The Brasilia Barista Challenge 2009 Finalists



2009 saw the first Brasilia Barista Challenge, aimed at rewarding and recognising shop Baristas, It was designed to be light hearted, fun and relaxed and was open to anyone in England, Scotland and Wales. Using Brasilia’s Opus Sublima, entrants for the regional heats just had to turn up to the venue as everything they need was supplied. Entrants were judged on basic technical, presentation skills and speed of service, just as if they were at work.

The finals were held on the 18^th November at Caffe Society’s head office in Leeds. The five finalists were Hannah Davies from Broderick’s Love Coffee at Manchester Airport, Richard Dixon-Teasdale from Coffee Aroma in Lincoln, Howard Barwick from J & S Ventures (Costa Coffee) in Leeds, Will Corby from The Caffeine Kid in Cardiff, and Naveen Bisht from Carluccios in Reading.

Paul Meikle-Janney, Managing Director of Coffee Community and Head Judge for the World Coffee in Good Spirits and World Latte Art Championships commented “Brasilia set out to host a competition that encouraged working baristas, from all types of café and catering establishments, into competition for the first time. They wanted to test the skills and pressures they experience every day in their jobs, maintaining quality when against the clock. To this aim they succeeded.”



Richard hard at work in the ‘Your Blend’ round



The final consisted of five rounds, the first of which was called “Your blend”. The finalists were given a 5 minute explanation about five single origin coffees by Jeremy Wood from Masteroast Coffee Co. They then went on to blend a batch of coffee which they used to produce two espressos to present to the judges. They went on to use their chosen blend throughout the day.
Round two was The Coffee Quiz. The finalists were given time to relax during the quiz which consisted of 15 coffee related questions, increasing in difficulty – just like on ‘Who wants to be a Millionaire’!



If you would like to have a go at the quiz for yourself follow this link Brasilia Barista Quiz



Judging the ‘Make it your own’ round



Up next was “Make it your own”, a challenge where all the contestants had to create there own signature drink from a set of secret ingredients. They had 30 minutes to do this using their own blend.



Sudden death at full pace



The next round-“Sudden Death” was not quite as severe as it sounds. Each finalist had 3 minutes to produce as many espressos as they could. A sensory judge had to pass or fail the drinks as they were produced, looking for minimum standards.



The quality was high in the ‘Made to order’ round



Last of all was “Made to order”. This was where the judges could taste to see if the finalists own blend worked across the board as an espresso, Cappuccino, Latte and Mocha.

The day came to a dramatic end after the 5 intense rounds leaving the final scores extremely close, however there was one clear winner.

The winner of the first Brasilia Barista Challenge is Howard Barwick of J & S Ventures (Costa Coffee). Howard, 28 from Leeds is the Store Manager for Costa Coffee and amazingly has only been a barista for 12 months! He left a promising teaching career to become a barista because of his love of all things coffee; this was the first competition he had entered. Howard wins a trip to the Brasilia factory in Italy and a training session at the 9 Bar Training Academy.



Congratulations to the winner Howard Barwick



In 2^nd place was Hannah Davies, 3^rd place Will Corby, 4^th place Richard Dixon-Teasdale and 5^th place Naveen Bisht.

Paul Meikle-Janney commented “Howard proved to be a worthy winner. He demonstrated great barista skills a good understanding of the coffee he was working with, and a great depth of knowledge about the wider coffee world”

Helen Ostle from Beyond the Bean said ‘It was a great pleasure to be involved with the competition, all the barista’s enjoyed themselves and we seem to have found even more UK barista talent with Howard and the four other finalists!’

David Locker from Bunn commented “I thought the competition was a great starting point for Baristas to enter the competition arena. The day was as expected fun, relaxed and well structured. The standard of the top 5 in the BBC final was very high and all should consider entering other competitions in 2010”.

