It is a mixture of excitement, happiness and fatigue at SQM HQ these days, as we’ve returned to work after a couple of nerve wrecking days in Glasgow, where we were so fortunate as to witness East London barista extraordinaire Gwilym Davies become the 2009 UK Barista Champion!!!
Not only did he take top hounours, he also got the awards for Best Espresso and Best Signature Drink! We could not have been more proud and honoured to be working with this man over the last year, and look forward to the six weeks of preparations leading up to the World Finals in Atlanta in April.
For a long time Gwilym was London’s best kept coffee secret. His queue at Columbia Road usually full of baristas and roasters from across the capital, along with lots of wise locals. He was one of our first wholesale customers, and we’ve always enjoyed working with him and he’s always given us great and honest feedback. I think many witnessing him compete would have realised that he has a huge wealth of knowledge and a great deal of experience in many aspects of the industry. He will be a great representative for the UK this year – knowledgeable, accessable and friendly and often found wearing fine tweeds.
If you want to celebrate a little with him then come on by on Sunday and join us for yet more barista competition and some beers….
Browse Timeline
Comments ( 17 )
[...] competition season is getting close to its peak – UKBC just gone, and a great result, and the USBC happening as I type this. I’ve been pretty immersed in competition now for 5 [...]
» The cost of competition by James Hoffmann added these pithy words on Mar 06 09 at 11:50 pm[...] be worried about taking his skills on the road. In fact, you could say that’s where Davies does his best [...]
Coffee cart operator takes home top prize | Espresso Machine News added these pithy words on Mar 18 09 at 11:04 am[...] a square mile coffee blend. More information soon, but you can already check an article on the jimseven blog about the UK finals where he is [...]
Gwilym Davies is World Barista Champion 2009 « BAR CHOQ added these pithy words on Apr 19 09 at 9:16 pm[...] Davis from London, England, in addition to winning Best Barista also took the Best Espresso and Best Signature Drink categories. It was a little harder for me to find out more information about Davis, but I guess he serves his [...]
Gwilym is the 2009 World Barista Champion « Grounds for Burnt Offerings added these pithy words on Apr 20 09 at 12:12 am[...] of coffee as well. This was all run by some of the best baristas in the world, including a shift by Gwilym Davies, current World Barista Champion, Sammy Piccolo, current Canadian Barista Champion, and Neil Oney, [...]
TampTamp Inc. » Blog Archive » Anaheim 2010 added these pithy words on Apr 23 10 at 10:44 pmMazel tov!! Very well deserved win, and predicted as much.
Love the neck scarf btw!
-b
Bea added these pithy words on
Mar 07 09 at
6:15 am
Very impress by Gwilym and look to meet him arond and about a coffee. I have lots of fee back from our customers base this week about is price that you guy’s actually did bring good coffee facts in the street, best. Olivier
Bean About Town added these pithy words on
Mar 13 09 at
2:44 am
Gwylim’s been keepin us bike doctor4 happily caffinated since we began, nice one G!
sean added these pithy words on
Mar 13 09 at
8:15 pm
Andrew added these pithy words on Congratulations Gwilym!!! Great show man. Safehouse crew was STOKED to see you take 1st!!!
~ Safehouse Coffee & Tea
Griffin, GA
Angela Killingsworth added these pithy words on
Apr 20 09 at
1:31 am
I first met Gwilym at Workhouse Coffee shop in Reading. Learnt a lot about coffee there. The best coffee I had tasted. Well done Gwilym.
Simon
Simon French added these pithy words on
May 04 09 at
8:07 am
A new coffee hero arises! Hurray for well-patina’d baristas! Congrats Gwilym, SqMi, and UKoffee for crushing it again.
craigk added these pithy words on
Jun 27 09 at
5:58 am
Have returned to Oz after visiting daughter Katie in London &
meeting Gwilym at the markets on a couple of occasions. What
a bubbly friendly & unassuming bloke he is. (Bloody good coffee too).
Jim & Debbie Walsh (Katie's oldies) added these pithy words on
Aug 13 09 at
5:29 am
Very funny.. I remember Gwilym when he was trained by Greg at the Work House Coffee shop in Reading
Ray added these pithy words on
Sep 07 09 at
12:03 am
Hey,
Have you seen that new solar powered coffee bike in finsbury sq Totally green. makes a mean coffee and the frappes are delis. He told me that the frappe cups are made from corn extract and breakdown on composts in ten days and that all his waste product from the coffee/teas goes to allotments. Good luck to him and gwilym. The third wave of coffee is happening, better and cheaper than the high st chains….
james added these pithy words on
Sep 09 09 at
8:22 pm
yeah i have, had a well good mocha, was the bees knees and for cheaper…great coffee, good price!!!
dominique added these pithy words on
Sep 10 09 at
7:33 pm
Well done to Gwilym, great guy and totally unassuming in the best way. I remember him well from Monmouth Coffee COmpany in London….
jamie added these pithy words on
Sep 14 09 at
9:35 am
