4 Barista Competition Tips

I am asked questions about competing all the time. As a seasoned competitor I have spent the better part of 7 years of competing, which adds up to a lot of experience. This experience can be measured in a lot of ways. It equates to 31 officially scored presentations.  It's thirteen top-3 trophies in sixteen events. That includes eight 1st place wins, not to mention almost 8 hours of time on stage with judges. When a request comes in for advice on competing it can sometimes be difficult to pinpoint the most vital information for a prospective or advancing competitor. After gathering my thoughts, here are a few of my viewpoints that I believe will help you prepare for such a big undertaking.

1 - Define your goals

This is one of the first steps you should take. I have heard goals from "Just to have fun", "To be a better presenter" or "To improve my barista skills". These are all perfectly good goals, but to focus on these is different that what my (and I assume many baristas') goal was, which was to "Try to be the best". That may sound like an arrogant goal, and at times it could have been. However, I think this is a good mentality for a competition as it helps push the limits of what we are doing and also creates ownership of techniques and skill. Of course in trying to "be the best" it is still important to stay approachable and avoid actual arrogance. Defining your goals in competing will help to focus you on what will be needed to give the best presentation you can.

Goals that do not seem to be received well are "To prove a point" or "To make a statement". Essentially beating a new or controversial idea into the judges' heads is not generally a good idea. I find nothing wrong with challenging established boundaries, but by nature you will be focused too much on the controversy and not enough on just making good coffee.

2 - Organize your world

 

Imagine you are going to give the most important speech of your life. This speech will be in 1 or 2 months and you have the majority of the data you need available from the sources you have.

Would you organize every piece of data you could?

This is not just about the speech itself though. This is about the competition space, backstage preparations, prep time, and even setting up the cart to move your gear. A basic rule to follow is that if it happens outside of the 15 minute prep and the presentation, then you have complete control over how organized you are. When you look at the competition this way there is really no reason not to be prepared.

Success at barista competitions has a lot to do with organization and attention to details. Create diagrams of table and cart setup, arrive back stage as early as you can, and have a timeline for when you want to have tasks finished. If you are able, bring your own cart so that you can set everything the way you want earlier. Have you thought through your prep time setup? Being efficient and organized will save you time, which means more time to double-check everything and calm your nerves before the actual presentation.

One thing of note, however, is that as a competitor you are attempting to be a pinnacle of professionalism. Despite all of your preparations and amazing perfection in competing it is important to remember that your fellow competitors are also your comrades. In owning the space and having everything organized the way you plan, you also have the RESPONSIBILITY to clean, be timely, and be considerate of the space as well as your fellow competitors' time. Don't be that guy that everyone silently resents for acting entitled!

3 - Have a thesis

 

Once upon a time when I was in school (don't worry about how long ago that was...) we were taught to start a paper with a thesis statement. This would help focus the writing and provide an anticipation of the subsequent report/story/term paper. A thesis can of course change as a concept is refined (and probably should), but the point is to create a cohesive story in your presentation. Your thesis is your promise to the judges that there is substance to your message and helps them process the information you will be giving them.

Of course the method of storytelling is up to you. There is no one way to give a creative and interesting presentation, so you should not feel constricted on how you tell your story. Is the thesis stated boldly at the very beginning? Is it revealed at the end as a surprise? Is it insinuated but never specifically stated? These are things that you as a competitor must decide. As you go more in depth in story building you may find that you have multiple themes that have to be focused individually, or there may be a primary message and secondary/tertiary themes that need to either refined or cut.

In the end you have a choice over the words coming out and, if you want to do the best you can, those words should be focused to give the most cohesive and accessible information possible during your 15 minutes.

4 - Practice, analyze, improve

 

The last recommendation I have is in regard to practicing. Most every serious competitor has practice sessions leading up to the competition. Aside from being a great way to waste coffee and milk, practice sessions do in fact have benefits when used properly.

When I first began competing I actually formulated my entire speech through 15 minute practice sessions. While this does get a lot of repetition on technical points, it doesn't always lend itself to the best speech creation. There are three things that are very beneficial to practicing for competition:

• A teammate who can evaluate from the judges' point of view. Recent judging experience is a plus, and more than one set of eyes is even better!

