The new round of national barista competitions for the 2011 World Barista Championship that began in July in Puerto Rico continues with the 9th Annual Mexican Barista Championship.
I arrived in Mexico City about one in the morning and awoke to a beautiful day. Today is a day of judges’ training and calibration for both the barista and latte art competitions.
The usual suspects, Mexico’s own Jose Arreola and Guatemala’s Rouki Delrue, are leading the judges’ training for the MBC, while Iceland’s Sonja Grant and Germany’s Steffen Schwarz are heading up the latte art calibration.
Also serving as judges are Allegro Coffee’s Mike Strumpf from Colorado and some fellow who goes by the name of Stephen Morrissey from Intelligentsia Chicago.
The competitions officially get underway tomorrow. They will both be held nearby at the convention center which is also hosting the largest specialty coffee show in Mexico. It will be an interesting time, so check back for updates as the competitions progress, and I will try to post as often as I can. Adios for now.
