Bellissimo Media Productions To Release "Training with the Champions" in June

Bellissimo Coffee InfoGroup, the specialty coffee industry's leader in consulting and the production of award-winning coffee education and training DVDs, including “Espresso 101,” “The Passionate Harvest” and “Advanced Barista Training: Extreme Pours, announces the release this June of its new training DVD, "Training with the Champions."

"Training with the Champions" was filmed over the course of a year at the American Barista & Coffee School in Portland, Oregon and is the first training DVD in which regional, national and world barista champions share their passion and skills one-on-one with the coffee world.

The DVD will be approximately 45-minutes, with each champion barista sharing his or her techniques and philosophy of coffee and espresso, as well as what it takes to be a champion. The DVD is edited in a documentary style and is an extremely effective training tool.

Featured are 2006 World Barista Champion (WBC) Klaus Thomsen of Denmark and three former United States Barista Champions (USBC): Matt Riddle, Bronwen Serna and Phuong Tran. Northwest USBC champions Kyle Larson and Billy Wilson are also included, along with Cup of Excellence judge Stephen Vick, who is featured in a special cupping section. Making appearances are long-time barista competition judges Sarah Allen, editor of Barista Magazine, and Brent Fortune, owner of Crema Bakery and Café of Portland, Oregon.

"I have seen most of the excellent baristas featured in the DVD compete at the last few United States Barista Championships (USBC) and at the World Barista Championship (WBC) in 2006 in Berne, Switzerland," said Bruce Milletto, president of Bellissimo and the film's director. "We couldn't have gotten a better group together to share their enthusiasm for coffee and teach eager baristas how to excel at their craft. It's gratifying to see those working as baristas today striving for the best. This DVD is for them."

"Training with the Champions will retail for $69.95, with volume pricing available. Pre-order before June 15 and save $20. For more information, call 800.655.3955 or visit espresso101.com.

Bellissimo is the specialty coffee industry's leading consulting company and well known as the producer of the award-winning coffee education DVDs “Espresso 101,” “Espresso 501,” “The Passionate Harvest,” “Everything BUT Coffee” and “Advanced Barista Training: Extreme Pours.” Bellissimo is also the publisher of the business manuals Bean Business Basics, Opening a Specialty Coffee Drive-thru, Effective & Essential Marketing for the Specialty Coffee Retailer and Achieving Success in Specialty Coffee. Bellissimo’s worldwide client list includes Fortune 500 companies as well as American and International entrepreneurs. As a result of the success of his company, Bruce Milletto is recognized by the press and the coffee industry internationally as “the voice of North America’s specialty coffee industry.”