Are Barista Competitions Living Up to Their Potential? - By Tatiana Becker
Monday, 21 May 2007
This year, my USBC performance's theme was "Frat Party." I dressed like a sorority girl from Kappa Kappa Chino, rocked out to Snoop Dogg and Sir Mix-a-Lot, and served my signature drink in beer hats. Whoever was controlling the music cranked it way up, and the audience was rocking out, yelling, and holding signs. People I don't think have ever watched a competition before - like smoothie mix vendors - were flocking off the competition floor to watch. Didn't I understand that the competition was about professionalism? About five-star restaurant service? What was I trying to prove?
This isn't my first competition, and I'm well aware of what they are: button-up shirts, ties, and ironed tablecloths. But what they should be? The WBC's stated mission is "to promote the growth, excellence and recognition in the Barista profession." Is the recognition of our craft growing through competition? I haven't been able to entice my customers, my friends, or even my own mom to stay and watch another competition after my own. They don't know what the barista is doing, they can't tell a good shot from a bad one by the way it pours, and waxing poetic about flavor nuances is pretty lost on them, especially when they can't taste for themselves.
Nordic Barista Cup is one of the most innovative competition concepts one finds in the coffee world today. It’s a team competition that lasts for a few days, is packed with lectures by the best in their fields and competitions that measure how well the recently taught has been learned. More information on the competition can be found at www.nordicbaristacup.com.
The NBC organisers have decided to “improve” the concept with changes that in my opinion might threaten the whole competition.
There is also a dialogue/debate on the Nordic Barista Cup website with Lari and Jens at this link: Jens responds to Lari's concerns.
Where are you heading, Nordic Barista Cup?
Robert Paulig, one of the coffee connoisseurs in Finland, asked me after I won my first barista competition in 2001: ”Where do you see yourself in five years?” I answered him as I would answer today: “I only know, that I’ll be happy with my life.” “That’s a lot.” Mr. Paulig said.
The 4th of October 2006 was exactly five years from the day that I won the competition. I was teaching 45 waiter/waitress students in a hotel & restaurant school, having a two-day barista course, and as a part of the Barista Team Finland I had arrived from Copenhagen two days earlier. Nordic Barista Cup 2006 and more specifically seeing how we did in the competition was a moment no one of us forgets. It took a while to sink in, but after it did, you couldn’t erase the smile on our faces. Veni, Vidi, Vici. That’s how we still feel, though we didn’t win. We did better than anyone expected. On the 4th of October 2006, telling the students how we did, was a proud and happy moment. I had kept my promise. I was happy.
Jason Haeger is a coffee professional working to bring quality coffee
to Lubbock, Texas. A transplant from AZ, he is in a unique position to
draw a comparison between the similarities of the growing coffee scene
between TX and AZ.
By now, most of us have had ample exposure to what is known as
Specialty Coffee to understand that it is quite different than the
standard generic store-bought variety one would find on the shelves of
your local supermarket. Maybe it’s the atmosphere. Maybe it’s the cost.
Maybe it’s the culture. Whatever the reason, America has been bitten by
the Specialty Coffee bug, and we’re consuming it, literally, by the
ton.
The Art of Cupping Coffee: Craft at the Heart of the Coffee Industry
Wednesday, 21 June 2006
Story and Photos by Mathew Hill reprinted with permission from virtualcoffee.com
Do you have a favorite coffee memory? One that a particularly
good cup of coffee makes memorable? Are you thankful that the
coffee beans that went into that cup were picked out from all
the other coffee beans in the world, roasted to the perfect color,
and brewed to grace your cup and palate with such sweet flavors
and aromas that they still defy description? Can you still taste
that cup?
Well, if you have you ever wondered how that memorable cup of
coffee came to be, it’s a certainty that the cupping of
that coffee was an integral part of the story that brought it
to your cup. Cupping is not only fundamental to ensuring quality
and consistency in the final roasted product, but it is also
a valuable methodology in the initial steps of differentiating
specific coffee beans from all other possible beans and determining
the characteristics that each coffee possesses.
The Western Barista Guild Jam 2006 June 3rd and 4th
Tuesday, 09 May 2006
The Western Barista Guild Jam brings some of the best coffee people in
the west together for a jam packed weekend of intense training,
community, advanced techniques, sweet new machines, fun people and
great coffee. Baristas, café owners, roasters, chefs and all coffee
professionals are invited. www.westernbaristaguildjam.com for more info and to register.
Get involved. Get inspired. Get trained. Get connected. Get your butt
to the Western Barista Guild Jam and join the espresso revolution.
Brought to you by the friends of coffee at Barefoot Coffee Roasters, Professional Culinary Institute and Nuova Simonelli.
Articles 
Article Written and Submitted by:
Do you have a favorite coffee memory? One that a particularly
good cup of coffee makes memorable? Are you thankful that the
coffee beans that went into that cup were picked out from all
the other coffee beans in the world, roasted to the perfect color,
and brewed to grace your cup and palate with such sweet flavors
and aromas that they still defy description? Can you still taste
that cup?