Well Done GWILYM DAVIES from the UK for taking out the coveted World Barista Champion title for 2009. What a spectacular performance, and enormously brave – allowing the judges to select their own signature beverage from a selection of 4 from 16 ingredients. This result also sees the third consecutive win for Square Miles coffee, 2007 Tokyo was James Hoffman, 2008 Copenhagen was Stephen Morrissey and now in 2009 Gwilym used two single origins roasted by Square Mile – STELLAR EFFORT!
Courtesy of worldbaristachampionship.org/2009
A huge appreciation also goes t0 the other 5 finalists;
2nd place Sammy Piccolo Canada
3rd place Michael Phillips United States of America
4th place Colin Harmon Ireland
5th place Lee Jong Hoon Korea
6th place Attila Molnar Hungary
Also, it must be said that Carl Sara of New Zealand did such an amazing job with his performance, Mark Prince of coffeegeek had a few strong words regarding this disappointing outcome, it was a sad moment to not see Carl make the finals – well done though mate!
Amongst all the competing itself, it is incredible to see the calibre raised year on year by the competitors. Whether it be new extraction methods or bean variations, it is always exciting to watch, and learn from, these competitions. In addition, the stream of new surprises from manufacturers, such as Marco with the Uber Boiler and Slayer with their new machine, all help develop the understanding of coffee and enlighten us with new aspects to coffee – enough to keep me excited for now.
-H
15twentyfive 