Christchurch Barista Throwdown

Hosted by Luciano at Luciano Espresso Bar.

Friday night saw a great number of barista’s and coffee professionals getting together before the massive New Zealand Barista Championships to be held the next day. Luciano made the night a lot of fun, hosting his own barista throwdown in which, those that wanted (and those that didn’t), created their “best” latte art.

The title came down to a “pour-off” between Auckland’s 2nd place barista champion – Robert Hulse and Christchurch’s 1st place barista champion – Carl Sara. Congratulations to Carl for taking ut the title (and the coin)! I think it’s safe to say we all had a fun time with it.

Tomorrow at 12pm we will see the Barista Championship commence with a blast at the C4 roastery in Christchurch.

-H

 

P.S. The set of photo’s (approx 100) of tonights throwdown is available for $10 – email me hans (at) meritoespresso.co.nz

Christchurch Regional Heats

CONGRATULATIONS TO…

1st Place: Carl Sara Muffin Break – Christchurch

2nd Place: Hideyuki Kono Vivace Espresso – Christchurch

 

The regional heats have been great and produced a fine calibre of talent this year, congratulations to all the place-getters that will now be in the Finals (C4 Coffee, Christchurch) for their chance to take the title of New Zealand Barista Champion, and represent at the Atlanta WBC 2009.

Wellington: 

1st place: Richard Legg Sage Cafe – Fielding 

2nd place: Frank Hsu Mojo Coffee – Kent Terrace – Wellington

Auckland: 

1st Place: David Huang Espresso Workshop – Epsom

2nd Place: Robert Hulse Planet Espresso – Auckland 

Christchurch:

1st Place: Carl Sara Muffin Break – Christchurch

2nd Place: Hideyuki Kono Vivace Espresso – Christchurch

Talking a bit with some of the finalists it is not surprising to see how they achieved their placings. There is an extraordinary amount of talent around – and what I love about these comps is that each year, talent is shared and thereafter developed in coming years. It brings a very healthy check on the way we as baristas operate, and hopefully drives us all to develop our skills and understanding that little bit more.

For those in Christchurch for the Finals, I look forward to seeing you there.

-H