The Vancouver Foodster Barista Challenge was a great success featuring Baristas and their Beverage creations at cafes around Vancouver, Burnaby and Ladner. Each Café featured their Beverage creation on their menu from September 8-30, 2014. and their customers voted for their favourites daily throughout the challenge.

Our media judging panel determined the ultimate winners of the challenge, and this was quite the task as each judge who tasted each creation with a rigorous process based on taste, originality/uniqueness and presentation/appearance.

Our Media judges for this challenge were: Randall Shirley, Joyce Lam and Adrian Harris

The Winners are:

We had a tie for 1st place in this challenge.

1st Place:  Sophie Martin of Momento Coffee House

Signature Beverage Creation: Vanilla Explosion Gelato

Vanilla explosion gelato, 2 shots of espresso, 1/4 teaspoon of maple syrup in the cup before espresso shot, 1  scoop gelato, garnish with smoked bacon crisps and covered with maple syrup a pinch of sicilia course sea salt.

Momento Coffee House

577 Great Northern Way, Vancouver

Tel:604-828-5282

Web: www.momentocoffeehouse.com

Twitter: @momentocoffee

and

1st Place: Ron LaQuaglia of Glenburn Soda Fountain

Signature Beverage Creation:  Lemon Ginger Dream ice cream soda

It is an old-fashioned ice cream soda made with lemon and ginger syrups, soda water, lemon sorbet from Rocky Pt Ice Cream and Birchwood Dairy Vanilla ice cream.

Glenburn Soda Fountain

4090 Hastings St, Burnaby

Tel: (604) 500-4548

Web:  http://glenburnsoda.com/

Twitter: @glenburnsoda

2nd Place: Daniel Wong of Crackle Creme

Signature Beverage Creation: Silky Sarong

Silky Sarong

Featuring Caffe d’Arte espresso, callebaut white chocolate, Lemongrass, Lime leaves, Dried lemongrass powder and topped with saffron powder.

Crackle Creme

245 Union Street, Vancouver

Tel: 778-847-8533

Web: http://cracklecreme.com/

Twitter: @cracklecreme

3rd Place: Erika Driver of Stir Coffee House

Signature Beverage Creation: Tasting Flight

Tasting Flight

Featuring: 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters‘ Ethiopian Suke Quto Organic Single Origin Espresso

Because Erika enjoys transforming one type of coffee bean through different brewing techniques, she has prepared a delicious tasting flight of three beverages. These drinks range from 1-5oz, and include an espresso, pour over, and Gibraltar, using the same beans for each.

Espresso (1 oz): a single espresso shot of Suke Quto.

Iced Pour Over (5 oz): Suke Quto brewed manually, served over ice.

Gibraltar or ‘Cortado’ (5 oz): a single espresso shot of Suke Quto cut with a bit of steamed whole milk.

Stir Coffee House

101-5085 48th Avenue, Delta

Tel: (604) 940-8005

Web: http://stircoffeehouse.com/  

Twitter: @StirCoffeeHouse

 

In the People’s Choice Awards category, the public who tried the Signature Beverage Creations were the ones who had the opportunity to cast their vote throughout the challenge.

The Winners are:

1st Place People’s Choice:

Sophie Martin of Momento Coffee House

Signature Beverage Creation: Vanilla Explosion Gelato

Vanilla explosion gelato, 2 shots of espresso, 1/4 teaspoon of maple syrup in the cup before espresso shot, 1  scoop gelato, garnish with smoked bacon crisps and covered with maple syrup a pinch of sicilia course sea salt.

Momento Coffee House

577 Great Northern Way, Vancouver

Tel:604-828-5282

Web: www.momentocoffeehouse.com

Twitter: @momentocoffee

 

2nd Place People’s Choice:

Barista: Erika Driver of Stir Coffee House

Signature Beverage Creation: Tasting Flight

Tasting Flight

Featuring: 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters‘ Ethiopian Suke Quto Organic Single Origin Espresso

Because Erika enjoys transforming one type of coffee bean through different brewing techniques, she has prepared a delicious tasting flight of three beverages. These drinks range from 1-5oz, and include an espresso, pour over, and Gibraltar, using the same beans for each.

Espresso (1 oz): a single espresso shot of Suke Quto.

Iced Pour Over (5 oz): Suke Quto brewed manually, served over ice.

Gibraltar or ‘Cortado’ (5 oz): a single espresso shot of Suke Quto cut with a bit of steamed whole milk.

Stir Coffee House

101-5085 48th Avenue, Delta

Tel: (604) 940-8005

Web: http://stircoffeehouse.com/  

Twitter: @StirCoffeeHouse

 

3rd Place People’s Choice:

Barista:  Tony Lovse of Main Street Honey Shoppe

Signature Beverage Creation:  Honey Breve Stinger

Honey Breve Stinger

We have applied our specialty honey knowledge (with a little help from our specialty coffee friends) to make a simply fantastic “Honey Breve Stinger”.  Our latte art leaves a little to be desired, but the right combination of high quality ingredients results in a simple, but delicious comfort drink for those cool autumn days. Buckwheat honey blends beautifully with espresso and adds a rich, full bodied flavour with a subtle sweetness.  Enjoy!

Main Street Honey Shoppe

4125 Main Street

Web: http://www.mainstreethoney.com/

Twitter: @mainstreethoney

Thank you to all the baristas and cafes that accepted my invitation and featured the Barista Signature Beverage Challenge on the menu for the past few weeks during this challenge.

I encourage you to visit the winning restaurants to try their Barista Signature Beverage  creations! See all the 6 beverage entries here.

By: Richard Wolak