The Dutch Latte Art Championships 2015 finals. Six baristas will compete against each other, each of them hoping they will be good enough to go on to the World Latte Art Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden.
The pre rounds are just behind us. So who is our top six? How do they see coffee? And what will they bring to the Latte Art Finals during the Amsterdam Coffee Festival?
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| Photo by Vinni Zwaan @wetthefilter blog |
works at: Babo Café
Who is your coffee inspiration?
That is quite a tricky question. Especially because I have not been immersed in the specialty coffee world for that long. So honestly, I have no great coffee inspiration.
Who taught you latte art?
Bonne Postma from Babo Coffee.
If you walk into a coffeebar that you have not been before and you want to assess the quality level, what do you look for? And what do you order? Why?
I look first at what they are offering; what kind of coffee do they use, and what kinds of brewing methods do they have. And what I order? It depends on what time of the day it is. If I just ate, I would prefer a drip coffee or just a simple Americano. But if I walk into a new coffee shop, I would go for a cappuccino, or an espresso. Purely because I am always very curious if the cappuccino is nicely balanced; that the flavours of both the espresso and milk come forward. As for the espresso, I order this because it often tells what kind of taste the owner prefers. And of course it is the basis for most of the milk coffees.
Do you order coffee when you know it will be bad, or do you then skip the coffee and order something else?
I would definitely skip the coffee.
What is your favourite brew method?
How do you brew coffee at home?
I'm a bit old fashioned, but at home I have a simple drip pot. I mainly drink coffee in my place of work or in the city, wherever I am at that moment.
If people ask you what they should buy for making coffee at home, what do you suggest they do? Why?
I would recommend people to buy a reasonable grinder, one with multiple grinding options. And a Clever Dripper. You would also need a good scale and need to buy good beans. A Clever because this is a very good and simple method is to make them tasty drip coffees. And the rest is just to create a good base level of what you really need.
What is the best coffee you had this year?
Brazil, Minas Gerais Santa Luzia, biological roasted by Bocca.
Where (coffee related) do you still want to go?
Guatamala.
What is the worst coffee you ever had?
Kopi Luwak.
And finally some questions about latte art and the Dutch Championships. What is the most important variable (coffee, grind, pitcher, milk, etc) for latte art and why?
For me that would be the pitchers, as these ensure that you can draw in the crema of your espresso. Different pitchers with different widths of the spouts, they have a big influence on how sophisticated you can draw. But the espresso is also an important variable, because of the contrast you want to create. The darker your espresso, the greater the contrast.
Why do you think you placed for the finals of the DLA? What did you do to achieve this?
My figures were not very good, but were passable. I think I scored very high on the technical part. I think I've achieved a spot in the finals primarily by working very tight on all things on the scoring sheet during my training.
What are you looking forward to the most now that you placed for the finals of the DLA?
Being there, standing on the podium in the finals. And then to preserve the same calm I had during the preliminaries.
How are you going to prepare yourself for the finals?
Train, train, train! So much training! So much! Until I can't stand the sight of coffee.
Who is your biggest competition this year?
The most logical person to fear would be Nick Vink. He makes tight figures and also came in second last year. But I think Maryse van der Hak is also a worthy opponent.
Anything you would like to add?
I am really looking forward to it! And I wish all the finalists lots of fun during training.
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Do you want to read about the other finalists? Read about Belle, Rob, Maryse, Nick and Joep.
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Do you want to read about the other finalists? Read about Belle, Rob, Maryse, Nick and Joep.
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