Leapfrog Public Relations Agency

Local barista John Gordon of Gorilla Tampers has been crowned the country’s top coffee maker after beating off stiff competition during the San Remo sponsored UK Barista Championship final which took place at the Hotelympia Exhibition at the Docklands, ExCel conference centre on Monday, 1^st March 2010.

John Gordon UK Barista Champion winner 2010

After successfully progressing through his regional heat and the semi-finals, John was pitted against fellow Londoners Dale Harris and Neil le Bihan in a final group of six, who were given just fifteen minutes to make four superb espressos, four cappuccinos and four of their own coffee creations. Following close scrutiny by an expert panel of seven judges who reviewed both their presentations and tasted their creations, John was crowned UK Champion and offered the opportunity to compete against 55 other nations at the World Championship held this June.

The UK Barista Championship final proved to be particularly successful for the London region. Besides the winner, Dale Harris of First Choice, London and Neil le Bihan of Exchange Coffee, London, both finished second and third respectively rounding off a fitting end to many weeks of regional heats leading up the grand finale.

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 particularly in London, as well as across the UK.  Some of the cappuccinos and signature drinks produced in the final 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 San Remo, 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 SanRemo UK