"Free Pour Latte Art Grand Prix Tokyo 2023" to determine the No. 1 latte art barista was held at the food exhibition "26th Fabex" held at Tokyo Big Sight from Wednesday, April 12th to Friday, April 14th, 2023. 2023” was held.
Sponsored by the Japan Latte Art Association, in cooperation with the Japan Shokuryo Shimbun. The last tournament was in 2019, but it was subsequently suspended due to the effects of the new coronavirus, so this was the first time in three years that the tournament was held.
64 baristas from Japan and abroad will gather in a one-on-one tournament format to draw latte art within a specified time of three minutes. You can bring your own tools such as cups, but you will need to use the grinders prepared by the tournament, but the espresso machine is the "La Marzocco Linea PB2" that was also used in the final round of "Free Pour Latte Art Grand Prix Osaka 2022". Two cars from different manufacturers, the ``Astoria Plus 4 You TS,'' were prepared and selected by lottery.
Draw latte art using either the Astoria Plus 4 You TS (left) or La Marzocco Linea PB2 (right)
The judges will be selected by famous baristas from Japan and abroad based on five judging criteria, and the barista who receives two votes from the three judges will advance to the top.
Three judges will vote directly for the preliminary round. After the semi-finals, each gave their own commentary.
The final tournament started with 64 players, narrowed down from 64 to 32 on the 12th, from 32 to 16 on the 13th, and on the final day on the 14th, the remaining 16 players were selected for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. is decided. Cash prizes and supplementary prizes will be awarded by the Japan Latte Art Association and other supporting companies.
It's not just beauty, it's a combination of skill and technique.
There are five judging criteria: (1) speed, (2) beauty/balance/harmony/symmetry of appearance, (3) expressiveness of color, (4) clarity of life, and (5) creativity and difficulty. You can recreate it as many times as you like within the 3 minutes, but you will lose time points.
The amount of time it takes to create a piece varies depending on the skill of the barista and the difficulty of the design. As a result, even if the speed was fast, the finish would be compromised, and even if the design was good, it would take too long to make mistakes, making it a high-level tournament that tested each athlete's fighting style and the results of their daily practice. .
Kitty Pitch's cow (left) and rose zebra latte art
The players who made it to the final 16 on the final day were 5 from Korea, 6 from Japan, 3 from Taiwan, and 2 from Thailand. Looking back at past tournaments, athletes from Japan won in 2014, Taiwan from 2015 to 2016, and South Korea from 2017 to 2019. This time, the host country, Japan, has the largest number of players remaining, and they would like to take back the championship.
The final battle was won by Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand.
In a dramatic turn of events, one person from each of the participating countries - Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand - made it to the top four. There were many ups and downs, such as Japan's Shinya Ito defeating South Korea's RORA, the 2019 champion of the previous tournament, and the top baristas being eliminated in the ranking "Alternative Ultimate Battle 2023 (official)" used as reference for the qualifying round. It was also a tournament.
The semi-finals were Japan's Ito and South Korea's JONGHYEOK LEE. While Ito drew delicate motifs of slow leaves and roses, Jeong-hyuk powerfully drew animals that were vibrant and pleasing to the audience's eyes, and Jeong-hyuk advanced to the finals.
Jeonghyuk who advanced to the finals
The other semi-final was Kittipich boonsawasd from Thailand and Bala from Taiwan (Shao-Sing Lin). While Kitty Pitch had a cow as opposed to the rose zebra, both of them had animal motifs that they were good at, but Kitty Pitch won because she had the most points overall.
Bara who advanced to the semi-finals
Unfortunately, at this point, there was no longer a victory for the Japanese team. In the third-place deciding match, both Ito and Rose were very excited as it was their last latte art of the competition, and although both pieces were wonderful, the judges' score was 2-1, with Rose taking third place.
Ito who broke into 4th place
The final match was between Kitty Pitch from Thailand and Jeonghyeok from South Korea. The motif of the showdown between the talented contestants who made it through the preliminaries was both animal motifs, and although at the very end the contestants showed such a level of perfection that the judges were shocked, Kitty Pitch, who continued to demonstrate her ability throughout the tournament, won the contest. Ta.
Kitty Pitch player competing in the finals
In reality, Kitty Pitch had an accident where she took the wrong train to the venue and arrived just in time for the match. In the winner's interview, he expressed his gratitude by saying, ``I would like to thank everyone involved in this tournament, including the baristas and the organizers,'' with palms clasped together. When asked about his future goals after winning the championship, he said, ``I will return to Japan on the 18th and will be at the store right away on the 19th.'' This was her first time in Japan, and during her stay she charmed the audience with her carefree smile, saying, ``I want to go to Izakaya.''
However, in reality, Kitty Pitch was a hardworking person, even practicing using water in the corner of the venue between matches. He was the champion who wanted to win this time.
Kitty pitch player practicing before the match
I was filled with joy as I held the winning trophy.
Kitty Pitch received a winning prize of 300,000 yen and numerous supplementary prizes from supporting companies. As a supplementary prize, CROWD ROASTER presented a custom-made leather bag called "Fieg" made by Großwald, which embodies Japanese craftsmanship, and 10kg of Geisha from El Carmen Farm in El Salvador, which is included in the CROWD ROASTER app.
In addition, CROWD ROASTER awarded 2nd and 3rd place as supplementary prizes, respectively, custom-made leather goods made by Großwald and beans owned by the CROWD ROASTER app.
CROWD ROASTER will give away beans and custom-made leather goods that can be used at CROWD ROASTER to the top three winners.
A tournament that felt the spread of latte art culture to Asia
Noboru Ueno, representative director of the Japan Latte Art Association, said, ``I'm really happy that the first Thai champion has been crowned in a tournament held in Tokyo, as I feel this is proof that latte art culture is spreading to other parts of Asia other than Japan.'' Looking back on the tournament, he said, "I hope that our association can help Japan make a comeback to the top in Asia."
The baristas who unfortunately missed out on winning this year are top baristas who are active all over Japan and all over Asia. Since it is a tournament, there are always winners and losers, but just by looking at the latte art that the participating baristas created during Shin competition over the three days, as a spectator, I was able to realize once again how fun and wonderful latte art is.
Latte art of preliminary participants
On the last day, the best 16 latte art. Unique to competitions is that even the same barista's performance differs slightly from match to match.
“Free Pour Latte Art Grand Prix Tokyo 2023” was a great success despite being held for the first time in three years. I hope that at the next competition, they will once again entertain us coffee fans with surprising new and innovative works, or beauty created by overwhelming skill.
