Five Senses Coffee Blog

Day One of the 2012 UAE National Barista Championships

The 2012 UAE National Barista Championship has provided me with the opportunity to travel to the Middle East, drink some interesting coffee and meet some coffee fanatics in Dubai. Given that this is a perpetually hot city which is surrounded by desert, a surprising amount of coffee is drunk in this part of the world. As Head Judge for the competition, I conducted a two day judges’ calibration workshop at the start of the week with Ross Quail of Sensory Lab. The UAE competition historically relies on international judges. The competition is now in its third year, so it was great to see many local industry professionals giving their time to be involved. After much scrutinising of the rules, tasting of interesting coffee and practical judging assessment, we came out the other side with a strong team, ready to provide the foundations of a local judging pool for this year and next. It was particularly encouraging to see past competitors giving back by stepping up to judge.

The coffee industry here in Dubai is still very grounded in the old school Italian model of espresso, with the likes of Illy being key shapers of coffee appreciation. Lots of super dark roasting, heavy robusta blends and very long extractions. Chain franchises rule the roost with much coffee being consumed in the mega-malls of Dubai, malls so large they contain full size aquariums, ice rinks and even a ski slope! Select local roasters such Coffee Planet, however, are attempting to redress this a little by bringing in better beans and sliding the roast profile as far towards a lighter style as local palates will allow. We visited their roastery with Head Roaster Rosco (a fellow Kiwi) and owner Richard, and were hugely impressed with their operation. They transitioned from a 12kg to a 120kg Probat roaster to meet the incredible growth they’ve experienced, and the roastery was an absolute model of cleanliness and efficiency; three guys shipping out ten tonnes a week without a speck of dust or single errant bean to be seen.

I don’t think another barista championship in the world can match the UAE for location. The competition is being held at the Meydan Hotel which is wrapped around a race track. It is also one of the longest buildings in the world — a monumentally spectacular building. We have 21 baristas competing over two days of heats, followed by a final Top Five on Saturday. Day One was yesterday and ran very smoothly thanks to our international judges who stepped into the fray straight after some very long flights. Most of the competitors are first time entrants thanks to the very transient nature of the workforce here, but we saw some very encouraging talent and barista passion emerging. Somewhat uniquely, the competition here runs from 3pm to 9pm, so sleeping patterns continue to be somewhat shattered. However I am off to review some local cafes today, so caffeine will be working its glorious magic in no time.

Day one of the UAE Barista Comp

A view from my hotel

Semi-Final Day

Waiting for the announcement of the semi finalists

I’ve really only just arrived in Bogota and only had the chance to catch the tail end of the heats. This photo is more about giving you a sense of what the whole thing looks like. More details will follow a little bit later but what I can tell you is that Matt Perger from Australia is one of the 12 who are through to the semi finals. The most interesting thing about the semi final 12 is that there were none from Scandanavia (who dominated during the early years) and 4 competitors from coffee producing nations. The announcement that the Colombian competitor was part of the mix of 12 nearly brought the house down. It was awesome!

More later

Tags: WBC Bogota

On the upside

I’m currently en-route from Perth to the WBC in Bogota. Quite frankly, I’m shattered. I started my journey at 4:00am from my house on Wednesday morning Perth time. I’m just over half way through the trip and it’s now Friday mid-morning Perth time. Do the maths – I’ve been at it for just over 50 hours. I’m sitting here in the airport in a zombie like stake – I’m starving but my body doesn’t know if it needs breakfast or dinner. I have a headache but can’t be sure if it’s a lack of caffeine induced headache or it’s just been brought on through a combination of airplane dehydration and sheer tiredness. Probably both.

One of the sensational things about our new world of technology is our ability to be connected to the action and the action is exactly where I’m headed. I have a special twitter feed list set up for coffee industry chatter. It’s genuinely random chatter normally but right now the “chatter” has escalated to nothing short of a roar.

Things I do know so far – EVERYONE is there at the moment and a already tucking into a few cervesa’s (The Bicknell Espresso Ranger and our own Jen Murray are included in the mix), Emily Oak of the WBC has had her laptop nicked and the Barista’s are frantically getting prepped for their moments of glory.

What more can I say. I reckon that closing my eyes and mentally painting a canvas of the cool things that I’m going to see is going to be a way better tonic for my head than paracetamol.

My flight is leaving soon. I’ll keep you posted…

The final wrap up of the Australian Barista Champs

Uncountable kilos of coffee and litres of milk later, the scores have been tallied and the 2011 Detpak Australian Speciality Coffee Champions have been named. Matt Perger of Victoria is Australia’s new Barista National Champion and will be headed to Bogota in June to compete in the World Barista Championships.

