Yesterday saw the last of the UK regional heats take place in Lewes, featuring baristas from London and the South East plus a couple of out of region entrants.
We knew this last heat was going to be a tough one, with some very solid baristas battling it out for the coveted semi final spots. Unsurprisingly, five out of the seven competing scored high enough to move on to the next round, the highest number for any regional!
Gwilym gave a wonderful performance and served up some really tasty drinks in his 15 minutes on stage. (Or so we were told- James and I are rubbish at watching when the clock starts, so were nervously pacing the back room trying not to watch the clock ticking down!) But the hard work, late nights, endless dishes and constant nerves proved worth it, and he not only won the heat, he did so with a very, very good score and won best signature drink on top of it all!
A very deserving winner and all round top bloke, Gwilym is a fantastic barista and coffee advocate, genuinely doing what he loves best and serving delicious coffee to London’s thirsty masses from his carts on Whitecross Street and Columbia Road markets. We’ve been honoured to work with him over the last few months, and we’re very proud that he chose to use our coffee.
Of the 80-something entrants across the UK 25 have moved on to the semi finals in Glasgow, and the top 6 from there will throw down in a seriously intense finals on Wednesday. Hopefully there will be a live feed up somewhere so even if you can’t make it up there to watch, you can cheer online and along with all of us nervously waiting off stage be the first to know who will be representing the UK at the Worlds in April!
Browse Timeline
Comments ( 8 )
GWILYM!!!!!!!
I saw you on the computer…I couldn’t hear what you were saying, but you looked great in my favorite hat. Congratulations, you deserve it!I’ll be thinking of you (and hopefully watching) during the next round. Best of luck from NYC!
Jenni added these pithy words on
Feb 27 09 at
1:12 am
“from his carts on Whitecross Street and Columbia Road markets”
oh my god! that sounds just amazing! please post some pics of Gwilym and his carts & set-up and describe his work day!
lots of people are doing drip coffee at farmer’s markets in the US and Europe but this sounds great!thanks,
alexander
alexander ruas added these pithy words on
Feb 27 09 at
7:59 am
Congratulations Gwilym! Great to meet you at the Welsh heat, good luck in the final!
Will added these pithy words on
Feb 27 09 at
3:15 pm
Hope you don’t mind, Brian!
Some pictures of Gwilym and a link to Brian’s blog:
Anette added these pithy words on
Feb 28 09 at
12:22 pm
Great photos & podcast of Gwylim!
Would love to see more. A plethora of Q’s!
-how does he deal with water in/ out?
-take-away cups or real cups?
-why a cart and not a café/coffee bar?
-how many coffees per day does G serve?How about a reportage with q’s & a’s!?!?
Alexander
Alexander added these pithy words on
Mar 01 09 at
8:14 pm
