The Become A Barista was once again on stage at the 2015 Gold Coast Show and again the Palazzo Versace event management students helped poiut. As well as Richard Silipo (SIlipo Coffee), Brent Deller (BaristaTools) and Tim Sweet (Base Espresso) who’ve helped prior, some new Gold Coast sponsors came on board – Mel, Anne and Liam (Journeymen Coffee Roasters), Peter Dobrenov (Turkish Coffee Guy), Daniel Smith (First Fruits Specialty Coffee) and Simon Shanahan (Simple Coffee House).
Richard provided a state-of-the-art San Remo espresso machine and his Nero blend of beans. Tim was our master of ceremonies. Mel, Simon, Dan and Richard were judges. Here they are hard at work between performances.
With last minute withdrawals from the competition, we had just 4 performances, giving each competitor the opportunity to chat with the master of ceremonies beforehand and with the judges afterwards. Getting feedback from the judges is one of the reasons the competition is so successful. It also gives exposure to the students for possible employment. Recently, Richard Silipo has taken on Jacob King who was a competitor in the 2014 competition. We will be keen to watch Jacob’s career unfold as an inspiration to other students.
The winning performance for 2015 overall was from Brandyn Manuel-Dunlop (Merrimac State High School). He also took out the award for ‘best technical performance’. The judges reported how extremely professional Brandyn’s routine was and how he was way ahead of the rest in his technical skills.
The runner up was Samantha Hendricks (St Michael’s College) who did a clever signature beverage with a ‘show clown’ using an ice cream cone over a caramel latte in a mason jar. Samantha was very well presented and her performance was very calm and relaxed. She was clearly well rehearsed.
Michael Wilson, also from St Michael’s College, took out prizes for ‘best espresso’ and ‘best milk beverage’. Because Michael was well organised with everything in place in his workstation, he was able to work confidently and give good focus to whatever job was at hand.
To be congratulated also is Liam Neville who was very well presented and gave a calm, well-considered performance.
The other advantage of smaller numbers is that there was time to tally the scores and check them on the day, so the winners can be announced and prizes presented straight after the competition. Prizes were from BaristaTools, Journeymen Coffee Roasters, Prestige Service Training and Coffee Education Network.
A summary of winners …
- Brandyn Manuel-Dunlop (Merrimac State High School) – overall winner
- Samantha Hendricks (St Michaels College) – runner up
- Brandyn Manuel-Dunlop (Merrimac State High School) – best technical score
- Michael Wilson (St Michaels College) – best espresso (sensory)
- Michael Wilson (St Michaels College) – best milk beverage (sensory)
- Brandyn Manuel-Dunlop (Merrimac State High School) – best signature beverage.
To top off the day, Peter Dobrenov did a demonstration on how to make Turkish coffee and Tim Sweet ran a latte art smackdown for the coffee professionals present – served in Palazzo Versace cups, none the less! Tim also presented a very generous prize to the winner.
Designed to inspire students to achieve higher goals with their latte art, it was a wonderful experience for the students present. Latte art is an area identified for future improvement. Ongoing, we will be implementing more training prior to the competition to raise the standard of latte art skills.
It was particularly inspiring to tell the students that Jacob, one of the latte art competitors was a school student in the Become A Barista competition just 2 years prior! Richard Silipo, a Gold Coast coffee roaster and one of the judges for Become A Barista that year, saw the potential in Jacob and gave him a job. Jacob’s latte art is second from the right in the top photo.
Lastly, we thank Karen Thorburn, training manager at Palazzo Versace and her Event Management students who helped organinse the competition and ensured it ran smoothly on the day.
