Australian Specialty Coffee Association Australian Latte Art Champion Victor Vu of Ona Coffee will represent Australia for the second time at the World Latte Art Championship (WLAC) in Copenhagen, Denmark, from 27 to 29 June.
After winning the Australian Latte Art Championship in Melbourne in February, Victor secured a spot in the world finals at the World of Coffee Copenhagen tradeshow.
Victor was national champion in 2022 and placed fifth in the international competition that year.
“I’m feeling good, excited, and a little bit nervous, but this time is different,” he says.
“After competing for three years, I feel more confident and have improved my skills while also gaining a lot of experience.”
As he speaks to BeanScene prior to travelling to Copenhagen, Victor says he’s prepared for the competition and has perfected his designs.
“It’s been almost five months since I won the nationals and I have been working hard on creating and developing my designs,” he says.
For the first time this year, WLAC competitors will use a fully automatic espresso machine to produce their coffees. When he arrives in Denmark, Victor says he plans to practise his routine on the machines before he takes to the stage.
The first round of the competition will see baristas produce a single creative latte pattern at the Art Bar, before moving to the WLAC stage to create two identical free-pour lattes and two identical designer lattes, which allows etching and decoration.
For the final round, competitors are required to make two different matching sets of free-pour latte patterns, and one matching set of designer lattes.
Judges will assess the beverages based on visual attributes, creativity, identical patterns in the pairs, contrast, and judge the barista on their overall performance.
Victor will showcase his artistic expression through distinctive animal inspired latte art.
“I won’t be using the rhino [pattern] this time round, but I have some new designs that I have been working on,” he says.
“I love nature and this year, with the use of the automatic machines, it is nice to bring an element of this into my work and to make a connection between nature and coffee.
“Since I was a child, I have always loved the jungle, so all of the animals I design are from there.”
Victor says that although this competition will be a challenge, he is more confident in his workflow and routine.
“I want to thank my coffee family at Ona, all the partners who have supported me along the way, and my partner Linh Tran for helping me get in the right headspace before the event.”
Victor intends to enjoy the city and venture to the outskirts to hike and gather more inspiration for other designs he is developing.
“I hike a lot in my spare time and plan on doing a hike after the competition to get more inspiration,” he says.
You can follow Victor at the World Latte Art Championship here and the World Coffee in Good Spirits Championship, which also takes place in Copenhagen from 27 to 29 June, here.
