ASEAN BARISTA CHAMPIONSHIP 2013 - Bangkok
This is my 3rd time to Bangkok, the first with my wife and then, 9 month old girl. Well known for its night market, Thai food and cheap knock-off, I was expecting to do a lot of shopping during my free time while judging in the championship last year but discovering that my name was penned on 9 out of the 15 first day competitor (and 90% of the overall championship), I dare not wish for freedom in the returning trip to the Asean championship this year. I was right!
In the second consecutive Asean championship, I saw my name on 11 rows out of 15 competitors for the first day, all sensory and followed by 8 out of 10 in the semi-finals and all 6 in the finals. There is this saying, "Happy like Turtle!" when I find myself judging 90% of the time. Go figure what I mean. :)
This year was totally different from the first, and to that I mean, by a lot of difference! The bar have been raised so high by not only the barista/s in the Champion category but also those in the Non-Champion category too. Unlike the year before where coffee uses by Barista are roasted darker with oily surface and of normal commodity trade, this year saw the many use of single estate coffee, medium roasted, natural processed and many wicked specialty blends. Some of my favourite are the Brazil Molgianas, OCR Ethiopias, Nicaraguas as well as the West Java microlots. Honestly, I cannot remember drinking any bad coffee in terms of flavours, only good coffee tainted by poor techniques that resulted in bitter, extra hot, under/over extracted shots after shots.
Long story short and with a promised of pictures to be uploaded into the blog soon, here is the finalist as well as the winners, in order of championship:-
Champion- Ryan Tan (Singapore)
2nd- Janice Soh (Malaysia)
3rd- Rizki (Indonesia)
4th- Kanda (Thailand)
5th- Intan (Indonesia)
6th- Surasak (Thailand)
Next year will be held in Bali, I am so looking forward to it already. :)
Maybe someone from the winners, could share his/her oppinion, and tell me, is mine coffee machine is suitable for good milk foam making or latte art learning? just look, and tell what you think- kavos aparatai
ReplyDeleteHi Kamile,
ReplyDeleteEvery machine has its function and yours is a Fully Automatic model which encourages a fuss free coffee-making experience, a system that produces consistent coffee which does not require the person making it to be a professional or trained barista. In this instance, No, this model cannot function in allowing latter art to take place but Yes, the technology should produce decent milk foam quality .