Michael Phillips (barista)
Michael Phillips won the U.S. Barista Championship in Portland, Oregon, in March 2009, while working at Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea in Chicago, IL. He also won the 2010 United States Barista Championship, becoming the second of three repeat U.S. champions to date, and he went on to become the first US Barista to win the World Barista Championship crown in London, England, in 2010.
At the March 2011 TED conferences in California, Phillips was present at Coffee Common, a new organization with what was called "the unapologetically idealistic purpose to create a community with shared values."
In April 2011, Phillips resigned from his position as director of coffee education at Intelligentsia to help found the Handsome Coffee Roasters in Los Angeles, California, with Tyler Wells and Chris Owens. In 2014, Blue Bottle Coffee Company purchased Handsome Coffee Roasters.
Philips was born in the United States and spent his early life in Royal Oak, Michigan.
