The 2016 DaVinci Gourmet Australian Coffee Chain Challenge is back for a second year, taking place on Thursday 24 November at Stockland Wetherill Park in New South Wales.

The event will see 10 of the nation’s top coffee chains compete to see who will emerge as the 2016 DaVinci Gourmet Coffee Chain Champion.

This year’s teams include Coffee Club, Wild Bean Café, Soul Origin, McCafé, Soul Origin, McCafé, Jamaica Blue, Velocity, Hudsons Coffee, Muffin Break and Shingle Inn Super Shots.

The competition tests the team’s ability to produce quality and creative coffees in a high stress environment.

The new rules of the competition build upon the general format launched last year, where teams of four compete in three rounds:

– Latte Art, where teams have five minutes to produce three different latte art patterns chosen by spinning the Sponsored Latte Art wheel.

– Seasonal Beverage, where teams have seven minutes to produce and present a new espresso-based drink using at least one DaVinci Gourmet product.

– Service Time, where teams draw a card from a hat containing 20 random drink orders which they must prepare within 10 minutes to a high standard.

Each chain will be judged on taste and quality of the drink, but also how sold the judges are on the concept of the seasonal beverage.

The format is a world-first competition exclusive to the Australian Specialty Coffee Association (ASCA), created to display the specific skills required of baristas in Australia’s competitive coffee chain industry.

The competition will once again be proudly sponsored by DaVinci Gourmet. DaVinci Gourmet has proven its commitment to the Australian coffee industry through its ongoing sponsorship of this competition.

“We are proud to once again sponsor this exciting competition, which promotes excellence and exposes the impressive skills of Australia’s coffee chain baristas,” says Vince Monardo, Business Development Manager with DaVinci Gourmet.

In 2016 Muffin Break won the inaugural event, with Jamaica Blue in second place, and Gloria Jean’s Coffees in third place.

All eyes will be on the baristas in the coming days to see who will be the next DaVinci Gourmet Australian Coffee Chain Challenge Champions

For more information visit www.aasca.com