| 26 June 2010 |
| World barista championships 2010 |
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The World Barista Championships of 2010 were a great success against the background of Cafe Culture, which promotes and celebrates everything related to the coffee trade.
Congratulations must go to Michael Philips of the US (Intelligentsia Coffee and Tea) who became the first American to win the World Barista Championship on the last day of the show (25th June) with a score of 706 points. We also sympathise with John Gordon the UK barista champion who unfortunately only came 14th in the competition. I hope John is up for trying again next year.
All competitors in the championships have to prepare a range of drinks in a session set to music including: four espressos, four cappuccinos, and four signature drinks within a timescale of 15 minutes. All of the drinks must be of the highest standard with the scoring based on creativity, presentation, cleanliness, taste and technical skill. The barista must pick the correct coffee, or coffee blend as well as the cups, decoration and ambience to produce a winning combination.
The signature drink is one of the most important elements and is a concoction of the baristas own making which can comprise a range of ingredients that can combine with coffee to produce a taste sensation. John Gordon’s signature drink combined strawberries, and buttered praline with coffee to produce a coffee strawberry cheesecake. The Costa Rican barista champion used a honey produced from hives situated in a coffee plantation (so coffee flower honey) for his signature drink base.
Again we wish Michael Phillips all the best and look forward to the 2011 championship in Bogota, Colombia.
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