Six things a Competition Barista should know while preparing for Singapore National Barista Championship. (Part 1 of 2)

Announcement of Finalists to SNBC 2011(Photo credits - Andrew Hoi)

So you are reading this because you have just unknowingly signed up yourself for the upcoming SNBC 2015, paid 100 buckeroos ($200 if you are a non-SCA member) and have high hopes now that this article will help you lift the much coveted trophy and bragging rights to being the best coffee maker in Singapore history.  After all, 100 Singapore dollars, plus everything else that your senior, coach and manager have not told you like the investment to buy new, shiny pitchers, table runner, Terra Keramik cups, ingredients for signature beverage and a brand new shirt (two should you assume you will enter the finals), and a free round trip to Seattle to compete against the world's best seems like a good ROI. Read up and good luck!

Watch an actual Barista Championship live or on-line.

No you do not sign up for anything in this world without knowing what you sign yourself up for. Yes there is the World Championship Rules & Regulations that you can take reference too (of course good luck that you don't fall asleep halfway reading all 24 pages of the rules and still not understand a thing or two) or indulge in a series of hear-say from colleagues who have previously competed themselves in past year editions.

Watching an actual championship allows you to be inquisitive in your own comfort and in the multiple 15 minutes series, you are exposed to the flow, format, concept and style which will definitely get your creative brain juice going. Paused and scribble notes as well as recycle ideas for your script and/or signature beverage. Observe when the competitors choose to speak and when they kept silence and let the hands do the talking.

There is the 1st Malaysian Barista Championship held a week before SNBC 2015. Arrange for the 4 hour ride to KL and gather some tips fresh from the region best.

Know the scoresheet by heart.

Burn them up, mixed it in your filtered coffee and drink up if you have to. Reading them religiously (and understanding it) will help a competitor go very far. Although a maximum score is rare and almost unheard off, understanding how you can 'perform' better to obtain high score on certain areas of the scoresheet will help one win the championship. Eg; Having a clean area set-up before the routine start is a maximum 6 pointer on the technical scoresheet. Its a no brainer to not have maximum point here.... unless you did not read the scoresheet and take advantage of it.

The championship is won by a Barista who makes the less mistake and in the process gaining the highest score. At the end of the day, it is a calculated risk. (Of course the one with the least of butterflies in the stomach will not stutter and stand a high chance of winning too!)

Download the scoresheet here. You are welcome. :)

You ONLY have 15 minutes!

Yes it sounds doable. After all, how many times have you breeze a weekend shift preparing 100 cups of coffee within an hour of the most super-peak period. (that is 1.66 cups per minute and in the championship, you have to just make 12 under 15 minutes) Unfortunately, in a barista championship and on stage with hundred pairs of eyeball watching your every move in the audience, 15 minutes feels like just sixty seconds.

Every move is exaggerated, every techniques is examined and you have to clean-as-you-go after every set. As clean as before you even started. I bet you the bar looks like a war zone in a real time cafe while attempting to make coffee quickly on a weekend shifts, so how can a competition area in real time be perfect? Answer:- Practice and more practices in making it to become a routine. In each passing training day, shave off a few seconds of the watch.

Lest we forget that the tolerance level for running over time is 60 seconds but at the risk of 1 point deducted for every passing seconds, capped at 60 points. If you risk going beyond the one minute, that equates to a disqualification.

Part 1 of 2 - To be continued.....


Writer note: I have competed in 3 out of 8 championship as well as judge in 3 others, in the National level. I have won 3rd place twice and took the route in becoming a world sanctioned barista judge. As a sanctioned Judge, i have also travelled to Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, China & Australia with the pen and the scoreboard.  Hence, I believe these tips will come in handy. After all, there are other bloggers out there who writes about 10 best cafes, best roastery and/or how to run a cafe when they have no experience doing it at all. So writing based on experience and real journey, my thoughts can't be too bad right? :)