The Wild Drink Blog

Here’s my thoughts. Almost everything but the signature drink is what a good barista does every day for a living (don’t get me started on competitors who aren’t and don’t). For competition you may dress impractically, use tiny china cups, less milk and a tray but in essence the techinicals should be reflex, the knowledge ingrained and the skills well developed.

The signature is something we don’t do and that’s what makes it stand out so much in our consciences and the competition. Almost nobody gets to taste any of the coffees you make on stage, but we all know what good capps and espressos should taste like. Few can imagine what some of our signatures actually taste like, they excite and stimulate both imagination and discussion.

Signatures should be given a lot of effort but not a lot of points because they’re important to the show and score but all but irrelevant to what we have to do to make great coffee.

The imbalance for me is in expense. Signatures don’t encourage thrift.

There are actually (per judges) 66 points available for your sig drink and and 80 points for your espresso making the difference a slightly closer 14 points. I’ve taken in to account the technical score sheet here.
Like yourself my heat was in November so we have had much more practice time than all those competitors qualifying in Jan. But unlike you I have not put much practice in to my sig drink, I think I’ll do the same one as my heat. I just haven’t had the time so I’ve focused most of my efforts on what you have mentioned gets you the most points, the taste of the coffee! In most cases the ‘Taste Balance’ means can I taste the coffee!
Thats my best advice, I think, sort your beans out first and worry about your tea spoons last.
I’m on Wednesday 11.30am but I’ll probably come up and watch you lot on Tuesday. Got to go now my daughter is craving my attention!
P.s. Good Luck!

(Hi, Chloe is sleeping now!) Hugo you say that we all know what a good espresso taste like and what a good cappuccino tastes like, I don’t think this is true. From watching some of the heats it is clear that more and more people are understanding and successfully doing the technical elements, being able to achieve a good extraction, dosing the porta filter manually and making perfect micro foam milk……. is now expected from every competitor at the semi finals. Peoples ability to present their ideas and professionalism is miles ahead of what we were all doing a few years ago.

So what is left, our creativeness in our signature drink? What will win it this year is not what the spectators or fellow competitors can see happening it is what the judges will be tasting. Here the balance of points for the sig drink is fair because you get most of the points for the taste of the drink.

This high level of competitiveness is creating a new breed of Barista, somebody who is trying to achieve so much more than anyone in a cafe churning out lattes and cappuccinos all day. Have the true Baristas out there started to forget what their true roots really are? I don’t make these drinks everyday infact I haven’t made a chargeable coffee for somebody for years, where does that put me on your ‘don’t get me started on those who aren’t or don’t list???’ What you do in your shop is so far removed from what you are about to do in your 15 min it makes me think what is this competition turning us baristas into?

Don’t get me wrong I love the competition and it is forcing massive improvements in the coffee world but have we left all the day to day baristas who are desperately trying to get a nice 25 second extraction miles behind?

Sorry for the rant… just a few random thoughts…. see you in 11 days! Eddie

You can’t drop those sort of comments and say ’see you in 11 days!’ Even though you will!

Has it crossed your mind that there are lots of baristas out there churning out great lattes, capps and espressos on a daily basis. One after the other. Virtually non stop in busy shops. Passionately. I’ve knocked out 30,000 odd in Relish, as best I could, because my business is making coffee. I wish every coffee shop cared as much.

‘Sort the beans out first’? not really. It’s a barista competition. It’s about making espresso, not roasting it or blending it. It’s all very lovely having the time and connections to produce a custom blend, but you’ll notice the majority of the competition don’t. They know the blend, they understand the roast, but they leave it to the professionals. They make espresso, like a chef makes a plate of food. Growing the ingredients and knowing the cows is just window dressing. I use a good (great?) supplier who uses a good (great?) roaster, the foundation of a progressive industry… The result being that customers can buy what I brew on stage.

It strikes me your view of this competition makes my point. I’m going to make espressos and cappuccinos in London as near as dammit precicely how I make them every day for every one of my customers notwithstanding the cup size as mentioned. This, I hope, is the point of the competition. While you go through the motions to score the points to some indeterminate end, I’m doing what I actually do because it matters to my customers, my business and ultimately my livelihood. I hope this is the case with a whole bunch of other baristas who I hope to hell go back to their coffee shops and maintain those standards. The more we care the more coffee lovers get what they pay for…a drink made with hard learned skills that tastes delicious.

Sorry, a bottle of Rioja has loosened my fingers. I look forward to the semis… and really hope to see you in the finals! Inshallah.

Well, I’m in quite a state of mind now because my presentation for the semi-final is 12 hours ahead, but what you write about signature drinks makes perfect sense. This is why this year my drink is (nearly) as simple as it can be, and I hope that the judges like the balance I put into it.

Hugo, you’ve got a point there for sure. I for myself am quite glad that I haven’t really worked as a barista for a while now, but had plenty of time to experiment at home with different things coffee. I hope that some of what I learned from that comes through to the judges, too. But most important of all for me is that the coffee is great. And I believe mine will be

Hugo, Sorry if my points have come across negatively, you are totally right there are loads of Baristas out there serving brilliant cappuccinos and lattes every day. The amount of training I do I hope that I am helping to add to this number.

