Due to demand from teachers and students, a second Become A Barista competition was held in 2013 – on stage at the Gold Coast Show. We’re delighted to see more students involved in the competition and exposed to the rules and regulations of the World Barista Championships, the global benchmark for barista excellence.
We thank Karen Thorburn from Prestige Service Training for her contribution in getting this competition off the ground. She liaised with the event managers of the Gold Coast Show to have a stage area with audiovisual equipment for the competition and with staff and trainees at Prestige Service Training, a Gold Coast RTO, to assist with prior organisation and volunteers on the day.
Special mention and a big thankyou once again goes to Geoff Michelmore from Espresso Mechanics who got up very early to drive to the coast and setup the workstations on the day. Your commitment to the industry in general and our small part of it is very much appreciated. We thank local coffee roaster, Richard Silipo for sponsoring the beans and Dairy Farmers for sponsoring the milk. Again Barista Tools and Coffee Education Network sponsored the prizes.
The participating schools and colleges at the Gold Coast were …
- Assisi Catholic College
- Robina State High School
- St Michael’s College
- Prestige Service Training.
And the winners were …
- Bianca Sidoti (Prestige Service Training) – overall winner
- Carly Elborne (Assisi Catholic College) – runner-up
- Bianca Sidoti (Prestige Service Training) – best technical score
- Sophie Tattam (St Michael’s College) – best espresso (sensory)
- Carly Elborne and Jin Nishina – a tie for best cappuccino
- Jin Nishina (St Michael’s College) – best signature beverage (sensory).
The judges were so impressed with Bianca’s performance, they invited her to participate in the forthcoming regional barista competition alongside industry professionals. They also made mention of the fact that the students were very professional in their presentation and did particularly well, considering they were performing in a public environment on unfamiliar equipment. Thank you teachers and students for your fine efforts in making this all possible.
They also said that the beverages served, espressos in particular, were of a standard that could be served in a cafe. They said it was also good to see some creativity in the signature beverages
Last but not least we thank the judges – head judge Paul Holiday (Coffee Education Network), Brent Deller (Barista Tools), Tony Strickett (Coffex) as well as freelancers Leigh Carmichael and Stacey-Leigh Benjamin. Leigh and Stacey performed a special role in helping a student who spilled his signature beverage on the judges table. It was a devastating experience for the student but Stacey and Leigh did what comes naturally to them, and helped with kindness and supportive words. I suspect they may have been able to tell a story or two about similar spills by professional baristas.
We were grateful to Tony and Brent for guiding the students during their preparation time and giving demonstrations and talks on various aspects of coffee making afterwards. Stacey Leigh also gave a talk on her personal tips on how to become a barista.