Clive Danby, Caffe Society’s Trade Sales Manger said “I am extremely pleased that we have achieved what we set out to do from day one which was to recognise the standard shop barista. Howard has never entered a competition before and with only 12 months experience behind him as a barista, he has done exceptionally well. I wish him the best of luck for the future and he has my full support if he wishes to enter the UKBC next year.”

“I would personally like to thank all the entrants, finalists, partners and judges involved, without all of their time and effort, none of this would have been possible. My thanks to out partners Lavazza, Beyond the Bean, Arla/Cravendale, Boughtons Coffee House, Café Business and Café Culture magazines and Coffee Community. Thanks also to the judges David Locker (Bunn), Jon Skinner (M.A.D.), Stuart Hargie and Jeremy Wood (Masteroast), Kenneth Cooper (SCAE UK National Co-Coordinator) and especially to Paul Meikle Janney (Coffee Community) and Helen Ostle (Beyond the Bean) for everything they have done and the support they have shown to Caffe Society and the Brasilia Barista Challenge from day one.

“The Brasilia Barista Challenge will be back in 2010.”

For further information on the Brasilia Bonilla take a look here Brasilia Bonilla Bean to Cup Coffee Machine or call us on 0845 4500 500

The Brasilia Barista Challenge 2009 is here and ready to allow the shop barista to show off their skills and be in with a chance to win a trip to Brasilia’s factory in Retorbido, Italy.
The competition has been designed to be light hearted, fun and relaxed, a barista challenge without the pressure of the World Barista Championships.
For those making it to the final, representatives of the WBC will be, there should the entrant be interested in progressing to the WBC in 2010.
The winner as well as getting the trip to Italy will also attend at training session at the famous 9 Bar Brasilia Barista Academy to hone their skills.

For the full details take a look here – Brasilia Barista Challenge 2009



To help you get a closer look at some of the Brasilia machines we have made three videos with Paul Meikle-Janney,Head Judge of the World Latte Art Championship.
The videos are for the Sublima, Excelsior and Majore, three of our most popular machines and let you see the coffee machines in action.
Paul shows how to make an espresso, latte and cappuccino on each, plus goes into some detail about what make the Sublima the worlds best espresso machine.


You can see the videos from their product pages or follow the links below.

Brasilia Opus Sublima Video

Brasilia Excelsior Video

Brasilia Majore Video

The Original Barista Competition is Back

The original Brasilia Barista of the Year Competition came to an end back in 2003, re-named The Brasilia Barista Challenge, the new version will commence Mid-October.
Now aimed at rewarding the local shop barista, the Brasilia Barista Challenge has been designed to be light hearted, fun and relaxed.
The Brasilia Barista Challenge is being brought back in Partnership with some of the biggest names in the industry Caffe Society, Lavazza, Beyond the Bean and Cravendale.



Full details will be release soon so watch this space!

Designed to replace the best selling Roma, the Majore combines classic Italian styling with a highly functional design.

Its stainless steel body not only ensures it looks right wherever it is placed, but is built to last in even the busiest of coffee shops.

With the Majores already flying out of the door, this modern classic is soon to be a staple of coffee shops up and down the country.

For further details for this link Brasila Majore or call the Brasilia experts on 0845 4500 500

As an alternative to the standard hopper style grinders, the RR55OD, allows a measured dose of coffee to be ground as and when it is needed.

Simply press the single or double dose button and an exact measurement is dropped into your group handle.

The on demand grinder ensures that your coffee is freshly ground every time, producing the best espresso, lattes and cappuccinos possible.

For further details see the RR55OD On Demand Grinder page or call our the Brasilia experts on 0845 4500 500

The brochure can be downloaded by clicking the image below.

The brochure has the full range from Brasilia, from traditional espresso machines, bean to cup, grinders and accessories.

There is full technical details and hi res images of all the machines.

If you can not download the brochure or would like a printed copy please call the Brasilia UK offices on 0845 4500 500.