Oh my goodness, that was so much fun!!!!
"Tamp That" The Barista Gameshow supported by Jonsson Workwear was a roaring success!
In the end we had four teams representing some of the top barista talent from around KwaZulu Natal. Across five different challenges, the teams had to work together to score the most points in each challenge and fight for a share of the R10 000 cash prize money!
The 4 teams were:
Black Aprons (Orange tees)
The Lions (Grey tees)
CVN2 Blue (Blue tees)
Team Tanaka (White tees)
The first challenge was called Pressure Test ! Baristas had to assemble a portafilter from scratch, dial in the grinder which was set to very coarse, and pull two perfect, double shots of espresso in the fastest time! They then had to pass those two double shots to their teammate for the second challenge, aptly called Magic Wand, who had to pull a latte art design out of a hat and recreate it in less than 2 mins.
The judges were very strict and we saw some incredible skills shown in both the first two challenges - with CVN2 Blue, streaking ahead after these first exchanges, with Tanaka close behind in second place.
The Third Challenge was called Caffeine Buzz, a 3 part coffee quiz, including geography questions, with baristas having to draw origin countries on a blow up globe of the world, then answer a specific coffee question (which I'm proud to report they all answered correctly!) and finally, a series of 20 questions, with the fastest finger on the buzzer, getting to answer the questions, but losing point if the wrong answer was given!
The fourth challenge, called "Smile Like You Mean It!" was a customer service challenge, with baristas having to take an order for both an item of apparel in the Jonsson Workwear store, and a coffee order, with the ingredients hidden in the store!
The excitement levels were high and the audience in the store grew as the day went on - we handed out R2000 worth of Jonsson Workwear vouchers to audience members that answered coffee questions correctly!
Back to the competition, after 4 Rounds it was extremely close with only 20 points separating 1st place from 4th place! Team CVN2 Blue and Tanaka were both on 330 points, Black Aprons on 320 points and The Lions on 310 points with one round to go.
What round you ask? Drawing Board aka Barista Pictionary!
Baristas had to draw coffee related items and their teammates had to guess the items - with 10 points allocated for each correct item...
The Lions made a stunning comeback, while Tanaka failed at the final challenge to see CVN2 Blue triumph as the winners, with the Lions and Black Aprons tie 2nd and Tamaka in fourth place.
And so to a tie-break it went, with a manual brew challenge. The Lions choosing Aeropress and the Black Aprons choosing Clever Dripper as their weapons of choice. In the end the light, floral notes of the Clever Dripper method saw the Black Aprons squeak past, to clinch 2nd position.
1st place: CVN2 Blue
2nd place: The Black Aprons
3rd place: The Lions
4th place: Team Tanaka
