UK Barista Championships changes for 2014

The UK Barista Championships will begin in the not too distant future but the event, won for the third time last year John Gordon, has undergone some impromptu changes. But, as it turns out, the moves which were initially met with negative reactions, came about in some extraordinary circumstances.

For the best part of a decade, entry to the final of the Championships was determined by a series of geographical heats where contestants would travel to one of a number of locations spread around the country. Instead, all entrants will have to convene on Birmingham’s Millennium Point to take part in a national ‘super heat’ that will be spread out over the course of a week.

According to a statement published on the Speciality Coffee Association of Europe’s (UK Chapter) website the decision is predominately focused upon changing the perceived declining reputation of the regional heats. ‘By bringing the heats together’, it reads, ‘we can steer competitors to the correct heats based on their current places of work, and thus bring prestige back to the title of regional heat winner in the UKBC’. But whether that is entirely true or not is up to debate.

One member, from Scotland stated the move was ‘ridiculous, short sighted, naive, foolhardy and damaging to the competition.’ Other comments were just as forthright.

Arguments go that instead of being throw-away events before the big ‘day’, the local heats provided more thorough competition for those taking part. Instead of competing against nameless faces, the regional events allowed for rival coffee shops to go head-to-head and the prospect of being able to claim supremacy over your direct rivals in local surroundings was a huge draw for some. It also drains away vital media coverage for establishments and individuals that otherwise would receive next to attention from mainstream publications.

There is also the financial implications of such a decision. A week away in Birmingham would need to be provided somehow; travel, accommodation and a potential loss of daily earnings would hit purse-strings hard.

Yet there are some positives for this switch in organisation. By focusing resources onto one show-piece event it should, theoretically, provide a huge boost in publicity for the coffee trade whilst simultaneously allowing for an increase in seminars and other ‘extra-curricular activities’ that will enable everybody to network, learn and hopefully, improve their craft.

But if you scratch the surface and the further you unravel the threads, the decision was made more out of necessity than choice and many of the words used were done to effectively put a progressive spin on what is otherwise a critical situation from which nobody could emerge in a positive light.

Things are rarely what they seem and this is no exception.

Steve Leighton, the new UK coordinator of SCAE hasn’t exactly been hiding his opinions, and justifications, in the shadows. In some respects he has been as forthright as his critics. ‘Nothing, and I mean nothing, has been done’, he said to Coffee House, ‘and we have a competition to make happen in seven weeks. On my second day as co-ordinator, I had to make a decision about how to keep the championship going.’

His options, he relayed, were thin on the ground. With no time available to take a long hard look at the structure of the event and weigh up a number of alternatives, a split-second choice had to be made.

Leighton’s position, as he has admitted, is a temporary one and that gives off an indication of the uncertainty floating around at the top of the SCAE. Whilst the decision has not been universally popular, Leighton must be applauded for reacting to situations to enable the Barista Championships for 2014 to go ahead instead of – and this could have been a real possibility – allowing the contest to vanish off the calendars completely. Supporters have spoken out in support of the idea and his gumption in trying something different. That opinion does appear to be growing.

The idea of a nationally organised event is a sound one in principle, one where the best, brightest and most enthusiastic baristas all convene, swap inspiration, lean and have fun. The problem, and backlash, with the decision here does appear to be the rather abrupt nature of the announcement, but given what Simon Leighton has said, that can be forgiven. The only thing that, potentially, can’t be is the wording of the statement as that has angered a number of people.

Now the dust has settled through the UK coffee industry can look forward to another exciting competition.

Registrations are open.