A moment with ... Bronwen Serna, U.S. Barista Champion

Wednesday, July 7, 2004

Bronwen Serna, a 26-year-old barista at Hines Public Market Coffee in Seattle, recently won the U.S. Barista Championship and placed 13th at the World Barista Championship. At a ceremony recognizing her win today, Mayor Greg Nickels will proclaim July 7 as Seattle Barista Day.


		PHIL H. WEBBER / P-I
	Coffee lovers searching for Sweetness should visit Hines Public Market Coffee on Eastlake for Bronwen Serna's specialty.

On becoming a barista: I started out as a barista by hanging out at a lot of Seattle coffeehouses as a freshman in college, and after I spent three months studying in Italy, it really inspired me to want to start making my own coffee rather than sitting around and drinking it.

On the competition: Each competitor has 15 minutes to make 12 drinks -- 15 minutes to make four espressos, four cappuccinos and four (drinks) of your creation, called a specialty drink. And you have seven judges critiquing you on your technique, the way your drink tastes ... what you do behind the bar.

On her specialty drink: It's a honey macchiato called Sweetness. So it's just a little bit of clover honey that we found locally ... a little bit of espresso and half-and-half topped off with dark chocolate powder and served with a little square of dark chocolate.

On what people don't know about baristas: I think a lot of them don't really realize that it is a culinary art. It's very much like being a chef. It takes skill, it takes knowing and understanding your machine and your products and the best way to present that and get the best flavors out of it. It may not be as complicated as making a four-course meal, but it is very complex in its process. It's chemistry and it's physics.

On her future plans: I really want to pursue this, especially with my environmental studies degree -- working on sustainable coffee farming and sustainable coffee agriculture, so to speak. It's been a really big focus in the industry right now in producing sustainable coffee as well as helping the coffee farmers. I don't think a lot of consumers really understand the whole process that goes into making their cup of coffee in the morning. It's not just the person behind the bar. It's more like 20 sets of hands before it gets to the person behind the bar.

-- Christine Frey

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