Ken and I got back from Las Vegas late last night after a hectic and enjoyable few days in the desert for Coffee Fest Las Vegas and the Millrock Freepour Latte Art Competition, presented by Barista Magazine, Nuova Simonelli, Dillanos, Ghirardelli, and Barista Exchange.
There was a lot of fun new stuff going on at the show, most notable of which was the Aroma Challenge, a sniffin’ contest put together by the guys at Espresso Parts.
It was really cool. Using the Le Nez du Cafe set of vials of scents, anyone interested could come up and try their luck at identifying a variety of scents. It was a tough challenge.
Attendance at the show wasn’t as awesome as it could have been, thanks to our shaky economy, but we all still managed to have fun.
Here are Brian and Michael from Espresso Parts having fun, for example.
And here is Ken having a freakin blast in the Barista Magazine booth, giving away copies of our newest issue, June/July 2009, which features 2009 World Barista Champion, Gwilym Davies, on the cover.
Above, the Millrock Latte Art Competition under way on the day of the finals. There were some awesome pours over the weekend!
One of everyone’s favorite competitors, Hiroshi Sawada, above, of Tokyo, was one of five baristas involved in a pour-off for third place!
But in the end, the first-place winner of the competition was Chris Deferio, a former champion as well as former judge of the competition. Chris hails from The Coffee Institute in Muncie, Indiana.
The photo above shows Chris just when he realizes he’s got the highest score of the day and is now $5000 richer.
Congratulations to all 12 finalists from the Coffee Fest Las Vegas Millrock Freepour Latte Art Competition! You guys all rocked! Looking forward to you bringin’ it to Seattle at Coffee Fest in September!
This looks so awesome. Simply jawdropping when I saw all those pics. I just can wish that I was there. Aroma Challenge was something innovative.