Expresso Love: Your Online Guide to Coffee

Unless you harbor a real love for coffee, it’s hard to fathom just how crucial a role the barista plays in your morning cup of java. The barista — in case you didn’t know — is the more than just a bartender — that is selling the barista’s services far too short! No, the barista is a trained professional. One who knows as much about the quality of beans he’s using as does how much milk makes a perfect cafe’-latte. The list of the barista’s responsibilities reads like a resume at times.

So it comes as no surprise that every year the different coffee organizations compete to see who the best barista is.

The first annual World Barista Championship began innocently enough in Monte Carlo in the year 2000. The event was the brain-child of a group of like-mined coffee lovers. Their vision: to create a competition that showcased the best baristas from around the globe. That first year 12 people competed from various nations and the competition was won by Robert Thoresen of Norway.

Since then, there’s been no looking back. 2001 saw the competition move to Miami, Florida, where 17 baristas came to represent their home countries with Denmark’s Martin Hildebrandt taking home the crown.

In 2002 the WBC went back to Europe, as Oslo, Norway and the SCAE hosted the competition. A sign of the competition’s increasingly popularity encouraged 24 baristas to compete. Denmark’s Fritz Storm came out on top.

2003 was a stellar year for the World Barista Championships. That year the competition was held in Boston and was broadcast on national television to an audience of over 20 million viewers. 28 baristas competed with Paul Bassett from Australia overwhelmingly taking top honors.

The WBC traveled to Trieste, Italy in 2004 where a record breaking 34 representatives competed. Tim Wendelboe of Norway proudly earned the now much-sought-after title of World Barista Champion.

In 2005, the WBC saw 35 countries compete. Scandinavia was successful again, as Troels Overdall Poulsen was triumphant.

This year, the 7th Annual World Barista Championship was one of the most popular ever. The event was held in conjunction with the SCAE’s World Specialty Coffee Conference, Exhibition & Workshops May 19-21, 2006, in Berne, Switzerland. As expected, the WBC continues to draw good numbers each year while keeping the role of the barista in the limelight.