Australian Barista Championships

The best baristas of Australia will be in Melbourne today for the start of the Australian Barista Competition to compete for the champion title. The Melbourne International Coffee Expo, for the first time, will be host to the event organized by the AustralAsian Specialty Coffee Association (AASCA).

Categories of the event are:

• ·       Barista
• ·       Brewers Cup
• ·       Cup Tasting
• ·       Latte Art
• ·       Coffee Roasting
• ·       Coffee in Good Spirits
• ·       Ibrik

The winner of each category receives the prestigious Australian champion title, as well as a full-paid trip to the respective world championships in Vienna, Austria (June 12^th-15^th) or Seoul, South Korea (November, 1^st-4^th).

The event has expanded exponentially in size from last year’s on the Gold Coast, with the venue hosting hundreds of stalls of coffee related products. Quite literally, to fully appreciate each stall, it would take you two days to cover it end to end!

So who’s competing in the event? Today, Friday the 4^th, is the last chance qualifiers for competitors in the barista and latte art categories who competed in the state qualifiers but did not take out first place. As for Saturday and Sunday, these are when the rounds start to heat up with semi-final and final rounds back to back.

The most prestigious title is that for the barista category. In 15 minutes competitors must make four espresso, four cappuccino and 4 signature drinks for the judges, as well as talk the judges and audience through the beans, drinks and any other aspects the competitor wishes to discuss. Each competitor has two technical judges watching the use of the grinder and coffee machine, checking wastage, timing shots, measuring tamping ability and overall cleanliness of the work station. Add on to this four sensory judges to taste the coffee as well as a head judge, and you’ve got a lot of people judging you in a 15-minute time frame!

Queensland will be sending their share of contenders after the state qualifiers in November last year produced four state champions. Matt Troughton and Kelsey Carr, (Dandelion and Driftwood) are the respective barista and brewers representatives, Scott Luengen (Cup Coffee) the latte art specialist, and Fred Lullfitz (Di Bella) the cup tasting champion.

With the event still in the early stages, I’ll be anxiously awaiting the results of the semi – and finals respectively. Stay tuned people, the 2012 best baristas are going to battle it out so we know where to go for our best coffees in Australia. I can only hope Queensland makes it to the top!