The final event in a culmination of competitions held in over 50 countries, the 2008 World Barista Championship, wrapped up in Copenhagen, Denmark after the past several days of intense competition. Alongside the Barista Championship were the World Latte Art Championship and the World Cup Tasting Championship, each with an Australian representative competing. And compete we did, showing that Australia can mix it with the best coffee professionals in the world:
Congratulations to all of Team Australia:
Con Haralambopolous 1st place World Latte Art Championship
David Makin 2nd place World Barista Championship
Catherine Ferrari 14th place World Cup Tasting Championship
This was Con Haralambopolous first trip to a World Championship and what a first it was! After placing second to David Makin in a hard fought battle earlier in the year at the Australian Barista Championships, Con subsequently turned his attention to the Australian Latte Art Championship. Utilizing his long experience as a competitor he secured a win of the nationals and followed on with a calm and collected presentation to take out the 2008 World Latte Art Champion title. This is now the third year running that an Australian has taken out the 1st place World Latte Art Championship title with 2006 and 2007 being won by Scottie Callaghan and Jack Hanna respectively. Final results:
<!--[if !supportLists]--><!--[endif]-->1st - Con Haralambopoulos AUSTRALIA - 46,0 (852) - 7:48
<!--[if !supportLists]--><!--[endif]-->2nd - Kira Malchenko RUSSIA - 45,5 (892) - 7:55
With 52 countries being represented by their national champion, this years World Barista Championship is the largest ever, with each year bringing more seasoned and knowledgeable competitors. After winning the Australian Barista Championship earlier in May, David Makin then lugged his grinders, coffee, cups and the rest of his excess baggage on the long haul to Copenhagen, Denmark. There, he competed against all 52 baristas, securing a highly coveted spot in the final top 6. With the pressure building and spectators looking on from all over the world via a live web stream, David marshaled his long experience and gave a spectacular presentation achieving an close 2nd place the highest placing Australia has won in many years! Final results:
It was the first World Championship for our third national representative, Catherine Ferrari, who journeyed from one of the most remote cities in the world, Perth, Western Australia, to make her way to Copenhagen to compete in the World Cup Tasting Championship. Imaging 3 cups of black coffee in front of you two cups have the same coffee while one is a different. Then times this by 8 each competitor must go through the 8 sets and correctly identify the odd coffee out. Catherine set a blistering pace, tasting her way through all 8 sets in 1 minute and 11 seconds the fastest time out of all the competitors! She managed to identify 6 out of the 8 coffees correctly in this phenomenally fast time but the might of the Scandinavian palate was not to be denied with Casper Engel Rasmussen of Denmark identifying all 8 odd coffees out in 1 minute 46 seconds. Final results:
Once again, a big congratulations to Con, David and Catherine for their excellent performances and for showing the rest of the world that Australia is a key player in the specialty coffee industry!
Keep an eye on this page and your inboxes for upcoming details of the state and national competitions leading up to the 2009 World Barista Championships (WBC). With the coming WBC being held on 16 19th April in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, the next Australian round of competitions will be coming faster than ever: time to download the score sheets and get preparing!
