Over the past few months three of our most talented baristi at Stone Creek have been pulling dozens of shots, steaming countless pitchers of milk and crafting unique espresso drinks in practice for the Great Lakes Regional Barista Competition . The competition is at Chicago's Navy Pier on February 20-22.

The Great Lakes Regional Barista Competition is an annual event in which baristi from Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana and Ohio compete for an invitation to the National competition. Each competitor will serve each of the four sensory judges a single espresso, a single cappuccino and an espresso-based signature beverage of his/her choice during a period of fifteen minutes. At Stone Creek, three of our Baristi have stepped up to the challenge and have created delicious, unique drinks for the competition.

Stefanie Zydowicz, a barista of four years at our Bay View location has concocted the ' Espress-jito' a combination of espresso, fresh lime, mint and sugar, like a mojito!

Jared Schmitt, the manager of our Shorewood store has been with Stone Creek for over 4 years and his signature drink is the ' Hunka Hunka Burnin Latte' which is a combination of espresso, peanut butter, banana and bacon- Elvis s favorite!

And last but not least, Jamie McCall, manager of Wauwatosa, has been with Stone Creek for almost a year and has crafted ' Breakfast in Bed' which is a combination of espresso, egg, cinnamon and vanilla, like french toast!

We wish the best of luck to our three competitors! For more information on the Great Lakes Regional Barista Competition go to: www.scaa.org