And the Auckland Barista Championship finalists are…
1st Place: David Huang Espresso Workshop – Epsom
2nd Place: Robert Hulse Planet Espresso – Auckland
Wow – what a day!
That was the most intense day I have had in a while – but looking back now, I loved every bit of it. In a moment I will run through my day and routine but first, an ENORMOUS CONGRATULATIONS to David and Robert and all the guys and girls that competed – WELL DONE!
So my day started at 6am right, I woke up got ready and then flicked up to a site around 7.10am to clean and prep my grinder – all is well.
7.45am I’m at Allpress (a huge appreciation for Russell and the team for rearranging the roastery for us) and unload the gear before briefing at 8am,
8am, Emma MW introduces herself and the array of judges to all the competitors, gives a few pointers and words of encouragement then lets us free.
Practice time is from 8.40 to 9am for me. I test my espresso and double check my profiles with a few surrounding spectators.
9am, the first performance of the day – I don’t watch, I have been advised not to, so I am going through my routine out back and slowly setting up my gear.
Fast Forward >> It’s now 10.15am (my prep time). I unpack my gear and set up as normal. Slight dilemma – I realise that my grinders are the wrong way round so I change the hoppers and grind any excess beans in the chamber – of course, in doing this I have just lost about a minute of setup time. I manage to adjust the grinds to perfection just before time but am just short of cleaning the excess grind from the bench. I know I have just lost a couple of points.
10.35am: After an intro from MC Mark, The Routine Begins “Good Morning judges …. I will be using a Guatemalan …. and now I will begin preparing my Signature Beverage.”
My signature beverage was a mixture of lemon, lavender and sugar to make a syrup base, I prepared this on stage as it needed some time to heat. While this was happening I brewed a Cascara (coffee cherry) tea.
Cappuccino’s – I used a Guatemalan base with two other origins to give the cup a bit of body. I was happy with the shot pours and times. When it came to pouring the milk I was a little shaky and unfortunately spilt my first cappuccino. Beyond that I managed to get some nice ferns and good textured milk.
Espresso’s – Using a Guatemalan only in the espresso’s lead to a very lemony flavoured cup – the shot times were great and I served the espresso 2 + 2. Unfortunately one of the espresso’s lacked in it’s crema depth. But the taste was there.
Signature Beverage – by now I have taken the syrup off the heat and left to cool, brewed my Cascara tea and let that cool too. I add the Cascara to cream and whip that in a creamwhip. Now the creation – pouring the syrup into the base of a long-fluted shot glass I add 30ml of Guatemalan espresso and finish it with the cascara cream and lemon zest. If you like lemon then this drink would have been perfect for you.
And…after a quick clean up… TIME! 14:45
So, that was a little bit of fun – I had to shoot off after my run and came back to hear the finalists. Well done again to those mentioned above! In evaluation remarks from the judges I found to have scored one of the highest in sensory (82% of the overall mark) so I was very, very pleased – unfortunatly my nerves got the better of me and let down my technical. But from what I understand I made the top 5 which I am stoked about. Now to take what I have learnt and get ready for next year!
Can’t wait for Christchurch in a week!
-H
