Alfonso Portela, “Fonzie,” a coffee barista at the Chocolate Fish Coffee Roasters Chocolate Fish Coffee Company in downtown, has made it into the finals at the U.S. Barista Championship in Portland, Ore., April 19 to 22. Fonzie takes his place at the competition after placing in the top six at the Southwest Regional Barista Competition in Santa Cruz in March, competing against 39 veteran top-ranking artisan baristas from Hawaii, California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and Colorado. This is the highest ranking any barista from Sacramento has ever reached.  Watch an interview with Fonzie as a Finalist just before going on stage here. At 21 years old, Fonzie has worked as a barista fo

Three local baristas have returned to Sacramento fresh from the 2010 U.S. Barista Championship. Young baristas from Chocolate Fish Coffee and Temple said they were amazed at the level of competition as they went up against 55 other baristas at the competition held in Anaheim last week. The six baristas from other cities who made it to the finals Sunday — people such as repeat winner Michael Phillips of Chicago and second-place winner Chris Baca of Santa Cruz — were easy to recognize from coffee culture magazines and videos. For the most part, the finalists had well over 10 years of coffee-making experience plus skills honed at several nationals, said Ben Lance, the 25-year-old manager of

Sean Kohmescher discovered the coffee culture as a beach barista in San Diego. The 23-year-old wanted a job on the beach, and he liked coffee. He became a barista at an outdoor café on Pacific Beach, and then what started out as just a fun job turned into a passion. "I kind of fell in love with the culture," he said. Kohmescher dreamed of opening his own coffeehouse someday. It wasn't until he began developing his palate while working in San Francisco's fine-dining scene that he really became passionate about coffee and tea. After moving to Sacramento, he opened Temple, a coffee and tea house, in 2005 in a storefront at 1014 10th St., once home to Levinson's Books. Now this 35-year-ol