• A video camera. I didn't have one in 2005, but this should be easy to arrange these days. (Ahem, smartphone)

• The correct competition setup, tables, and equipment. This one is not possible for everyone, but the more you have the better.

Generally I recommend taking practice sessions in phases. Start with thesis, speech writing, brainstorming of ideas, and more intangible aspects. After that, start recording individual segments of your service incorporating speech. Finally, begin full 15 minute presentations (don't forget to record them) 3-4 weeks prior to the competition if possible. This is also assuming you work 5 days a week and only have your off days to commit to full practice runs. This method is probably fairly common, but now comes the important part.

Your teammate(s) is your best friend and worst enemy. You don't need a person who raves about your every idea. You need someone who picks your ideas apart and finds their flaws. This can feel discouraging, but their intention should be to help you make the absolute best presentation possible (by the way, don't choose a teammate who actually hates you). Critical, objective and honest analysis is vital in competition. At points I had a full team of 7 people judging my runs and giving complete feedback.

Video feedback should make you a better presenter. Obviously watching video with a teammate who evaluated you is very helpful, but there are two other things to focus on.

1. Watch and listen to yourself. Are you dynamic? Are you compelling? The answer should probably be NO, especially on your first review. We don't hear our voices the same in recording versus live speaking (think of bone vibrations and the complexity of the inner ear). That usually leads to us feeling that we sound weird on a video. This is good however, because it can help you focus on your non-verbal communication-delivery, hand movements, and body language. The more conscious you are of how you are perceived, the better your impression on the judges.

2. Watch your movements. Are you forgetting items? Doubling back to get something? Or does something look awkward? This is your chance to perfect your movements and design new techniques/implementations that are more appealing to the judges. The idea is not to over simplify everything, but to take a complicated execution and make it seem effortless.

There you have some of my viewpoints to help you become a great competitor. The barista competitions (USBC/WBC) are incredibly complex themselves, but these tips should be valuable for most other forms of competition as well. Give it a try and you might just find yourself excelling higher than you thought possible!

Good luck!

Pete

The past year

Here we go again...

I’ve gone and stopped blogging and left you all in the dark! Many of you are connected on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter and know a lot of my past year. Some of you, however, don’t know many details about some pretty crazy changes in my life since the last time I wrote a blog.

So aside from my profound regret for being off of the blog-tastic side of the internet, I am making a resolution of sorts to keep writing much more present in the life and times of Pete Licata. To swoop you back up into my world, let’s just recap the year of 2013 and proceed from there.

Is there something interesting I should know about?

The last time I wrote a post I was living in Hawaii.

Aloha suckers!

I’m not sure how to break this to you, but I have left paradise for the ridiculously temperamental weather extremes of Kansas City! While I was very embraced and loved there, in many ways I never truly felt like home was in Hawaii for me. I hope that all of my friends back in the Aloha state know that they will always be in my heart!

An aspect of life that I struggled with was missing my family and friends in KC, and ultimately I couldn’t stay away any longer. In November of 2012 I made the move back to Kansas and started searching for jobs.

A coffee job in Kansas?

I spoke with two specialty coffee companies doing business in the KC area for some time, and when all was said and done I chose a position at Parisi Artisan Coffee as the Quality Assurance Manager. It was a position I found appealing and an opportunity that lined up with my goals and interests AND it is based in my own home town of Kansas City! This position basically entails sample roasting, cupping, giving input on production roasts, green coffee purchasing decisions, and a small amount of training. It is a great job with a great company. When I was hired on I also made the decision to compete one last time.

Wait, I thought you were done competing!

And so I was. After my experiences in 2011 getting to WBC and judging during the 2012 season I got a bit of an itch again. Even though I felt accomplished and content with my achievement, the “what if?” question still nagged at me, and after a trip to Korea in November of 2012 I decided to start looking into it and take the chance if the right opportunity presented itself. That is exactly what happened when I started working at Parisi. If you have looked at any of my website I’m sure you know that I have won the WBC at this point, so I hope you aren’t disappointed that I am not going into major details on this post. I actually have a post planned to cover all of that very soon, with a lot of relevance for the aspiring competitor as well.

