Baristas Showcase Their Skills At The National Barista Championship In Bengaluru

Everyone enjoys a nice cup of coffee. Whether it is at Starbucks or at the local coffee stall, there are different variations that will help you chase away the morning blues. Without coffee, our Mondays turn into the spawn of Satan. What really makes a difference in the enormous coffee culture that we have is the person actually making the coffee. We have ordered the same cup of coffee at different Starbucks and CCDs for years and each time it tastes different, sometimes for the worse. For some baristas, making the perfect cup of coffee is a passion and for others its a thankless job. 

To recognise the people who actually are coffee connoisseurs and make the effort to give you the perfect cup of coffee, the Coffee Board of India organised the National Barista Championship in Bengaluru on December 21 and 22. Participants in this competition were made to showcase their skills in brewing the best coffee. The competition was launched last year as part of a 3 round competition. The first round was held in New Delhi and the second round in Bengaluru. The finals of the competition will be held in Mumbai as part of the India International Coffee Festival 2016. 

Speaking to Bangalore Mirror, Ruksaar Shah, who works for McCafe said, “Coffee-making is an art which has gone unrecognised. But now a lot of youngsters are taking to coffee and there are a lot of cafes coming up. This has encouraged baristas to churn out amazing and rare combinations of coffee.” The competition encourages innovative techniques of making coffee and to give the consumers a rare look into the life of a barista.

The National Barista Championship doubled its participants this year with more baristas willing to showcase their skills on a grand stage. Aarti Dewan Gupta, director of finance, Coffee Board, said, “When we started, we had just 19 participants, but now we have around 35 participants. The coffee industry has evolved over the last decade with the cafe culture penetrating into urban lifestyles. The Indian consumer has also become discerning, thus the role of a barista assumes greater importance.” 

The winners of the Bangalore edition were Sowmya R from BerryCo, Ruksaar Shah, Arman Sheik, Nasid Khan and Sachin from Mc Cafe, Pradeep Kumar from Crispy Creme, Girish and Santosh from Barista Cafe. They will competing with finalists from other parts of the country for the grand title in Mumbai on January 19th. You can get more information about the India International Coffee Festival on their website.