Dan Fellows of Origin Coffee Is Your 2016 UK Barista Champion!

Over the weekend, twelve incredible baristas performed in the 2016 UKBC Semi-Finals at the London Coffee Festival. Today, the top six competed in an emotional and intense final round, and in the end? Only one could be crowned champion, handed the coveted oversized tamper trophy, and sent off to compete on the world stage in Dublin, Ireland. And that person was Dan Fellows of Origin Coffee.

Dan Fellows of Origin Coffee performed a truly fantastical fifteen minutes of barista craftitude, pulling the clean sweep by winning Best Espresso, Best Milk Beverage, and Best Signature before being crowned the inevitable champ.

Here are the top three from today’s event:

1. Dan Fellows – Origin Coffee
2. Dale Harris – Has Bean
3. Claire Wallace – Brew Lab

As we live-blogged, live-tweeted, Facebooked, and even Instagrammed this terrific program, we wondered to ourselves “who will it be?” During the finals, everyone performed with flawless grace and impeccable wonderment, with nary an overtime, spill, re-pull, drop, or slip-on-a-banana-peel-whoopsy-holding-their-tray-of-signature-drink-components in the bunch. The champion? Well, it could have been anyone of these finalists. 

But in the world of barista competitions, it really comes down to those crucial half-points what with those smallest of demitasse dripperies docked by the eagle eyes of the tech judges, or a flavor descriptor of apricot when it really should have been braised and caramelized pineapple notated by the sensory judges.

This was a tight race, and while Dan Fellows took home the prize and will be competing on the world stage in June, we wish everyone could’ve taken home the novelty sized tamper trophy. These finalists gave it their all, and it was truly a gift to witness. Well done, UKBC!

Our coverage is made possible by direct support from Urnex Brands and Kitchenaid.