As a result of demand from teachers and students two Become A Barista competitions were held in 2013, one in Brisbane and one at the Gold Coast. The Brisbane event was held again at Blue Sky Coffee.
What a day! It was a lesson in patience and persistence with 16 competitors, 6 schools and 6 hours to do it all in. But we stuck to the program and only ran a little overtime. The students did exceptionally well and with a strong backup team of teachers and students as runners, timekeepers, record keepers and work station managers, the whole day unfolded without a glitch.
The six teams below represented the following schools ..
- Browns Plains State High School
- Dakabin State High School
- Emmaus College
- Grace Lutheran College
- Marsden State High School
- Wellington Point State High School
The team at Grace Lutheran College performed particularly well, taking out most of the top scores. Well done students and teachers!
The winners were …
- Caleb Reis (Grace Lutheran College) – overall winner
- Alex Mould (Grace Lutheran College) – runner-up
- Caleb Reis (Grace Lutheran College) – highest technical score
- Alex Mould (Grace Lutheran College) – best espresso (sensory)
- Caleb Reis (Grace Lutheran College) – best cappuccino (sensory)
- Jenny Thao (Browns Plains SHS) – best signature beverage (sensory).
We thank roaster Alex Milosevic and the team at Blue Sky Coffee for hosting the event and sponsoring the beans. Also Geoff Michelmore from Espresso Mechanics for setting up the workstations and Dairy Farmers for sponsoring the milk. Brent Deller from Barista Tools donated barista accessories and Coffee Education Network donated Barista Bibles as prizes.
With so many competitors, we called on extra judges to share the load. Along with Paul Holiday from Coffee Education Network as head judge, we welcomed Danny Andrade a newcomer to the Blue Sky team, Jean-Paul Sutton and Candice Drysdale from Veneziano Coffee and freelance barista Stacey Leigh Benjamin. What a line-up of expertise!
