London & South East Barista Champion crowned

27th January 2011, 8:52am

Will Corby of London based speciality coffee merchant, Mercanta, has been crowned London & South East Barista Champion.

As well as being awarded overall regional winner, he also collected the prizes for Best Cappuccino, Best Espresso and Best Speciality Drink.

During the heat, Corby was required to make four espressos, four cappuccinos and four espresso based non alcoholic speciality drinks. The speciality drink was based on the classic combination of coffee with chocolate.  He topped his espresso with a chocolate mouse made using single estate cocao from Hacienda Las Trincheras, Venezuela.

These drinks were then marked by two technical and four sensory judges together with a head judge who assessed the quality of the drinks, knowledge of the entrants as well as their attention to detail, creativity and signature drink. 

Second place in the heat went to current UK Barista Champion, John Gordon from Square Mile Coffee and third place went to the youngest competitor in the championships, Callum Thomson who is just 15 years old and took part on behalf of Espresso Incognito.

Because of his age, Callum cannot officially compete, however the organising Committee thought it right to encourage him in his desire to be part of this ever growing coffee community.

Corby commented on his win: "I have been taking part in the UKBC since 2008 and I have learned a lot whilst making some great friends. It is great to be able to compete against a field of baristas of this quality, and to have also won each of the drinks categories leaves me astounded!

"The support I have received from Mercanta, James Gourmet Coffee and The London School of Coffee has been second to none and I really do have to thank them for sourcing such wonderful coffee and to Peter at James Gourmet for roasting it with such expertise."

The top scoring baristas from the heats will go through to the finals, which will be held at the IFE11 event at London's ExCeL centre on 15th and 16th March.  The final winner will be crowned UK Barista Champion 2011 and will go on to compete in the World Barista Championship in Bogota, Colombia in June.

The UK Barista Championships are organised by the Speciality Association of Europe UK Chapter (SCAE UK). 

Related Articles:

• 06 Dec 2010 - IFE to host UK Barista Championships
• 04 Nov 2010 - The search is on for UK Barista Champion 2011
• 22 Apr 2009 - World Barista Championship for UK revealed
• 03 Mar 2009 - UK Barista Championships kick off at ScotHot
• 26 Jan 2009 - UK Barista Championships get underway
• 06 Nov 2008 - World Champion Barista announced

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