Nordic Barista Cup is a yearly event where leading doers and thinkers meet to inspire.

The Nordic Barista Cup vision is that knowledge should be openly shared. For this reason we give everybody a chance to expand their toolbox - personally and professionally - by showing the lectures from Nordic Barista Cup 2006 here.

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Sure you’ve cupped coffee, but how about water?
Better yet, how about a water cupping competition?
That’s what the barista teams were facing at the Nordic Barista Cup 2006 after a fascinating presentation by Morten Münchow on water properties, filtration and the effects of minerals, soluables and everything else found in your average cup of H20.
At his side Morten had purifying filters made by Guldager, the Danish water treatment company, bottled water and pretty much every other type of water you can imagine.

Click below to see the powerpoint presentation simultaneously with watching the video:

The colorette machine and process was explained by Probat’s Arno Schwenk and his associate Daniella Nowitzki.
If you think it might be odd for a company that builds roasters to be a major sponsor of a barista event, Arno says otherwise.
"We want to be in the process," he says. "We want baristas to know what we are doing, but on the other hand, we are learning to. When we have interactions like this with baristas, we know more about the whole process and we can improve our machines. If we know the barista and the green coffee people, we know the process from the seed to the cup. The barista’s product is also our product."

Who better to explain the science of sugar to the barista teams and the attendees than Mr. Lars Bo Jørgensen of Danisco?
Not only did he explain the chemical properties of sucrose, fructose, dextrose and another sucrose to the audience, but he tested them on their abilities to taste them and identify levels of intensity and to distinguish between these different sugars. Lars Bo Jørgensen also tested the barista teams, and the results of whose palates proved the most in tune to sugars will be revealed with today’s winner at the end of the night.

Here is the introduction to sugar and syrup:

Power point can be downloaded here.

Here is the lecture about sweetness:

Powerpoint can be downloaded here.

Here is the final part about nutrition:

Powerpoint can be downloaded here.

Noma is ranked the 33rd best restaurant in the entire world, and that fact is especially impressive considering the focus on the traditional Nordic cuisine served there, which in the past has been much maligned.

Rather than expound on the history of Nordic cuisine, however, Anders instead pulled out a large cardboard box, and announced to the teams and attendees that one of the most creative events of the entire weekend would take place with the contents of the box.

The contents of the box included ingredients gathered from all five countries represented here: Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland.

--4 litres of birkevand (which is birch tree sap, a very special water collected from trees native to Sweden)
--Jamaican Blue Mountain Stout from Gourmet Bryggeriet, Denmark
--Mutzo apples from Lilleø, a small island, South Sealand, in Denmark
--Lidt Skagen skinke, a specialty ham from the northernmost town in Denmark
--Woodruf, a Nordic herb
--Malt powder from Iceland
--Dried berries native to both Norway and Sweden
--Full fat organic milk from Arla Denmark
--Buttermilk from Arla Denmark
--Beer syrup from Gourmet bryggeriet, Denmark
--Chifon bottle,
--Geleringsmiddel, a Finnish gelatin
--A special mustard from the Swedish island of Gotland
--Coffee!

Barista teams must use their teamwork capabilities and creativity to come up with one drink to be served to two judges, including Anders, on Saturday. Competitors were also given a cocktail shaker, a Nitrogen canister and CO2, a knife, and a cutting board. They will be allowed to use steam and hot water, but no other cooking facilities, and the two drinks are to be served in paper cups. Teams will be judged on their ability to use as many ingredients as possible, and their success or failure at developing a drink that actually tastes good!

The intense focus on the Cup of Excellence (CoE) program and the importance of quality has been truly the highlight of day 1. The audience was quite responsive to Stephen Hurst' definitions about quality and specialty coffee in general.
Mr. Hurst was the first to admit that some of his sentiments were perhaps contentious: "This is a controversial idea I have, that the specialty coffee business is just 17 years old," he said, noting that his reasoning behind the thought was that prior to 17 years ago, the coffee trade was highly regulated, resulting in the stifling of innovation and quality practices.

Clikc below to see the presentation simultaneously with watching the video.

After the welcoming ceremony Martin Hildebrant spoke about "Expanding Your Toolbox." He wasn’t necessarily talking about a physical toolbox, however, but the one kept between your ears, your mind.
"If you keep doing what you have always done, you’re very likely to keep getting the same results you are getting," Martin said.
He also asked the attendees to think about what it means to be a barista and what they hope the definition of a barista will expand to include in the future. This will be a theme throughout the weekend. "Your mind is like a full glass of water," Martin said, "if you share your knowledge you create space to learn something new. You can’t pour more water into a full glass, and some people have their glasses turned upside."