"Welcome to Five Senses Coffee"

It was a bustling day two at the Australian Barista Championships with semi finals in three championships. The hot news for the day was Mark Chandler, WA Barista Champ, who made it through to the finals coming up tomorrow and Brad Nixon who dominated his heat earning a spot in the Cup Tasting final.

The Australian Barista Championship final looks set to be the best ever with an allstar cast of experienced competitors. The field includes two previous Australian Champions, World Latte Art Champion and several returning state champions.

The final field is Mark Chandler (WA), Tim Adams (QLD), Scottie Callaghan (NSW), Jean-Paul Sutton (QLD), and Simon James (VIC). With one of the most evenly matched fields in the history of the competition, it would be no surprise to see any one of them walk away with the crown.

Interestingly, with such a strong field, only Mark and Tim were State Champions in 2010 whilst the other three competitors all made it through the opens heats and tomorrow will perform for the third time in successive days.

Mark’s signature drink included a deconstruction of his espresso into three parts. The first was an espresso base, followed by a strawberry and tomato nage (or puree) which incorporated watermelon and peaches and finished with vanilla cream infused with saffron and thyme. The judges were instructed to take a sip of each to simulate the full sensory experience of his espresso. No doubt a wave of jealousy swept across the audience as he presented the signature drinks to the judges.

Mark’s performance emphasised his passion for coffee and came across well rehearsed, polished and confident. “I was obviously pretty happy to get through and tomorrow I just want to focus on tightening up a few things,” said Mark.

Heat one of the cup tasting semi finals started with a strong Five Senses contingent as reigning champion, Ben Bicknell competed along side WA roasters Jay Holland and Rich Austin and three other competitors. In the end it came down to Jay and Rich who tied for the lead, although Rich took final honours with a quicker time. Unfortunately, Rich’s glory was short lived as new employee to the Five Senses Victorian Roastery, Brad Nixon, stole the show in heat two with an outstanding score of seven out of eight to secure one of two places in tomorrow’s final. Second in heat two was veteran cup tasting competitor, Luca Constanzo.

“I would have been happy to just get one right so when they revealed my score of seven I was pretty pumped,” said Brad. “To tell you the truth, beating my training partner and reigning champion, Ben was pretty humbling (and sweet!)”

Brad will join Jeremy Hulsdunk in tomorrow’s cup tasting final who went straight through because he won his state final back in November. It will be a big day for Jeremy who will also be competing in the Latte Art final.

Tune in tomorrow for all final results. And check out the live feed link to see the action as it happens.