Daterra Arrival and other Photo's.

Latte Art Championship Results

Without the air bubbles, this is how it should have been.
My Signature Beverage at the Belgian Latte Art Championships yesterday.

Let's start with the overall facts :
We had four participants for these first finals ever.
Peter Hernout, who had sort of a wild card for the World Championships last year, in which he finished 7th!
Jeroen Clauwers, veteran of many wars, who came for fun and to have a new challenge.
François Knopes, we know from the Barista competition, but definitely not for his Latte Art.
And me, Antwerp Barista, to fill the poster. And even that was difficult. Everybody knows i'm not a Latte Art Expert ; it's just not my thing. Besides of that i hardly practice. The only thing i can normally compete with is the etching part, and designs as the above one i normally draw with my eyes closed, but here in competition, i screwed up .... again.
Also flat cappuccino's with uneven designs. The Mac's were tasty, i suppose, but i would, not in a million years, call it art. 4th place. That's what it is, but a nice experience and not unexpected. My way of learning in the past was always like that. Participating without or with a minimum of training and on stage smashing with my head against the wall. Then learning out of it and improving for better results or training my pupils how this competition goes.
Anyhow, the only championships i'll do in the future will be cup tasting. December 6 it's going to be.

Jeroen has as always a solid show, but nothing special. 3rd.

And the winners were Peter and François. Yes, the judges couldn't find a way to give more points to one or another.

Peter had brilliant drawings. Sometimes a tad too complex to bring them perfect, but an artist he is and with the right pattern selection and a bit of luck, top 3 in Copenhagen is achievable.

And then we had this 21 year old youngster out of Luxembourg. Last year at the semis and finals of the BBC we noticed his nice style and coolness, but today he blew us all away.
Can you believe this : His coffee : he used a dark roast!
He had a decaf blend!!
They were roasted the day before!!!
He used a milk texturing technique that can be seen as revolutionary. No stretching, but with only a bit of milk in the pitcher and at low pressure he has his milk rolling around at the bottom of the pitcher and the effect was marvelous!
He made his cappuccino's and sig drinks with double shots!
Very even drawings, good contrast and right in time.
He failed, by time pressure, on this macchiato drawings, if not he would have been our man for Copenhagen, but now .... we don't know.

Soon more, and pics, of this wonderfull and well organised event.

Ethiopia here i come

News of the weekend :

First the arrival of our green Daterra, yellow bourbon and collection. 48K. Curious about the first roast coming in next week or so. Soon more.

Rehearsal for Latte Art. Struggling with my sig a bit. Still doubting which coffee to take with me. Probably a single origin. Risky, but i have nothing to loose. Soon more.

Had a very hectic Jam tonight. 26 people. A tad too much, but all very motivated and happy. Soon more.

And most important : We booked our trip to origin. Ethiopia at the end of October. Pfff. Unbelievable. It took very very long, but finally i'll be able to walk through the Yirgacheffe berry trees at Origin. Soon more, much more.
But today already an interesting article with nice (Yirgacheffe) photo's in this Bloomberg article.

Bad Macchiato

Macchiato
Originally uploaded by frostedpopcorn

Checking out the competition in Antwerp? ;-)

Belgian Latte Art Championship

sunset
Originally uploaded by Peter "Latte Art"

This Tuesday april 22, we have the finals of the Belgian Latte Art Championship at the Fermette Restaurant at Falaën nearby Dinant.

The drinks on the photo's are the free creations of the defending champion Peter Hernout.
And i will be one of the people challenging him.
Yes, i took on the challenge. Latte Art is totaly not my specialty, but i support the organisation and knowing the stage needed to be filled ; i promised to participate.
I hardly practiced and still don't know exactly what cups, pitchers, technique and signature drink i'm going to present. Pfffff. What am i doing?

Anyhow, everyone is welcome to support us next tuesday.
Results on this blog soon after.

El Salvador Coffee Movie

Very well made You Tube documentary about the coffee industry and fair trade opportunities in El Salvador.

Press Dynamics

press dynamics
Originally uploaded by Mr. phelps

Thank you Mr. phelps for this informative photo story.