Battle of Barista 2012

the 6 finalist of BoBC 2012

There is the 3^rd year of the Battle of Baristas Championship held at March organized by my friend Victor from Lighthouse Coffee; I was supporting him on the event photography during the final of the championship. The championship this year was held at Straits Quay Penang, it was a 3 days competition and for this year is no longer a domestic level competition, but it is involving international baristas to come to have a competition first time in Penang.

During the final round, there were 6 finalist to compete for the champion, and the judges team are also from the international level judge who were going to exam the technical of the barista, the presentation of the barista and of cause to taste the coffee presented by the barista in order to judge who will be the champion of the competition.

Before the final round of the championship kick start, the technical judges were going to check the coffee machine and the grainer are working fine, and the overall setup are well prepared. There were 3 rows of the table with 3 setup of the coffee machines and the grainer, and the judges’ seats are just at the same row and beside each setup. As the standard of the competition, each barista is given 15 minutes to prepare the setting of the equipment and material on the competition stage, during that time, the barista need to prepare for presentation material like table setting (decoration at the tasting judges place), their own tools, and setting the grainer to the test out the finest of the coffee powder they want in order to brew out a nice espresso.

the bean of the day and the espresso brewing

the Malaysia version "Coffee T & I", editor is SK Leng, a coffee lover

"I'm A Professional Barista" and i know it...:p

the table setting...and the way the judge examined the milk form of the cappucino

tasting and technical judging

is it so familiar like in the science lab??

the barista on the move!!!

 Once the first 15 minutes had done, the barista is required to stop preparation, and at the 2^nd session, the barista is given another 15 minutes for their presentation. During their presentation, they are required to produce 3 types of drinks which are espresso, cappuccino and their own signature drink (signature coffee). Once kick start the 2^nd session, the barista is going to brief the judges about the drinks that he/she will present, then to start the process of brewing the espresso, preparing the milk foams, and other materials for their drinks to bring out the best coffee they can make to the judges. The 7 segment LED panel on the wall will keep on counting the time once the presentation is started. During the process, the technical judge will keep monitoring the way of the barista on handling the overall setup, the way he suppress the coffee powder, the way he stem the milk form… while the espresso is presented to the tasting judges, they are going to judge the drinks by seeing the creamer and the color of the espresso, and then tasting it. While for the cappuccino, the beauty of the art on the surface of the cappuccino is the bonus mark to the barista, by the way, the judges will use the spoon to try out how firm that the milk foam can be “reunited” after first few time they play with the spoon, and of cause the taste of the cappuccino is the most important thing to judge the quality of the drink. And the last drink would be the signature drink. This is base on how creative the barista to create a new, special flavor drink base with coffee. The finalist are using their own creativity and special material in order to bring out a kind of new flavor to impress the judges, some are mixing with fruits, some are adding different flavor materials like chocolate ice-cream or peanut and some even blending different type brewing method coffee or beans flavor to bring out a new taste.

Time...and the presents....

Other than over all taste, technical of doing the coffee and the presentation method, 1 of the most important element is the time management, the baristas were rushing to present all they have in only 15 minutes time, once over the limited time frame, and their marks will be deducted counting by every second over due. During the championship, the stage is surrounded by the coffee lovers to come and enjoying the presentation of the finalist baristas, the smell the aroma of the coffee, to surf what’s the new flavor that brings out by the creativity of the baristas and to share the moment of exciting when watching the process of the coffee maker to present the coffee by the way to count down the 15 minutes limited time frame. Of cause at the end, a new champion is born, and by the way the most important also, the judges’ team will discuss with each finalist to share the pro and con as well as the opinion and advice in order to give the tips for the finalist in order to further improve in their barista field. A competition is not only about win or loses, but is also a process to understand self advantage and weakness, a good chance to learn from others.

the new champion is born!!! the group photo of all the judges and the finalist...