"Welcome to Five Senses Coffee"

This year’s WA Barista Championship was bustling, with record crowd numbers and a massive 16 baristas hoping to take home the trophy. But it was last year’s champion, Mark Chandler, our man on the street, who was crowned 2010 WA Barista Champion. Mark wooed the judges with a flawless and professional performance and some sweet looking coffees. Second place went to Jeremy Hulsdunk, who heads up training for Five Senses at the WA Barista Academy. Kaya McCarthy from Dimattina Coffee came in third.

We can’t neglect to mention first time competitor, Andrew Petrie, who impressed us all by appearing totally nerve-free and getting lots of laughs from the crowd during his entertaining performance.

The Latte Art Championship is always a crowd pleaser, and this year was no different. Jeremy turned the tables, pulling off some sweet designs to win first place, with Mark taking silver. Third place went to Megan Burne from Velvet Espresso.

There were ten hopefuls in the Cup Tasting Championship, where competitors had to identify the ‘odd coffee out’ in a set of three coffees. This was repeated eight times, with the winner being the person who scored the most correct answers in the shortest time. Jeremy pulled off another win, with Five Senses roaster, Jay Holland, coming in second. Emanuele Muratore, owner of Ristretto, won third place.

The national final, the Australian Barista Championship, is going to be very interesting, with Victorian roaster, Caleb Podhaczky, competing against his West Australian colleagues. There’s gonna be some smack talking between the roasteries in the next few months!