Based on the success of hosting the 2013 Barista and Brewers Cup Championships, in 2014 MICE attracted the rest of the World Coffee events – the Latte Art, Cup Tasters and Coffee in Good Spirits. We where there with Barista Bibles to join in the fun with over 100 exhibitors and nearly 10,000 visitors.
The competitions
Following 3 days of heats and a fiercely competitive finale, the 3 winners were announced …
- World Latte Art Champion – Christina Ulrich (from Germany)
- World Cup Tasters Championships – Pan Yu Liu (from Taiwan)
- World Coffee in Good Spirits Championship – Matt Perger (from Australia)
On hearing that Matt Perger had won the Coffee in Good Spirits, the crowd went wild, as Matt had already won the Australian Barista Championship (with Craig Simon in second place) the previous year and in the Australian Barista Championship the previous day, he’d placed a close second (with Craig in first place). A bit confusing? What this all means is that Matt is winning a lot and competing ‘neck and neck’ with Craig!
Special mention must go to the other Australian champions who participated on the world stage in Melbourne – Rie Moustakis from Perth, who placed 4th in the World Latte Art and Byoung-Woo Kangwho (BW as he’s known) from Melbourne, who placed 5th in the World Cup Tasters.
As well as the 3 world championships, 2 of the Australian championships were held at MICE – the Barista and Brewers Cup. Winners who will now go on to represent Australia in Rimini later in the year were …
- Australian Barista Champion – Craig Simon (Think Tank)
- Australian Brewers Cup Champion – Devin Loong (The Mailing Room).
Meanwhile, another Australian competition was taking place – the aeropress championships at Filter Coffee in the CBD. The winner was Ian Johnson from Paramount Coffee in Sydney.And yet another – the Da Vinci Gourmet Coffee Chain Challenge. Using the WBC format and ASCA certified judges, Lewina Stewart, a barista from Jamaica Blue in Toowoomba, won out of about 10 participants. Lewina and her supporters were overwhelmed with excitement as she had only been working in coffee for a few months.Following the competitions, were career talks by locally bred champions Dave Makin and Con Haralambopoulis alongside 2008 World Barista Champion, Pete Licata from the USA. All 3 talked about their careers, their rise to fame and what it has brought them professionally and personally. If I were a young barista, I’d be truly inspired.
International visitors
With 30 international teams across the 3 competitions, there were plenty of international visitors among the thousands of Australians in attendance – most notably Reg Barber from Canada with his trusty tampers and trophies, Nikos and Tania Amenos from Greece as well as Elise Kelly and Caroline Fairman, from Coffee Kids in the USA.
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Mocopan’s 60th birthdayA definite highlight for me, being interested in anything about Australian coffee history, was Mocopan Coffee’s 60th birthday celebration – with its quirky sign and a stand of friendly folk that work at Mocopan, including Ken Corbin and Hannah Fielding. I took my turn in the obligatory photo on the Mocopan red carpet to celebrate the event with Ken and Hannah.
Mocopan dates from 1954 when 3 Italians started roasting coffee in Preston, Melbourne. In 1958 the Dimattina family took over the company, retaining the Mocopan name and growing the business considerably. In the 1990s Mocopan was sold to Cerebos Pty Ltd. In 2009 Mocopan was relaunched with a new image and focus, including a $4 million upgrade to the original Preston premises.
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Show highlightsAlternative brewing was a highlight again this year with many companies featuring filter and cold drip methods. Sensory Lab had a huge stand with demonstrations and tastings where we enjoyed some delicious tea-like single origin coffees. Especially light and sweet, was the Santa Theresa Batista Honey Geisha from Panama.
I always have a private chuckle when my young coffee friends talk as if these styles of coffee making are new. Old enough to have experimented with number of old drip and filter methods in my kitchen long before an espresso machine, I probably need to remind them that these methods go back hundreds of years and it’s a case of ‘what’s old is new again’.A little coffee trivia about the origins of alternative brewing methods …
- Syphon coffee dates from the 1830s and has its origins in Berlin.
- The earliest filter coffee dates from 1710 in France when the ground coffee was first separated from the water in a linen bag or a sock!
- An archbispop in Paris is said to have invented a drop pot with two chambers one on top of the other with a cloth filter in between.
- Paper coffee filters were invented in 1908 by Melitta Benz, a German housewife.
Popular highlights where the Vittorio Arduino Black Eagle and the Sanremo Opera, 2 new espresso machines making their first appearances in Australia – taking espresso machinery to a whole new level, according to the baristas hovering about these machines with great interest.
Not to be upstaged, was the La Marzocco stand with espresso machines displaying their inner parts – assembled in sections for all to see the various operating functions and features.
Not to be upstaged too, were all the other colourful models that graced the floor! I do often wonder where these machines end up, in the land where La Marzocco reigns supreme!
Stands are getting bigger and more creative at MICE with no expense spared by some companies. It was ‘the year of vehicles’ on the show floor with the massive Ducale truck, the Pura Milk, Espresso Mechanics and Iveko vans, the Dimattina coffee cart and the Toby’s Estate coffee caravan.
Finally, a few more highlights in photos …