Source: Sina Finance. On September 9th, at the Star Stage of Starbucks China headquarters, the 11th Starbucks China Barista Competition welcomed its finals. Jerry Hou Yilin from Hefei ultimately won the title of "Starbucks China Coffee Ambassador", while Peter Lu Yang from Nanjing was awarded the title of "Starbucks China Selected Coffee Ambassador".
Since its launch in May this year, this competition has attracted more than 5000 partners to register and participate. After more than four months and over 660 rounds of competition selection, 11 contestants finally stood on the stage of the national finals and two national coffee ambassadors were chosen. The remaining nine contestants will also become coffee ambassadors in various regions, shouldering the important mission of spreading coffee culture and promoting service experience.
Since its establishment in 2009, the Starbucks China Barista Competition has been held for eleven sessions. This competition has gone through four stages: regional group competition, regional competition, regional competition, and regional competition, covering thousands of stores across the country. Participants not only need to possess strong professional skills as baristas, but also outstanding communication abilities and a passion for humanistic connections.
This competition is divided into two categories for the first time: the core group and the selection group. The coffee beans, coffee machines, brewing equipment, etc. used by different groups of contestants are highly consistent with the actual operation of core stores and premium stores.
At the same time, this competition has set up five major projects: blind coffee, latte art, brewing and storytelling, peak challenges, and creative special notes, which comprehensively evaluate professional skills, sensory abilities, innovation abilities, and customer communication abilities from multiple dimensions.
In order to ensure the professionalism and authority of the competition, during the national finals stage, the competition invited two top judges in the industry – Gu Qinru and Zhang Wenjiao, international representatives of WCC World Coffee Competition, to serve as the main judges. In addition, the organizing committee also invited three industry experts, Du Jianing (champion of the 2019 World Coffee Brewing Competition), Li Weiqin (champion of the 2023 World Coffee Spirits Competition China Division), and Lu Daoqiang (runner up of the 2023 World Coffee Latte Art Competition), to serve as pre competition mentors for brewing and storytelling, creative special notes, and latte art, providing 1:1 meticulous guidance to help contestants further improve their professional abilities.
Starting from August this year, Starbucks has launched the "Champion Exhibition" for Diamond Star and Gold Star members for the first time. Members can make appointments through the Starbucks China app to come to the store and have face-to-face communication with champion baristas in the area, enjoying their "same style" brewed coffee, latte art, and creative drinks presented in the competition.
As of the end of the competition, more than 60 regional champions have hosted over a thousand customers. The most successful champion player hosted over 150 customers in just over a month.
In April of this year, Starbucks launched a new dedicated ACM position. More than 50 ACMs across the country are dedicated to coffee education and skill development for their partners. In this competition, ACM not only undertakes the coaching work for the contestants, but also directly participates in the competition. Among the 11 national finalists, two are ACM.