Photo courtesy of salxhart

Huge congratulations to John Gordon on winning the UK Barista Championship this year.  (We know the competition was over a week ago, and we’re a bit behind!)

Having joined the team at Square Mile around six weeks ago we’ve seen first hand the huge amount of effort and work that John put in, with great support from his fiancee Jess.

John had already started working on his UKBC blend with Steve at HasBean before he joined us, and knowing how hard Steve works and how good he is we had no intention of getting in the way of that relationship.

We’d also like to congratulate James Phillips of Dose on placing 5th – impressive considering he wasn’t going to compete until a couple of weeks before and this was his first time at the UKBC.

We were also extremely grateful to Jon Sharp of Kilimanjaro, Carl Fleischer of Opposite and Gary Whiteley who did an incredible job with our coffee in the semi finals.

Columbia Road is a magical place on a Wednesday evening in December, the lovely shops are open but it isn’t as crowded and bustling as when the flower market is on.

Need another reason to visit?  Join us for the first UBF we’ve ever held outside!  World Barista Champion 2009 – Gwilym Davies – is hosting us at his legendary coffee cart on Ezra street as London’s finest baristas prove that fine art can be achieved in take-away cups too!

Spectating is free!  Coffee (to keep you warm) will be free! Fun will had, and you can do a bit of Christmas shopping too!

If you want to compete there are a few spots left and you can book a place by purchasing your ticket here.

See you there!  It is going to be amazing!

Gwilym’s Cart
Ezra Street (Off Columbia Road – Map)
7.30pm
Wednesday December 17th

Event: UKBC Workshop

Venue: Square Mile Coffee Roasters
273 Poyser Street
London
E2 9RF (Map)

When:  5pm – 10pm Wednesday 6th January

As you may know we are hosting the South East regional of the UK Barista Championship this year.  There is a pdf download of information about the heat here.

We highly recommend competing (but then we would!), and as part of our involvement in the South East regional we are hosting a workshop about competition.

The aim of the workshop is to take some of the mystery away from competition, help competitors understand what is expected of them and how to get the most out of it.  We’ll cover the DOs and DON’Ts of competing and do our best to answer everyone’s questions.  It should be a lot of fun, as well as being informative.

Two World Barista Champions will be on hand to give talks and answer questions – this is a great opportunity to tune up those performances.

Numbers will be limited, and those who have signed up to compete in the regional event – which you need to do by December 31st – are guaranteed a space.  For those interested in attending/competing then we will also put tickets in the webshop at the start of January.  We anticipate about 15-20 spaces.

We’re working hard to make sure that the London/South East regional is a great experience for all involved, especially the baristas who compete.  Competition is a great learning experience and if you’ve made it through a single round of the UBF then anything else should be easy!

Any questions then do please leave a comment or get in touch.

The Event:

Time: 7.30pm (7pm for Competitors)
Date: September 30th

Venue: Pavilion Cafe, Corner of Globe Road and Old Ford Road, Victoria Park.

Map

Attendance to spectate is £4 on the door, or free if you bring treats/beer! Come down and cheer on your favourites!

The Challenge is a speed challenge.

Competitors must make 4 drinks: Cappuccino, Latte, Flat White & Macchiato.

They can only steam 1 pitcher of milk for all drinks.

Cappuccino and Flat White must contain 2 shots.

This is a time trial. Time penalties for:

Drinks with latte art with receive time bonuses. A full explanation will be given on the night to all competitors. Jugs, milk, coffee and cups will be provided.

Challenge: ACF 7oz cups.  Can you pour on demand? The wheel of fortune will decide the pours.  Can you bring it…..?

Competitors: Tickets – £5 (Prize fund of £50 + some barista wares)

Please arrive at 7pm for the draw, or let us know if you are running late.

Spectators: Do not buy tickets!  Entry – £4 on the door, £3 with a UBF Badge (or free if you bring some beer or food).

There will be beer and delicious eatings provided (hence the cover charge and option to avoid it).

Massive thanks to Paul from CoffeeHit.co.uk for agreeing to add to the prize pot for each event!

Photo from barista magazine

It is going to be a lot of fun – watch live tomorrow online:

WBC Live Stream

Go Gwilym, Go!

We quite fancy the idea of three run throughs with three different judges teams.  If you are interested then leave drop us an email at info at square mile coffee dot com.  There is no guarantee that this will happen and registering your interest sadly won’t guarantee you a judging spot but we’d appreciate anyone stepping up and getting involved.

A rare and fun opportunity!

***IF YOU WANT TO COME, PLEASE LET US KNOW BY LEAVING A COMMENT OR BY SENDING US AN EMAIL!!!***

On Sunday March 8th you are cordially invited to join us at the roastery to watch the 2009 United States Barista Championships live via the internets! The top 6 baristas from across the US will battle it out for the crown and sash, and the lifetime opportunity to go to…. Atlanta GA in April, to vie for the WBC title.

The finals kick off at 20:00 UK time, and without too much of a delay the results and award ceremony should be done around 23:30. We’ll be open for business from 7-ish, and will make sure there will be plenty of coffee around to thoroughly frazzle your nerves before the grueling battle begins! If you want to bring something we suggest chairs (cus the floor is cold) a beverage of your choice (as stated coffee’s on us) or foods (we’ll need our strength).

Join us for an evening of cheering at people making coffee on a big screen, crying and hugging each other as the champion is announced, the Barista Drinking Games and a few more beers to fuel an uninhibited and uncoordinated latte art throwdown!

PLEASE drop us a line or leave a comment here if you are coming, so we know roughly how many flags to get for waivin’.

USBC Teaser from wrbc on Vimeo.

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!