London Latte Art Smackdown - #smackdown15 - Lead Up
It is back, for the third year now and it is even more popular than before. The London Latte Art Smackdown, sponsored by Square Mile, Coffee Hit and Kaffeine, runs over five weeks starting with four rounds of heats from Tuesday the 8th of September and finishing on Tuesday the 6th October at our new store on Eastcastle street, with the final in the event space at Square Mile Coffee Roasters.
It is pretty simple. 48 spaces, £10 entry, maximum of four entries per company, 12 entrants per heat, knock out rounds to get the top 3 to go through to the final, making another 12 competitors for the finals.
The rules: They get tighter each year, but again we keep it simple.
A Kaffeine barista will be pouring double shots for you into 2 x 5 oz ‘flat white’ Acme cups.
You steam your milk and split your jugs.
You pour your preferred pattern, but we only allow rosettas, tulips or hearts.
Cup handle must be presented to the right of the judges, with the base of the pattern at 6 o’clock
You choose your best looking and presented drink and put it forward for consideration
You pour your left over milk into a glass to measure your ‘wastage’
You remove your second drink.
The barista you are battling against then goes through the same process and the judges will then confer.
Consistency
Colour
Symmetry
Dribbles (or lack of)
Milk wastage
Fullness of the cup
Formation of pattern
and many other things that they make up as they go along.
The judges, of which there are three, will then make a decision and on the count of three, point to the winning cup.
The winner goes through to the next round.
The prizes? Well all entry money goes into the pot, so that’s £480. The Allegra World Coffee Portal have kindly put in £200, so that is £680 all up in cash. Coffee Hit have donated 1 x Baratza Grinder and a Rhino Hand grinder for 2nd and 3rd and Square Mile will be organising trophies and even more prizes, not to mention the glory and accolades and hopefully a bonus from your employer that comes with it.
The judges? Jeremy Challender from Prufrock, James Hoffman, Oli Bradshaw and Marty Latham from Square Mile, Phil ‘the bass player’ Wain, Ben Townsend formerly of Espresso room, Andrew Tolley from Taylor Street Baristas, former winners James Bailey of Workshop and David Urbinati of Artisan, Tim Williams formerly of Workshop and now of Coffee Sourcing and lead judge for the third year, Glenn Watson.
Spaces are filling fast already, with most spaces on the first heat already gone. To get involved, the best way is to come into our Eastcastle street and say ‘I want to compete’ and we will help you out.
At the heats, we will have light snacks for free and cheap beers available to purchase if you so desire and Square Mile are already in talks with one of London’s iconic beer suppliers for the finals. Guests are welcome to watch and to support you on your way.
Any queries, please email me direct. It’s going to be brilliant, we look forward to seeing you.
Peter Dore-Smith
Director
Kaffeine Ltd
66 Great Titchfield st.
15 Eastcastle st.
