UAE coffee blog

15-Nov-2011

The competition

Set amongst the back drop of the UAE Tea and Coffee Convention at The Meydan Hotel, it was exciting to be going international with coffee again.

For the uninitiated in the UAE I'll start with The Meydan; 10 stories high and 1.6km long hotel and integrated grandstand with a gob smacking decor of gold and marble. The Sheik of Dubai has his own road into the place, because you know it sucks going to the races and getting stuck in traffic. The place is set literally in the desert about 15 minutes from the center of Dubai, one thing I can say is that the Emirates don't lack courage to act! In an otherwise inhospitable desert they have created many an oasis let me tell you.

The Dubai Barista Championship had 20 entrants who competed over 2 days to establish a top six, who went on to compete in the finals on the third day. But before you can have any competition you have to do what's called a Judges calibration. This involves one or two lead judges, in this case Brydon Price and myself boy WBC certified. We make a thorough examination of the rules of the competition, assess key skills for technical and sensory judges, conduct mock run throughs of performances
for judging practice. But then it's on to the competition.

Each barista has 15 minutes to present each of the 4 judges with one each of; espresso, cappuccino and an espresso based signature beverage (with no alcohol). Harder he it seems, trust me. As for the competitors they were a mix of eager baristas young and not so who have coffee as some significant part of their life. As for the coffee there is much imported coffee in the UAE, however there are local roasters such as Raw Coffee, Coffee Planet and Orbis to name a few. Most baristas have passion but little exposure to the likes of the coffee community here in Australia. But as I have always said, passion is a universal language.

We Had two flights of judges, with Brydon leading one and myself leading the other. Judges were a mix of local and international talent. Gautam Srinath, Indian Barista Champion 2006 has set up here and came on board as a sensory judge, Ellie Matuszak of the SCAA, Ann Nylander (USA WBC), Miguel Vicuña (USA Head Judge), Hugo Neuproler (USA WBC), Sunaleni Menon (Coffee Lab India) and quite a few more !

Judges steadily worked through their baristas to establish the front runners and it came to the final day before we knew it. The finalists were a enthusiastic bunch of baristas eager to impress. Solid routines and good coffee in the moment was no easy feat, but in the end there had to be a winner. Matt Toogood of Raw Coffee finished in first place, Kushel Kumar from Raw Coffee in second and Romeo Perello made up the top three. But my heart went out to Teresa Carbardo of Arabica Cafe for her passionate and fun routine. You don't need to win competitions to impress, I am sure she will be a force in the future.

But I couldn't stay forever, home was calling me back at the end of the week. But I look back now with fond memories of an oasis in the desert and another coffee community on the rise. I must thank Ryan Godhino and family for bringing me over to Dubai for the event. I had a great event and look forward to the next time to meet coffee folk from around the world.

Ross Quail