The World of Coffee trade show in Berlin, Germany saw new World Latte Art (WLAC), Coffee in Good Spirits (WCIGS), Cup Tasters, and Cezve/Ibrik Champions crowned on 8 June.
Manuela Fensore of Barlady Café Academy in Italy won the 2019 WLAC. Hao-Yuan Chen of Taiwan placed second and Liu Guoqiang of Sanshierli Academy in China placed third.
“I went a little overtime, but I put all my heart in the competition,” Manuela said in her post-routine interview.
Manuela’s free pour patterns included a horse and eagle, both drawn as profile shots. The two images used multiple rosettas, to create the mane and feathers, with dragging to fill in the faces. The cunning eye technique was used to draw the eagle’s eye.
For her designer latte art, Manuela created a pattern she called Happy Parrot Swinging on the Swing (pictured). The pattern portrays a parrot sitting between four trees, with the sun and thunderclouds in the background. Rosettas were used for the trees, drops were used for the clouds and sun, and etching was used to draw the features of the parrot. Yellow colouring was used to highlight the parrot’s beak and lighting coming from the clouds.
“I wanted to include the sun and potential rain [in the design] which creates a balance,” Manuela says.
Australia’s Jibbi Little of Jibbijug placed 11th in the WLAC.
Reigning WCIGS Champion Dan Fellows of Origin Coffee in the United Kingdom reclaimed his title. Tim Lam Wing Fat of Cupping Room Coffee Roasters in Hong Kong placed second and 2018 World Barista Champion Agnieszka Rojewska of Poland placed third in the coffee cocktail competition.
Dan says his routine was built around a question he is often asked, “What comes first, the coffee or the concept?” And he sought to illustrate both options.
“I think this routine is the greatest one I’ve created so far, which is the reason I came back, to showcase it. I had the routine designed before [2018 WCIGS in] Brazil and thought it would be a shame to not share it,” Dan said in his post-routine interview.
“This routine included 500 hours of actual practice time, but then for 24 hours a day, you’re ruing conversations, thinking and saying ‘what about this? What about that?’ When you’re not even talking about it.”
Danny Wilson of Ona Coffee represented Australia in WCIGS and placed ninth.
Daniel Horbat of Ireland won the 2019 World Cup Tasters Championship, with a score of 7/8 in two minutes and 33 seconds in the final round.
Dajo Aertssen of France placed second and Josh Clarke of the United Kingdom placed third, both scoring 7/8 in five minutes and 21 seconds and five minutes and 43 seconds respectively. Dulce Barrera of Guatemala rounded out the top four with 5/8 in two minutes and 34 seconds.
Australia’s MJ Kim of Shamble Coffee Brewers placed 39th in the coffee cupping competition, where competitors must correctly identify the odd cup out in eight sets of three coffees.
The 2019 World Cezve/Ibrik Championship – a Turkish coffee brewing competition – was also held at the event, without Australian participation. Sergey Blinnikov of Russia won the competition, Tetiana Tarykina of Ukraine placed second, and Sinan Muslu of Germany placed third.
Read more:
• Jooyeon Jeon of South Korea wins 2019 World Barista Championship
• Jia Ning Du of China wins 2019 World Brewers Cup
• Yama Kim of Kingswood Coffee wins 2018 World Cup Tasters Championship
The next World Coffee Championship to be held will be the 2019 World Coffee Roasting Championship, taking place in Taipei from 15 to 18 November at the 2019 Taiwan International Coffee Show. Takumi Sakamoto of Deluca Coffee will represent Australia at the event.
Image credit: Jeff Han for World Coffee Events, unless otherwise stated.
