Starbucks baristas vie for best of Asia honour

Starbucks baristas from across Asia took part in the first Regional Barista Championships in Hong Kong.

The contest, held before more than 600 spectators, drew 2000 entries from markets including China, Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Japan and Indonesia before the field was narrowed to the final 14.

Finalists were judged on coffee knowledge, beverage mastery and customer service. Each partner had 20 minutes to demonstrate technical and communications skills, craftsmanship and knowledge of the barista profession.

“Our judges group, made up of eight partners and one guest who is an accredited global coffee-competition judge, was immensely impressed and inspired by the professionalism and passion demonstrated by the final competitors,” said Major Cohen, senior project manager, Starbucks Global Coffee.

The top three partners from round one of the finals were:

• Nopparat “Yong” Arpornsuwan who joined Starbucks Thailand in 2002 as a part-time barista and is currently the store manager at the Baan Chart Khaosan Starbucks in Bangkok. She has a personal connection and understanding of coffee, having grown up near coffee farms in Thailand.

• Hirokazu Terasaki of Japan, who joined the global coffee giant because of the friendly service culture a year ago. He is now an assistant store manager at the Maguro store in Japan.

• Ryan Wibawa of Indonesia, who became a part-time barista with Starbucks in 2011 and just two years later was designated as a Coffee Master. Now a full-time shift supervisor at the first Starbucks Reserve store in Indonesia, Wibawa earned first-place honors in the first Indonesian Brewers Cup Championship finals in November 2015.

Arpornsuwan took top honors, based on her “perfect execution, personal storytelling and knowledge of coffee sourcing,” to become the first Starbucks Barista Champion. She was awarded a first-place trophy, a hand-crafted leather roaster brewers kit complete with coffee and accessories, and a three-week coffee experience in Seattle, which will include a visit to the first Starbucks at Pike Place Market and a tour of Starbucks Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room.

Starbucks will celebrate additional barista champions across the globe in 2016. The company will host the Europe, Middle East and Africa Barista Championships and US Barista Championships later this year.