He celebrated by drinking Moet out of his trophy. Mr. Simon took home the win using coffee from Finca El Manzano, in the Santa Ana region of El Salvador. El Manzano was picked on Feb 27 and processed using both natural and washed methods, all of which was overseen by the folks at Cuatro M , purveyors of fine Salvadoran coffees.

Mr. Simon is a longtime competitor whose day job is as a roaster at Veneziano’s location in Abbotsford, a suburb of Melbourne. He traveled to El Salvador in 2011 and personally selected his winning lot of coffee, with help from Emilio Lopez and Cuatro M. His competition coffee is on sale today at Veneziano’s flagship cafe in Melbourne, First Pour, and is now available for purchase via Veneziano’s web store. Be sure to check out Veneziano on Twitter – @VenezCoffeeRstr – for links to archived video, pics, and insight from last weekend’s Australian Barista Championship. Congratulations, Craig Simon, and we’ll see you in Vienna!

(Some facts for this feature sourced via Bean Scene Magazine)

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