A barista, is a person who has acquired a high level of expertise in the preparation of espresso based drinks. Each year, there’s a competition in each country to pick the best barista, then all the winners get to go to the World Barista Championship. Atlanta will be the host for 2009. The competition works as follows:
First, the barista has about 15 minutes to prepare the station: Get the judges table ready, the cups, glasses, ingredients and the coffee grinder ready for the competition itself. All of this is supervised by two judges. One, taking the time and the other one watching over to make sure everything is done the way it’s supposed to be.
Then, showtime. The barista has 15 minutes to prepare 4 capuccinos, 4 espressos and 4 specialty drinks. The specialty drinks are a barista’s original recepie, that they need to use one shot of espresso per drink and add other ingredients to make the drink. This drink needs to have the espresso as the main flavor, making it stand out. At this point of the competition, the barista has 8 judges looking over him: 4 that try the drinks and 4 that look over the barista’s technique.
After the serving time is completed, the barista needs to clean the station, wich is also overlooked by 2 other judges.
This is all very interesting, and this weekend and last week I got the opportunity to attend the Barista Competitions in Guatemala and El Salvador, here are the pictures. Hope you enjoy them!