Places are still available for baristas to compete in the Precision Smackdown Series in Melbourne on 15 March.
Detpak, with the support of Paul’s Professional, are hosting five smackdown events around the country in the lead up to the 2018 Melbourne International Coffee Expo (MICE) in March.
Already three winners have been announced and are in the running for a trip to Colombia to compete in the Barista & Farmer reality TV series.
Dee Espinoza of Coffee Hit in Northlakes won the first Precision Smackdown Series event at Capulet & Co in Brisbane.
The competition then went to Adelaide where Heath Dalziel from Third Time Lucky Coffee shined under pressure and won the South Australian leg of the competition at Veneziano Coffee Roasters.
Next came Hobart, where Cat Bygraves from Secret Buddha Café, representing Genovese Coffee, won first place at Pilgrim Coffee.
On Thursday 8 March Daschund will host the Sydney Precision Smackdown Series before Melbourne’s turn at Genovese Coffee on Thursday 15 March. To register to compete, click here.
By just attending the smackdown, spectators go in the running to win a trip for two to Amsterdam to attend the World Barista Championship. The winner will be announced at the Finals event at MICE.
The winner of each of the five smackdown events will receive a $500 cash prize and automatic entry into the Barista & Farmer – Genovese Coffee Selection Final, taking place on the Detpak stand at MICE on 23 March.
The Final will see 16 baristas go head to head in an elimination format Latte Art Smackdown. Baristas must pour the same randomly-selected pattern for assessment by three judges. The winner will proceed to the next round until just four remain.
The top four competitors will then compete in a cup tasting challenge of four triangulations. Each triangle will consist of two identical coffees, and one odd coffee.
Competitors will identify the odd coffee by pushing that cup forward into a selection zone. All four competitors will compete at the same time, and each competitor must raise their hand to signal when they have completed the challenge.
The winner will be the barista who guesses the most correct cups in the shortest time. They will then fly to Colombia to join participants from around the world in the Barista & Farmer program as the Australian representative.
The Precision Smackdown Series is open to any barista. To qualify for the Genovese Coffee Selection Final, baristas must not have won a regional or national coffee competition (such as the Australian Specialty Coffee Association Coffee Championships).
For more information, follow @detpakpacking, tag #smackmetoWBC and enter www.detpak.com/precisionseries/
