CROATIA 20th April 2011

Some 16 baristas from 12 different distributors came together in mid-April for the prize of winning a trip to take part in the first World Barista Championship in an origin country, Croatian National Coordinator Domagoj Trusić reports.

However, a few of them still have a lot to learn as baristas before they will be able to live their dream, so last year's winner Matija Hrkač had a comfortable win, casually passing through the semi-finals and dominating the finals of the Croatian Barista Championship this year.

The "dark horse" of the competition, Josip Novačić, was caught out in the finals, by running over time.

We all had a very high level of expectation from this year's baristas, so the scores were generally low.

We managed to avoid conflicts of interest in the judging, as judges were changed when baristas from the same company as the judges went on stage. We also had great help in calibration from head judge Vittorio Agosti.

In addition to watching the competition, the spectators were also able to visit the small exhibition of our sponsors.

The scores were as follows:

1. Matija Hrkač, 606.5 points (Square Mile Coffee), independent barista trainer for Lavazza and some others, Zagreb
2. Mateja Vidović, 486.6 points (Caffe Porto, Jamaica Blue Mountain), barista in the bookshop cafe "Filodrammatica", Rijeka
3. Alen Mijalić, 474 points (Illy), barista in the cafe bar "Giro espresso", Šibenik
4. Goran Grozdanić 442 points (Caffe Porto, Etiopia Sidamo G2), owner of the cafe bar "Pijaca", Rijeka
5. Tomislav Stančić 398 points (Mokarabia President), owner of the "Mihovil bar", Šibenik
6. Josip Novačić (overtime) (Lavazza),  barista in the cafe bar "Bodega", Zagreb

Our judges were:

• Head judge: Vittorio Agosti, Italy, WBC official judge

Sensory judges:

• Nikola Žiganto, Opatija, roaster cafe "Porto" , 7th place cupper in the World Cup Tasters Championship
• Zlatko Miletić , Zagreb, barista trainer and manager of "Posh bara "
• Tomislav Mrdeža, Šibenik, barista trainer for Illycaffe
• Zoran Trkulja, Šibenik, barista for Mokarabia caffe and barista trainer
• Mario Karlica, Zagreb, training manager for Lavazza coffee and barista trainer
• Marko Brajković, Zagreb, brand manager for  "Vivascaffe" coffee and barista

Technical judges:

• Rudolf Rettig, Zagreb, barista trainer for "Franck" cafe
• Nik Orosi, Zagreb, owner of cafe bar "Eliscaffe" and roaster
• Zlatko Vukičević, Šibenik, owner of cafe bar "Giro espresso"

Pictured: the two top baristas in Croatia, Matija Hrkač (l), winner of the Championship for the second time, and runner-up Mateja Vidović