Caffè Culture Announces Launch of UK Barista Challenge

Caffè Culture Announces Launch of UK Barista Challenge

The UK’s leading event for the café bar market has today announced the launch of The Caffè Culture Barista Challenge – a new competition to find the UK’s Barista of the Year.

In line with Caffè Culture’s commitment to providing a first-class business resource, the Barista Challenge aims to find the UK’s best working barista and uncover the next big trend in coffee based drinks.   The final of the competition will be held at this year’s Caffè Culture Show on 16 & 17 May, Olympia London (www.caffecultureshow.com)

Along with being awarded the prestigious title of Caffè Culture Barista of the Year, the winner will also receive a trophy, a £1,000 cash prize, and a range of equipment and products for the business in which they work.  In addition, they will be promoted within an extensive PR campaign.

Commenting of the launch, The Caffè Culture Show’s Event Director Elliot Gard says: “Baristas have played a critical role within the show since its launch and, over the years, we have been involved in a number of different competitions, workshops and events to help highlight the talent that exists within our industry.   We have now decided the time is right to launch our own Barista event, offering something a bit different to existing competitions.

“Whilst we want to recognise the fantastic skills of baristas operating within the UK, we also want to deliver a competition that relates back to the commercial world in which they work.  We have therefore launched The Caffè Culture Barista Challenge to demonstrate how imaginative, talented and inventive baristas can make a significant difference to the bottom line in café bar businesses.”

The competition will take place in three phases, with baristas presenting their signature drink, a written submission and fulfilling a number of skills based tests.  The judges will be looking for a barista who can demonstrate an exceptional talent for producing superb coffee, as well as being able to translate those skills into devising drinks that will truly deliver for real customers.  The baristas will need to demonstrate how their chosen signature drink has great marketability, is consistently quick and easy to deliver within a working café bar setting, whilst offering a healthy profit margin.

The launch of the competition has already attracted interest from the industry and several sponsors have approached Caffè Culture about supporting the event.  The first to associate itself with the competition is Royal Himalayan Coffee & Tea, as the official coffee sponsor for the competition.

The judging panel will be announced shortly and comprises a host of industry professionals, including coffee, café business, marketing and product development experts.  There will also be a more innovative aspect to the judging befitting the nature of the competition. More details will be announced soon.

For further details about the Caffè Culture Barista Challenge and to submit your entries visit www.caffeculture.com/barista-competition/

Caffè Culture 2012 takes place over two days (16 & 17 May) at the National Hall, Olympia, London. Bringing together over 200 international exhibitors it offers access to all the advice, products and services needed to run a successful café or coffee bar.   Along with an extensive seminar programme and a host of new product launches, there will also be practical demonstrations and an in-depth workshop on all aspects of marketing your offering to new and existing customers. For further details about Caffè Culture visit www.caffeculture.com.