A Gold Coast barista has been named The Coffee Club’s national champion for the second year in a row.
Caffeine-queen Kylie Pennicott, who works in The Coffee Club Caf Bar Restaurant at Broadbeach, has won the barista of the year award during a three hour competition in the Broadbeach Mall.
The event kicked off The Coffee Club’s three-day national franchisee convention, which was held on August 26 to August 28 at the Holiday Inn in Surfers Paradise.
Judges at the barista finals’ event also named Pennicott’s signature drink – a white chocolate latte, as the competition’s best creation.
The finalists were given 30 minutes in which to serve four espresso based coffees nominated by the judges, and then four identical signature drinks. These are tested on a range of abilities including preparation, cleanliness, presentation, coffee making skills and standards.
The nine competitors were judged on everything from extraction times, their usage of the grinder, milk texturing, and extraction routines.
Owners of The Coffee Club Caf Bar Restaurant Broadbeach, Jeremy and Sharon Swift said they were delighted with the result.
“This was excellent news. It was a big year for us, we had three entrants in the finals – Kylie, Tania Blakemore, who also is a former Coffee Club barista champion and Krystal Lindsay,” Jeremy said.
“Having three finalists working in the store means the quality of our coffee is extremely high. It helps to raise the bar for the rest of our staff who work hard to emulate the style and quality of the coffee produced by our award winning baristas.”
As part of her win, Pennicott receives a trip for two to Holland to visit the Douwe Egberts facilities, an exclusive world barista standard tamper with The Coffee Club logo as well as a plaque for the winner’s store.