The most iconic manual coffee brewing competition in the GCC
CoffeeDesk, one of the leading solutions for coffee and tea accessories and equipment in GCC and Europe, have joined forces with US based renowned coffee brand, Fellow and hosted the second edition of the Fellow Championship. The competition took place on the 27th of May at Flat 21 café located in Marina Cubes, Dubai Maritime City.
The Fellow Championship aimed to promote specialty coffee, excellence in coffee brewing, innovative product design for coffee equipment, advancing the position of a barista, and engaging the UAE coffee community with an annual championship that serves as the apex of local and regional coffee events around the World. The respected sponsors for the Fellow Championship 2023 were CoffeeDesk, ROR (Rate of Rise), THREE Coffee Roasters, and Cypher Urban Roastery.
The second edition of the Fellow Championship saw twenty-seven of the region’s passionate and talented baristas and coffee enthusiasts compete to be named as the Fellow Brewer’s Champion and win exciting prices. The competitors included female Emirati baristas, the youngest Emirati barista who’s only 14 years old, and several of the UAE’s top coffee makers.
The competition was a multi-round, elimination tournament. Within each round, competitors brewed coffee using the Fellow Stagg [X] Pour-Over simultaneously. The use of milk or any other additives was not allowed and the competitors needed to present the brewed coffee using ground coffee and water within ten minutes.
The competition also saw the esteemed judges who were all coffee connoisseurs and coffee professionals evaluate each performance on the taste of beverage served, its smoothness, technical skill, and overall presentation. With the rule of no enhancers added to the cup but only clean brewed coffee; allowed the competing baristas to focus their skill and satisfy the judges’ palates to incorporate a wealth of coffee brewing knowledge into an expression of their individual tastes and experiences.