Matt ticked all the boxes necessary to come away with the highest score and beat out the country’s best contenders. His winning signature drink consisted of pulped cherries mixed with castor sugar and marinated overnight. Sparkling water was added, the cherry syrup was caramelised, shots were pulled, and the entire concoction was taken down in two sips.

In the Coffee in Good Spirits category, Mitch Faulkner from New South Wales was named the 2011 Champion with not only his rendition of an Irish Coffee, but also a ‘Cherry Ripe’ signature drink consisting of tequila, cherry liquor, vanilla and dark chocolate that was shaken and served over ice. The Coffee in Good Spirits World Championships will coincide with the World Latte Art Championships and World Cup Tasting Championships located in Maastricht, Netherlands in June.

Representing Australia in the World Latte Championships is Kirby Berlin of Victoria. Kirby’s art stole the show today as she led the world in new WBC latte art competition regulations. With the new rules, pictures taken during the Bar Component of the competition later become randomly chosen from the ’Wheel of Doom’ for latte artists to recreate during day two of the competition. The two pictures chosen for today were a heart with two rosettas and a heart within a heart. Upon completion of the replications, the competitors then get a chance to wow the judges by creating art of their choice, however they must do so within a vessel chosen by the ‘Wheel of Doom’ the day before. The vessel this year was a 170ml round bowl and Kirby’s winning masterpiece was a pair of identical swans.

Competition in the Cup Tasting category came down to a timing consideration after Luca Costanza, an attorney from Victoria, and Ben Bicknell from Victoria finished with a tie. In the end, it is Luca who will go to the Netherlands as the Australian Cup Tasting National Champion.

Great job to everyone who competed this year in the 2011 Australian Specialty Coffee Championships, thank you to those who made the event possible, and best of luck to all who will be representing Australia on a sure-to-be competitive, global scale in June.

Day two at the Australian Barista Champs

Ben Bicknell in his signature pose

As one can imagine, there was excitement as well as disappointment today as day two of the 2011 Detpak Australian Barista Championships came to an end in the Gold Coast. The semi finals in the Barista category brought twelve competitors down to six with the remaining participants facing-off again tomorrow for a chance at not only the national title, but also a trip to Bogota for the World Championships later this year.

The baristas (and their winning blends) who will appear in the finals on Sunday:

Craig Simon – Two El Salvadorian Finca El Manzana crops that were harvested from the same plot, on the same day, one wet processed and the other dry.

Ron Ngo – Kenyan Fairview Estate Peaberry and Brazilian San Antonio Estate (70/30 respectively).

Will Priestley – Brazilian pulp natural Santa Elena and a washed El Salvadorian from El Retiro.

Jean Paul Sutton – “The Ultimate Blend” of Sumatran, Guatemalan and Kenyan (50/40/10 respectively).

Matt Perger – Guatemalan Santa Clara and Brazilian Santa Elina.

Erin Sampson – A Panamanian and Ethiopian Nikesse.

Newcomer Ron Ngo from Western Australia won the judges over with his six-leaf tulip latte art and predominantly Kenyan blend, opting for a riskier high-acid espresso versus the safer heavy and smooth blends.

Also taking place today were the open heats of the Latte Art and Cupping categories of the competition. The final heats tomorrow will consist of the five previously determined state champions, as well as the one additional competitor that finished first in their respective repechage heat today. Joining the state champs in the Cupping category is Ben Bicknell from Victoria, and in the Latte Art category is South Australia’s Daniel Freer.

World Barista Championship contenders from across the globe had eyes on Australia today as our 2011 National Championship is the first in the world to implement the new WBC Latte Art Competition rules established in December. New procedures outline two days of compliance with day one consisting of the Bar Component and day two affectionately referred to as the Wheel of Doom. For more information on the new WLAC regulations, visit http://worldbaristachampionship.com/downloads/ and click on Summary of Changes.

With competitors associated with 5 Senses represented in each category of tomorrow’s finals, we are signing off from day two proud, grateful and eager for Sunday’s events.

All the action from day one at the Australian Barista Champs

Ronald Ngo from CNR in Northbridge, Western Australia, today competed in the open heats of the 2011 Detpak Australian Barista Championship and has won a place in tomorrow's semi final.

The first round of open heats has concluded for the 2011 Detpak Australian Barista Championship with Ronald Ngo from CNR making it through to the semi finals. Today, eleven competitors competed in the Barista category with the following top five finishers (in no particular order) all advancing to tomorrow’s semi finals: Scott Luengen, Erin Sampson, Matt Perger, Craig Simon and Ronald Ngo.

These honourable mentions will match up tomorrow against the nation’s most recent Barista State Champions. Tomorrow a total of eleven Barista competitors will compete for one of six places in the finals on Sunday. Saturday will also see repechage heats of the Cupping and Latte Art categories, both of which will also host its finalists on Sunday.

