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After a lead up in over 50 countries, the 8th World Barista Championship has just wrapped up in Copenhagen, Denmark, along with the World Latte Art Championship and World Cup Tasting Championship; each of which had an Australian representative.

And boy, did we Aussies show that we can mix it with the best in the world, with Con Haralambopoulos, from 7 Grams Café in Melbourne, being crowned World Latte Art Champion and David Makin coming a close second in the World Barista Championship.

Con’s win makes it a hat trick for Australia in the World Latte Art Championship, with the past two consecutive titles being brought home by fellow Aussies, Jack Hanna and Scottie Callaghan. After placing 2nd in the 2008 Australian Barista Championships, Con focussed his skills on the latte art competition and headed to his first World Championship — and what a good first Worlds it was! Final placings:

• 1st: Con Haralambopoulos (Australia),
46,0 (852) points — time 7:48

• 2nd: Kira Malchenko (Russia),
45,5 (892) points — time 7:55

• 3rd: Akihiro Okada (Japan),
44,0 (844) points — time 7:54

• 4th: Carl Sara (New Zealand),
44,0 (824) points — time 7:59

• 5th: Georg Branny (Austria),
41,0 (781) points — time 7:53

• 6th: Jae Hyuek (Korea)An,
40,0 (779) points — time 7:53

David Makin, 2008 Australian Barista Champion, placed 2nd in the World. After taking out the Australian nationals in May, David slogged his grinders, cups and the rest of the additional baggage to Copenhagen where he battled it out with over 50 national winners to earn himself a coveted position in the final top six. In a tight call Dave placed just 5.5 points behind Stephen Morrissey from Ireland. Final placings:

• 1st: Stephen Morrissey (Ireland),
2008 World Barista Champion

• 2nd: David Makin (Australia),

• 3rd: Liesbeth Sleijster (The Netherlands),

• 4th: Daniel Remheden (Sweden),

• 5th: Michael Yung (Canada),

• 6th: Soren Stiller Markussen (Denmark),

Catherine Ferrari rounded out the Australian contingent, competing in the challenging World Cuptasting Championship. Imagine three cups of black, brewed coffee sitting in front of you: two of them are the same while one is different — now multiply that by eight. Stepping up against some of the best palates in the industry, Catherine blistered through the line of coffees, finishing in a phenomenal 1 minute and 11 seconds and identifying six out of the eight coffees correctly! While Catherine recorded the fastest time of any of the competitors in Round 1, the unerring sensory perceptions of Denmark’s competitor, Casper Engel Rasmussen of the newly established Coffee Collective, earned him the title. Final placings:

• 1st: Casper Engel Rasmussen (Denmark),
8 points — Time 1:46

• 2nd: Jorge Escobar (El Salvador),
4 points — Time 2:58

• 3rd: Anna Nordström (Sweden),
4 points — Time 4:16

So from the 5 Senses crew, a standing ovation for Con, David and Catherine — great performances all round letting the rest of the world know that Australia is a coffee nation to look out for!

For more information, head to the official sites:

• World Latte Art Championship

• World Barista Championship

• World Cuptasting Championship

© Photo provided with permission by David Bicknell. All rights reserved by photographer.