Fresh Cup Magazine, providing specialty coffee and tea professionals with unique insight into the trends, ideas, products and people that shape their world.
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OFF THE WIRE NEWS BRIEFS REVAMPED STAGE HIGHLIGHTS BARISTA COMPETITION SEASON When the U.S. regional barista competitions kick off this month with the Northwest contest in Tacoma, Wash., audience members will notice one change right away: a redesigned stage that moves baris- tas closer to judges and in full view rather than with their backs to them. It's a change that was made to better replicate the café setting that most baristas see in their typi- cal workdays. "We wanted to make it more like a real-world espresso- bar scenario," says Marcus Boni, director of community develop- ment for barista-competition organizer SCAA. "Less of a general stage layout, more like a café." The stage layout headlines the rule changes for this year's World 2012 U.S. REGIONAL COMPETITIONS Northwest: Jan. 27-29 in Tacoma, Wash. Southeast: Feb. 10-11 in Atlanta Northeast: Feb. 25-26 in New York City Southwest: March 9-11 in Santa Cruz, Calif. North Central: March 2012—dates and location TBD South Central: March 2012—dates and location TBD Barista Championship season, which will culminate domestically with the U.S. Barista Championship in Portland, Ore., in April, 16 Fresh Cup Magazine freshcup.com and internationally with the WBC in Vienna in June. For the layout change, Boni says the Rules and Regulations Committee, made up of former competitors and judges, drew from experience to fine-tune the setup. The new arrangement rotates the espresso machine table so that it faces the judges' table, allowing baristas to maintain a line of sight with judges. It also moves the barista worktable to adjoin with the judges' table, creating a closer interaction between baristas and judges. In addition to the layout changes, baristas will have a new espresso machine to work with. After the 2011 competition in Bogota, WBC sponsor companies re-bid on their sponsorship deals, and all retained their rights for the 2012-14 competitions: Nuova Simonelli as the espresso machine sponsor, Mahlkoenig as the grinder sponsor and Urnex as the cleaning product sponsor. The espresso machine sponsorship was the most rigorous to nab, taking into account machine