OK fine I will wait for the next post, but what else have you been doing?

A pretty intense amount of traveling. You can check out where my travels have taken me here. Besides traveling a ton I have still been working at Parisi full time, and working on ideas for new projects. There are endless possibilities in the future and only time will tell what I settle into. For now 2 full time jobs are keeping me plenty occupied. But you know the funny thing?

I still feel like I’m not getting invited to enough events!

Until next time, stay caffeinated my friends

Pete

Barista Competitions - Benefits for the Industry

As I was in the process of writing a blog post about barista competition I quickly realized that I have far too much to say about it. Therefore I will be creating a few posts focusing on specific aspects within this broad topic. I am starting with Benefits for the Industry because this is ultimately where I wanted to finish.

Competitions

 While the majority of this post will be focused on USBC/WBC format barista competitions, I want to also recognize the variety of other events out there. When I began in the coffee industry the only competitive coffee events I really knew about were these USBC/WBC competitions. Since that time so many other events have come around, including:

• Latte Art

• Roasting

• Brewer's Cup

• Coffee in Good Spirits

 There are plenty of other events out there, including CoffeeFest's new “Best Coffeehouse Competition” which I will be judging later this week in Seattle. Additionally there are tons of unofficial throwdown and casual events that still bring out the best of the coffee community. While some of these events hold more clout than others, I feel that the specialty coffee industry can benefit from any of these competition formats so long as their integrity and purpose is kept in high regard over time.

 Now that there are indeed a whole lot of competitions out there, I want to talk about where they have taken this coffee world of ours.

Benefiting the Specialty Coffee Industry

 In pointing out how specific competitive events help the industry I also want to be clear that these events are not the only reason for improvement, but they have advanced more people and companies around the world far more quickly than would otherwise be possible.

Expectations of barista skill and knowledge

 This is likely a controversial thing to say, as there are still plenty of under-skilled and under-educated baristas out there. The fact remains however that because of barista competitions like WBC and Brewer's Cup the standard for a person representing the “ideal” or upper level of realized potential (at a given time) is considerably higher than it has been in the past. Even as a concept, crowning a champion gives other baristas inspiration and motivation to work harder in their skills and even attempt to surpass previous champs. As time passes the level of expectation rises all around, and these expectations and standards are quickly translated to daily cafe work if for no other reason than to prepare for the next competition.

 This is exactly what has happened over the past few years.

 Now more and more employers expect their barista staff to not only learn proper coffee preparation techniques, but to also gain a wealth of knowledge about coffee production, growing conditions, varietal/cultivar characteristics, and various processing methods. It is easy to see how WBC format barista competitions have impacted the professionalism of the barista in this way since so much focus has been placed on coffee knowledge and traceability in the past few years.

Equipment technology

 Unlike improvements in skill and knowledge, equipment technology would likely have made strides forward over time even without the influence of competition events. My argument for including equipment here is the speed at which improvements have been made as well as the specific purposes for which they have been done. Espresso machine and grinder manufacturers are commonly working with barista competitors in order to make improvements in the functionality of their products.

 Many new espresso grinders are made with direct dosing, timed grind technology, and these grinders are the new standard in competitions as well as cafes worldwide. Doserless grinders are typically more accurate and clean when used properly, which adds a huge amount of functionality to cafes. Simply being more functional is not the only thing we want from our equipment though.

 Because of the level of scrutiny we put into espresso now, espresso machines are being produced with controllable water temperature (which seems almost standard at this point), grouphead pressure, and water flow rates. These advances in technology allow us to play with and customize almost any variable we like, which means we can learn more about how individual aspects can affect the flavor outcome of espresso. Unfortunately the more variables are allowed to be changed, the more complicated the preparation becomes.

Espresso is already incredibly complicated.

Drink integrity

 The way that we present coffee to customers has drastically changed for the better recently. While some will likely debate the usage of blends and less traceable coffees, the overall integrity of what we present is on the rise. Whether it is a drip or an espresso drink the focus is given to the coffee more and more.

