HOFEX Organizer is pleased to confirm the 3rd annual HK Grand Barista Championship (GBC) which will be held during HOFEX 2011 at Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre from May 11th to May 14th.  GBC@HOFEX is an event co-organized by GBC Organizing Committee, supported by the Hong Kong Barista Association and majorly sponsored by Danes.

Application is now open until 30th April 2011. Click HERE for entry form.

In 2011 GBC@HOFEX will comprise 2 major events:
The 1st event being a series of heats for GBC HK 2011 during day 1 & day 2 of HOFEX. And on day 3 of HOFEX will be the ‘GBC HK 2011 final’. The winner will be crowned ‘Grand Barista HK 2011’ and fly in July as part of first prize to Thailand to compete at the Australasian GBC event.

The 2nd event will be a Latte Artist final developed to crown Hong Kong’s 1st Latte Artist.

GBC is a vehicle to promote Barista’s in their trade, promote the art of making espresso great & in the process profile the most skilful and passionate of baristas. Just as coffee continues to evolve globally as a beverage, the rules that guide a barista competition also need to evolve. Therefore In principle changes to the GBC HK 2011 rules have become tighter in terms of timing and some of the drinks have been changed to better reflect a barista at work and engage even further the audience.

GBC HK 2011:
The barista is required to prepare in total 4 different drink types for judging in 10 minutes + 2 min penalty time. For the first 3 drink types the barista will prepare 4 of each. In brief, drink 1 is an espresso, drink 2 is an espresso based milk coffee and these are the backbone of the competition. Drink 3 is ‘other coffee’. It can be filter, plunger, siphon or other style of coffee than espresso. As non espresso styles of coffee grow in popularity, so does the need for a Barista to be conversant in other styles of coffee.

Drink 4 ‘Latte express’ is anticipated to be the most exhilarating for the audience to watch and the most heart stopping for the barista to perform. ‘A fork in the road’ as they choose between quality & quantity. The barista needs to make a latte according to industry standards in an 8oz takeaway cup with the latte milk requiring artwork. The barista will be scored according to the quantity of latte express drinks made, the appearance of the drink and finally scored by the head judge on taste after randomly sampling one of the ‘latte express’ drinks. The ‘latte express’ drinks will be then given to the audience. With timing tight, the barista will also have to choose whether to encroach on penalty time or stop the clock! Please refer to the rules for more detail.

More information about the 2011 rules can be obtained with the entry forms.

Grand Latte Competition:
Art work as a finishing on Latte beverages continue to draw a breath of anxiety from consumers when ordering milk coffees. In recognition of the skill, artistry and lengths a baristas will go to bring smiles to the face of consumers, GBC@HOFEX 2011 will host a Latte Artist final to crown HK’s very first ‘Grand Latte Artist’.

To celebrate this inaugural Grand Latte Competition, and to benchmark the standards of Hong Kong, champion latte artists from Australia, Thailand and other Asian cities will be invited to HOFEX to face-off against Hong Kong’s best.

Stay tuned as more info will be released over the next week about both the GBC & Latte Artist competitions @HOFEX 2011.

About HOFEX
HOFEX, established since 1987, is renowned as Asia’s leading food and hospitality tradeshow which brings together 1,800 exhibiting companies and 35,000 professional trade buyers biennially. Staged at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre on May 11-14, 2011, HOFEX 2011 continues to blend the best of food and beverages, as well as equipment, supplies, services and hospitality technologies. The show is featured as the premier meeting place for the industry and has a pioneering position in connecting China to the rest of the world. Visitor Pre-registration is now live at www.hofex.com.