Insomnia Barista Competition 2011: Second Semi Final

December 04, 2011

The Second Semi Final of the Insomnia Barista Competition 2011 took place last Friday December 2nd. Meet our 4 contestants: Faruk (Insomnia @ Spar, Leeson Street), Claudia (Insomnia @ Spar, Dame Street), Csilla (Insomnia Wexford Street) and Anna (Insomnia @ Junction 14, Monasterevin).

Faruk

Left: Faruk knows that ‘it’s all in the detail’. Here, he focuses to ensure that the right amount of coffee goes into his shot.
Middle left: It requires a lot of practice and skills to prepare cappuccino that looks like that. Well done Faruk!
Middle right: Finishing touches to Faruk’s signature drink. His inspiration came from India.
Right: He used traditional spices as a base for the drink. His coffee was served with mint chocolate which resulted in very hot (spicy drink) and cool (mint chocolate) sensations when tasting it. It looked great with all the spices that were used as table decorations.

Claudia

Left: Claudia preparing to her first shot. She’s very relaxed!
Middle left: Claudia waiting for last drops of her espresso.
Middle right: Our baristas are never afraid to get their hands dirty (with coffee of course).
Right: Claudia’s signature drink was all about Christmas (it’s that time of the year again). The drink was based on apple flavours and mixed spices.

Csilla

Left: Csilla preparing ingredients for her signature drink. It’s great to see them being prepared from scratch!
Middle left: Csilla’s signature drink ready to go. She called it Chocolate & Orange Delight. It was based on handmade caramel and freshly squeezed orange juice. Bitter sweet delight!
Middle right: Cleanliness is very important to our technical judge and can earn you some extra points. Csilla knows what she’s doing!
Right: Judges about to taste the chocolate & orange delight. Is it as good as it sounds??

Anna

Left: Anna’s table was so pretty it was difficult to focus on the drinks!
Middle: Correct tamping, with the right pressure and amount of coffee… there’s so much to consider when making the perfect cup of coffee. Anna focuses on getting it right.
Right: Anna’s signature drink was called Tropicana Paradise. Her surname translates to Paradise in Polish so she wanted to highlight that in her presentation. The drink consisted of grapefruit juice and white chocolate buttons. Sweet, sour, juice and tropical!

The Insomnia Barista Competition 2011 is sponsored by Alpro Soya.