Food and beverage team members from sister hotels in the Lake District and North Lancashire have been battling for supremacy in a barista skills competition.

Hospitality staff from The Wild Boar, Low Wood Bay Resort & Spa and Lancaster House Hotel came together to display an array of innovative coffee preparations and latte art to judges from Matthew Algie Coffee Roastery.

The idea behind the competition was to underpin the techniques the baristas have learned during their training, as well as reinforcing the highest standards and building team spirit in a fun and innovative way.

As part of the Tchibo barista competition, two members from each venue were selected to create four coffees each - an espresso, a cappuccino, a latte, plus a special coffee of their choice - and present them to the judges.

Four Baristas from Low Wood Bay took part, Pawel Moskala, Erdal Ali, George Taylor and Aml Nayef. They were joined by Joanne Shuttleworth and Vaclav Kolar from The Wild Boar and Hubert Jasniewski and Sean Van Aswegan from Lancaster House.

Vaclav took the trophy in first place as the 2023 Barista of the year for his artistry and unique creation of a what the judges described as a sensational 'Smokehouse Coffee'. He was closely followed by Pawel in second place with his 'Smores Mocha'. Aml was hot on their heels in third with her 'Colada Coffee', beautifully presented in a pineapple for an added zing of flavour.

Hannah McQuire from English Lakes Hotels Resorts & Venues, who helped to organise the training competition, said:

“The baristas were judged on creativity, presentation, the process of making their beverages and of course, above all, taste."

“The standard was extremely high across the board but Vaclav pipped his rivals in the end due to the beauty and precision of his method in making the drink and the skills demonstrated as we watched."

“We’d like to thank Stuart and Andrew from Matthew Algie, not just for delivering the Barista training for the group, but also getting involved in the competition to help drive quality standards. The winners will be invited for a tour of their roastery in Scotland as a result of their success in completing their training and excelling in the competition.”

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