 Drink sizes have commonly become much more reasonable in the U.S. allowing the espresso to be much more of a highlight. A barista can now present drinks based on the coffee being used, giving relevance to their expertise as well as focusing on flavor. Some cafes are preparing their own sauces and flavorings in house, giving them control over the quality of the ingredients and the balance of the drink.

 Single origin espresso offerings have given us unique ways to showcase the coffee for customers. The story of the farmer and origin production is compelling us to take pride in what we serve. We have empowered the barista to become representatives for the farmers, and the customers see the pride of that representation every day they come in. At the same time, our increased emphasis on the coffee itself means that we must deliver the integrity and quality we are selling.

What to do with it all

  I could go on for quite some time pointing out small details about how competitions have benefited the specialty industry, and I could also go on about aspects where competitions have their flaws. The latter subject is one which I plan to address in a future post.

Since we have gained so much from competitions up to this point, keeping the level of excellence moving forward is what we need to do. This can come from innovation, new discoveries, and/or experimentation. The path of growth is often difficult, but one of the most important things I believe is to keep an open mind and embrace new ideas. As an industry reaching around the globe, keeping everyone on the same path can be extremely difficult but the presence of standardized competitive events makes that task more manageable. I find these events to be a way we can bring our coffee community closer together as well as draw the consuming public closer to an understanding of why we are so passionate about coffee.

Defining the Barista

For my first official blog post I want to bring up a topic which has been flittering about in my head for some time, and I believe has long been a conversation among many coffee professionals. This post is not just about defining what we think a barista is or should be, but hopefully sculpting the barista mentality as well.

What is a barista?

This is sadly one of the most common questions I have answered to the general public. As much as we in the coffee industry want to roll our eyes at such a simple question, the word is really a part of our coffee lexicon and not necessarily a part of everyone's daily lives.

To give a simple dictionary definition, a barista is: "a person who is specially trained in the making and serving of coffee drinks, as in a coffee bar".

So there you have it. Such a simple definition could be applied to your local Starbucks employee, a rock star barista at Intelligentsia, or a waiter at your local steakhouse who got a half hour training session on the "cappuccino machine" before he/she started their first shift. There is a whole lot more room in this definition than you may like, yet all of those people can and do call themselves a barista. I don't consider this a failure on our part, but a success.

Before you think that I have gone crazy for thinking this, let me explain what is going through my head.

People bringing what they knew from Italian cafes over to the U.S. (among other places) would rightly use the same terms and titles. It's Italian, it's sexy, it's perfect, right? Whoever first started using the term barista in the U.S. wasn't really wrong in doing so as it was accurate and useful in defining the role of coffee bartender. As time has passed and we have grown as an industry globally, we simply must evaluate and adjust. Just because a term we use no longer gives justice to all of the hard work we put into our careers does not mean it is wrong to use that term. Now let's look at why I told you I think we have succeeded rather than failed.

We started with a word that was simple and effective, and now we have moved ourselves beyond such simplicity. The industry has grown so much that we can no longer use one simple word to accurately describe a coffee professional. We have succeeded so well and so quickly that we haven't been able to embrace change!

If I were to ask you "what is a bartender?" would you tell me it is a highly trained and skilled person who mixes spirits to create a harmonious balance of it's ingredients? You may even think that, but I am willing to bet that you have met incredibly bad bartenders as well as great ones. A person can call themselves a bartender if they know how to pour a rum and coke and have an apron. So here is my correlation. "Bartender" is a broad term much like "barista" has become. There are bar tending associations just like we have the SCAA/SCAE, BGA, and various coffee schools, and liquor can be butchered as well as coffee can.

Here is the difference: There are now mixologists, sommeliers, and even specialists in single areas of spirits. There are certifications and licenses to be had in bartending, but I will talk about some of our initiatives further down in the post.

What we are really missing is an increased vocabulary. To grow to a large amount of specialties will most likely take even more growth from our industry, but we need at least one or two now to help redefine what we are. This brings me to what I really want to talk about.

Where are we going?

