Ni Putu Patricia, was recently declared the winner of the 12th edition of Starbucks’ Barista Championship. Held at Sheraton Grand Jakarta Gandaria City last week, the barista from Bali claimed her trophy following an impressive performance brewing coffee, creating latte art, and serving a signature beverage.
Patricia joined Starbucks Oberoi Seminyak in 2017 and notes that she hopes to be a coffee expert one day. She certainly has made great strides with her ability to present an ideal Starbucks experience.
Patricia confidently arranged her presentation which told a distinct story. While the other finalists presented their work in the same order— brewed coffee, latte art, and signature beverage—Patricia greeted the judges with two cups featuring latte art, with a rosetta and swan drawing. She then presented a unique Reverse Affogato, finished up with a pour over manual brew coffee using Rwanda Kanzu bean.
“I took the idea of building a Starbucks experience by treating the judges as customers. I made a latte because it’s a comfortable choice. I also made them my signature drink,” Patricia said.
“For customers who love their coffee strong, the manual brew and specialty coffee are the best choices,” she noted, adding that she also used jazz to replicate a store-like atmosphere,
The Udayana University student featured her cultural tradition in her signature beverage, Reverse Affogato, by adding a few Indonesian spices in her coffee-based drink. Her hometown of Tunjuk Village, Tabanan Regency, has a unique tradition of adding spices in tea and coffee. Reverse Affogato featured a combination of coffee, chocolate, palm sugar, pandan leaves, and cloves along with vanilla ice cream.
Patricia noted that she grew up in a community that was very much part of the Balinese coffee culture, which featured some of Indonesia’s best coffee beans, Tabana Robusta Pupuan and Arabica Kintamani
“Actually, I could not succeed without the help from other partners at the store. I would like to share this championship with with my friends in Bali so we can all learn together,” Patricia told NOW!Jakarta.
At the upcoming competition, the Asia Pacific Barista Championship, Patricia plans to make drinks based on Bali’s coffee tradition and showcase it to the wider market.
Patricia was among a group of finalists which included Muhammad Fariz Syahir from Bandung, and Yulinda Tanjaya from Surabaya. They entered the final round from a total of 360 Starbucks Coffee Masters from different stores and regions in Indonesia.
“Starbucks Barista Championship is the most anticipated event at Starbucks. We are proud to inspire partners to achieve their full potential through this competition. The champion will not only share the coffee culture to customers in Indonesia but they will also represent Indonesia in the Asia Pacific championship,” said Virani Masayu, General manager of Learning and Culture at Starbucks Indonesia.
The Starbucks Barista Championship is held worldwide and is aimed at motivating partners to maintain the highest international standards.
