Ben Morrow Wins The 2016 Australian Latte Art Championship

Congratulations to Ben Morrow who finally walked away with the gold at the Australian Pura Latte Art Championships earlier this month.

After six years of entering and a handful of second places, the Sensory Lab affiliated barista managed to put together a chart-topping routine that featured some signature artwork to fend off some very strong competition.

Following Ben in the standings were Shinsaku Fukayama (also of Sensory Coffee) and Jibbi Little, who finished second and third respectively.

“I am so shocked to have finally won the event. I don’t know what to say,” he said to the media after being handed the golden milk jug.

“I saw the silver trophy in the corner of my eye and thought: ‘I bet I’m going to win second place again and I’ll be adding that trophy to the other silver ones I already have.’

“Then I realised that the silver trophy wouldn’t look so bad in my collection. But this time, I got the gold and I’m so happy.”

The event took place in early March and was organised by the Australian Speciality Coffee Association (ACSA). The competition, one of the crown jewels in the Australian coffee industry, was held in conjunction with the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival attracted hundreds of spectators.

But, the question on everybody’s lips was if Ben could follow in the footsteps of last year’s champion Caleb Cha.

After winning the Australian competition, Caleb went one better and triumphed at the 2015 World Latte Art Championships.

So can Australia produce back-to-back champions?

“Well, of course!” Ben replied when asked.

“Every country is going to [be] working hard and pushing their designs to the limit, especially Korea, Japan and China. Since baristas have global access to imagery, people are learning techniques and patterns everywhere and anywhere.

“We’re living in a golden era of coffee,” he added.

The World Championships will take place in Shanghai, China at the end of the month and the Italian coffee machine brand Astoria will provide the machines used in the competition.