We are racing full speed, but we are trying to stay the same in a way. I find that we are often trying to change the definition of what we are as opposed to advancing ourselves through new perspectives. Making new titles for ourselves is not something to be done lightly, and in this instance I think what we need is conversation on what sets us apart from just being a “barista”. So here is my look at what will truly set us apart and therefore help define what we are.

Where we are

In recent years we have focused on being representatives for roasters and coffee farmers. Cutting edge baristas will not just pour great tasting, great looking drinks, but will also talk our ears off about "farm demographics" like country, region, altitude, and harvest date, plus roast degree, and flavor notes (and notes, and notes). We have cultivated an amazing appreciation for the product we serve, especially amongst ourselves. I say ourselves because it is so easy to focus on what we have been excelling at that often we leave our customers in the dust. Even 10 years ago, getting a clean, sweet , defect-free coffee was pretty much what we wanted.

Now acidity is a huge focus.

Lighter roasting techniques to preserve the acidity have led to a very different cup today than less than a decade ago. Our customers haven't been along on this ride that we have been enjoying, and because of that I know I have been told that a coffee is sour and unpleasant.

This is where we are. We are experiencing a gap between what we like and what the average stranger likes in their coffee, and the barista has become part educator, part service professional. We have grown into this role smoothly in most cases, but we can't forget where the customer is coming from either. I always like remembering that the customer wants to trust us. The trust is built by first serving them a great drink and giving the service they desire. After the customer has been established we are able to continually impress and educate the customer over time as interactions allow. As a good friend told me recently: listen, ask questions, and meet the customer where they are at so you can learn their version of coffee and give them what will meet their needs.

Moving forward

This is my way of saying where I think the barista craft is headed. There are a number of directions I am seeing our industry moving to, and I want to recognize a few of those along with my own ideas. You will see that I am not trying to coin any specific titles here, my goal is to start the discussion of these concepts

SCAA/BGA Certification – The Barista Guild of America has begun programs to create accredited and standardized barista certification. I have heard some criticism of this program, but personally I think this is a huge step for our industry. A curriculum is being created and implemented, and this has to start from the very beginning and grow over time. Currently there are 2 levels of certification, with a third level being implemented soon. I liken this to bartending licensing as it ensures that certain standards are emphasized.

Barista/Mixologist – This is such a natural crossover for our industry. If you are anything like myself, you probably enjoy just about any sort of crafted beverage. The main portion of this group is primarily independently seeking the knowledge, either as a barista who loves mixology, or a bartender/mixologist who loves coffee. There are increasingly more “coffee bar” concepts with coffee and liquor these days and I feel that this may be a very big aspect in our industry down the road. Perhaps someday the term “mixologist” will simply forgo the barista title and incorporate all of the pertinent techniques they need.

(The coffee sommelier) – I have heard people say a barista should be considered a sommelier of coffee, but I have to disagree. Since I believe that “barista” is more of a broad term, not every barista will fit here, and therefore this is something different. I can't imagine actually using the word sommelier, as this is completely unimaginiative, however the idea of this is much akin to what a sommelier does. This person would be a true expert of coffee, from their knowledge of farm techniques, to roasting concepts, to preparation. All of these aspects of the coffee chain would easily be correlated to the flavor and character of the final product. This individual would also be well versed in flavor pairings, whether recommending what type of food the coffee would pair well with, or how well that coffee would interact with other ingredients (or if it should be cherished on its own). There are many aspects to what this type of coffee professional could be, but I could see this being a compelling direction for the professional barista in the future.

(The master barista/coffee expert/etc) – This is more or less the organic evolution of the current barista professional. As we continue to grow as an industry, the level of top notch baristas will continue to rise. Eventually there will be an inevitable need for separation from even the average trained barista. When I think of this “master barista” I think of a well dressed professional with masterfully honed skills, knowledge, and industry recognized abilities. Maybe competition is an avenue for this level of barista, maybe the level of BGA certification will reach that level, or maybe other industry leadership will be the key. However the level is reached, it would be something that is not simply gained over time or connections, but true excellence in their profession.

There you have it, this is my take on what the barista profession is and where it is headed. Do you see other directions we should be looking to? I can't imagine I have the only perspective on this topic. So what do you think?