1th Belgium Barista Final

I was very proud and pleased when they asked me to come over to the beautiful city Antwerp and take place as a judge in the jury. It was the first barista final ever in Belgium and for that reason it was an honor to be there. The awards to win
So when Mirjam and I arrived in Antwerp (the journey trough Antwerp was a big adventure for my car, because of the strange small round stones) we started a city tour immediately. After a nice lunch and some espressi we arrived in the Hilton, the competition location.
The competitors in the first Belgium final ever!
I asked my friend Jan Willem Moerman to come over to take place in the Sensorial jury. His taste pallet is very good and because the other (really nice men) judges didn’t had any experience we needed a skilled expert. The organization asked me to lead the judges. (An honor again)
Jan Willem and I informed the judges. We act uppon the WBC rules!
The competition was very good an some skilled people competed. of course it was their first competition but they where very ambitious and well prepared.
The setup of one of the competitors
Some really nice presentations and also some good signatures. The espressi where average and the cappuccini where bad. But main reason for that was the Faema machines. The pressure in the boilers was 8 bar and the steam tips where bad. So it wasn’t the technical skills of the competitors. I know the organization learnt their lesson and bring some better equipment next year.
The setup of The Belgium Champ Peter Deprez
The winner at the end of the long day was Peter Deprez. he owns his own Roastery with his brother; Viva Sara. His technical skills where very good and his presentation was good either.

Peter, congratulations and we’re looking forward to see you competing in Bern!

Take care,

Jeroen

Busy

Dear all,

The first two months of the year where traditionally the most two busy monthts.
First there where the bar/restaurant exhibition witch where very good for our brand Piazza d’Oro.

A lot of time is going to the competition training for Anne-Jan and Wilco. They work with our coffee in their bars. Lucky enough they finished number one and two in their pre-finals.

One of the pre-finals was organized by us. In the very trendy location ‘VUONG’ in Amsterdam we placed two brand new La Marzocco machines. Unfortunately three cometitors didn’t appear. So four competitors left.

The La Marzocco box

I think this is a big problem world wide. A lot of people sign in for competition. But when we nearing the competition date they send an excuse. Most heard excuses: Sick, not trained, nerves, have to work. We have to do something. We need new competitors, new champions to spread the word.

The last seconds of a nice cappuccino

Goodluck to all of you and… Spread the word!