Today’s event was emceed by Ross Quail and David Makin and drew a large crowd of family, friends and patrons from the Gold Coast Food and Wine Show where the event was held.

There was plenty of pressure for competitors today and if you are new to barista competitions and that means nothing to you, novices can at least appreciate the noticeable amount of time and money that one must part with in order to make it to the top of the Barista category. This is a real competition with pressures and disappointments, and while newcomers might be inclined to take notes on ideas for a funky coffee drink, veteran bystanders might see things a bit differently.

Competitors this year could all have been champs a few years back, as the level of competition has continued to rise, participants are forced to extensively know all facets of their coffee.

With day one of the 2011 Detpak Australian Barista Championship now behind us, not to mention sweetened by a cameo by Reg Barber, it’s time to wash the cups, polish the silver, and gear up for day two.

Caleb wins Vic Barista Comp

Caleb Podhazcky goes back to back winning the 2011 Victorian Barista Comp at the St Kilda Town Hall Auditorium.

This years field was the largest in many years with 17 competitors battling it out, including a few seasoned competitors such as Will Priestly and Erin Sampson (both Australian Latte Art champions).

The spread at the top of the pool was very tight with only 3 points separating Caleb and Matt Perger (1st and 2nd place).

Barista Comp results:
1st – Caleb Podhazcky (5 Senses)
2nd – Matt Perger
3rd – Erin Sampson
4th – Will Priestly
5th – Craig Simon
6th – Simon James

Latte Art results:
1st – Shin Kiru (Cafenatics Coffee)
2nd – Masahiro Onishi (The Premises)
3rd – Kirby Berlin (Maling Room)

Cupping results:
1st – Luca Costanza
2nd – Kang Byoung-Woo (BW)
3rd – Remy Shpayzer

Caleb Podhazcky wins Vic Barista Comp

Small World

I’m in Montreal having crepes and coffee at Cafe Veritas and I’m trying to figure out where I recognise the barista behind the bar, just as Sam the owner introduces me to Jean Pierre Nyamabumba, the first Rwandan barista champ to represent in the WBC. Ben and I watched his 2009 performance in Atlanta and I recently visited cafe bourbon in Kigali where he used to work before moving to Canada. Sounds like he’s fitting right into Quebec with his fluent French and English. Here’s a barista who is really connected with the processes at origin and also one who was roasting and judging at the first Rwandan COE in 2008. We tasted lots of coffees and the talk was around sweetness, body and acidity and of course potato. It’s interesting to see the transition, baristas in Rwandan and Montreal speaking a very similar language, literally!

Jen and Jean Pierre

Qld Latte Art Champion Announced

After a sensational morning of competition the latte art winner was announced:

1st: Scott Luengen – Dandelion and Driftwood
2nd: Josh Russell – Cup Coffee
3rd: Jason Smith – Coffee Dominion

2011 Qld Latte art results: 1st-Scott (left), 2nd-Josh (centre), 3rd-Jason (right)

UAE Barista Champion Announced

After judging espresso after espresso and consuming signature drinks combined with ingredients as varied as jasmine flowers to ginger, the judging panel at the final round of competitions have declared Raja Muthusamy as the new UAE Barista Champion!

The results are:
1st – Raja Muthusamy
2nd – Dada Kalander Noor
3rd – Romeo Perello
4th – Kushal Balami
5th – Almas Ahmad
6th – Elavarasan Pandiyan

All of the competitors did an outstanding job and you could definitely see that the level of coffee knowledge had risen from the previous year. For his espresso and cappuccino rounds, Raja presented to the judges a single origin Mexican coffee which he had roasted himself and for his signature drink combined this with a Colombian single origin syphon, almond milk, jaggery (palm sugar) and cocoa.

Originally from India, Raja has overcome some unique hurdles in his lead up to his win – with three years under his belt in the specialty coffee industry, he still finds it understandably difficult to convey to his mother in his home town of 250 people exactly what it is he does every day. For me, the path Raja and many of the other competitors took gave a whole new perspective to the power of the competitions and the specialty coffee community world wide – we often hear that this is ‘just coffee’ but for some of the national champions around the world, winning this competition is going to mean an unprecedented opportunity to travel to Colombia next year and to gain a world view that may very well not have been attainable otherwise.

For the rest of the competitors, there was a great sense of camaraderie and urge to learn and develop further and importantly, to give the competition another crack next year. There’s a lot of work to be done in the specialty coffee scene in the UAE; building the consuming culture dominated by middle eastern style boiled coffee and the viewpoint that the barista is on the same standing as a dishwasher requires a mental shift that won’t come easy. However, with a collection of passionate baristas and judges based in Dubai and further afield, it’s obviously now only a matter of time!

Raja Muthusamy wins the 2010 UAE Barista Championship

The 2010 UAE Barista Champion in action