Sydney, Australia, 15 November 2018:
The wait is over. After a full year of tightly fought heats stretching across the globe, we brought the best baristas we could find together in one of the world’s best cafes, The Grounds of Alexandria, for their shot at greatness.
In the lead up, Breezey Masters competitions were held in six states across Australia, as well as in New Zealand, South Africa, Japan and the UK with each contestant fighting for a place in this year’s Grand Final. With over 100 baristas competing across the heats, the standard has been exceptionally high, leaving us with the crème de la crème of the world’s latte artists.
Each of our finalists deserves recognition for making it this far.
- Sarah Jin of Extraction Artisan Coffee came representing Queensland
- Vicky Chuaybamrung of Darkstar Coffee journeyed from W.A to compete
- Alex Whigham of My Kingdom for a Horse joined us from S.A
- Vincent Do of The Grounds of Alexandria came in to make the hosts proud
- Chon Iat Lao (Aelfee) of Ael Coffee fought on behalf of Victoria
- Matt Sharp from Highroad / ONA Coffee came up from Canberra
- Logan Collinge of Mojo Coffee hopped across the pond from Wellington, NZ
- Chamnan Ly from Tasteful Bakehouse & Café was our Wild Card, winning the Instagram Video Challenge and coming over from Auckland, NZ
- Ben Lewis of Coffee Lab came to us all the way from England
- Takehiro Okudaira of Caferista completed the roster, coming over from Japan
We were exceptionally lucky to have a prestigious judging panel. Jibbi Little of Jibbijug fame was our first judge (with half of our finalists sporting her competition standard jugs!). Tony Macri of Coffee Brothers joined her, a true legend of the Aussie coffee scene. Our third and final judge was Dee, the renowned Sales Manager for Sanremo Coffee Machines Australia.
To kick the evening off we had a classic knockout style Smackdown, with some competitors coming along all the way from Melbourne. 14 competitors filled the ranks, with just a couple of our Grand Finalists present. The quality was as high as any of our events, but there could only be one winner. By unanimous decision, Sarah Jin of Extraction Coffee took the $500 1st prize!
At long last, we moved into the Grand Final to see who would be our Breezey Master 2018.
All 10 of our competitors were called upon to pour 5 patterns over 3 rounds, with a time limit and scoring based on the complexity and execution of their work. Each of them ended with a score out of a total 180, ensuring skill and a rock-steady nerve would win the day instead of one lucky pour.
The standard was incredible, with our finalists bringing out some of the best pours we’ve ever seen in this competition, from mermaids to roses and unicorns! Ultimately though, one finalist stood out and shined. Having earned the highest score in every single round, both in the regional heat and the Grand Final, it is our pleasure to announce the Breezey Master 2018 is Vicky Chuaybamrung of Darkstar Coffee!
Our 2018 Grand Breezey Master can now choose to either travel to the UK to experience the London Coffee Festival or to North America for the Specialty Coffee Expo in 2019. She will also be honoured in Almond Breeze’s Barista Benchmark series that features exceptional baristas on the side of the Almond Breeze Barista Blend pack which is distributed to cafes across Australia.
To everyone who helped make this competition such a success this year, we would like to offer our heartfelt thanks. It has grown year on year and has no signs of slowing down yet! Stay tuned next year for the start of Breezey Master 2019.
by Connor Fox
