As for barista’s not being themsleves and expressing themsleves more during competition I think we may see a move away from “black tie” at next years WBC and see more competitors behaving like they would as if the stage was just an extension of their cafes. Not that I have anything against dressing smartly, I unlike many baristas come to work dress quite smartly in my shiny black shoes and a shirt. I just never got the tattoo’s and t-shirt thing. Im babbling a little now so I think the most important part of this is be true to yourself and don’t try to be something you think you have to. Its a barista competition afterall not a popularity contest. Maybe we need a few judges dressing down and showing off the tattoos to help us relax.

I know of several competitors who use riedel glassware just for water, which is absolutely insane and a whole host of other funny things that people do to try and get a competitive edge but if people are spending so much on competitions and dressing up like they are a 7star hotelier isn’t this taking it way too far away from what we do behind the bar?
I see such an amazing alternative and still diverse subculture full of tattoos and awesome musicians and coffeegeeks. It’s fairly safe to say that baristas as a populace tend more towards bohemian rather than corporate but it is the latter image that we project in a lot of these competitions. Now I’ve been watching these comps for so long now and we’re turning into buttoned down baristas for 15minutes a year twice a year when we compete. Does anyone else think that these competitions are getting further and further away from who we are?

The giants of the industry (non specialty coffee) are generally the only ones who can advertise to the consumer. Very few artisan roasters and 3rd wave cafes have the resources to advertise to the masses, so these barista championships are one of the few opportunities we have to speak to the media in efforts to reach the consumer about our way of specialty coffee.

Nana’s no-show for the nationals means one less article, one less news segment, one less radio sound byte.

Though a champion barista may work for a competing cafe or roaster, they are collectively a champion for the entire specialty coffee industry in their area.

In my pollyanna view of the world, I always think that competing factions will cast aside their corporate colours and unite under a nationalist loyalty, and jump onto the bandwagon of support for their champion.

We’ve seen this spirit lately in Canada. Baristas from rival cafes in Victoria training together, in order to vanquish their Vancouver rivals, an Elektra dealer in Calgary, allowing a Lamarzocco into his showroom for a jam, a Toronto cafe owner TRAINING a rival cafe’s finalist for the nationals, and competitors in Quebec banding together to promote their first regional championship.

Hopefully the local specialty coffee players in Germany can band together and come up with an airline ticket. I know economic times are tough, and politics thick..but that’s when we can get creative..Collection tins in every cafe? Fundraising Bbq’s? raffles? *shrug*

However next year I will have most things wont I? Yes and no, this year I used the grinder supplied by the sponsors because my work grinders are looking somewhat tired. Big mistake, I would very much doubt anyone is going to score big unless they use their own grinder. So I’m already going to have to budget for a new grinder, which will be £500+. I don’t really need a new grinder but I suppose I can substantiate buying a new grinder every four years – sound reasonable?

But, then the other night I was dumb enough to watch Heston on television and found inspiration from him for my new sig drink for next year which means that I will need to go out and buy a new glass reactor and vacuum pump, plus other bits of lab equipment – don’t worry I used to be a chemist in a previous life I sort of know what I’m doing!

Once again I’m going to spend far too much money. Indeed this year I bought four shiny new rattleware jugs, only to decide I don’t like them and will never use them again. How much of next years investment will gather dust in a cupboard?

So to conclude, my view is there should be a limit put on expenditure, maybe with espresso cups and cap cups provided, water and milk jugs provided. Maybe even with everyone using the same sponsors grinder?

I can’t think of a better way of making it more of a level playing field.

Intelligentsia is a great company to work for when it comes to competition, all I have to say is, all who work for the company, worked their guts out (and still are) at their talent for years prior and in some cases traveled great distances to get the opportunity to work for a company like Intelligentsia. So if the reward for their hard work and commitment over the years is a trip here and there plus the chance to get to work with fantastic coffees, then they bloody deserve it.

Way to go all who competed!