The 51 national barista champions who took the stage at the 2008 World Barista Championship in Copenhagen, Denmark, had more than a few things to concentrate on in the weeks preceding the event, and indeed during the actual event itself—including figuring out a way to get photos taken of themselves during their 15-minute WBC performance. So we at Barista Magazine decided to take that task off your hands, by taking countless photos of every single competitor, both in the preliminary and the finals rounds. All competitors from the three-day preliminary round are already up, and the finals will follow. Each day of competitors is grouped together, so you should be able to find your champion by which day he or she competed on.
We’ve posted them all to our flickr page (http://www.flickr.com/photos/baristamagazine/sets/), and invite you to cruise the photos, select the ones you want at whatever resolution works for you, and download them to your heart’s content. Send them to your mother, print them and post them in your cafe, let your roaster use them to promote their coffees, and submit them to your local newspaper so that everyone in your town knows what a champ you are. All we ask is that you credit Barista Magazine when you use them.
So celebrate yourselves—you deserve it. Congratulations to all the incredible baristas who participated in the 2008 WBC.
