You went to a Barista Championship?

Yes I did, and very much fun was had. 

Last year, the Midland Heat of the UKBC (UK Barista Championships) was held in Norwich, so it was easy for me to rock up. I had lots of fun there too, so when Dave started getting ready for this year's championship, I started to become a bit of a pain. Eventually, he relented and he took me to Chester for Heat 4.

It sounds so simple, doesn't it? A barista has 15 minutes to make 4 espressos, 4 cappuccinos and 4 signature drinks for the panel of judges. 

Presenting the coffee to the judging panel

Don't ever underestimate the work that goes into those 15 minutes.  Firstly, the barista sources the best coffee they can; they have to learn all about it, not to mention drink cup after cup to master its secrets. Once they've done that, they build the signature drink around the flavours present in the coffee. The trick here is to enhance, not overwhelm the espresso and to do it with flair. The baristas practice, practice and tweak their presentations so that their 15 minutes on stage leads to semi-finals and hopefully to the finals. It's hard work. And then there's the whole performance anxiety to deal with.

The venue was packed for the finals*

Behind the scenes, there's so much that goes on to ensure the barista has the best opportunity to strut their stuff. The Sanremo UK guys look after all the machines and the nuts and bolts of the venue set up. If it doesn't work they're the ones who get the bigger hammer to make it happen.

I was lucky enough to be a runner for Heat 4, the semis and the finals. It gave me such a great insight into the world of speciality coffee. It meant I could taste all the coffee coming off the stage. Some of the sig drinks were amazing! After Heat 4, I'd been wondering how to explore this world further, after all, the SCAE UK (Speciality Coffee Association of Europe UK Chapter) is always looking for judges etc. After the London Coffee Festival and the Barista Championships, I figured I'll start from the bottom and work my way up. I'm sorting out my Barista training.

Volunteering for the Championships was so much fun. There's such a brilliant atmosphere and everyone ends up totally over-caffinated, so they talk really, really quickly and with great enthusiasm.

Me annoying Sanremo Steve*

On the Saturday of the Semi-finals, there were 20 competitors jostling to go through to the finals being held on the next day. These are the 20 best in the UK. Take a moment to think about how many baristas there are serving coffee in your town...Yeah, that's a lot of baristas. So being in the Top 20 is a big, big deal.

The six finalists: Don Altizo, Estelle Bright, John Gordon, Chee Wong, Joe Meagher and 

Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood

The finals were an amazing experience. From a volunteering point of view, there were only six people to look after, but the atmosphere was charged. Everyone from volunteers to baristas to judges, brought their A Game. 

The judges had a tough job. No two ways about it. These are the six best baristas in the country. And my goodness, the quality of the professionalism was outstanding. Watching these masters at work, at the beginning of my coffee journey is a little bit intimidating. And I'm not entirely sure it was a good idea. They set the bar so high. I'm going to have to work incredibly hard to manage a fifth of their expertise and the thing is, they make it look so easy. Trust me, it's not.

This year's winner: John Gordon!

John Gordon in the middle, with Sanremo's Andrew and Dave on either side of him*

I'm thinking I've still got time to grow an interesting beard!

*Pictures used with permission of Sanremo UK! Thanks darlings! 

Adventures at the London Coffee Festival 2013

Last weekend I was in London for the UKBC 2013 Semis and Finals. It was an amazing experience. Reporting on such full-on 3 days would be nigh-on impossible for me to in a short(ish) blog post. So, I'll give you the snippets over the next few days.

My partner, who would rather not have to admit to knowing me (for reasons which will become clear) and I travelled down to London on Friday. We had a lovely Shoreditch coffee crawl (or at least I did. He said I whinged a lot about the walking), and then ended up at the London Coffee Festival, so he could go off for his calibration session (he is a Sensory Judge for the UKBC). Left to my own devices, I had an absolute blast. 

After the heats in Bury St Edmonds and Chester earlier in the year, the Sanremo UK road crew found themselves stuck with me. I don't know how much they were paid to babysit me - but guys, you was robbed!

Look, my very own cloths!

To stay out of trouble, I was tasked with helping Steve clean down the tables and help get the stage ready for the baristas competing for the coveted title. 

 This is Steve

How can wiping tables down be fun? Running for lunches? Getting the baristas to the stage on time? It really helps when you've got great organisers, you work with people with a brilliant sense of humour and you keep moving! Oh...and you love coffee. You've got to love the coffee.

The world of speciality coffee is filled with unusual, dedicated and enthusiastic people. They love what they do and their enthusiasm is infectious. The barista championships are an extension of that love. 

To compete, a barista has 15 minutes to make make 4 espressos, 4 cappuccinos and 4 signature drinks that compliment the espresso he/she has chosen. The barista has to justify their choices, to be professional at all times and to provide a creative way of imparting all of that to some of the most stony-faced judges, the industry can provide. It's a nerve-wracking experience. There's so much that can go wrong, from stage-fright to technical complications and the barista has to roll with it all.  

And when they go through all of that they have the chance of winning one of these:

The trophies, made by Reg Barber

I met so many amazing people and I had such a good time, not to mention drinking some great coffee.

But my most fun moment came when I helped get the trophy table ready. 

At heat 3 in Bury St Edmonds, I did my level best to separate Sanremo Dave from his tamper. It is stamped with the letters: R B. My initials! My argument was that as it had my initials on it, my ownership was without question. He made the rather spurious claim that RB were the mark of Reg Barber who made the tamper and who sponsors the competition, and wouldn't give it up.

I digress. 

I was helping with the trophy table and these gorgeous tampers were being taken out of their boxes, all stamped with R B. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm nothing if not persistent. I was in the midst of making the whole RB argument again, when a deep Canadian voice said from behind me:

"I don't remember marrying you."

It was Reg Barber. Yes, *the* Reg Barber who makes these beautiful tampers. He was lovely and very patient with the crazy, over-caffinated woman.

RB with RB

One day, I will be a barista and I will have one of these beautiful tampers for my own self.