International barista competitions

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The new World Barista Champion is from El Salvador

The title of World Barista Champion for 2011 goes to Alejandro Mendez from Viva Espresso in El Salvador – significant not only because it is the most prestigious title an individual barista can win but also because it is the first time this title has gone to a producing country.

The competition took place in Bogota Colombia with over 50 nations competing.

Runners up were Pete Licata from Honolulu Coffee Company, USA in second place and Australia’s Matt Perger, from Axil Coffee Roasters in third place – only half a point behind.

SCAE World of Coffee results

While we did not make it to Bogota, Paul and I were among a small number of Australians who travelled to Maastricht to wave the flag for the three Aussie competitors in the SCAE World of Coffee. They all performed superbly to maintain Australia’s reputation as a leader when it comes to coffee skill and knowledge.

Australian Latte Art champion, Kirby Berlin was knocked out of the Latte Art competition (with an impressive score none the less) before the final round, however, Luca Costanzo and Andy Freeman both made it to the finals, with Luca ranking 3rd in the Brewers Cup Championship and Andy, 5th in the World Cezve/Ibrik Championship. Luca showed his diversity by also representing Australia in the World Cup Tasting Championship.

This year, baristas from Greece took out two of the five championship titles with Chris Loukakis winning the World Latte Art and Kyriakos Ouzounides, the World Cup Tasters.

Other titles went to Phillip Leytes of Russia for World Coffee in Good Spirits and Bae Jin-Seol of South Korea for the World Cezve/Ibrik event. Lastly, Keith O’Sullivan from Ireland is the winner of the World Brewers Cup.

Greece wins Best Coffee Nation

When you combine the rankings for each nation in the six international events above, you get the Best Coffee Nation.

The highest-ranking nation overall for 2011 is Greece, who can now proudly claim they are the Best Coffee Nation for the next 12 months. Upon the announcement of the result, you could hear the excitement from afar and it went on for hours!

Congratulations go to the following individual baristas from Greece who worked so hard to take this title, that for 2010 belonged to Australia.

Chris Loukakis won the World Latte Art Championship and Kyriakos Ouzounides won the World Cup Tasters Championship. Their team mates also scored well with Kostas Arapoglou ranking 3rd in the World Cezve/Ibrik Championship, Stefanos Domatiotis represented his county in two events ranking 4th in the World Brewers Cup Championship and 10th in the World Barista Championship.