The Free Pour Latte Art Grand Prix Tokyo 2024, which determined the No. 1 latte art barista, was held at the 27th Foodex 2024 food exhibition at Tokyo Big Sight from Wednesday, April 10th to Friday, April 12th, 2024.
Click here for the report on the 2023 tournament
The competition is being hosted by the Japan Latte Art Association with the cooperation of the Japan Food Journal. Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2023 event was the first in three years, attracting much attention, and this year will be the 10th anniversary of the event.
The match is played in pairs, with three minutes to play in front of an audience.
The competition is a tournament between 64 barista artists from Japan and abroad. Each artist is given three minutes to draw, and three judges score them, with baristas who receive two votes advancing to the top. To participate, participants must pass a preliminary round held in advance, but there are no seeded rights for top performers from the previous year, and everyone competes for the championship over the three days of the finals.
Participants are allowed to bring their own cups and other equipment, but grinders and espresso machines are provided by the competition. There are two espresso machines in particular, the La Marzocco Linea and the Astoria Plus 4 You TS, and which one to use is decided through consultation or rock-paper-scissors, which can affect the final product.
Astoria is on the right
La Marzocco is on the left
The tournament took place over three days, with the field narrowed from 64 to 32 on the first day, the 10th (Wednesday), then from 32 to 16 on the 11th (Thursday), and the best 16 and final matches were held on the 12th (Friday).
The top three winners received prize money as well as additional prizes from the sponsoring companies. As this was the 10th anniversary of the tournament, the winning trophy was an original Arita ware trophy that evoked a sense of Japan.
Many generous prizes will be awarded by the sponsoring companies, and CROWD ROASTER will donate raw beans.
Artistry and technique improve with each passing year
Latte art is a service provided by baristas to customers, in which they draw a picture while pouring steamed milk into espresso.
However, the works in this "Latte Art Grand Prix" are on a whole different level; they are literally works of art painted inside the cup. Even if you have no knowledge of latte art, you can enjoy it by simply wondering how someone could create such a picture.
The judging criteria are: 1) speed, 2) beauty/balance/harmony/symmetry of appearance, 3) expressiveness of color, 4) clarity, and 5) creativity and difficulty. You can remake your design as many times as you like within the three-minute time limit, but you will lose one point for the important 1) speed. However, if you can surpass that with beauty, carefulness, and creativity, you still have a good chance of winning.
No matter how original your creation is, it's meaningless if it's blurry, and no matter how fast you finish, it may not be able to match the expressiveness of the other competitors. The tension and difficulty of a one-shot tournament, such as the motif you choose, the tools and espresso machine you use, is what makes the Latte Art Grand Prix an entertaining competition that can be enjoyed by both baristas and spectators.
Even so, animal motifs with intricate patterns, such as those by Kitti Pich from Thailand, the 2023 champion who also competed in this year's competition, overturned previous trends and attracted attention. This method, known as the "placed" method, has spread rapidly on social media, and it seemed that there were quite a lot of baristas drawing animal motifs at this competition.
On the other hand, there are also works called "convection-type" works that add originality to motifs such as hearts and leaves, and works that go beyond simple designs to incorporate swans, flowers, etc. It was also impressive that the works that made it to the top ranks in this competition were not biased towards one extreme or the other.
On the first day, the top 32 latte art contests featured a wide variety of motifs and challenges.
The best 16 where anyone could win
The final day, Friday the 12th, began with the best 16. At this point, many baristas who had placed highly in the previous tournament had been eliminated, indicating the high level of competition this year.
The final eight baristas were from Japan (3), Thailand (2), South Korea (1), Hong Kong (1), and Taiwan (1), making this a truly international competition.
In the first match of the quarterfinals between Japan's Murai Kenta and Taiwan's Chen Kuan Ying, Murai presented a delicate motif, while Chen, who was not satisfied with his first bowl and had to remake it, won with his expressiveness and beauty.
Murai, who also works as a latte art instructor, was unfortunately eliminated in the quarterfinals.
Next up were Ju Min Seong from South Korea and Lu Fung Cheung from Hong Kong, both of whom had animal motifs and were almost the same speed. The difficult judging was based on the expressiveness and clarity of the colors, and Lu from Hong Kong came out on top.
Chu (left) and Lu (back) showed off their tournament-worthy fighting skills.
The latte art of Chu (left) and Lu (right) both feature animal motifs.
The third match was between Sittipong Yongsiri from Thailand and James Miu from Japan. Both teams used convection-type leaf motifs. Sittipong finished quickly, while James Miu used up two cups, advancing to the semi-finals.
