Just a week ago I had a talk with my friend Siobhan where we ironically came to the conclusion that maybe cutting back on coffee might actually increase my work productivity. Naturally, that plan went out the window with the dishwater when I found out about the Central Canada Regional Barista Competition at the regal Hart House in mid-July. Contestants from Toronto’s elite coffee shops and roasters like Pilot Coffee Roasters, R², Dark Horse, Mercatto, Sam James, Rooster and Detour were competing to move onto the national rounds, ultimately to compete on an international level.
Head judge Amber Fox, currently at Bows & Arrows Coffee Roasters in Victoria, formerly of Toronto, works at an international level in the Barista championships. She’s recently returned from the globals in Australia and took the time to break down the judging categories for me, which are split between the espresso, cappuccino and specialty drink categories. Lucky for some, the rules, regulations and score sheets have been evolving over the years. Espresso scores are now broken down into categories and baristas are free to use any coffee they’d like as long as it fits the description given to judges.
“Where as before they were looking for a perfect balance between, sweet, and bitter, tactile with a full body ground, now the competitors have more room to play within that,” said Fox. “They describe their shot, by saying something like ‘it will be very bright, it has a citrus acidity that balances the sweetness.’ They can do more within those rules now. Also judges don’t have to keep a strict poker face any more. They are free to smile or show all kinds of emotion, except for when evaluating drinks of course, but outside of that, it’s changed.”
I’m told that there are some new exciting trends like the introduction this year of aromatics, and prohibition era cocktail techniques like using ice, stirring properly, including non-alcoholic bitters and just generally going outside of the traditional cream and sugar, along with extracting savoury notes in the brews.
Some of these techniques were seen in first place winner Momiji Kishi from Detour Coffee Roasters in Dundas, ON, who’s signature drink was prepared with the Japanese herb shiso, along with a sweet chamomile infusion over iced espresso giving the coffee a plum liquor taste with a hint of black pepper sensation. Or in Benedict San Juan of BS Coffee Consulting who’s signature drink was an apricot puree on ice with espresso strained into a shot glass rimmed with simple syrup and dark chocolate.
Congrats to all four winners (1st place- Momiji Kishi of Detour Coffee Roasters, 2nd place – Georgia Henry of Dark Horse Espresso Bar, 3rd place – Brett Johnston of Crafted Coffee, 4th place – Geoff Woodley of Detour Coffee Roasters) who will move onto the Canadian nationals in Vancouver October 20-12 2013. You can watch their stunning performances recorded at Hart House via livecast at http://tinyurl.com/canadianbarista.
