folks at Thinking Cup are already bringing in awards. Turns out the press on cannoli wars was simply a distraction from the real deal at the coffee shop, Latte Art.

Head barista Cabell Tice from the North End location has won Coffee Fest 2013 “Latte Art World Championship.” Held from March 8-10, 2013 at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City, it was a 64 person bracket competition. For Latte Art, this is the Olympics with invite-only baristas competing in the “pour over” from around the world.

A local fan, Margaret Ris, brings it to our attention noting how exciting “that our little neighborhood coffee shop, The Thinking Cup on Hanover Street, creates award winning lattes every day and we just sip them without even knowing that head barista Cabell has just won the world championship of latte art!” She also sends in a photo of Cabell’s work.

The store put a congratulatory note on their Facebook page describing the contest as being judged on five categories: 1) Aesthetic Beauty 2) Definition 3) Color Infusion 4) Degree of Difficulty and Creativity 5) Speed. They added, “Join our team at Thinking Cup in congratulating Cabell, the Coffee Fest 2013 Latte Art World Champion!”

For his part, Cabell tweets that he is back in town after the competition, “First shift back at @thinkingcup Hanover in a week. Let me pour you a latte!”