Samonte bested five of the country’s top caliber baristas at the final round of the 2016 Philippine National Barista Championship — the country’s most prestigious barista and coffee competition.
Silvester Dan Sibal Samonte of El Union Coffee bagged the nation’s most prestigious barista title and beat five of the country’s most highly skilled baristas during an intense final round of the 2016 Philippine National Barista Championship, held on January 23 at the Newport Mall Atrium of Resorts World Manila.
All six contenders at the final round of Philippine National Barista Championship prepared and served twelve coffee drinks — four espresso, four milk beverages and four original espresso-based signature drinks of their own creation — to an exacting 15-minute time frame to a panel of judges composed of four sensory judges, two technical judges, and one head judge.
Samonte impressed the panel of Philippine National Barista Championship judges with his washed process Fat Geisha coffee throughout his barista routine. For his espresso beverage, Samonte instructed the panel of sensory judges to look for notes of passion fruit, grape apple and mango; and notes of banana caramel coupled with nut chocolate finish for his milk beverage. For his signature drink, Samonte added his espresso beverage to a natural concoction of honey tea, jasmine and orange cascara to produce a coffee drink that tasted like pink grape fruit juice. Samonte’s beverages demonstrated the versatility of his chosen single origin specialty coffee from Finca Nuguo, Colubre, Panama.
Silvester Samonte will officially represent the Philippines at the 2016 World Barista Championship — the preeminent international coffee competition, June 22 to 25 in Dublin, Ireland.