Scotti Callaghan just finished his routine at the WBC, and he looked absolutely brilliant. Finals guarantee for sure, if his coffee was on.

I've seen Scotti compete in the World Latte Art Championship last year in Bern, and was just so impressed with his passion and skill as a barista. I've also seen video of his win in Australia earlier this year, and if anything, his game is amped up even more for the world's. His signature drink looked especially good, and featured a complex build up with lots of foodie science stuff going on.

Scotti apparently had problems with one of his grinders, and was forced to use the same coffee for his espresso and cappuccino rounds; I heard through the grapevine that this may hurt him a bit because his espresso blend wasn't especially well tuned for milk, but he's such an amazing barista, I'm betting he'll be able to pull it off.

Here's some photos courtesy of Jack Hanna, our guy on the scene in Tokyo, followed by Scotti's performance in video format, courtesy of Zachary Carlson's blog.

Scott gets miked up The audio technician mikes up Scotti before he heads out for his performance.

Serving Water Scotti's setup is very sophisticated - simple, with classic white, black, and silver. Serving water to the judges as he talks up his coffee.

Cappuccinos Scotti serves the cappucinos to the judge. I wonder if the Estonian judge opened the sugar bowl (lower right corner), or if Scotti did that as part of his presentation.

Scotti and Crew Scotti and two members of Team Australia after his round, looking happy and mugging for the camera.