International barista judges prepare for World Championships

http://www.foodweek.com.au/
Thursday, January 08, 2009

Box Hill Institute will host thirty-five national and international barista judges at the World Barista Championship Judges workshop on January 14 and 15.

Successful participants will be qualified to judge the 2009 World Barista Championships in Atlanta, Georgia, US in April.

The coffee lovers will have travelled from Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, New Zealand and other states in Australia to earn the chance to judge at the competition.

This is the first time that the judges' training has been held outside of the country where the championships are taking place, with training held in four international regions. Box Hill Institute was selected as the host of the Asia-Pacific training.World barista judge and Box Hill Institute trainer, Justin Metcalf, will teach the Australian and international contingent how to judge the world's best coffee makers.

"By breaking the judges' training into international regions, the World Barista Championships is trying to give people the opportunity to study in their own region for these critical roles. It will also increase the quality of the training by breaking it into smaller groups, rather than one mass training just prior to the competition," said Metcalf.

"This is a great opportunity to develop barista experience in the Asian-Pacific region. The Asian market is quite an untapped espresso market. So, by developing skills in the region we are not only increasing the pool of judges but also equipping these judges to take the skills back to their own countries."

The participants will attend a variety of workshops and judge baristas in real-life competition simulations.

"Box Hill Institute as a completely independent training facility, free from coffee company sponsorship, is a terrific place to train barista judges in Australia. There is no product push, only quality training in barista and barista judging," said Metcalf.