Comments on: SCAA Midwest Regional Barista Competition

By: Alex Brooks

Alex Brooks — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 02:07:27 +0000

Wow… you nearly made me blush lol. Thanks for the compliments!
I do love me some coffee! I’m hoping to find a way to go to Milwaukee to compete in the GLRBC, out of region(cant go to finals) but I can see how I score there, and depending… USBC??? We’ll see. Want to take a vaca to Beast country March 14-15? I don’t know a soul up there lol.

The MWRBC was a lot of fun, its amazing the sense of community that was there. Wish there was something like that every weekend.

Oh, If your curious I took 9th overall, got a 5 from each judge but one on my sig. drink, and was asked to come back sunday to prepare it for a few people, was a hit! Thanks again! It’s nice to get positive feedback from discerning customers! Hope I can keep you and yours comin back!

By: Andrew Timko

Andrew Timko — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 19:44:19 +0000

Bill regarding scoring at the competition, 51% of the accumlative points are solely based on taste, 49% of the score is a combination of technical, presentation and visual. The latter is intended to support the former. Although latte art is nice and visual consistency is nice is does not necessarily indicate taste quality.

By: Weekend Notes | STL Hops - A St. Louis Beer Blog

Weekend Notes | STL Hops - A St. Louis Beer Blog — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 16:52:16 +0000

[...] Bill and Ellie were there when we arrived. Bill mentioned that they were headed over to the SCAA Midwest Regional Barista Competition, since I used to be a barista (albeit a poor one) I was curious to see the competition. But before [...]

By: bb

bb — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 16:23:59 +0000

Don’t they look at consistency though?

I thought one of the criteria was that everything looked consistently the same. So it’s not as much that the art was really well done, as much as the four were similar.

I completely agree with taste over style though. Latte Art is the touchdown dance of coffee. It’s the look what I just did ass-shaking moment floated atop a rockin’ latte or capp.

By: tylerz

tylerz — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 15:53:00 +0000

To clarify, latte art doesn’t necessarily mean that much in barista competitions. Taste is much more important than art, as is texture. It is pretty difficult to pour beautiful art on a traditional cappucino when the consistency and texture are spot on…

tyler

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 15:41:42 +0000

I really wish that I could have been around to see Alex compete yesterday. We had to leave early. He really is very enthusiastic about good coffee too, even more so than me.

It was my first barista competition as well. I have an Alexia and a Mazer mini at home that I don’t even know how to use, instead I have my own personal barista. My preferred method is a press pot, no espresso.

It’s nice to see that there are others in St. Louis who appreciate good coffee.

Jenny