It’s a competition unlike any other — coffee knowledge, latte art, beverage quality and service — will be the focus and by next week Friday, one person will be crowned Starbucks Barista Champion 2016 and the opportunity to represent the Bahamian market in Colombia.
The journey to the crown starts today with 10 baristas — Naballieu King, Tariq Cartwright, Antanisha Evans, Joshua Rolle, Aramantha Moss, Ian Rolle, Janovia Reckley, Ashley Edgecombe, Justina Moxey and D’Andra Smith — thrown into today’s semi-finals mix in the hopes of being among the top two that will rise to the top and advance to next week Friday’s final to duke it out in the finale.
And the public is invited to take in all the Starbucks action today and next week at Starbucks, Harbour Bay, between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. as the baristas showcase their passion, pride, craft and skills during the competition that will lead to the ultimate barista champion.
“It will be interesting for the public to see the amount of effort that we put into quality assurance as well as even learning about Starbucks, our commitment to service, our commitment to quality in our coffee beverages and all the details we take to ensure that what the customer experience in the last 10 feet is similar to what happens throughout the entire coffee journey which a lot of our baristas will teach them as they talk about their coffee knowledge,” said Javan Smith, Starbucks Bahamas market operations coordinator and learning and development specialist.
As the baristas mix it up behind the bar in the festive atmosphere, Smith said there would be treats for the public to indulge in, along with a live deejay spinning hits.
“It’s going to be a high-energy environment,” he said. “It will be a fun learning experience as well as an opportunity to interact with your favorite baristas from all the stores. To become a lot more knowledgeable about Starbucks the brand, what it stands for and the opportunity to learn about our café practices, fair trade, about why Starbucks is so good at what it does in terms of the kind of service culture that we provide.”
D’Andra Smith, last year’s runner-up and Ian Rolle are returning to the competition hoping that last year’s experience will push them to the top, but Smith said they will definitely be challenged for the ultimate title as all of the competitors will go into this year’s competition with increased coffee knowledge and barista craft.
“Pretty much all of them now know how to do latte art, so we should see attempts at poinsettias, hearts … a lot this year. The coffee knowledge will be a whole lot better this year. In fact, quite a few of these guys have already passed their coffee masters certification so we will have a lot of black aprons in the competition this year,” he said.
A barista wearing a black apron denotes a coffee master who breathes, sleeps and dreams coffee and who is interested in achieving Starbucks’ highest level of recognition. A black apron wearer has to have passed five rigorous levels of coffee master training, be judged by experts in the field, and be able to create perfectly composed drinks. Coffee masters are knowledgeable, and willing to guide a person to their perfect coffee.
“Quite a few of these guys have been working really hard at the latte art and we can see great effort has gone into perfecting the craft,” said Smith.
The Starbucks Barista Champion 2016 will travel to Colombia where he/she will go to one of our Starbucks farms, visit the mountains where coffee is grown, engage in a coffee bean picking experience, interact with partners that work at farms, go through extensive training and study with persons who work for the Starbucks support centers and gain firsthand information and knowledge.
Last year’s winner Steven Hepburn went to Seattle where he visited the Starbucks Support Center (headquarters) and iconic Starbucks locations such as the first store in Pike Place Market and the Starbucks Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room.
Shavaughn Moss, Guardian Lifestyles Editor
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