It is no surprise that I am a big fan of barista competitions, but having recently gone through the UK judges workshop there are a couple of things I would like to post about and get some discussion going on.  First off an issue that both Anette and I find very frustrating:

The Scale of Words

For those unfamiliar with the words they are used to quantify the 0-6 scale used:

0 – Unacceptable
1 – Acceptable
2 – Average
3 – Good
4 – Very Good
5 – Excellent
6 – Extraordinary

Let’s start with 0 & 1.  I can see why they chose “Unacceptable” for 0 – if a judge is giving you no points whatsoever you must have done something pretty wrong.  However, I think using “Acceptable” creates an issue in the mind of the judge.  The drink might be very bad, but could certainly be worse.  Judges will often revert to the words – is this drink acceptable?  It may not be, but surely a single point out of six is punishment enough?

I guess it comes down to the difference in how numbers are perceived by judges and by competitors.  A score of 3 and below does not feel good.  Despite the words, a 3 feels mediocre.  However, a judge will often hold back from giving a 3 asking themselves if “good” is really the word to describe the drink.

Steps of 0.5 are allowed between 1 and 6, but these don’t come with words.  What is halfway between “good” and “very good”?  It is a question that needs to be answered as you see a lot of 3.5s awarded.  ”Really quite good” perhaps?

Using “Average” to describe 2 is also a bit depressing.  I would have thought average would have been in the middle – so a 3?  Are we saying that we expect the average competing barista to only score 2 in the 6 point boxes?

Choosing the language is obviously very difficult.  It would be hard to replace “Acceptable” with a word that wasn’t more damning.  I would argue that as a barista I would be happier with a numerical score, and then written feedback alongside it indicating both the problem and a possible solution.  (i.e. scoring 2.5 for tactile balance on an espresso, with a note saying “the shot was lacking in body, likely due to fast brew/underextraction.  Perhaps a slower brew would improve the body”)

I know a lot of people like and use the words, believing them to be an important frame of reference.  I’d be very interesting to hear people’s suggestions for alternative words in the comments.  Would people like to get rid of the words?  Do they think they are fine as they are?

The Scoresheets

It seems churlish to complain about something and not at least offer some sort of solution.  The layout of the scoresheets hasn’t really changed in 7 or 8 years.  Rules have come and gone but the layout has been pretty rigid.  I took the Sensory Scoresheet and moved a few things around, changed a couple of words but it is designed to be used with the current rules.

You can view it here.

The changes are based on how I use a scoresheet, so perhaps it says something about my judging!

First off – intros have changed a lot.  Competitors often deliver a lot of information in the first 90 seconds, including details about the coffee(s) they are using.  I wanted a dedicated space where I could take notes.  Previously I had used the espresso section, but it quickly becomes crowded, especially if you want to write detailed feedback on the taste of the drink.

Secondly – the boxes switched sides.  I wanted more space and a stronger emphasis on notes.  Leaving a wide open space to the right makes it even more explicit that judges should be filling this up completely with lots of useful notes.  Returning a scoresheet without detailed notes should be grounds for disqualifying a judge.  Only one barista gets a prize, the others get the scoresheets and feedback from the event – so it had better be damned good!

Thirdly – circles.  This is something a lot of judges do already – draw a little circle to better communicate what was wrong with the visuals of the espresso/cappuccino.  Interestingly the UK judges have come up with a slightly more complex system for noting down the visuals of drinks to better communicate scores – especially to other judges debriefing a competitors on sheets they didn’t write.  I like the idea – though I feel like it would make a nice ancillary piece of info, rather than replacing words, and helpful advice.   An area to watch nonetheless.

Fourth – a little rewording.  In an effort to squeeze more notation space onto the sheets I trimmed a few words.  In other cases I added words that the rules say to look for but hadn’t been included on the sheets.  Thoughts and comments on this very welcome.

Ultimately I wanted more space to write notes, because I think that will improve the use of the sheets returned to the competitors.  Would love to hear some feedback – from baristas, judges or anyone else?

I really want to  encourage people to enter, it isn’t as difficult or scary as it seems.  Everyone who competes, as long as they do it for the right reasons, gets a lot out of it and doesn’t regret a minute of it.  What’s more – I guarantee it will make you a better barista.

