Edzard the MuffinMann called for Hannover's first Barista Battle on the 1st of decembre, and even though I'm not really local to Hannover I couldn't stand back from having a nice day there and meeting a bunch of nice people!

I was mighty impressed with Edzard's small café. He is a master confectioner, and his muffin range is phenomenal. Their taste is too. And they are so big that you can't eat more than one, if one at all, while at the same time you just have to try them all!

As for the coffee, they use the LaMarzocco single basket which I found quite interesting (I thought that wouldn't work in a commercial environment), and the shot I had was definitly one of the best pulls I had in a café as of yet. The coffee I had was a blend I forgot the name of, but it was quite good, though a little boring (I guess having sporadic access to Cup of Excellence coffees and other wonderful single estate/origins is leaving it's marks on my taste preferences...).

We had plenty of time to chat and hang around before the actual competition started and it was really good to put faces to some names and talk about coffee and passion and all that. It's good to know there are passionate people out there!

Second photo on the right is the jury.

The competition was straightforward: do four cappuccinos, do them with good latte art and work efficiently. Plus, Edzard wanted to find out whose of his baristas David or Martin will enter the next german barista championship, so this was added pressure on both of them. There were two rounds of competition: first round open for everybody, second round only for the two competing MuffinMann baristas. I won the first round and couldn't really believe the scores, as you can see I was quite puzzled when they announced them.

Plus three 10's for clean & efficient working. Wow. Guess where I learnt that? Right.

The second and third round were most intense: both David and Martin were really good at their latte art, and both scored the same. In the end they needed a third round where the quest was a double rosetta, which David finally won. Sure you can question whether latte art is a measure for competition (it's not), but it was fun and the people there (not only the contestants, the shop was rammed full!) had got some glimpse into the coffee world, and for this latte art is nearly as good as a well prepared shot or cappu. Congratulations to David and hopefully we'll meet in Frankfurt!

Well, I for one had a great day, and I believe the others had too. So thanks a lot Edzard! I look forward to the second Hannoveraner Barista Battle next year :)