Victorian Barista Championships - Sun. 25th March

[Andy]

Re: Victorian Barista Championships - Sun. 25th Ma


After spending some time at Celebrate the Bean I headed over to the docklands area to checkout the VBC.

I missed Simon, Con, Zoe and Toshi compete but saw them all there watching on. David was preping during the lunch break and fill-in entertainment from ASCA had the microphone.

After saying gday to a few CSrs David started.
(checkout the Veneziano style wall paper!)



Judges get their caps...


David plays with liquid nitrogen for a sig-drink with impact...


Cassie put on a great show, she managed to scrape in under time and Im sure scored well.


Next up was Erin. She started full of confidence and well, the first round of drinks were served-up to the judging panel and she went back to the machine for the next round of shots... but there was a problem... no water!

A quick dart around and the machine-tech (some bloke called Peter) appeared with a tool box and sorted the problem. Erin lost a pile of time and the judges said she could have another minute.... hmmm... not looking too fair... another meeting of heads and it was deceided that she could restart. A few minutes into her round two and she stepped back from the machine again with more problems. WOW what a scandal.

Soon after I had to leave so I dont know the punchline to the high drama at the Victorian Barista Championships or who won.

I hope somone can fill in the gaps...

PS:
It was great to see some many CSrs and industry faces there. Sorry if I didnt chat for long, promise Ill chew your ears off next time I see you though.

[KB]

Re: Victorian Barista Championships - Sun. 25th Ma

As I heard it Andy
First David Makin 191 1 points
Second Erin Sampson 171.9 points
Third Simon James 170.3 points
Ken

[Wushoes]

Re: Victorian Barista Championships - Sun. 25th Ma

Congratulations to David on a job well done. Well done to all the other competitors for a throughly enjoyable day.

Photos from the whole day available on my flickr account. http://www.flickr.com/photos/20512472@N00/

[joe]

Re: Victorian Barista Championships - Sun. 25th Ma

Nice photos, Wushoes. I wish I had gone to see it.

[Coffee_Kid]

Re: Victorian Barista Championships - Sun. 25th Ma

Whats the max score you can get?

[Andy]

Re: Victorian Barista Championships - Sun. 25th Ma

As I heard it Andy
First David Makin 191 1 points
Second Erin Sampson 171.9 points
Third Simon James 170.3 points
Ken

Cool, congrats to David!
I bet Veneziano Caffe is pretty happy too, I think that was a coffee hat trick for them.

...tis cool that Erin recovered from a less than perfect introduction to competition with a break in her flow... and she used a single origin ROBUSTA!
(See CSrs, we told you there is a place for quality robusta) ;-)

When I spoke to Simon this arvo he was fairly critical of his own performance but enjoyed the challenge and learning from it and knows what needs improving the next time.

PS: Great pics Wushoes and congrats to Nathan for pulling it off!

[Framey]

Re: Victorian Barista Championships - Sun. 25th Ma

Thanks for the photos Wushoes. Nice work.

Barista comps are difficult to watch and even harder to photograph.

[Wushoes]

Re: Victorian Barista Championships - Sun. 25th Ma

I was in the thick of things as time keeper and station maintenance. Had awesome positions right next to the baristas and tech judges to take photos.

Veneziano did pull of a hat trick (no surprise as 6 of the finalists were using Veneziano, Toshi from St Ali roasted his own, and Aaron from Oomph used some all Aussie blend) - Congrats to Pete, venez master roaster:

David Makin - Veneziano - Veneziano
Erin Sampson - Coffee HQ Monash Caulfield - Veneziano
Simon James - HQ - Veneziano

Andy, often the greatest critics of our coffee is ourselves! It is true for many baristas in the specialty coffee scene.

I dont think Erin used a SO robusta, there was just some robusta blended in. I dont think anyone in this industry at this point in time has the guts to use SO robusta at comp. Dave, Erin, and a few others used robusta as part of their blends for various reasons - eg to cut through milk, to help crema persistence etc. When talking to some of the baristas using robusta, they had quoted no more than around 5%. I think you may have been confused with Cass who used SO Yauco Selecto. Some people appreciate it, some people dont - and comes with a price to boot - $60+/kg

[dsgfh]

Re: Victorian Barista Championships - Sun. 25th Ma

My missus & I spent most of the day here, arriving in time to see Toshi onwards. We had to hang around until the end to see Erin finally run at the other station at the end of the program after old yella spat it twice in a row. Was great to see the show after watching everyone train on a sat morning down at veneziano.

David certainly put on a great show, looking very relaxed the whole time. Clearly the standout performance with his liquid nitrogen prepared palette clenser, and I guess his coffee must have tasted alright too

[LindaD]

Re: Victorian Barista Championships - Sun. 25th Ma

Congrats to all the winners!

I couldnt make it, after walking around at the Avalon Airshow all day on Saturday and getting wet and blown away, hubby just wasnt upto going into Melbourne Nevermind, there is always next year.

(besides, it was a good day to roast some PNG Peaberry outside, while trying my popper with a chimney )

[Wushoes]

Re: Victorian Barista Championships - Sun. 25th Ma

Hope to see you all next year....not just as a spectator or time keeper either.....but well see. :P

[grendel]

Re: Victorian Barista Championships - Sun. 25th Ma

Thanks for the info on the victorian BCs guys - will pass all the intelligence to the WA competitors. . .

[dsgfh]

Re: Victorian Barista Championships - Sun. 25th Ma

BTW Andy, the missus just pointed out that those are great shots of the back of my head. Definitely time to get a hair cut from the looks of it...

[>Veneziano]

Daves VBC Winning Blend On Tap at First Pour

Hi all,

We roasted a few kilos more than we needed of Daves blend, so were going to run it through the hoppers at First Pour. There should be enough to take us through to Saturday arvo.

Cheers,

Luca

[grendel]

Re: Victorian Barista Championships - Sun. 25th Ma

Can you hear my sad sighs from across the Nullabour?

Ahhh, I reckon the WA comp blends were pretty awesome. My idea of coffee heaven is a bag from each states winners blend.