Pete Licata

The Path

Formal training at The University of Kansas sits behind Pete Licata’s coffee work, where precision and sensory judgment are recurring concerns. The visible practice is technical and evaluative: reading the cup, questioning assumptions, and treating coffee as a product that rewards close control rather than routine handling. Coffee as a field changes when the cup is treated as a system instead of a fixed category. In Licata’s career, the working questions have stayed close to extraction, taste, caffeine, service, and the drinker’s experience of those choices. The cup may look simple; the craft is in the decisions that make it reliable, expressive, and useful. Caffeine control extends that same trade logic into the question of energy. As co-founder of Caffeine Control Coffee, Pete Licata works with coffee as something drinkers can understand more clearly, including what they like and what their coffee is doing for them.

The Work Today

Coffee consulting for hotels, hospitality groups, and coffee brands has to hold sensory quality and business function at the same time. Through Licata Coffee Consultants, Pete Licata works on programs where coffee is not a background amenity or a checked box. A strong program can support revenue, loyalty, and guest conversation; it can also give a hospitality setting another point of distinction. A coffee program communicates before the guest names it. The practical questions are whether the service fits the guest, whether the choices are deliberate, and whether the cup supports the larger experience. A good cup can be hospitable; a structured program can also be strategic. Brewing guidance is one named strand of the consultancy through Brewing Compasses. The premise is direct: better brewing decisions require direction, calibration, and attention. The cup is not left to habit when the process is being steered. Caffeine measurement and caffeine-controlled coffee programs define the work of Caffeine Control Coffee. As co-founder, Licata works within a company founded to give coffee drinkers clarity on caffeine intake and control over energy levels while maintaining an excellent coffee experience. Measured caffeine content paired with recipes makes caffeine a selectable variable rather than an unseen one. The method keeps flavor central while allowing consumers to choose their caffeine level. For drinkers, the result is a clearer relationship with coffee: less guesswork around intake, more control over energy, and a cup that remains complete.

In Their Words “I’m talking about doing something different, changing people’s perceptions of espresso and really making people just think about their coffee more.” “I started to cut back and it made a big difference. That was a lightbulb moment.”

Acclaim

Competition recognition places Pete Licata in the international barista record: World Barista Champion (2013).