The UK Chapter of the SCAE
The UK Chapter of the SCAE hosted the Latte Art, Coffee in Good Spirits and Cup Tasting competitions at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park on Thursday 11th June. The newly crowned champions will go on to compete in the world championships of each competition during the ‘Wonderful Coffee Cologne’ show, June 26 - 28, 2009. The three new champions will join Aysin Aydogdu who will represent the UK in the Cezve/Ibrik Championship) at the same show.
During the competitions the entrants skills are put to the test, whether it be through their latte art skills, where they have to prepare lattes, macchiato and a ‘free pour’ option (of which they have to provide a photo to the judges to show the pattern they aim to produce on the day;
with their keen palettes to find the ‘odd one out’ of three chosen coffees, or with the imaginative drink they have developed for Coffee in Good Spirits.
The newly crowned winners are:
- John Gordon, Ristretto, Latte Art Champion
- Edward Buston, Clifton Coffee, Coffee in Good Spirits Champion
- Maire Reier, The Monmouth Coffee Company, Cup Tasting Champion
The new champs are thrilled with their wins, and made the following comments…
John Gordon – UK Latte Art Campion
I presented 2 single leaf tulips for my macchiato, 2 wave/Rosetta’s leaning into a heart for my cap/lattes, and for my sig drink it was 2 full length rosetta’s in boat shaped platters. I think I was a bit more relaxed then in the UKBC I just wanted to have fun with this and I think that’s a big factor in being able to do these things on stage is just being happy and enjoying what you do.
The coffee I used was an Ethiopian Harrar, it’s an amazing coffee and one of the very first real coffee’s I worked with when I first started in coffee about 4 years ago.
It’s a coffee that works fantastic in a blend but for me it touches my heart with its desert chocolate, blueberry and wine flavours and creates a fantastic crema for latte art and also takes me back to when I first fell in love with being a barista. Steve Leighton has roasted some of the harrar for home and I asked if he could roast me some for the latte art comp, being the amazing person he is, he was more than happy too, it was a medium/dark roast and a beautiful espresso but also a great filter coffee. How do I feel about winning, well I didn’t really expect it at all! Without a doubt entering both the UKBC and latte art comp has improved my barista skills like I would never have imagined. I’m very excited about going to Cologne mainly because I get to meet some great baristas from around the world and I know I will improve even more no matter where I finish!
Maire Reier – UK Cup Tasting Champion
I'm originally from Estonia and my interest in coffee started already back then. I moved to London 3,5 years ago and I've been working in Monmouth Coffee Company for 2,5 years now. I'm really enjoying my job, making coffee and dealing with the beans - it is fabulous to taste and talk with our customers about the beans. I feel extremely lucky that I'm close to so much good coffee! I'm very excited about winning the UK tasting competition! This is the first time I have ever competed, and it is so amazing and unexpected to actually win! I'm looking forward to going to Cologne to represent UK and meeting lots of coffee people who are a friendly bunch!
Ed Buston - UK Coffee in Good Spirits Champion
It felt fantastic to win! I’ve been entered the UKBC 4 times, and always done well, just not well enough, so it was great to actually win this one! I’m really looking forward to representing the uk and have put a lot of work into the next round, where I hope to become a world champion!
I used Brazilian Fazenda Cachoeira Canario in the CIGS competition, from Steve Leighton at HasBean. I tried it a while ago and thought it was the best espresso I had ever tasted, such a lovely texture and mouth feel. I’ll be using Steve’s coffee for my signature and Irish coffees in Cologne.
I used a Balancing siphon vacuum brewer for my Irish coffees, which was the first ever automatic coffee machine in the world, developed in Belgium in the 1840’s. I decided on the espresso martini as it was simple and didn’t take too long to prepare – but I’m planning on something else for the world competition!
All eyes are now on our new champions to help the UK become champion country – following Gwilym Davies World Barista Championship win earlier in the year.
