The South West Crowns its Top Barista

Jose Melium who works at Jika Jika Ltd in Bath, has won the South West Heat of the SCAE UK Barista Championship. The heat was held on Wednesday 3rd February, at the Westpoint Exhibition Centre in Exeter.

Coming through a very tough heat, Jose impressed the judges with his expresso made from a single origin coffee from Finca Los Altos, Nicaragua (washed). This was then turned into his novel signature drink with the addition of an infusion of dried coffee cherries, molasses, a little spice and Venezuelan cocoa.

Jose pouring the winning cappuccino

Coffee remained firmly on the agenda in Exeter during the first week of February with the Westpoint Centre playing host to further SCAE events including the UK Latte Art Championship, UK Coffee in Good Spirits Championship and UK Cup Tasting Championship.

The SCAE UK Latte Art Championship challenges top baristas to create wonderfully patterned cappucionos and lattes by the way the milk is poured into the rich crema of the coffee. The competition was won by Neil Le Bihan of Exchange Coffee, Lewisham Market, London due to the popularity of his signature pattern featuring a triple rosetta.

The next event to feature was the SCAE UK Coffee in Good Spirits Championship where competitors were tasked with having to produce two perfect Irish Coffees, as well as a coffee cocktail of their own creation. This was won by Edmund Buston of Clifton Coffee, Bristol who impressed judges with his cocktail creation a Martini Potento, a heady mixture of espresso mixed with nutty Italian liquors, floated on a top of triple sec and topped with cream and freshly grated chocolate.

The coffee themed championships came to their conclusion with the SCAE UK Cup Tasting Championship, where the UK’s top coffee tasters were challenged with having to distinguish the subtle flavour of top quality coffees and identify the odd one out. First prize went to Paul Stephens an expert gourmet roaster who works at Redroaster Coffee in Brighton.

Commenting on the events Andrew Tucker, managing director of espresso machine sponsors SanRemo said: “The atmosphere of these events was great and showed just how well the standard of Baristas is seriously rising in the South West of England, as well as across the UK. Some of the cappuccinos and signature drinks produced in the South West’s Heat of the UK Barista Championship in particular were of a fantastic standard and it was really exciting to see some new faces to the competition showing serious promise for the future. The Barista feedback on the machines was, as last year, very encouraging for us at SanRemo, with a unanimous endorsement of the stability of our TCS system and the user friendliness of the machines as a whole. All in all a great start to this year’s circuit and run up to the World Barista Championship in June.”

For more information on San Remo and the UK Barista Championships go to www.sanremouk.com