Barista Magazine

DEC 2012-JAN 2013

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MEXICO CITY If it's Friday night in Mexico City, it's time for wrestling! Out of the ring and onto the street, these masked international judges and Mexican coffee pros are ready to rumble. ONE OF THE BEST PARTS about attending the Mexican Barista Championship is the plethora of activity that is always occurring in Mexico City. I see the city as a microcosm of the world—that is, if a megalopolis and the largest city in the Western Hemisphere can be a micro anything. Everything in the world can be found there, from a Chanel store and Maserati showroom to dilapidated open-air markets and old VW Beetle taxis; extreme wealth and extreme poverty exist side by side. There is a truth to Mexico City that is masked many other places. Perhaps it's just that the bustling, bursting metropolis forces rich and poor alike to share the same crowded roadways, and there's no pretending one or the other doesn't exist. Everyone hates traffic, and everyone has to learn to deal with it anyway. Except on Sundays. The rich and the poor are all on those same streets on Sundays, but on that day, there's no honking, no exhaust fumes, no endless frustration from hours of motionless idling. On Sundays, many of the city's main thoroughfares are shut down to motorized traffic, and bicycles and pedestrians take over. The city streets are a safe haven for families, children, dogs on leashes, and hard-core cyclists who enjoy mile after mile of open boulevards and the mild climate of the high-altitude city. The same attitude was on display throughout the 11th Annual Mexican Barista Championship (MBC) with its we're-all-in-this-together vibe that brought energy, enthusiasm and heartfelt passion to the stage over the course of three days at the World Trade Center site of Expo Café Mexico, the large annual coffee trade show that hosts the competition. The audience was exceptional. With some 200 chairs available, most of the time the event was standing-room only, with people lined up around the low barrier, craning their necks to get a peek at the competition. More judges turned up for training than could be used in the competition, and the 40 volunteer slots available filled up in minutes. The dedication and upbeat attitude of the volunteers—always decked out in their bright orange Tshirts—was one of the things that kept the competition moving and made it such a great event to be a part of. At the competition space, a giant banner welcomed all attendees and competitors. The banner depicted a giant hot air balloon, and in the balloon's basket were cartoon images of two well-known champion baristas from Mexico: two-time MBC champion and the second-place finisher from the 2012 World Barista Championship (WBC) in Vienna, Fabrizio Sención Ramírez; and MBC champion and third-place World Latte Art finisher at the 2011 competition in Maastricht, Aleli Moreno Labastida. Their exploits in Austria and Holland (respectively) are rightly heralded, and their fellow coffee professionals in Mexico hold them in high regard. They are icons for their professionalism and competition prowess, and were treated as such by a fired-up audience every time they appeared on stage. Fabrizio acted as master of ceremonies for portions of the competition as did international baristacompetition fixture and terrific barista promoter, Mexico's own Jose Arreola. They each engaged the audience in a number of trivia contests for prizes, and answered as many questions as they were asked about the competition, the world of coffee, and the global professional barista community. While this year marked the 11th MBC, it was also the third Mexican Latte Art Championship (MLAC). Twelve baristas competed in the MLAC and 24 in the MBC. Javier Gamboa ended up claiming the latte-art title, and he will represent Mexico in Nice, France, at the World Latte Art Championship in June. Javier is no stranger to the world competition scene as he previously represented Mexico in Bogotá, Colombia, at the WBC in 2011. The latest installment of the MBC featured some really terrific performances, and some unexpected ones, too—for example, one competitor brought a still on stage to create an apple reduction for his signature drink. The still, however, proved too temperamental for the show, and it exploded during the barista's routine. Luckily, no one was hurt, and the barista managed to laugh off his misfortune. Something else I'd never seen before at a barista competition was when a competitor employed a five-note melody played on a xylophone to "describe" his espresso's character. You have to love the creativity that the baristas brought to the MBC, even if in execution they didn't always work out. Without a doubt, the baristas that made the final round of the A WARM WELCOME FROM A DEVELOPED BARISTA COMMUNITY www.baristamagazine.com 35

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