pasteboard

It’s been a tremendous three days at the Nordic Barista Cup, and at the end of it, Team Sweden won a hard-fought crown, ending Norway’s streak of two wins in a row. It’s Team Sweden’s first ever victory in the NBC. Congratulations Sweden!

And there can be no question that they earned it, in fact you can take it to the bank. At the end of the competition they had the cash on hand to show the judges that their vision of the future coffee shop had real potential. Of course like so much of the barista competitions around the world, this event is less about winning or losing than it is about bringing baristas together.

And while absolutely none of the teams can be called losers, winning does have its privileges, and that would be a trip to wonderful Nicaragua this January for the entire team! As the kids like to say, Niiiiiice!

But wait, it gets even better.
In the spirit of community, and with great generosity, the Coffee Association of Nicaragua also invited one representative from each of the other four teams to join Team Sweden in January on their trip to Central America’s largest country to visit coffee farms, travel to co-ops and forge ever stronger bonds with the people involved with creating coffee at origin. Sweet!
See you next year in Helsinki!