Tilly Sproule of Tim Adams Specialty Coffee has won the Australian Specialty Coffee Association (ASCA) Vitasoy Northern Region Barista Championship for her fifth straight year.
Zhuolu Xie of TonyJ Lab was runner-up and Sarah Jin of Extraction Artisan Coffee came third in the competition at Latitude Coffee from 5 to 6 October.
Latitude Coffee also hosted the ASCA 2020 Northern Region Brewers Cup, Pauls Professional Latte Art and TCX Cup Tasters Championships.
Sarah Jin also took home the Brewers Cup crown, Karen Silver of Pourboy was runner-up, and Cooper Ahrens of Blue Sky Coffee placed third.
Kyujong Han of Ginger & Green café won the ASCA 2020 Pauls Professional Northern Region Latte Art Championship for the second year in a row. Yue Huang of ASK Career Training College was runner-up and Chi Hang Lo of B+C Lab Café placed third.
Karl Lee of KL Coffee won the ASCA 2020 TCX Northern Region Cup Tasters Championship with a score of seven out of eight in three minutes and 48 seconds. Merryn Ward of Woodman’s Axe Espresso was runner-up and Josh Gowty of Veneziano Coffee Roasters placed third.
Tilly, Sarah, Kyujong and Karl have all earned guaranteed spots in the ASCA 2020 Australian Coffee Championships in their respective competitions.
“We are going all in! My team and I are extremely excited for the next few months. We’ve got some concepts we are already working on and will continue to explore [our] goal of creating a sustainable future for specialty coffee,” Tilly said.
“This year, we saw a lot of new (and old!) faces in Barista (as well as the other categories) showcasing some amazing talent and very inspiring routines. I’m excited to be a part of this growth up in the Northern Region and I can’t wait to represent our region on the 2020 National Stage.”
Tilly thanks her team at Tim Adams Specialty Coffee for their continued support.
“We’ve devoted a lot of time to training and my personal development already this year and we won’t be stopping anytime soon. I am so grateful to have people around me who support me as much as they do, and also the whole community up here in Queensland,” Tilly says.
“I hope I can encourage everyone to look towards the future of our industry and consider if we are creating one that is sustainable. Ultimately, this can look different for each of us but I strongly believe it’s through the power of our relationships that will push us in this direction.”
The next ASCA 2020 Regional will take place in Victoria from 26 to 27 November at 2b/706 Lorimer St, Port Melbourne.