When it was that announced that the 2013 World Barista and World Brewers Cup Championships would be in Melbourne, great excitement rippled through the global coffee community. For us it was a bit like finding out the Olympics are to be staged in our country. Apparently the application process is a bit like the Olympics too and I’m told we have Craig Dickson, then president of the AustralAsian Specialty Coffee Association, to thank for convincing World Coffee Events we’d put on a great show..
When the global coffee community descended on Melbourne, Australia had many opportunities to feel proud in the months following – with so many international coffee folk announcing they loved our cafe culture and believed it was the best in the world. Our national pride and feathers fluffed up at every such mention.
It was as if the whole city of Melbourne was buzzing with MICE fever for 3 days. A special tram ferrying visitors from the city to the Melbourne Showgrounds sported the MICE logo, announcing to all that something really important was happening at the end of the tram ride.
59 baristas came to Melbourne to compete in the World Barista Championship and 26 for the World Brewers Cup Championship. The rest of the championship events were to be held in Nice later in the year and we were fortunate to be going there as well.
Cafetto sponsored the Barista Buddy Program, which paired each visiting barista from overseas with a local one. The idea was to offer support during their competition preparation but also to give them an insight into Australian culture and the Melbourne coffee scene. Everything I heard about the Barista Buddy Program in Nice a few months later, was that it was a huge success.
World Barista Championships
The finals are always the main event at any competition, and this was no exception in 2013. Keen to get a good seat, eager onlookers were lined up before the doors of the grand pavilion opened. The atmosphere was amazing, and the finalists gave the crowds six reasons to be proud of their industry.
At the end, flags of the 59 competing countries were raised, and after each heat the flags of those who didn’t make it to the next round were brought down – until there were just 6, representing the finalists who were …
- Pete Licata (USA)
- Matt Perger (Australia)
- William Hernandez (El Salvador)
- Colin Harmon (Ireland)
- Nick Clark (New Zealand)
- Francesco Sanapo (Italy)
The ultimate winner was Pete Licata from the USA, with Australia’s Matt Perger in second place. Pete works at Parisi Coffee in Kansas City.
World Brewers Cup Championship
The World Brewers Cup, the finalists were …
- Erin McCarthy (USA)
- Jung InSung (South Korea)
- Josh Tarlo (Canada)
- Sang Ho Park (United Kingdom)
- Carolina Franco de Souza (Brazil)
- Tibor Varady (Hungary)
The winner was Erin McCarthy also from the USA. Australia’s Lachlan Ward was knocked out in the first round of heats. Erin started his coffee career at Gimme Coffee, then moved to Counter Coffee Culture.
Congratulations to the two Americans who were winners in this year’s competitions!.
With so many international competitors came team supporters and visitors from far and wide. Past champions Gwilym Davies (2009 World Barista Champion) and Raul Rodas (2012 World Barista Champion were at the Espresso Mechanics stand explaining the ins and outs of the latest Nuovo Simonelli and Victoria Arduino machine technology. As always, Reg Barber had a huge presence with his tamps and trophies, and once again took out the unofficial award for the most photographed personality at the show. It was lovely to meet Federico Bolanos again and give him a copy of our second edition Barista Bible, since he’d bought the first edition 3 years ago before Alejandro Mendez won the 2011 WBC in Bogota. And it’s always lovely to catch up with Elise Kelly and Caroline Fairman from Coffee Kids
Finally, here’s a snapshot of a few of the coffee people who were there.