1).    Make sure you put an espresso into every sig drink.

Now to begin with this might sound painfully obvious, but every year people make this mistake and up until now the rules haven’t been very clear.  Just brewing those 4 espressos isn’t enough.  If you blend them into something and don’t pour it all out then it doesn’t count as an espresso per drink.  Under the new rules you would get 0 from all sensory judges for this category so DO NOT make that mistake.

I really can’t emphasize this enough (Tip No.4 from the previous post) – Know the Rules!

2).    Come to competitions to learn.

If you compete with the sole goal of winning then most of the time competitions are disappointing and unenjoyable.  Whether it is your first competition or your fifth – if you are open to it then competition is the most intensive 15 minutes of learning of your life, and a great experience.  Those who come only to win often leave resentful of their scoresheet instead of seeing areas where they can continue to learn and develop, which is a real shame.

3).    Be yourself.

If the rule changes are implying anything it is that judges want to see individual, interesting and above all genuine performances.  This was a big goal for both Stephen and myself – from the music, to how we dressed to the way we talked to the judges.  (And of course the drinks we served!) Don’t try and be the barista onstage that you think the judges want to see.  Be honest, be yourself, let your passion for what you come out.  This year I really hope to see some interesting, entertaining and honest performances because those are the ones you remember best and enjoy most.

4).    Stop worrying about latte art.

A rosetta on a capp is not the be all and end all of a competition routine.  It is a six point box.  If you aren’t comfortable pouring art onstage then don’t worry, judges are more interested in taste and texture.  I’ve seen a bad pour throw the routine off of many a barista and it just isn’t worth worrying about.

5).    It isn’t about recreating real life.

Barista competition is a game based on real life, not a direct recreation of a bar.  You can fight against it, moan about, or have fun playing a game that makes you better at what you do for a living.  Once you turn it into a sport it becomes impossible to recreate what happens day to day.  Don’t worry about it – worry about making great drinks, and entertaining your judges for 15 minutes.

If you are reading this in the UK and you want to get involved then click here.  Again – I highly recommend the experience, and it is one of the few opportunities to meet up with other baristas from all over the UK.

I don’t really have an issue with the rules of the competition as they are now, and I am not out to suggest a better competition or anything. I am really looking at this from the angle of former competitor.

A few suggestions:

Get rid of the words explaining the numbers

At the bottom of the score sheet there is a key to the numbers:
0 – Unacceptable
1 – Acceptable
2 – Average
3 – Good
4 – Very Good
5 – Excellent
6 – Extraordinary

I think this creates a big misunderstanding around the lower scores. To get a 2, as a barista, is pretty disappointing. It feels like criticism, but a judge could be meaning it was ok. Not bad, not great but average. Equally I think it makes scoring higher difficult as a judge going by the words – What exactly is the difference between Very Good and Excellent.

In the UK we’ve tried to use the mantra of “what more do I want?” as judges because this pretty much mirrors the question you ask as a barista when you pull a great shot of great coffee and get a 4. We’ve tried to ignore the words and just use the numbers. This leads me to my next point:

Explanations are mandatory for scores below 3

If we are to use barista competitions to promote the craft and help baristas improve then your scoresheet at the end of this needs to be very useful. On the day only one person gets the trophy. To some extent all the rest get back beyond the experience are the sheets themselves. Getting a blank sheet full of low scores back is not only disheartening but frustrating. I think judges need to be held accountable for their scores and there is plenty of room on the sheet for notes.

An online barista competition wiki

I think as barista competitions mature around the world there still needs to be some resource available for a variety of things. For visual things it would be great to see if we all rate drinks similarly – be it crema colour, latte art or exactly how a great traditional looks. Useful for both judges and baristas.

Then it would be good if there were somewhere to ask questions about things not really covered in the rules. There are several things that the rules state as being illegal with no indication of the correct way to punish them. There will always be new and surprising things happening and it would be great if the JCC were available for questions on rules (like using a side table to pour capps at the judges table) as well as other judges weighing in with their opinion. I think it is easy to feel that unless you have some level of inside knowledge then you can never achieve the highest points. A little transparency would go a long way.

