Tamp That! The Barista Gameshow, now in its second year was held at Jonsson Workwear’s state-of-the-art store in Springfield, Durban recently which saw 6 Teams of 4 baristas per team compete for the R10 000 in prizes! And man, we had a good time with the amazing crowd of baristas that turned out to have some fun!
This unique format is a combination of barista skills, general knowledge and teamwork, and with each team of four under time pressure to perform their tasks, it came down to the wire, with the all female team The Humble Hunnies, taking the big prize purse. No one walked away empty handed thanks to the generosity of Jonsson Workwear and our other sponsors.
The first challenge was called “Pressure Test” - this was a time based challenge where baristas had to dial in a grinder and pull an acceptable espresso shot in the fastest time.
Next up was “Magic Wand” where baristas pulled a latte-art design out of a hat and had to replicate it in less than 3 minutes.
“Caffiene Buzz” proved to be the hardest quiz relay in barista history, as the negative marking saw baristas cautious to guess if their general knowledge was not up to scratch - example question? (Answer at the bottom of the page)
—Name the commercial species of coffee bean, which is asymmetric, with one side shorter than the other side, creating characteristic "hook" at the tip? —
So we didn't make it easy! Look at the concentration!
Between the action the audience competed for spot prizes of R1000 each - by having to find items in the Jonsson Workwear store (like a waterproof jacket for cold, wet adventures)
Back to the barista action and it was “Order up!” A round that saw baristas having to compete in a customer service challenge where the very fussy customer (Ms. Melanie Winter) asked them for an exacting order… like a Dirty Soy Chai - which the barista needed to remember and produce with the provided ingredients. "Chocolate with nuts" was the winning beverage by The Humble Hunnies! All whole providing good customer service.
Finally, the Baristas teamed up for a round of Barista Pictionary - drawing 6 items on the board in 1 minute while their teammates guessed the object - can you draw a Knockbox? It’s harder than it sounds.
The Teams:
SEATTLE COFFEE (RED)
Thandeka
Lindo
Small
Jason
TEAM WOOLIES (BLUE)
Mpendulo
Mzi
Nthobisi
Lindo
Team MAVERICKS (GREEN)
Dieter Liebenberg
Leon Mathurine
Ndu
Delroy
Team HUMBLE HUNNIES (ORANGE)
Nontando Shange
Precious
Hillary
Lindokuhle
TEAM COFFEE GEEKS (WHITE)
Calvin Human
Dale
Godswill
Nolwazi
TEAM Vida (COFFEE)
Mandla
Khanyi
Tutoko
Danielle
A huge thanks to Jonsson Workwear for hosting the event and catering for the competitors and spectators, Coastal Coffee for the coffee used, Red Espresso, La Marzocco, Da Vinci Gourmet and Omello who all provided prizes and product for the event.
— ANSWER : Coffea Liberica --
