MICE 2017

admin

Hi guys, MICE is on in one month; it's a bit lengthy but thought i'd include pretty much all of the PR release, fyi:

"There’s just one month to go until the coffee industry unites to celebrate all things coffee at the Melbourne International Coffee Expo (MICE) from 30 March to 1 April.

Australia’s favourite coffee event will see all five Australian Coffee Championships under the one roof, including the Australian Barista, Brewers Cup, Pura Latte Art, Cup Tasters, and the all-new Coffee Roasting Championship to recognise roasting excellence. Hosted by the Australian Specialty Coffee Association (ASCA) this will see regional barista winners from across the country go head-to-head for the ultimate glory, with the ultimate goal of taking out the national title and representing Australia on the world stage.

This year, the World Barista Championships (WBC) will take place in Seoul from 9 – 21 November 2017. The World Brewers Cup, World Latte Art, and World Cup Tasters Championship will take place from 13 – 15 June 2017 in Budapest, and the World Coffee Roasting Championship will take place in December in Guangzhou, China.

All eyes will be on the competition stage to see who will be crowned the 2017 Australian Barista Champion. Can Hugh Kelly go back-to-back and win the Barista Championship? Will we see another World Latte Art Champion in the making? All will be revealed at MICE. “MICE is the perfect platform for people to open their minds to coffee,” says Hugh Kelly, ONA Coffee Head Trainer and reigning Australian Barista Champion. “The Australian competition is one of, if not the most, competitive national competitions in the world. There are some great ideas and approaches on display here.”

Following his Australian win in 2016 and eighth placing at the WBC in Ireland, Hugh will return for another shot at winning the title. The competing baristas must prepare four espressos, four milk beverages, and four signature drinks for sensory and technical judges to assess over a timed routine of 15 minutes.

Excluding the wildcard entries, Hugh expects his biggest rivals in the Australian Barista Championships to be Jade Jennings of Veneziano Coffee (2016 runner up), fellow ONA Coffee member and returning competitor Angus Mackie, and Matthew Lewin of Axil Coffee Roasters (2016 third place).

ASCA Australian Coffee Championship schedule

Location: Melbourne International Coffee Expo, Melbourne Showgrounds

Thursday 30 March

Australian Barista Championships Open Heats 9am – 4pm (Main stage)

Australian Brewers Cup Open Heats 10.30am – 4pm (Brewers lounge)

Australian Coffee Roasting Championship 9am – 1pm (Roasting zone)

Friday 31 March

Australian Barista Championship Semi-Finals 10am – 2pm (Main stage)

Australian Brewers Cup Open Heats 10.30am – 2.30pm (Brewers lounge)

Australian Coffee Roasting Championship 10.30am – 2.30pm (Roasting zone)

Australian Pura Latte Art Championship Open-heats 2pm – 3.30pm (Main stage)

Australian Cup Tasters Championship Open Heats 3.30pm to 5pm (Main stage)

Announcement of all finalists 5.30pm (Main stage)

Saturday 1 April

FINALS DAY

Australian Brewers Cup Finals 9.30am – 3pm (Brewers lounge)

Australian Coffee Roasting Championship 10am – 3.30pm (Roasting zone)

Australian Barista Championship Finals 10am – 2pm (Main stage)

Australian Pura Latte Art Championship Finals 10am – 2pm (Main stage)

* Competitions will be run concurrently, one barista competitor, then one latte art competitor.

Cup Tasting Championships Finals 2pm – 2.30pm (Main stage)

Product Innovation Award Announcement 3pm (Main stage)

Barista Big Bash latte art smackdown 3.30pm (Main stage)

All winners announcements at 3pm (Main stage)

About Melbourne International Coffee Expo (MICE2017)
The Melbourne International Coffee Expo (MICE) is the largest dedicated coffee show in the Southern Hemisphere. MICE2017 will welcome around 120 exhibitors, featuring the latest in espresso equipment, coffee brewing devices, exotic and expensive coffee beans, roasting equipment, and more. Almost 10,000 café owners, roasters, baristas, equipment manufacturers, and service providers from more than 35 countries flock to this event annually in what has become the must-attend event for the industry.