The thing is that I expect most of the competitors at the semi finals to all be making technically excellent cappuccinos and espresso. The score sheets are heavily balances towards the taste of your drinks, you will only get so far with using a good coffee and pulling perfect shots so what is the next step? Where shall we look next for improvement? It’s the coffee, but is this really a baristas job? I think it is a baristas job to understand the coffee they are using but we are now taking it to the next level. Most of the baristas I have been speaking to are now going direct to the roaster (have you?)and getting heavily involved in there the coffee comes from all to try and increase their scores.

My interpretation of the score sheets is to make a balanced espresso so I start thinking about sweetness, flavor, body…. So I’ve been trying to source this sort of coffee, because I think the coffee will help maximise my points, but I take on board your point, is this really the role of the Barista? Well because of the score sheets if you want to win this competition it is. If it is only about using a espresso machine then the coffee should be provided and the same for all competitors….

When we were in Moscow we were taught so much about green coffee, roasting coffee, water quality, defects in coffee…. but when I am training cafes and restaurants I have to remember my roots - grinder settings, micro foam, drink building.

This competition is pushing us to our limits but in doing so I have to remember what is important to my customers, essential basic training on coffee.

Looks like I missed all the fun and games at work last night! Just one point…

The reason I struck up about signature drinks is as you say Hugo, it ain’t normal. Like you, I go to work every day and near enough do everything (other than talking) as I would on stage. My grinder is set, my cloths are organised, I dose, distribute, tamp consistently, my drinks are served in exactly the same cups I use in competition.

When I make my capps and espressos in 10 days it will be 100% natural to me, apart from being a different machine.

Now here’s where it gets interesting, it seems there are two camps of competitors, the every day baristas, and the trainers, who in all likelihood used to be an everyday barista. I don’t have a problem with either, who knows, maybe one day i’ll move into training people, other than my own staff.

What is cool/weird though is the different way that the competition is approached from by the two camps. Is this a competition about being a barista? Or is it a competition about being the best at a barista competition? I don’t know, ask me in two weeks.

Oh and good luck Lukas, I guess you’re all done by now, let us know how it goes and tell us about your sig drink.

Ouch! Damn…. Just had to bite my tongue again.

Tristan, have you ever considered a career change to the diplomatic corps?

Hm, okay thanks Tristan. I learned my lesson, had great fun, and if I compete again next year I’ll do more training beforehand. Working as a Barista on a day-to-day basis or having access to a machine on a day-to-day basis does help (I don’t).
I got scored really badly on my sig drink, but I was told not because it was bad (because it wasn’t) but because I didn’t make myself clear of what it was supposed to be like as it was a bit unusual. Tomorrow is the most fun part of all: Cuptasting, and I hope that I have time the following week for a longerish writeup on my blog. I may make my scoresheets public too, as I haven’t really seen some on the web and I think it can be very helpful for firsttimers and to see how people score in other countries

Hello All

I think it does not matter about your background or you current job. If one is keen on the art of making coffee then he or she should be albe to express themselves. Jamie Oliver or Marco Pierre White spend more time in front of a camera that they do in a kitchen but they are still respected chefs.
I worked as a chef for 15 years but now I sell 150,000 kilos of coffee a year. Your background should NOT be judged
I entered because of my passion for making coffee. It is as simple as that.
I think competitors from a diverse range of careers makes for a better competition.
The competition guidelines have been laid down and we should work towards perfecting the rules of the competition. James Hoffman did not spend many hours working in a coffee shop but he dedicated his energy to becoming world champ by studying the rules. We all bring something different to the table.
Good Luck everyone
Lance

Hi Tristan, glad to see you’ve taken the next step and made it up to Masteroast, it is a real eye opener seeing all that coffee moving around the factory/roasters and still that is only a very small part in the journey of your coffee from plant to cup. Doesn’t the fact that you and Hugo haver made that 12 hour trip fortify my point that we are all going to extraordinary lengths to achieve that ‘perfect cup’ for next weeks finals?
I still think after all the comments made on this post that as the rules of the comp. are pushing us to learn so much more (which is great) have we forgotten about the everyday barista struggling to make good foam and get a good extraction, who’s customers are still demanding massive 16oz drinks.
Good luck practicing, see you in London.

As you say, the way that the competition works requires that you know a bit about the coffee you are serving. This is all great and very interesting but I do question its relevance to the day-to-day barista.

It seems to me that there is a vast difference between the people who enter the UKBC and your average barista on the high street. If things are going to change and standards raised not just by us but by everyone making coffee in the UK there needs to be a serious push from our end.

It still amazes me how many folks don’t really know how to make coffee on even a basic level, why did Hugo and I have to experience someone butcher a ‘latte’ at a service station when he had all the tools available to make a perfectly decent cup.

The Bacardi group did a very successful campaign a year or two back called ‘the perfect serve’ and it basically just educated bartenders how to serve simple drinks and it worked. I reckon some of national press and a simple flyer that could be stuck above every coffee machine in the country listing maybe 6 key tips.

Talking of service stations butchering your latte, I stopped at a Services on the M42 (A Cafe Primo) and got served a latte and americano and was amazed, the Barista purged the steam wand b4 and after steaming, wiped it properly, heated up some great milk, flushed the group and made a pretty good looking shot. I walked away pleasantly surprised, the guy must have been influenced at some level by what happens at the UKBC.
But the time before that on the M4 towards london I stopped, quite early in the morning, the place was dead, I walked up to the cafe counter to see all 3 group handles dosed with coffee and waiting ready on the side and some milk under the steam arm slowly heating up…. there was no one there and and we hadn’t even ordered yet!!!
How can 2 professional set ups with tens of thousands of pounds worth of equipment between them be so different?????