Joshua Rolle receives his trophy from outgoing champion Steven Hepburn. Both are partners at the Palmdale Starbucks store.

Mere technicalities made the difference between which Starbucks barista would claim the title and represent the Bahamian market in Colombia in September. Joshua Rolle bested D'Ardra Smith by a mere eight points to claim the shocking win on Thursday. Smith finished in the runner-up spot for the second consecutive year.

Rolle, a Starbucks partner of nine-and-a-half months said the win was a shock.

"I honestly did not expect to win, because like I told everybody, D'Ardra is no easy beat and she knows her stuff, so the fact that I won is so surreal."

Despite having to win over a fellow barista from the Palmdale store, Rolle said winning put him on "cloud 100."

"I honestly don't even know how to describe this feeling. All I can say is that I am so blessed and so fortunate to have won.

Rolle who was passed the crown from 2015 champion Steven Hepburn, who is also from the Palmdale location, will now get the opportunity to take in the coffee experience -- from the bean to the store when he travels to Colombia in September. He says the takeaway he expects to have will be a journey that will last a lifetime as he experiences all the processes.

"Trust me, when I get back to Nassau I'm going to bring it to the market and I'm going to sell it," he said.

The idea behind the barista championships is to celebrate what baristas do daily, and gives baristas the chance to demonstrate their passion and pride for coffee, and the opportunity to showcase their skills.

Rolle said it's a mentality he brings into his Palmdale store everyday, because he has the personality.

"I have a lively, vivacious, huge personality, so basically the energy that was portrayed is pretty much almost like a normal thing in Palmdale. We learn how to have fun. We know how to come to work and get along with each other, but we know how to do our job," he said.

In a close finish, Rolle outscored Smith 512 to 504 in the win. It was an outcome that was shocking all around with Smith the favorite going into the final by virtue of having finished in the runner-up position the year before.

"I was shocked," said Javan Smith, Starbucks Bahamas market operations coordinator and learning and development specialist. "Actually I knew that based on what we learnt last year that it could be just about anybody's game. It comes down to the technicalities, and that's exactly what happened again this year -- it came down to the technicalities."

He said Smith would have had a learning curve from the first year and as such was careful to be specific during the competition, however, she was specific, but in a general way, and not necessarily to the coffee she chose and it ended up costing her.

"As we grow, it's going to help us become that much more committed to detail, because in this case it meant the difference between winning a trip to Colombia," said Smith.

Dion Miller, Starbucks operations manager was also surprised at the upset, even though he said he knew it would have been a close race.

"Because of her experience my mind was telling me D'Ardra would have pulled it out, because she was the runner-up last year, but interestingly she fell down on the same exact thing that she fell down on last year -- coffee knowledge. She didn't describe the coffee. It was a fierce competition on the beverage craft -- one point separated them which Joshua won to D'Ardra's 306. The difference in the competition was in the lucky pick coffee tasting. He separated from her on his coffee knowledge."

As Rolle prepares to head to Colombia, Miller said his advice would be to soak up the experience, have fun and put his talents on display.

Everything baristas do on a daily basis -- passion for coffee, passion for customer service, passion for beverage quality --is celebrated during the competition and reinforces the mindset, philosophy and vision of the company, and how it passes on to the baristas, according to Dino Matsas, John Bull's general manager, food and beverage.

"They see themselves as business owners; they see themselves as the driving force of the company, and we love to celebrate that with them and help develop them and take them to the next level. It [barista championship] was a wonderful display of not only the ability for them to demonstrate their skills, but the team spirit was phenomenal, the support for Steven as the prior barista champion, and now Joshua, our barista champion for 2016, and I think everyone is very eager for next year."

Joshua Rolle, second right, Starbucks 2016 barista champion; and runner-up D'Ardra Smith, second left; with Dino Matsas, right, John Bull's general manager, food and beverage; Javan Smith, left, Starbucks market operations coordinator and learning and development specialist.

Matsas said the first year some of the partners were hesitant to join in not knowing exactly what the competition would bring, but he said Hepburn's 2015 win and trip to Seattle and Rolle's win and upcoming trip to Colombia will inspire the rest of the partners.

"One of the great things that came out of it is that right now we have upwards of a dozen coffee masters, whereas prior to the competition last year we would have had three, so that speaks to not only the passion and commitment of the partners to further develop themselves, but also the market to spend time with them and help them develop to become contestants."

Inga Bowleg, John Bull's director of business development said Starbucks corporate launched the barista championship in 2015 to not only encourage partners to increase their coffee knowledge, and continually strive to be the expert in coffee in their region, but to also build their confidence in their knowledge of coffee and their passion. She said in the Bahamian market they have seen the results in their partners' passion for coffee, and that passion for the brand increased significantly since they launched the barista championship program.

"We've had partners so immersed that they have gone on to become coffee masters, and the program is pretty intense. They have weeks and weeks of coaching and training, and we see the results in the stores, because the more knowledge they have, the more they connect with their customers, the more engaged they are, not only with what they do, but again with the customer. So we're certainly very proud, and compared to other markets we have a very high percentage of our partners who have achieved the coffee masters status and so we're doing very well for a small market.

"We are extremely proud of our partners," said Bowleg.

Shavaughn Moss, Guardian Lifestyles Editor

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