Our friends at Soyuz Coffee Roasting have done it again! Barista champions from all over the world are flying to Moscow to take part in the Spasskaya Tower international Military Music Festival, where thousands upon thousands will descend upon their service station in Red Square to order up specialty coffee by the gallons. There will be fireworks! Marching bands! Latte art! Champagne! Signature drinks! It’s a wild worldwide whirlwind of wondrous whimsy! Here’s the list of big-time champion baristas:
Appearing September 1–4:
• Raul Rodas, Guatemala, 2012 World Barista Champion
• Alejandro Mendez, El Salvador, 2011 World Barista Champion
• Daniel Mendez, 2012 Barista Champion of El Salvador
• Monika Palova, 2012 Barista Champion of Slovakia
• Francesco Sanapo, 2011 Barista Champion of ItalyAppearing September 5–8
• Chris Loukakis, Greece, 2011 World Latte Art Champion
• Coen van Sprang, 2012 Barista Champion of the Netherlands
• Ricardo Azofeifa Mora, 2012 Barista Champion of Costa Rica
• Javier Garcia, 2011 Barista Champion of Spain
• Stefanos Domatiotis, 2012 World Barista Championship Finalist, and 6-time Barista Champion of Greece
Sounds amaaaaazing! Last year we covered the event from head-to-toe, including exclusive interviews with each of the participating baristas and an in-depth look at the festival’s enormously popular signature drink. You can relive our exhaustive coverage here. This year we’re unable to attend due to scheduling conflicts, so we’ll be following along with Barista Magazine’s Pasteboard weblog for all the down-and-dirty details!