Tag Archives: wbc

WBC 2009 Atlanta: John Jhi Chiang Ting Singapore

Coupled with the bad internet connection, I could only catch every other frame during John’s routine. The emcee is James Hoffmann, WBC 2007 Champion, now at  Square Mile Roasters.  Anyway, here are whatever pictures I could take during the event. As John says in his routine, “Please enjoy…”

John pours latte art in front of judges.

The familiar “tap tap tap”, dosing coffee grounds into the portafilter

John pours water for the technical judges.

John explains his signature drink, “Summer Blossom”.

John calls “Time,” signaling the end of his performance and is being
interviewed by James Hoffmann.

John thanks everyone for their support, especially the ones cooped
up in Singapore, watching his performance at an ungodly hour.


James Hoffmann.

World Barista Championship Atlanta 2009

World Barista Championship 2009 (WBC) is held at Atlanta, Georgia, USA this year. The venue is at the Georgia World Congress Center, Expo Hall A3. It will be from 15 April 2009 to 19 April 2009, with the actual competition starting on 16th April.

A total of 52 countries are taking part in this event. Singapore will be represented by John Ting from Oriole Cafe. He will be assisted by Oriole Cafe owner, Keith Loh, who came in 2nd place in this year’s Singapore National Barista Championship (SNBC). According to the WBC article on Specialty Coffee Association of America’s (SCAA) website, John Ting’s performance will be the 10th of 19 competitors on the first day, 16th April. The top 6 finalists will be announced on Day Three, Saturday, 18th April 2009, and these 6 will compete in the Final Round on Sunday, 19th April 2009.

To follow up on WBC 2009, you can click on the following links:

World Barista Championship Official Site
This is the official site for WBC and you can find the live video feeds and news updates.  Live video feeds will begin on 16th April.

SCAA’s WBC article
The schedule of events and the timetables can be downloaded here.

WBC 2009 Official Blog by Barista Magazine (Click here for RSS Feed)

WBC 2009 on Twitter (Click here for RSS Feed)

Georgia World Congress Center

GWCC Google Map

Judging WBC Judges

During the break before the awards ceremony of SNBC 2009, there was a friendly competition between Eleen Cai (SNBC 2007 Champion) and John Ting (SNBC 2008 Champion). It was a competition to make as many cappas as you can in 10 minutes. The highlight of the event was uh, someone volunteered me to be the 8th guest judge. All guest judges were chosen from the audience. The WBC judges took turns mucking up Ting’s grind and dosing. It was quite understandable he fell 2 drinks short from Eleen. Eleen finished with 12 while John made 10 cappas. The MC asked for my opinion on Eleen’s to which I replied,  “What I’m looking for is the taste of the coffee cutting into the milk. Eleen’s cappa didn’t do that, because all you taste is milk.” When I tasted John’s, he was the clear winner.

Lo and Behold! Guess what cropped up next? It was a competition between Bosses and Students’ Cappa Contest. The Bosses were Justin Metcalf and Ross Bright. Both Bright and Metcalf ARE CERTIFIED WBC JUDGES. The students were Ting and Cai. I was called back to be the judge and I made sure I sat at the bosses’ table. Whoa! Getting served cappas by Bright AND Metcalf and then judging them will most likely be THE highlight in my career in coffee. I noted the lack of latte art in Metcalf’s drinks, to which he promptly replied that they were’nt being tested on the art. But he did make several triple rosettas later on. Here are some pictures that speak for themselves.

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Justin Metcalf pouring latte art while …

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Ross Bright foams the milk.

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The two WBC judges pour a few rosettas with love

After 10 minutes, both teams had made 30 cappas. The tiebreaker was latte art. And I was the latte art judge. (I am having so much fun!) I gave one point in difficulty for the Bosses and one point in artistry for the students. The Bosses won. We’ll give it to them this year.

I hope this sets the bar for future SNBC’s to come.

For more pictures on the event, go to my flickr account.