I am not ought to criticise or rewrite the rules – I think if you chose to compete you agree to play by the rules and if you don’t like them no one is forcing you to play.
However I’d love to see the competition keep evolving in a way that has a positive impact on the baristas entering and on the coffee they serve.

I’d love to hear opinions of both competitors and judges on this as long as we don’t drift into what people think is wrong with the competition format as that is a separate discussion altogether.

Colombian National Barista Competition

The competition is still very young there – this was only its second year. The first thing that happened was that Anette, Salvador and I each jumped onto a competition station and began making drinks for the judges evaluation. After this they asked Fabian (their first champion, who didn’t compete this year), Salvador and I to do an 8 drink presentation to the judges and to the people who were watching what was happening on the stage (the show was open, even though the competition wasn’t going yet).

Salvador doing an 8 drink run

It is always nice to watch other baristas work, especially when the pressure is not on. Highly caffeinated we left and headed out for a little food with Anette’s friend Margarita and family and Salvador’s sister and her husband. Bogota seems quite carefully divided into different sections, with restaurants often grouped together. The place has a great atmosphere at night.

The second day was a little more judges calibration and then Anette and I were asked if we wanted to judge – which we of course did! We were both assigned as techs – taking half a day each. I hadn’t tech’d much in the past and you forget how intense it is – how attentive you have to be. I did enjoy the challenge over the 4 days though.

Tech Judging

People would constantly come up and ask what I thought of the standard, and I was honest. For such a new competition the standard was higher than I expected. Like any competition there is a range of baristas when it comes to preparation and performance. I wish I was tasting more though – I didn’t get many shots from competitors.

On the third day I was told that I would be doing another presentation – this time a full 12 drink presentation, ideally my WBC one. This was quite a challenge and in the end I just scraped by – thanks to Monica who ran all over the show tracking down pots and pans and stoves and some tobacco (I ended up using a cigar). The presentation was quite fun. Again I was on after Fabian and Salvador who were each a lot more prepared than me. I didn’t get to see Fabian’s as I was setting up, though I saw Salvadors – he did the alginate sphere’s though not of coffee – instead it was of a green japanese tea leaf. Very cool! He is a great performer, a very skilled and dedicated barista and one to watch for Copenhagen. He also leant me a load of his stuff which was very kind!

Salvador Benitez creating his signature drink

What was nice about these three performances is that the judges were often members of the audience invited up to taste the drinks, amongst them were a couple of the baristas who had competed earlier and were hungry to see and learn more.

Once you win the WBC you kind of assume your competition performance days are long behind you, and often this is quite a relief. I tried to relax into my performance though I was keenly aware that I was a bit out of practice and knew next to nothing about the coffee I was using and had had little time to dial it in. Still – I managed to keep the judges entertained:

Keeping the judges entertained

After our performances there were photos, a lot of photos. In fact I don’t think I’ve ever been photographed as much as I was in Colombia. It was, in some ways, terrifying. When I am in the UK I pretty much forget that I won in Tokyo, but when I travel to coffee events things like that really remind me. I even got to sign memorabilia for little kids (another one ticked off the list of things to do before I die!).

What’s great about these type of events is the sense of community, meeting so many baristas and communicating in a cumbersome manner in my bad Spanish (I am working on it I promise). Both Anette and I had a lot of fun teching and it was frustrating that we had to leave to catch our plane straight after judging the last of the 6 finalists. We found out by text later that Blanca Bernal (who works for Amor Perfeito – Luis Velez’s company) had won. Her presentation was very solid – and the drinks must have been good as she survived running a little overtime and making a few little errors in the sig drink. I think she will do well in Copenhagen and congratulations to all the finalists – looking at the scores it was very close indeed.

Hopefully I will see Jose and Salvador in Mexico (a man can dream) before I seem them in Copenhagen and I hope to catch up with other baristas soon.

Me, Salvador Benitez and Fabian Marin

P.S. Andres Carne de Res is great! A crazy restaurant/club holding 3000 people and a couple of girls with fake plastic breasts who come and sing you a song with a little band, wishing you “Welcome to Colombia!” – as long as someone asks nicely. Thank you Margarita! Thank you to Patti and Julian too for being kind hosts and a lot of fun.

Colombia was great and I really hope I get to go back again and maybe see more of the city, and maybe a little less coffee!