Will Priestly from Pilgrim Coffee café in Hobart has won the Grand Final of the Almond Breeze Breezey Masters in Sydney.
Andy Tseng from Pixel Café in Perth placed runner up in the final smackdown, which took place at Espresso Room café in Circular Quay, Sydney on 25 October.
Eight state finalists handpicked from a pool of more than 130 entrants went head-to-head to craft the most creative and intricate latte art, including Julian Mou of Harriet Expresso Bar in the Northern Territory, Raihaan Esat of Di Bella Coffee in Queensland, Joshua Rivers of C.R.E.A.M in South Australia, Samuel Taylor of Soul Origin in New South Wales, Sengmany Sanoubane of Espresso Room in Canberra, and Aaron Dongsu Shin of Shortblack café in Victoria.
The baristas had 10 minutes to present six cups of latte art using their own coffee beans and Almond Breeze Barista Blend.
In celebration of the inaugural event, Will has won an all-inclusive trip to the United States, valued at $10,000.
“It’s an honour to be the first every Breezey Grand Master. I’m looking forward to heading to the US next year. It’s great to see how Almond Breeze is supporting baristas and working with us to help the industry deliver the best results,” Priestly says.
Head Judges Tony Macri from Coffee Brothers and Frankie Shi from Tulip Shi were responsible for assessing each cup on presentation and taste, but there could only be one winner.
“Congratulations to Will on his hard work – he has a real passion, dedication and flair for coffee which we saw last night,” says Roger Ringwood, Country Director for Almond Breeze Australia & New Zealand.
“We know Australians love their coffee and we realised that more and more were interested in enjoying an almond milk coffee. We launched the Almond Breeze Breezey Masters this year to show our support for the coffee industry and highlight the world-class barista talent we have in the country.”
Almond Breeze launched the Barista Blend in 2014. Since then, the product has enjoyed double-digit growth, with almond milk now one of the fastest growing milks in the non-dairy category.
For more information visit www.almondbreeze.com.au/
