In order to actively promote the integrated development of "urban coffee culture" and "regional industrial clusters", further amplify the spillover effect of the Expo, promote the high-quality development of culture, business and tourism under the national strategy of integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta, and rely on the agglomeration advantages of the coffee industry and coffee culture in the Yangtze River Delta region, the first "Yangtze River Delta C9 Alliance Coffee Competition" Set sail on November 18, as the highlight of the first Yangtze River Delta C9 Alliance Coffee Competition, today, the hand-poured coffee and coffee latte art competition was held in Huangpu, the competition designated beans as this year's Yunnan award-winning high-grade coffee beans, coffee latte art masters from the central city of the Yangtze River Delta gathered here to carry out an annual "peak battle" in the coffee industry.
In the pour-over coffee competition, the contestants complete their works in a room, from grinding beans, to boiling water, pouring coffee powder, each step is shown in front of the audience, and the final product is sent to the judge's room, where the referee tastes and evaluates according to the corresponding standards. For each barista, although the steps of hand-poured coffee are almost the same, factors such as the degree of bean grinding, brewing time, etc., directly affect the taste and also witness the barista's skill.
Huang Junhao, the chief referee of the hand punch competition, introduced: "We generally have several dimensions, the first is to hope that the sweet and sour bitterness of the coffee is more balanced, because good coffee will have some fruit acid, which will be a little different from our daily drinking habits, I will hope that everyone will try to accept the acid, this balance of sour and sweet, if done well, it is very comfortable to drink." There are generally three factors that affect the taste, one is the grinding scale, one is water, and the other is time, among which the impact of grinding is the greatest. The very important significance of this competition is to let the players have some communication between them, and if there is communication, everyone's ability will go up, and if the ability goes up, there will be more and more people who can drink good coffee. ”
In the coffee latte art competition, the contestants took the lead in drawing lots to get their own entry questions, and there are three themes of latte art, namely love, leaves and tulips, which seem to be ordinary patterns, but can fully reflect the basic skills and "aesthetics" of baristas, whether there are holes in the coffee surface, whether the milk foam is delicate and has high durability, whether the caffeine oil and milk are clearly demarcated, the size, position and position of the pattern, Whether the layout is reasonable or not are the judges' judging criteria, and whether the latte art can give people a high sense of beauty is also the highest standard for judging. Although each contestant was able to complete his or her work in its entirety, it was not easy to truly make an aesthetic work. Many of the contestants also came to the competition with the mentality of exchange and competition, which is more of a kind of learning.
Contestant Lu Daoqiang: "This competition is to learn and communicate, and the strength of the players in this competition is still quite strong." I think the key is to practice more and relax your mind. During the whole competition, we can also communicate with many baristas, and we will also do a series of exercises before the competition, which will also improve our skills. ”
It is worth mentioning that some of the contestants are people with disabilities, and Feng Minxi, a contestant from Suzhou, is a hearing-impaired barista, with the mentality of learning and expanding her horizons, she and several like-minded friends came to participate in the competition, hoping that she can achieve good results in the competition, improve her skills, and better serve customers in the future. "I love making coffee, and I'm happy in the process of making coffee. I'm here for the competition today. You can meet a lot of people who are very good in the coffee world. We learn from each other and I hope that my friends and I can go above and beyond in the next races. ”
Mao Xiaoyan, Director of Suzhou Employment Management Service Center for the Disabled: "This time, we specially organized some disabled contestants to participate in the competition, and I think it is of great help to improve the skills of our disabled baristas by having such a good platform in such a C9 coffee competition." Because there are some professional baristas on this platform, and many of them have won national and international competition awards. The second aspect, for our disabled players, is also a stage to show their self-improvement and tenacious fighting spirit. The third aspect is that on such a platform, it can expand their horizons and provide great help to their future career development. ”
It is understood that the C9 Alliance, established in 2021, is a high-quality development alliance of the central urban areas of major cities in the Yangtze River Delta jointly established by Huangpu District as the leader and the central urban areas of the trillion-level GDP cities in the Yangtze River Delta. This area accounts for 0 percent of the Yangtze River Delta5% of the geographical area gathers 4% of the permanent population, contributing 5With a GDP of 9%, it is the core area of high economic and cultural development. The scope of the first coffee competition covers the entire Yangtze River Delta C9 Alliance region. The Yangtze River Delta C9 Alliance Coffee Competition is held in the hope of deepening the exchanges between the Yangtze River Delta urban areas through a cup of coffee and coffee culture, tapping the potential from cross-domain and cross-provincial cooperation, colliding with innovative inspiration, and exploring new opportunities for cross-border cooperation and coordinated development. Innovation, talent recruitment, and integration - to further promote industrial development, entrepreneurship and employment, social welfare, and cooperation and exchanges. It is hoped that through the normalized competition and exchange in the future, the interaction and exchanges between the regions of the Yangtze River Delta C9 Alliance will be deepened, and the administrative barriers will be further broken, the comparative advantages will be exerted, and the development synergy will be strengthened, so that the elements can flow smoothly in a wider range and gather a stronger development synergy.
Tomorrow will usher in the climax of the competition - the award ceremony, the citizens will be able to see that the transparent lobby of the Cultural Square will be transformed into a green coffee plantation, truly showing the whole cycle of a coffee bean from soil planting, ripening and roasting to flowing into the coffee cup, and finally the coffee grounds are made into a cup, and the immersive interaction allows participants to experience an in-depth and interesting coffee class. Throughout the course of the event competition in December, coffee derivatives will be unveiled, including hanging ear coffee, cup sleeves, coasters, powdered lids and other products, to help enhance the specifications, brand image and commercial influence of the competition, and at the same time promote the scale, systematization, specialization and perennial of the competition.
Author: Shanghai Huangpu.
Editor: Zhou Chen Responsible Editor: Zhu Yue.
*: Shanghai Huangpu.