Barista off to give champs his best shot at 'Coffee Olympics'

By JULIE MIDDLETON

Five years ago, Carl Sara rarely drank coffee and didn't know a latte from a flat white.

Fast forward: not only is the 27-year-old an expert and award-winning barista, he co-owns two Muffin Break franchises and flies to Italy on Monday to compete in the "coffee Olympics".

Like any self-respecting athlete, the fast-talking, perpetually busy Sara has an entourage of 14 travelling with him to the World Barista Championship, including Mum and Dad and various industry types. The event will be held in Trieste from June 18 to 20.

Sara's bulging kitbag includes 36 black cups and saucers stamped with silver ferns, supplies of New Zealand milk and his own espresso coffee machine and grinder.

He is required to serve the four judges espressos (a single shot of espresso coffee), cappuccinos (a single shot with steamed milk) and identical specialty drinks within 15 minutes, all the while answering questions and keeping up a knowledgeable patter. Marks are given for technique, personal and workspace presentation, and taste.

Sara aims to wow the judges with a triple-layer coffee: kiwifruit nectar topped by espresso and then cream, served in a martini glass with kiwifruit garnish.

But don't suggest to Sara, who drinks two or three cups a day, that coffee-making is something you do while seeking a real job. Or that a contest for baristas - the name is Italian for "bartender" but has come to denote coffee makers in English - overstates the skills required.

Coffee, Sara reminds us, is the planet's second-most-traded commodity. To make a good brew - smooth and velvety rather than burnt and bitter - means getting dozens of small details right: machine water temperature, steam nozzle pressure, bean grind (a fine sand consistency is best, he says) and technique among them.

Malapropically, Sara says he has lots of "gutso" instead of "gusto", but given the way he seems to work - fast and hard - it's quite appropriate.

After leaving the seventh form, Sara flirted with university study, door-to-door vacuum cleaner selling and property development. But he wanted to get into business, and with associate Scott Manderson bought his first Muffin Break, in his hometown of Christchurch, in November 1999. Their second franchise opened in the city last April.

Sara entered his first barista contest after less than a year in the business. He has now collected several gongs for his espresso wrangling, among them the South Island Barista of the Year title last year. That gave him entry to the national contest, and he scooped the pool from 120 other people at the high-profile National Culinary Fare in Auckland last year.

Even during his five years in the game, says Sara, habits have shifted. There is now wide acceptance that coffee chains do fine brews, not just the too-cool-for-school trendy cafes.

Customers are also more knowledgeable and fussier, to the extent that regulars will nominate certain baristas to do their brew.

Sara tells the photographer that it's the same with people taking pictures: the gear might be identical but the results will vary.

And by the way, using spoons to pour the milk is so last week that it's banned in Sara's stores.

If milk is properly mixed when steamed, he decrees, it doesn't need a spoon to separate milk from froth.