The fourth heat of the 2012 UK Barista Championships took place in Norwich yesterday, hosted by Mad About Coffee.

Combining the UKBC with the first Norfolk Coffee Festival was a brilliant idea, and created a great atmosphere.

Although we had 14 competitors at the start of the week only 12 could make it to the event, but all put on a great show.

We ran 2 teams of sensory judges, with the 2 technical judges covering all performances.

Before we announce the results I’d like to give a special mention to Simon, who ran the AV for the event, and did a stirling job with tweets using the hashtag #ukbcht4 throughout the day. Simon also volunteered at the South East Heat in January. We value the time and effort our volunteers put in to helping run a great competition and welcome volunteers to register by emailing info@scaeuk.com

The San Remo demo machine (the San Remo Roma) was well frequented with baristas pulling shots for the crowd after their performance. This was placed alongside the Union Brewbar where a lovely selection of Union coffee and Novus teas were available to try throughout the event.

Donations to our chosen charity Coffee Kids were being accepted, and the total will be announced later this week.

The winners of the event were;

• 1st Howard Barwick (Opposite Cafe, Leeds – also a freelance coffee trainer)
• 2nd Alex Sargeant (Strangers Coffee)
• 3rd Luke Evans (Marks and Spencer)

Howard also won the Best Espresso, Best Cappuccino and Best Signature drink awards.

Howard used Peru Tunki San Jorge coffee roasted by Bury St Edmunds based Butterworth and Son during his performance.

For the signature drink he wanted to get across the idea that iced espresso is often disappointing – but that it needn’t be. To do this Howard used a balanced coffee (the Peru Tunki San Jorge) and added a reduction of sultanas, cranberries and cascara (heated in a syphon) to a glass, before extracting the espresso, and finally adding lemon, lime juice and soda water. The judges obviously liked it, awarding him best signature drink.

London based Callum Hale-Thompson was the last performer of the day and completed a great set in the allotted time, presenting to the judges a polished performance. Callum first competed last year, and had hoped to be eligible to compete in this years competition, before the age limit was raised from 16 to 18 by World Coffee Events. We hope to see Callum compete again in the future. His presentation was informative and enjoyable.

Finally, a big thank you to our host Richard and his team from Mad About Coffee who arranged the Norfolk  Coffee festival and hosted this heat of the UKBC for 2012.

We will be updating the Top 20 Leaderboard and announce who is top of the Best Newcomer category once our scorekeeper has safely arrived home and caught up on sleep, after being on the road all week running the Coffee in Good Spirits, and Latte Art events along with the San Remo road crew.

It’s not too late to register for the Send Me To Vienna competition being run by our sponsor Natvia. The World Barista Championships are only around the corner now!

We’re still accepting entries for the final heat of the UKBC – Northern Ireland. If you’ve been inspired and fancy competing and going for the chance to become the UK Barista Champion for 2012 then visit the SCAE UK website and download an entry form. Entries close on Friday 09 March.