For more information visit www.internationalcoffeeexpo.com

K_Bean_Coffee

I'll be there

admin

Hi guys, just a reminder about this, due to start on 1 April; I won't be able to make it, but if there's enough interest amongst Melb-based members, you may want to arrange central spot to meet up? Have also posted a little more info about the various world coffee champs from their press release: " The Australian Coffee Championships, hosted by the Australian Specialty Coffee Association (ASCA) will see regional barista winners from across the country go head-to-head for the ultimate glory in the Barista, Latte Art, Cup Tasters, Brewers Cup and Coffee Roasting championship – a new addition to this year’s line up. Watch them dazzle the judges – and crowd – with their timed performances, creative latte art, and delicious coffees, with the ultimate goal of taking out the national titles and representing Australia on the world stage in their respective events. Winning the Australian Championship is a barista’s ticket to the world. This year, the World Barista Championships (WBC) will take place in Seoul from 9 – 21 November 2017. The World Brewers Cup, World Latte Art, and World Cup Tasters Championship will take place from 13 – 15 June 2017 in Budapest, and the World Coffee Roasting Championship will take place in December in Guangzhou, China."

West Village

To all those attending hope you have a great time! I'm extremely jealous !! Really looking forward to any new products!! And also hearing who the competition winners are.

K_Bean_Coffee

I'll take pics

Brett H

on 1490319678:

I'll take pics

Fantastic.  As long as there's plenty of bling mind.... no sunsets or abstracts  :stir

admin

on 1490319678:

I'll take pics

Actually K_Bean, if you've got a reasonably good camera, I might talk to you about getting a selection of reasonably high-res pics. cheers A

K_Bean_Coffee

on 1490415912:

Actually K_Bean, if you've got a reasonably good camera, I might talk to you about getting a selection of reasonably high-res pics. cheers A

.....more than reasonable. My wife is a professional photographer so I get to use her toys. Let me know if you have a special mission for me .  I'm happy to help Cheers Paul www.kbean.com.au Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Brett H

on 1490424984:

.....more than reasonable. My wife is a professional photographer so I get to use her toys. Let me know if you have a special mission for me .  I'm happy to help Cheers Paul www.kbean.com.au Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I too am blessed with a wife with photographic proclivities for work.  We're a Nikon family

K_Bean_Coffee

Canon for us

admin

hey Paul, if you email or pm me your address, will send you a hardcopy back-issue of Crema mag. from previous barista comps, where you can see the sort of shots I took - I was shooting with D300 but a full-frame with better low-light capability would be better for natural light shots cheers A

K_Bean_Coffee

Hi A, I'll send you a PM. Cheers

West Village

How was day#1 down at MICE kbean or anyone else attending for that matter ? Any new or innovative products coming to market that caught your interest?

askthecoffeeguy

and photos of bling on the bench please !

K_Bean_Coffee

It was awesome guys. Smaller this year but still great. I failed re the Pro pics but here are a few snaps:

West Village

Awesome job kbean thanks for the photos and updates so far Congratulations to cosmorex/beanroasters for taking out the best roaster and best espresso awards I'm led to believe. At least that's what the MICE 2017 Facebook page advised. Can anyone confirm?

admin

nice pics K_Bean; just a reminder, if anyone else is attending please feel free to use this thread as a 'blog' with thoughts and/or pics from the event cheers A

K_Bean_Coffee

My #1 tip would be to get to 5 Senses and try their "flights." Each flight had 3 carefully selected coffees and there where 4 flights so 12 great coffees all up. The 3x Geisha was a real highlight. Cheers, Paul www.kbean.com.au

Brett H

Great stuff.... thanks for the pics Paul!

admin

Hi guys, here's the final blurb on the winner of the Aust Barista Champ - congrats to Hugh (second year running)! If anyone wants to add winners of other comps (eg latte art, good spirits) please feel free. "Hugh Kelly of Ona Coffee in Canberra won the Australian Barista Championship for the second year in a row. He is only the second Australian to win the prestigious title since Paul Basset won the championship in 2002 and 2003. Matthew Lewin of Axil Coffee Roasters was runner up and Jade Jennings of Veneziano Coffee Roasters placed third, a repeat of last year’s top three finalists. For his 15-minute routine, Hugh engaged the panel of four sensory judges with his fluid presentation, distinct flavour profiles, and element of fun with tangerine fairy floss he transported from a carnival setting to the judging table. Hugh also used his performance to highlight the need to bridge the gap between specialty coffee and consumers. “I want to serve quality coffee first and foremost, but I also want to focus on how to make the customer experience better. That’s why I talked to our customers and listened to what they liked and what they didn’t to help create my routine and my beverages.” Hugh presented four espressos, four milk-based beverages, and four signature drinks for the judges for assessment. He used a washed processed Geisha from Morgan Estate in Panama for his espressos; a natural processed Ethiopian coffee found near the Geisha forest in Wush Wush for his milk-based beverages; and the same Morgan Estate coffee in espresso form with 12 millilitres of peach sous vide liquid, the vapour of jasmine flavours, and 50 grams of tangerine peel and unrefined organic cane sugar for his signature beverage. The result was a tangerine sugar, which he heated at 150°C in a fairy floss machine to create a “tangerine floss”. Hugh will represent Australia at the World Barista Championship (WBC), taking place in Seoul from 9 – 21 November 2017.

