I’m lucky enough to be in beautiful Paris, France, right now attending the French Coffee Championships. In between watching the talented baristas taking part in the French Barista Championship, Latte Art Championship, Coffee in Good Spirits Championship, Cup Tasters Championship, and ”for the first time ”Brewers Cup, my international pals and I have been taking in the city, which has been warm and full of sunshine every day since I arrived.
I’ll have a longer article about the event and the lovely cafes we visited in Paris in the June+July issue of Barista Magazine, but meantime, I wanted to share some photos from here while the competitions are still hot and live!
Salud!
Reigning French Barista Champ Luca Casadei won 7th place at the 2013 World Barista Championship, and he’s trying for the crown again this weekend.Lauro from espresso machine sponsor Nuova Simonelli is on hand to make sure the Aurelias are working perfectly.The crowd has been enormous all weekend! The SCAE France chapter did a spectacular job of organizing the event.Reigning World Coffee in Good Spirits Champion Victor Delpierre is here to emcee, do demos, and of course autograph copies of Barista Magazine.
The level of talent at these competitions is quite high ”no surprise, considering how much esteem the Parisian third wave cafes have been enjoying of late.
I ran into my friend David Flynn, who opened Telescope a few years ago, and now is one of the owners of the much talked about Belleville Roastery.Cup Tasters has been exciting! A wide field of competitors was pared from 26 to 8 semifinalists, to 4 finalists, and a winner.
The French Coffee Championships are taking place during the Success Food show, so we’re surrounded by amazing bakers and pastry chefs. Not too shabby!
The international judges include Jose from Mexico, Sonja from Iceland, Lauro from Italy, and Nora from Germany/Czech Republic (pictured being goofy outside of the restaurant where we ate the first night).We walked to Coutume Coffee’s new lab, where futuristic gadgets such as a computer program that can electronically email coffee scents, and a coffee vaporizer, make for the most futuristic cafe I’ve ever seen.
Nuova Simonelli’s new machine, the Black Eagle, is here ”the very first in France!Beautiful Cafeotheque, the coffeehouse that started the third wave movement in Paris that is so rich and interesting today.And this photo has nothing to do with coffee ”it’s just a couple of cute cats hanging out in front of the opera. Meow.
Sarah Allen (she/her) is co-founder and editor of Barista Magazine, the international trade magazine for coffee professionals. A passionate advocate for baristas, quality, and the coffee community, Sarah has traveled widely to research stories, interact with readers, and present on a variety of topics affecting specialty coffee. She also loves animals, swimming, ice cream, and living in Portland, Oregon.
