latte art

Oops! I had intended to pop back earlier with our exciting news but the days just seemed to skip ahead of me. Last week, we attended the local (State) Barista Championships where our 17yodd was competing in the Latte Art section.

She was up against two former Australian Champions and others who were veteran barista’s and competitors. She was the only female competing in that category and by far the youngest barista.

She placed 3rd! How absolutely exciting! 3rd in this state! We were so ridiculously excited and happy for her. Actually she finished equal 2nd but they went decided to count back and go into percentages (which is odd as they don’t do that for the general barista comp but who’s complaining?) and she ended up placing 3rd- one point behind the 2nd place-getter.

Well, hasn’t she just had a full-on week since?  She has had various photo shoots (including a hair and make-up session)  for the paper, and then centre where she works. She feels a little odd as they want to put her photo around various places in the mall- congratulations and a form of advertisement. She received a RB tamper worth over $100 so she is totally chuffed. She also won some prize money, a trophy and was presented with a sash. A tamp is a tool used in the making of espresso. She’s being interviewed for another paper and has also been contacted by Master Roasters (official name for those who roast beans) and CoffeeHouses. Whew, what a whirlwind week.

However, as parents, none of that has been as impressive as seeing our child work hard and apply themselves, focus on the process and not the outcome and then try something new that takes them out of their comfort zone. Miss17 was as nervous as anything for the week before the competition. She purchased all her own table setting and practiced on us for some time. However, she has never even been to a Barista Championship before let alone competed in one so didn’t have a clue what to do or expect. She has told me that she just kept her eyes and ears open to learn from those more experienced and that she kept learning right up and during her performance! She said she learnt from the barista’s who went before her and incorporated some new things into her routine. This is a sign of a lifestyle of learning- her [delight-directed education] homeschooling years have prepared her well. It wouldn’t have bothered us one bit had she not have placed, even if she had come last! What mattered to us was the whole process- the working, the attitude, the attempts, the learning, the failing, the trying again, the attitude, etc. Oh, did I mention attitude? 😉

 

Barista Championships

So the HUGE expensive espresso machine is now gone from our kitchen and I’m back to our small but trusty Sunbeam. But it’s so much easier to keep clean. The other $5000 (yes, five thousand dollars worth of coffee machine has been in our kitchen for the last month!) was so large it overtook the whole kitchen! It was also messier. But really, who’s complaining?

I wonder what’s next?