Sanremo Opera Cup

A look back

A few months ago Latvia held its first barista competition in 7 long years. If I’m not mistaken a dude named Ingemārs Dzenis won it all those years ago (making him the 7 year repeating champ ☺).

The event was run by Gemoss Kafijas Studija and sponsored by Sanremo, among others. Competitors hailed from different coffee shops and cafes mostly from Riga, but there were a few from other parts of Latvia. Like most barista competitions, the baristas had to make 4 espressos, 4 cappuccinos, & 4 signature drinks. Most of the baristas used coffee from Andrito while others used Gourmet Coffee (Tallinn) & even illy (something called Mono Arabica).

It was pretty fun shooting the event, getting to listen to the baristas’ presentations and getting taste some signature drinks. Nervousness made for some shaky pours. Some baristas really put on a show and some not so much. All in all, no matter what the level of the competition was, it happened, and you can’t ask for much more after a 7 year hiatus.

My hope is this will spawn more interest and that next year maybe we’ll get to have a Brewers Cup.

Raimonds Zadvornovs of King Coffee Service took 1st place, followed by Roberts Lukša of Coffee & Wine Gallery & Jānis Podiņš of MiiT Coffee.

Thanks for reading, now, why don’t ya take a look at some photos?