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NEWS SECTION OF THE SCAE IRISH
CHAPTER WEBSITE.
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SCAE Wonderful
Coffee 2009 - Cologne
by Jackie
Malone
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Once
again a bleary eyed start (5am) to a great trip to Cologne.
Dublin Airport and the pleasure of Joseph Smith, Paul Stack,
Colin Harmon and Hugh Gilmartin for company, what more could
a girl want!
No time before we arrived in Frankfurt and an almost too
efficient transfer on the Ice train (very fast) to Cologne.
Straight to the conference centre to set up the Gold Cup
Stand. Literally build it, blood sweat and lots of Velcro.
Job well done by Paul, Colin, Tony and good supervision,
of course, by Joseph.
Next day was the opening of the show and the first of 4
competitions: Latte Art, Coffee in Fine Spirits, Cupping
and Ibrick. With our very own Fan Zan in Latte Art, Bernard
Mac Donnell in Cupping and for the first time Ireland competed
in Ibrick with Colin Harmon our current IBC champion.
The Cupping competition 2009 was won by Russia’s Valentina
Kazachkova who got eight out of eight cups correct, with
Bart van Sanden of Belgium in second place and Japan’s
Ejiro Goto in third place.
The Latte Art competition 2009 was won by Peter Hernou from
Belgium, with Periklis Karavas from Greece in second place
and Australia’s Erin Sampson in third place.
Terrific effort put in by all, well done to Fan, Bernard
and Colin, ye did us proud. As with every year that I have
witnessed these competitions, it never ceases to amaze me
how the standard surpasses previous years. They really and
truly are exceptional competitors from around the world.
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Apart
from the competitions there was lots of attention focused
on the Uber boiler, with Paul, Joseph and Colin demonstrating
their stuff with great flair and some very unusual technical
adjustments with water pipes! Lots of familiar faces (Champions)
paying great attention to the now cult brewer.
The Gold Cup stand also drew attention with some people
in the industry well aware of the programme and some being
introduced for the first time. It is amazing how through
coffee we can communicate even when there wasn’t a
common language. It was wonderful to meet so many interesting
people at this stand and hopefully we have managed to plant
a few seeds for better brewing practice throughout the world.
The great thing about these shows is the meeting with old
and new friends. The coffee chats and the odd beer! What
I found most amazing is that we now have Baristas carrying
refractometers! It makes you think where we will be with
coffee in 5 years or even 10. With the coffee community
growing in size and intensity the industry can only benefit,
from grower to consumer. |
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World Barista
Championships 2009 Atlanta
Congratulations to
Colin Harmon from Coffee Angel who achieved 4th place in
the 10th annual World Barista Championship 2009 held in
Atlanta. Colin, a relative newcomer to the world of speciality
coffee, amazed international judges and the global audience
by reaching the finals in his first year as a professional
barista. Colin, a former mutual fund manager in Dublin ’
s Docklands, left the world of high finance a little over
a year ago to pursue a career in speciality coffee and displays
skills, knowledge and passion well beyond his time as a
professional barista.
National barista champions from 51 countries
converged in Atlanta to compete for the title of world ’
s best barista in front of a live and online audience of
thousands of viewers from around the world.
In three days of preliminary round competition, each competitor
served four espressos, four cappuccinos and four signature
drinks to exacting standards in 15-minute performances before
a panel of seven judges.
Competitors are judged on station cleanliness, beverage
taste, presentation, technical skills, coffee knowledge
and overall judge’s impression.
Colin’s outstanding signature drink made with a winning
combination of Morello cherries, sea buckthorn sugar, seaweed,
creme anglaise and a Bolivian single origin espresso.
The competition was eventually won by Gwylim Davies of the
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Colin Harmon 4th Place at the
World Barista Championship Atlanta
A
video of Colin ’ s performance
can be found on the link below
www.worldbaristachampionship.com
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Avonmore Championships
2009
Congratulations to both Colin and Fan
The Avonmore Irish Barista
& Latte Art competitions 2009 were without a doubt
the best yet. 22 of the best baristas visited the RDS
in Dublin on Tuesday the 10th of February and Wednesday
the 11th of February from all over Ireland.
The Latte Art competition
winners were– Fan Zhang Irish Latte Art Champion
2009 (Café Darwin), 2nd place Tiago Fabris Rendelli
(Butlers Chocolate), 3rd place Wang Hui (Butlers Chocolate).
The winners of the
Irish Barista Championships were – Colin Harmon
the new Irish Barista Champion for 2009 (Coffee Angel),
2nd place Vicky Fitz-Henry (Butlers Chocolate), 3rd place
Radovan Urban (Bewleys Coffee).
Congratulations to the other
three barista finalists – Robert Dunne (Café
Darwin), Christopher Miller (Marble Tea Rooms) & Fan
Zhang (Café Darwin).
Our thanks to our sponsor
Avonmore. Where would this competition be without the
best milk. Also Thanks to our machine sponsor CMA for
both machines and super tech Jason Jones.
Thanks to all of the international
judges who took the time to come and help us. Thanks to
all of our own national judges both new & not so new.
Last but not least a special round of applause to the
SCAE Irish chapter committee members.
Last but not least, a special
thank you to Espresso Warehouse for the Barista party.
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Avonmore Irish Latte
Champion 2009
Fan Zhang
BE A COFFEE-
DRINKING INDIVIDUAL -
ESPRESSO YOURSELF!
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Avonmore Irish Barista
Champion 2009
Colin Harmon
For Competition Coverage
Click on
Video link below
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