Saturday, May 27, 2006
The Coffee Olympics
Coffee professional from all over the world gathered last weekend in Bern at the Bea Expo center for World of Coffee & Wbc 2006. During three days, representatives of coffee world and a huge number of other interested people (over 6000 tickets sold) experienced the preparation, tasting and production of coffee, as well as the extremely popular competition, the World barista championship (Wbc) 2006 with 40 representatives from all over the world competing. Apart from the “fame and fortune” that comes along with becoming the World barista champion 2006, the prize includes a much-sought-after brand new La Marzocco GS3 machine.
As part of this world event, that for the first time was held in Switzerland, there were also a considerable number of other meetings and workshops taking place, in order to spread the culture of good coffee. Other than being able to visit over 120 exhibitors present in the pavilion next to the competition, it was possible to watch the third edition of the Latte art world championship”, the second edition of the World cup tasters championship, the second edition of the World coffee in good spirits championship as well as the Brazil latte harvest and Indian cup niche events.
Of course there were also many conferences focusing subjects like scientific research, sustainable development, coffee production and trade. These are some of the reasons why an event of this type is comparable to the Olympic games.
As far as the main competition is concerned the participants were the national champions from 40 different countries. The competition was divided into two sessions, on Friday 19th and Saturday 20th. At the end of these sessions an international delegation of judges decided on six finalists competing for the title of World barista champion.
Among the many parameters used by the judges to evaluate the 4 espressos, 4 cappuccinos and 4 signature drinks (based on coffee) prepared by the competitors, the most important are the sensory and visual quality of the drink, the tamping and coffee dosing technique, cleaning of the machine before and during the show, the presentation and the quality of the show in general.
During the first session some competitors stood out for their creativity and others for their impeccable technique during their performance.
David Makin, the Australian champion, impressed the public for his great creativity, shown while making his signature drink and in having presented to the public a very practical knockbox that he designed and developed.
The Kenyan competitor Jackeline Mweni Muli attracted attention by wearing the traditional dress of her home, accompanied by typical music and dances.
Klaus Thomsen, the Danish competitor gained the approval of the public and jury thanks to his impeccable, elegant and extremely clean performance during which he prepared and interesting signature drink based of panna cotta dessert.
Impeccable performances by Sammy Piccolo from Canada and James Hoffmann from the UK.
The first of the two in particular excited the audience for the superb creativity and class in the preparation of his elaborate synergy cocktail made with coffee, mango and chocolate, and above all for having nonchalantly finished his performance just one second under the time limit.
Emotion and nerves amongst the competitors was palpable, notwithstanding the competitive spirit behind the scenes there was a friendly and fun atmosphere. Many of the competitors commented positively on the performance of the FB80 model machine by La Marzocco, in particular for its temperature stability and the massive steam power that permitted everyone to obtain an amazing result in the cup.
As part of this world event, that for the first time was held in Switzerland, there were also a considerable number of other meetings and workshops taking place, in order to spread the culture of good coffee. Other than being able to visit over 120 exhibitors present in the pavilion next to the competition, it was possible to watch the third edition of the Latte art world championship”, the second edition of the World cup tasters championship, the second edition of the World coffee in good spirits championship as well as the Brazil latte harvest and Indian cup niche events.
Of course there were also many conferences focusing subjects like scientific research, sustainable development, coffee production and trade. These are some of the reasons why an event of this type is comparable to the Olympic games.
As far as the main competition is concerned the participants were the national champions from 40 different countries. The competition was divided into two sessions, on Friday 19th and Saturday 20th. At the end of these sessions an international delegation of judges decided on six finalists competing for the title of World barista champion.
Among the many parameters used by the judges to evaluate the 4 espressos, 4 cappuccinos and 4 signature drinks (based on coffee) prepared by the competitors, the most important are the sensory and visual quality of the drink, the tamping and coffee dosing technique, cleaning of the machine before and during the show, the presentation and the quality of the show in general.
During the first session some competitors stood out for their creativity and others for their impeccable technique during their performance.
David Makin, the Australian champion, impressed the public for his great creativity, shown while making his signature drink and in having presented to the public a very practical knockbox that he designed and developed.
The Kenyan competitor Jackeline Mweni Muli attracted attention by wearing the traditional dress of her home, accompanied by typical music and dances.
Klaus Thomsen, the Danish competitor gained the approval of the public and jury thanks to his impeccable, elegant and extremely clean performance during which he prepared and interesting signature drink based of panna cotta dessert.
Impeccable performances by Sammy Piccolo from Canada and James Hoffmann from the UK.
The first of the two in particular excited the audience for the superb creativity and class in the preparation of his elaborate synergy cocktail made with coffee, mango and chocolate, and above all for having nonchalantly finished his performance just one second under the time limit.
Emotion and nerves amongst the competitors was palpable, notwithstanding the competitive spirit behind the scenes there was a friendly and fun atmosphere. Many of the competitors commented positively on the performance of the FB80 model machine by La Marzocco, in particular for its temperature stability and the massive steam power that permitted everyone to obtain an amazing result in the cup.
# posted by Buck @ 11:42 AM 
