Excitement brews as baristas vie for title
The crowd at the Assembly Room in Chichester was buzzing with excitement at the Southern Heat 2 event which took place for the UK Barista Championships.
The regional final of the championships took place on Friday, February 10, at The Assembly Room in Chichester from 9am until 6pm.
The championships are run by the Specialty Coffee Association UK and aim to celebrate baristas’ wide range of technical and creative skills and to promote high quality coffee. The national winner will then take part in the World Championships in Athens, Greece.
The baristas had to prepare two espressos and two milk based beverages for the judges to have a chance to get to the semi-finals.
Two of the district’s own baristas took part: Louis Harrison, who works for the Trading Post Café in South Street, and Dominic Pulleyn, who works for Cast Iron Coffee Roasters based in Maudlin, just outside Chichester. However it was Christian Meija, from Grumpy Mule, who came out on top of the judges’ scoreboards with a score of 189.5
Councillor Alan Sutton, from Chichester District Council, said on the day: “We've brought this competition here and it's been held in much larger cities than Chichester in the past, and it's a real feather in our cap to bring it here.
"I had no idea about this community that existed online and what I want to do is to bring it for people to come and enjoy it.
"So, you know, you've seen the competition come and enjoy the coffee. The coffee trail is a fantastic idea and I'm so pleased that we're doing it and going ahead with it."
The full results for the Southern Heat:
Christian Meija (Grumpy Mule) – 189.5
Dominic Pulleyn (Murmuration Coffee Co.) – 171
Julia Mello (Gather & Gather) – 166
Tim Squirrell (Gather & Gather) – 164
Louis Harrison (Trading Post Coffee Roasters) – 148 Jack Butland (Independent) – 145.5
Catalina Croitoru (Watchhouse) – 133.5 Monkia Piwko (Bartlett Mitchell) – 116
Edison Shehu (Nostos Coffee) – 110.5
Marta Krasteva (Forts) – 90 Adam Adrych (Hot Numbers) – 62