After flawless performances in his first WBC Championships, Australian Barista Champion, Matt Perger won 3rd place in the World Barista Champs 2011, held in Bogota in June.

The final placings were:

2nd Place – Pete Licata, USA

3rd Place – Matt Perger, Australia

4. Javier Garcia, Spain

5. Miki Suzuki, Japan

6. John Gordon, UK

Congratulations to Alejandro, the finalists and all the 2011 competitors.

by Emily Oak, Director, WBC and AIR Training & Development Manager

From June 23-25th at Olympia, in Kensington London, the world’s best baristas and coffee professionals gathered together under one roof to celebrate all facets of the specialty industry. Baristas from more than 50 countries represented their individual nations competing against each other in a bid to win the global title.
This year was fresh and even more interesting for two main reasons. Firstly, it was the first time a semi final round was introduced into the competition. This added a layer of complexity and difficulty for competitors and judges. Secondly, there were more than 15 second or third time champions competing. This mean the standard of performance was higher than it has ever been before. Australia’s reining Barista Champion Scottie Callaghan, (who was also World Latte Art Champion 2006 and Australian Barista Champion 2007) put in a solid performance, making it through both the preliminary and semi final rounds to the final of the championship, no easy task at all. Scott came away with the third place trophy, making him the third best barista in the world. Combined with the efforts of the rest of ‘Team Australia’ competing in a whole range of competitions (Latte Art, Good Spirits and Cup Tasting) Scott’s placing helped secure the overall team trophy for Australia…. Well Done!

In an unprecedented result, Australia brought home the World Latte Art title for the third year running. Cool, calm and collected, Con Haralambopolous out-performed the other competitors from over 50 countries to bring home the crown ahead of Russia’s Kira Malchenko and Japan’s Akihiro Okada.

We have always known that Australia is a leader in the world of coffee but now there can simply be no question with Scottie Callaghan and Jack Hanna (both contributors for Crema Magazine) having won in 2006 and 2007 respectively and now Con Haralambopolous completing the hat trick!
Con, of course, won the title of Australian Latte Art Champion at the Australian Barista Champs in early May. He was also runner up to David Makin in the Australian Barista Championships.

David, a seasoned competitor on the Australian stage, gave an outstanding performance to bring home 2^nd prize from the coveted World Barista Championships. Competing against national champions from 51 countries, David sailed smoothly through the heats to secure one of the 6 spots for the finals. His final performance was relaxed and technically flawless and David was beaten by only the slimmest of margins by the added showmanship of Ireland’s Stephen Morrissey, ahead of Liesbeth Sleijster from the Netherlands in third place.

So, as the Australian Barista Champion and having won 2^nd place on the World stage, David’s work for 2008 is well and truly done!…our congratulations.

If you tried in vain to watch the live feed from Copenhagen, we have footage of David’s entire 15 minute award winning performance from the Australian Barista Champs – it’s as close as it gets to having been there!

[flashvideo filename=wp-content/uploads/2008/06/David_Makin220w.flv width=200 height=170 /]

Every year between April and June, the World Barista Championships are held somewhere on the globe, in search of the world’s best barista. And every year across the world, and particularly in Australia, the question is often raised and fiercely debated as to the value of such ‘staged’ competitions – primarily that the baristas who participate in such competitions are more performers than professional baristas.

The main argument against competitions that I have encountered over my ten years in the specialty coffee industry is that the condition of competition and the tasks that the baristas have to perform are not valuable in ‘the real life situation or a café’. Many baristas who work day in and day out behind an espresso machine producing hundreds of coffees for their loyal following, are not willing to have their skills judged by their peers because the format of competition does not mimic reality…. Or does it?

In a limited time (15 minutes for 12 coffees in most situations) baristas must compete to consistently produce the best coffee they can, whilst conducting a conversation with their assessors, keeping their workspace neat and tidy, and working with integrity, flare and passion. They are judged on four main areas. The taste of the beverage, the look of the beverage, their technical skill, and their personal presentation and interpersonal skills.

In my experience, this not far off how any retail situation or coffee experience may be judged. Primarily, you would look for a product that tastes good, that is delivered in a reasonable period of time; you would look to enjoying interaction with the barista or sales assistant and questioning them on subjects both coffee related and non coffee related. The technical ability of a barista in producing consistently sound coffee reflects back on the taste and presentation of the beverage. Can anyone argue that these are not real attributes?

In any situation where an individual plans to compete against his or her peers, training, self discipline and education are required to win. This can be applied to any situation of competition in any field, be it sport, academia, or being a barista. Training, in any situation, improves the ability of an individual at any task.

As a competitive barista, training occurs on two levels – at a day-to-day level and at an elite level (outside of a customer situation) practicing individual elements of making coffee – extraction, grinding, dosing, tamping, milk texturing, pouring, coffee art, cleaning and working.

By practicing at an elite level, and applying this at a retail level, the benefits are many for the barista, retailer, coffee roaster and grower. By improving each individual cup quality, for each individual customer, a barista is giving a customer a better coffee experience, an education in taste and a better understanding of coffee itself. This, on a basic sales level, improves business. Repeat business and new business is the key to a successful coffee industry.

So the benefits of competition are twofold. Firstly it improves the attitude and ability of a barista to make any cup of coffee. Secondly it holds valuable marketing for a barista, coffee brand, coffee shop and roaster. There is no shame in being recognised as the best when you have been judged by a grouping of your industry colleagues. By opening up to judgement by peers, a barista is making the ultimate commitment to improving his or her individual ability to pull a shot of espresso, and a general commitment to improving the quality of the coffee industry as a whole.