Next time you order a coffee where your barista has topped it with some beautiful design, maybe think twice before you just whip that teaspoon in to stir it around.
Barista Ryan Nguyen, who works at Ona Coffee House in Fyshwick, is about to head to the Melbourne International Coffee Expo to represent the ACT in the MILKLAB Barista Battle, and he says it can be kind of upsetting to see the art go unappreciated.
"I can understand that some people just need that coffee to perk them up but if they really love coffee, the whole process, they will take a closer look at the design," he says.
Nguyen started working as a barista about four years ago.
"Just as a job, really", he says.
"But I fell in love with coffee and I became interested in the visual side of it all, too, and so I started to learn all about latte art."
He has a background in graphic design and designs all his own artwork.
For the Barista Battle he's perfected designing a tiger using MILKLAB's macadamia milk.
"For me to design my own patterns, and to be able to compete with those, and show them to other people, it's what I love to do," he says.
He said learning latte art was hard at the beginning, but once his design background kicked in he began to look at it in a completely different way.
"It became about creating a beautiful looking cup of coffee, as beautiful as it tastes," he says.
He'll be competing against six other baristas from around the country for the first prize of $5000.
The expo runs from May 12-14 and attracts thousands of coffee lovers from all over the world. There are competitions and awards across several categories and Australia's favourite coffee will be crowned at the conclusion of the expo.
Another competition - Australia's Richest Barista - is a knockout-style tournament with a prize pool of $40,000 up for grabs.
In the first round, competitors will be tasked with creating six drinks in 10 minutes: two espressos, two milk-based drinks, and two signature creations using flavour options from Naked Syrups.
The second round will have competitors produce three pairs of latte art designs: one classic design determined by spinning a wheel, one free-pour design, and one design of the competitor's choosing, with etching and colouring allowed.
The third and final round is a test of cup tasting abilities. Finalists will face five sets of three samples in which they have to identify the outlier in each set.
The competitor who chooses the most correct samples in the shortest amount of time is declared the competition's winner and the recipient of $25,000.
Expo-goers can enjoy all kinds of experiences. MILKLAB Lane will exude Melbourne's iconic trendy coffee culture vibe. Reminiscent of the streets of Melbourne, the lane features "hole-in-the-wall" style cafes and funky coffee carts as well as live DJ tunes, daily workshops on coffee art techniques by latte art experts Victor Vu, Ming Wan and Junnie.
- For more information head to internationalcoffeeexpo.com.
