We woke up painfully early today ”6 a.m. ”to depart from our magical huts in the wilderness, for an exciting day back in Reykjavik: the traditional “public day,” where the five Nordic Barista Cup teams will prepare and serve coffee to the public in various forms. Money will be raised for Manos Abiertos, a charity in Costa Rica. (Side note: all of the booze that we’ve been drinking over the past few days has also raised money for this project: all costs of beer and wine (and believe me, this group can consume a LOT) has cost money, all of which goes to the charity).
The attendees went off on a sightseeing tour of some wonderful natural attractions in Iceland, such as the enormous waterfall, Geysir, and the original Parliament. Ken attended that trip, and will return soon with the rest of the attendees to write a report on the wonders they experienced. I, on the other hand, returned directly from the huts back to Reykjavik with the teams, who have been busily preparing for the public day.
Each team has been given an assignment for what they will prepare at each of their five stations: Team Finland will prepare Aeropress coffee; Team Sweden will pour latte art; Team Norway will prepare espresso; Team Iceland is in charge of Irish coffee preparation; and finally, Team Denmark will present triangular cuppings.
An exciting twist to this years Nordic Barista Cup is the involvement of local artists. One artist who practiced a specific medium ”fashion design, painting, industrial design, photography, and video production ”was assigned to each team to create original artwork in collaboration with each team. Later today, the pieces will be sold, and the bet piece from each artist will be auctioned as part of the traditional Nordic Barista Cup Silent Auction.
A very special guest to every Nordic Barista Cup is the quietest of us all: the goat trophy. This trophy was originally the first place prize for Klaus Thomsen of Denmark when he won the World Barista Championship in Bern, Switzerland, in 2006. It was such a strange trophy that it quickly gained worldwide notoriety. In a stroke of genius, NBC organizer and owner of Cafe Europa, Jens Norgaard, along with Klaus, decided to put the trophy in the NBC silent auction every year from them on. It has sold each year for at least 1000 Euro, and the understanding is that the person who wins it will return it for the next year’s Nordic Barista Cup. Jens is intent on bringing it back home again!
We’ll be back shortly with more reports and photos!
