So, the WBC came and went last week, and huge congratulations to Mike Philips who deservedly won (and did an awesome job so I am told) and of course all the baristas. A special well done to Colin harmon and to John Gordon who I know did a good job, as they were the only two baristas I watched all week.
Much has been written since that competition, much will continue to be written, a very special week that will stay with me forever as one of the most fun, most stressful at times most frustrating, and other times most fulfilling. This is why competition is amazing, addictive and thoroughly engrossing.
One thing that I owe competition is the friends it has bought to me. The obvious Colin, and John but also David Walsh, Paul Stack, James Hoffmann to name just a very small amount of great people I have meet and have the pleasure of calling my friends. I don’t know if I would be even known by these great coffee folks were it not for the competition. Coming home from the barista party to find Reg Barber, Sammy Piccalo and Heather Perry in your living room is kind of weird but strangely funny at the same time, and being in the competition circle has meant I have got to know so many of the cool kids, who I don’t think would have given me the time of day before my involvement with Colin and John.
But I decided before this competition this was the last time I would be so involved and so invested in the process, and I left London even more determined that this was the right course of action.I have learnt so much from competition, I have become a far better roaster because of my involvement. I liken it to putting a man on the moon. Seems a crazy thing to do but so many good things that we use in everyday life came from the lunar missions. I know I have become a better roaster for competition and that the every day roasting has improved because of the feed back from the amazing baristas I have worked with and the drive to work harder and harder to create tailored challenging blends for each competitor we have worked with and trying to give them what they want when they often don’t know themselves.
Competition is expensive, its been said on many a blog, but its just as expensive (if not more) for the roaster. I can not begin to quantify the amount of coffee time energy and incidental costs (traveling accommodation, shipping the list goes on), but this is not just finically. I have woken up every morning since Atlanta last year and normally the first but at worst the second though in my head has been barista competition.
I see the role of a roaster like the team behind an F1 team. You have the driver (barista) team manager (baristas partner), tyre manufacture (glassware cups etc) you have the mechanics (set up team, coaches, customers) and the engine manufacture (roaster). I say engine manufacture as without the others in place then the team can not do anything (F1 fans will know what I mean when I say Force India and McLaren). But like F1 WBC is an expensive big boy game to be involved in.
Last year I came away from Atlanta with a very different feeling to what I have now. I left that competition that I had something to prove, that both Colin and I could do more, that he hadn’t proved the top top barista he was and I hadn’t proved what I was capable of as a roaster. I shouldered some of the negatives from Colin’s Score sheet last year, I think we both didn’t prove ourselves as well as we could have done.
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