mycuppa

The result was a tangerine sugar, which he heated at 150°C in a fairy floss machine to create a “tangerine floss”. Sadly, this is perhaps what separates the top half dozen or so competitors..........the stuff that bears no resemblance to coffee and belongs in a Master Chef or Heston Blumenthal event .........sure, it's only part of an entire routine, but wouldn't it be great if they would focus on judging coffee solely on the merits of coffee and leave the sideshow antics for those with short attention spans.

admin

full results as follows (courtesy ASCA) 2017 Australian Barista Championship Winner: Hugh Kelly, Ona Coffee Second Place: Matthew Lewin, Axil Coffee Third Place: Jade Jennings, Veneziano Coffee Roasters 2017 Latte Art Championship Winner: Aaron Dongsu Shin of Short Black Café Second Place: Shinsaku “shin” Fukayama of St Ali Third Place: Emily Coumbis of Piggy Back Café 2017 Cup Tasting Championship Winner: Yama King of Kingswood Coffee, 8/8 Coffees in 1:41 Second Place: Tom Bomford of Square One Coffee  8/8 in 1:53 Third Place: Hyunsuk “Harry” Ko of Dukes Coffee Roasters, 7/8 in 1:11 2017 Coffee Roasting Championship Winner: Jack Allisey of Veneziano Coffee Roasters Second Place: Danny Andrade of Extraction Artisan Coffee Third Place: Ben Toovey of Genovese Coffee 2017 Australian Brewers Cup Winner: Sam Corra of Ona Coffee Second Place: Devin Loong of Slater St Bench Third Place: Chan Ho Hong of Normcore Coffee Roasters and Tulip Shi Specialty Coffee

West Village

Forgive me if I'm wrong but I was under the impression beanroasters (cosmorex) had taken out back to back champion roaster titles? I was perusing their new website which had details of their win? Or was this a seperate award at the tournament? Or a seperate event all together?

Brett H

No, I believe you are correct.  The gong they received was Champoin Australian Roaster.

Lwowiak

on 1491266165:

  He used a washed processed Geisha from Morgan Estate in Panama for his espressos; a natural processed Ethiopian coffee found near the Geisha forest in Wush Wush for his milk-based beverages;

I would be very interested to know how much these green coffees cost, and their cupping score (by a qualified cupper). At a guess they are 90+ beans with associated high prices. It seems that today the only way to win over some judges is to use high quality Geishas, as that is the current hipster trend.

mycuppa

2017 Coffee Roasting Championship Winner: Jack Allisey of Veneziano Coffee Roasters Second Place: Danny Andrade of Extraction Artisan Coffee Third Place: Ben Toovey of Genovese Coffee

and

No, I believe you are correct.  The gong they received was Champoin Australian Roaster.

Are different competitions and should not be confused - easy as it can be. The roasting competition run by ASCA is a new event (introduced this year) to link up with an emerging "title"  called World Roasting Champion that has played out in a limited fashion over the last couple of years. Yes, that's right......another gravy train to milk. Idea (or logic) being they hold comps in the "interested" countries and the winner from each country then gets the chance to compete in the World's event - a.k.a. the Barista and latte art comps. In 2016 some Romanian dude won the event and the year before I think it was either a Japanese guy or I can't remember without the help of Dr Google. It's been going a few years starting from a small collection arranged by the promotions of marketing departments from roaster suppliers or software tools like Cropster. Challenge is though - this year they had just 8 spots which were opened for entries. They used Toper roasters and I'm not sure what will be at the World's, in previous years they have been Geisen's. It's a series of tests using controlled equipment and beans. This thing is vastly different to the RASV, now known as the Australian & International Coffee Awards........which are somewhat similar to the likes of the Golden Bean and other Fine Foods events - companies enter coffees, judges evaluate and winners are applauded. Therefore, the 2 events are not similar and should not be confused.............although people are entitled to be confused when you think that there are more than 300+ medals awarded each calendar year for all these events.............one could also be excused for feeling a bit over the whole comp/event/winner/loser/trier/ machine that sucks a significant portion of real $$ from competitors in terms of huge time and product commitments. Personally, I wish more people would donate to worthy charities as the cost in real terms of all this back-slapping has become a bit embarrassing. On a serious note though, Atillio and the Cosmorex team deserve to be applauded because it's damn hard work and they have demonstrated excellence over many years.