Sittipong (right) from Thailand, a powerhouse of latte art. You could see him painting on the monitor at the venue.
Latte art of soft rose James Miu (left) and sharp leaf Sittipong (right)
The final match of the quarterfinals was between the defending champion Kittipich Boonsawasd of Thailand and Jun Sakaguchi of Japan. While Kittipich scored with one shot, Sakaguchi used two cups to draw delicate leaves, but fell just short.
Sakaguchi vividly depicts delicate patterns
Kitty Pitch (left) and Sakaguchi (right)'s latte art
A first-time challenger with only two years of latte art experience takes on the champion in the semi-finals
The final four were baristas from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, and Thailand. These four will compete in the semi-finals and third place deciding match.
In the match between Taiwan's Chen and Hong Kong's Lu, Lu, who has shown a very high level of perfection in recent times, won.
Lu creates striking art using highly concentrated milk
Then, Japan's James Miu faced off against Thailand's Kitty Pitch. Due to differences in motifs, James Miu finished his drawing quite quickly, while Kitty Pitch took his time to carefully work on it.
The much-anticipated showdown between the defending champion and a challenger competing for the first time in the tournament resulted in a difficult decision that impressed the judges, but James Miu advanced to the finals by a very narrow margin.
Kitty Pitch prepares carefully and without rushing
James Miu pumps his fist in the air at the moment that made the difference between success and failure.
After this, the third place match was held before the final, and Kitty Pitch defeated Chen to take third place.
Kitty Pitch (left) and Chen (right) latte art
The final match was between James Miu of Japan and Lu of Hong Kong. Neither had won the championship before, and just like the semi-final, it was a showdown between placement and counterflow types.
With solemn background music playing, the final and greatest piece of art, which could be said to be the culmination of the three days, was painted onto two cups.
James Miu (left) and Lou (right) draw latte art almost simultaneously.
The judges couldn't help but smile wryly (?) Who will win...?
At this memorable 10th tournament, the second Japanese champion in history was born!
The winners of the Free Pour Latte Art Grand Prix Tokyo 2024, in which 64 contestants competed over three days, were announced by Noboru Ueno, Representative Director of the Japan Latte Art Association, during the award ceremony.
Ueno raised his hand to announce that the 2024 champion will be Japan's James Miu! This is the second time in history that a Japanese has won the tournament, since the first tournament was held in 2013.
James Miu received a first place prize of 300,000 yen, as well as numerous other prizes from the sponsoring companies. CROWD ROASTER awarded the following prizes to 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners: 10kg of Double Anaerobic from El Paraiso Farm in Colombia, 5kg of Bourbon from São John Grande Farm in Brazil, and 3kg of Caturra from Ortiga Farm in Costa Rica.
Although Kitty Pitch, who came in third place, lost, she still showed her usual smile and said, "I'd like to come here again next year."
Lou, who came in second, commented, "It was fun. I'd like to participate again next time," but when asked, "Are you going to win next time?" he showed an expression that said, "Hmm." Although he gave it his all and the result was decided, he received a warm round of applause from the audience.
2nd place Lou
The winner, James Miu, shed tears and said, "I'm so happy! I'm glad I was able to believe in myself for three days and draw to the end."
Regarding her victory in just her second year of latte art, she said, "I've always had confidence. I've been practicing so that I can believe in myself, so I'm glad I got the results." She revealed that she approached the competition with a clear image of victory in mind. The motif was inspired by the design of the Liwei Coffee Stand where she works as a barista. The owner, Liwei, said that the motif was the same as the one that won the Osaka tournament in 2023, and said, "Personally, I like the rose design in a frame, so I've been working hard on practicing it."
When asked about his future goals, he said, "I hope to be able to participate in the Osaka tournament as well." There seems to be no time to let his guard down as he aims to win two domestic tournaments.
1st place: James Miu
The Latte Art Grand Prix continues to grow in popularity after a milestone event
Ueno, the organizer of the competition, said of the competition, "The 64 contestants in the Free Pour Latte Art Grand Prix already possess such high quality that any one of them could have won. Their skills and precision have improved every year, and it felt like the competition was even more about competing on skill and perfection."
This festival of creators uses their own sensibilities to create one-of-a-kind latte art that disappears once drunk, making it an entertainment that anyone can enjoy, even if they have no knowledge of coffee.
However, trends tend to become outdated with each passing day. In today's world, where information can be spread via social media and anyone can try out the same motif, new motifs and technological trends will likely be in demand in free pour latte art as well.
The Free Pour Latte Art Grand Prix felt like a new era. I'm already looking forward to seeing the amazing new latte art I'll encounter at the next competition.
Japan Latte Art Association
