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Barista Competitions

Five Common Mistakes First Time Barista Competitors Make

October 2, 2018 By Michael Leave a Comment

With representatives from over fifty different countries, the World Barista Championship is something like the World Cup for coffee professionals. Along with Brewers Cup, Latte Art, and Coffee in Good Spirits, these competitions can help launch a barista’s career, landing them lucrative jobs offers, endorsements, or funding for their own businesses. Competitions also help push the industry forward, highlighting new processing methods, obscure varieties, and new brewing techniques.

Many baristas aspire to compete, but the learning curve is steep for first time competitors. As a barista competitor, coach, and judge, there are several mistakes I often see first time competitors make— many of which I made myself. These mistakes can result in a bad score that is discouraging even demoralizing for an aspiring barista, but thankfully can be avoided with good coaching and feedback.

Conflating the taste Balance and Flavor Descriptors

It’s pretty common to hear competitors describe their coffee as having “a lime-like acidity, a chocolate sweetness,” etc. The problem with this mistake— which is one I made myself— is that it conflates the taste balance and flavor categories on the score sheet. For taste balance, the competitor only needs to describe the intensity and quality of the acidity, …

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Filed Under: Barista Competitions Tagged With: Barista Competition, barista competitions

Chris Heiniger Wins 2015 Eastern Aeropress Championship

February 1, 2015 By Michael Leave a Comment

Aero02edit

Chris Heiniger of Louisville, Kentucky is the 2015 Eastern Aeropress Champion. The regional competition was hosted on January 31st by Louisville micro-roaster Quills Coffee in partnership with Prima Coffee. Eighteen baristas and coffee enthusiasts from as far as Toledo, Ohio to Washington D.C. participated in the bracket style competition. Heiniger, who competed representing Misc. Goods Co., defeated Dmitriy Zhigunov of Williamsburg, Virginia in the final round. Coffee blogger Brian Beyke took home the prize for third place. Heiniger, Zhigunov, and Beyke all earned a spot at the national championship, which will happen contemporaneously with the US Barista Championship in Long Beach, California. …

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Filed Under: Barista Competitions Tagged With: Aeropress, Alan Adler, Brian Beyke, Chris Heiniger, Louisville

We Went to the 2014 Big Eastern Barista Competition and Took a Bunch of Pictures

January 20, 2014 By Darren 1 Comment

Big Eastern 2014

On January 17-19, the best baristas on the entire East Coast descended on Durham, NC for the 2014 Big Eastern Barista Competition. Official online media sponsors Sprudge had the coverage locked down, but that didn’t stop us from snapping a bunch of pictures between downing shots of espresso brewed by …

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Filed Under: Barista Competitions Tagged With: 2014 Big Eastern Barista Competition, Camila Ramos, Counter Culture Coffee, Durham, Katie Carguilio, Lem Butler, North Carolina

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