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Winner Jurate Skarzauskaite, who works at East Midlands Airport, created a beach-themed drink named Tropical Paradise |
INTERNATIONAL. The Caffè Ritazza World Barista Championship organised by leading food travel group SSP reached its climax in Rome last week as a UK airport barista took the title.
Eight finalists from across the globe took part in the international competition. They were given a range of tasks to complete by a panel of expert judges, who included SSP Senior Vice President International Brands Richard Barclay. He was instrumental in the successful launch of SSP’s Caffè Ritazza brand.
Jurate Skarzauskaite, a barista working at East Midlands Airport, was crowned champion, having created a beach-themed signature chilled drink named Tropical Paradise. The drink was flavoured with espresso coffee, coconut and bananas, and was presented in coconuts on a “˜beach’ of flowers and sea-shells.
She said it was her love of the summer time and travelling that inspired her recipe: “I love being on the beach, and I wanted to create a drink that could be enjoyed on a hot summer day.”
A number of the competitors drew on the culinary heritage of their home countries for inspiration. Dimitris Aggelis from Greece flavoured his drink with Mastiha, a sap from Lentisk trees, an evergreen shrub found only in certain areas of the Greek island of Chios. Similarly, Li Ka Man from Hong Kong incorporated some of the teas for which his country is renowned.
Event organiser and judge Stuart Coombes explained: “Jurate put in a convincing performance throughout the competition. Her passion for coffee really showed through. She’d really thought about her performance, and it was clear she had a lot of fun.”
Coombes, a former barista competitor himself, added: “This competition is judged to the standards of the Speciality Coffee Association of Europe. This means it has allowed our baristas to benchmark their performance against the finest baristas in the world, and provided a great platform for them to enter other championships when they return home.”
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Dimitris Aggelis from Greece flavoured his drink with Mastiha, a sap from Lentisk trees, only found on the island of Chios |
The competition was adjudicated by four sensory judges and two technical judges, who scored finalists on how they prepared to make the coffee, their technical expertise in areas such as grinding and extracting the coffee and foaming the milk. Each coffee was tasted and rated on a number of quality criteria.
At the end of the competition, finalists could opt to take part in a latte art competition, in which they could show off their skills and make a Flat White.
Participants made six Flat Whites, choosing their favourite latte art to be photographed and put forward to be judged. Li Ka Man from Hong Kong and Zlatan Zilic from Denmark shared first prize in this leg of competition. The Flat White will be making its debut in Caffè Ritazza outlets on 1 October 2010.
The eight finalists were:
Jurate Skarzauskaite (representing UK Air)
Matthew Roberts (UK Rail)
Samer Hassan (Sweden)
Dimitris Aggelis (Greece)
Li Ka Man (Hong Kong)
Zlatan Zilic (Denmark)
Thomas Pettersson (Norway)
Jean Philippe Mottaz (France)
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