In the morning of FHA 2012 Barista Challenge in Singapore, baristas from 5 different countries 'opened' their cafes for 7 customers - their judges from recognised coffee establishments in Asia and Australia.

Not only did they fly their own beans and equipment to the competition venue, with them they have also brought along exceptional coffee tasting experience to their audience. We recorded their presentation run through and share them here with you, as closely as if you have been there whilst they were at the stage during the competition.

Maybe you would want to try some of the combinations yourself?

Top 5 finalists:
Australia - Craig Simon
Indonesia - Doddy Samsura (1^st runner up)
Japan - Yoshikazu Iwase
Malaysia - Yee JH (2^nd runner up)
New Zealand - Aymon McQuade (Champion)

Judges:
Jonathan Bruno Koo – Founder of Hong Kong Barista Association;
Eleen Cai – First Singapore FHA Barista Champion in 2007;
Natanael Charis – Owner of PT. Morning Glory Coffee International, Indonesia
Michael Ryan – Jimmy Monkey, Singapore;
Danny Har –Training Manager at Kaffa Kaldi, Singapore;
Brian Raslan – Founder of South Australian Coffee Academy
Jade Hu – Taster’s Coffee, Taipei

1^st contestant: Craig Simon (Australia)

Beans used: 100% Red Bourbon from Finca Manzano in Emilio Lopez’s estate, El Salvador

Espresso: Natural and semi washed taste, sour cherry notes and crisp acidity

Signature drink preparation: Picking up on the sour cherry notes from the beans, Craig made a reduction from black cherries and added a little bit of lime juice to magnify that crisp acidity in the espresso which resembles the original taste in the beans. To pick up the body and to get the extended maturation on the tree - the ripening, he added some cream to let the taste linger in your mouth longer after finishing the drink. 

2^nd contestant: Doddy Samsura (Indonesia)

Beans used: Single origin coffee from Sapan Aria, North Toraja, Sulawesi

Espresso: Lemony, dry finish and clean taste

Signature drink: This recipe was adopted from a local drink called Kopi Joss from the city where Doddy lived - Yogyakarta, where people usually put burning charcoal into their black coffee and that creates a hissing sound. But instead of using charcoal, Doddy used active carbon instead for hygiene purpose. Ingredients wise he was using sugar to add sweetness and lemon slices to increase the lemony taste that was already contained in the coffee beans he was using. After that he added a little bit of whip cream to make the texture of the drink smoother. At the end Doddy burned the carbon active and put into the drink, this was to bind the taste of the drink. 

3^rd contestant: Yoshikazu Iwase (Japan)

Beans used: Kenya Katerini

Espresso: Japanese Amanatsu citrus, juicy flavour and acidic with cacao

Signature drink: Yashikazu had the panel of judges tasted his espresso with Amanatsu juice and chocolate, in hot and cold temperature. The sequence was to take a sip of the espresso, then a sip of hot water; after that a sip of espresso again and then cold water. After that, Yazhikazu had the judges tasted the water with added Amanatsu juice. This is to identify the acidity flavour of the bean used. He then asked the judges to take a sip of the cold water before putting the melted chocolate into their mouth and take another sip of the espresso. This way you can taste the acidity, bitterness and sweetness clearly. Katerini with hot water supplemented by Amanatsu juice, quickly cool down Katerini and supplemented by chocolate. It proves that Katerini consists of Amanatsu and chocolate flavours.

4^th contestant: JH Yee (Malaysia)

Beans used: 80% Fazenda Coffee from the mountain of Chapada Diamantina; 20% fully washed Ruwanda coffee from Musasa Corporation.

Espresso: Acidic character and velvety body

Signature drink:  To start, Yee introduced the ingredients he was using in his preparation and asked the judges to try them individually: passion fruit juice to bring out the experience of acidity and palm sugar that was produced in Kelatan. He then asked the judges to drink some water to clean the palate before moving on. After that, he showcased the reduction from both of the previous ingredients in a passion fruit rim and asked the judges to smell the aroma. He then had the judges poured the espresso he had prepared for them into their respective rims. Stirred it and took the first sip, a very bright acidity should take place. Swirl the liquid again and take the second sipThe coffee should now cut through the passion fruit juice and left with a hint of hardness.

5^th contestant: Aymon McQuade (New Zealand)

Beans used: 80% El Salvador Monte Sión and 20% Typica

Espresso: Fully washed, long, clean and crisp taste with buttery shortbread note, honey, fruit acidity and sweetness at the body

Signature drink: A combination of fruit, sugar and shortbread. Aymon first combined shortbread, sugar and butter mixture and used a vacuum contraption to extract the flavour from the mixture through a pipe. While letting that sit at the background doing the extraction, he boiled up the berries he had prepared. Once the berry juice reduction was made in a copper pot, he proceeded to pull the espressos and combined them with the extraction of the butter mixture. He then asked the judges to take a sip of the espresso, then combined it with the berry juice reduction. He explained that the blueberry note was at the front and lastly, the buttery shortbread notes came afterwards.

Champion - Aymon McQuade (New Zealand)

1st Runner Up - Doddy Samsura (Indonesia)

2nd Runner Up - JH Yee (Malaysia)