14 competitors, 3 judges and just enough spectators to fill the house made the Latte Art Throwdown at Orsonero Coffee a special evening, followed by community time and conversations over local beer and natural wine.

Before guest judges Manuela Fensore (2018 Italian Latte Art Champion ), Matteo Beluffi (2017 Italian Latte Art Champion , 6th place World Champion) and Giada Biondi from La Marzocco, the contestants made their pours on shots of Gardelli Specialty Coffees brewed on a Strada AV, leading to the victory of:

Davide Mazzaferro di “Italian Barista School” in Brescia

Alessandro Bresciani @alessandrobrescianii of Tostato in Brescia

Matteo Grieco. @matteogrieco of Noovle Italia

… respectively taking home a La Marzocco Wristwatch, bags of Gardelli‘s Gesha Village & Mzungu Project, cash … and a signature La Marzocco apron and cap – plus more goodies by the official Italian roaster-sponsor!

We have asked event organizer Alex Gable from Coffee District why he came to host his first competition in Milan, Italy in collaboration with Orsonero Coffee:

“There are many incredible cafes in the region, but an important consideration for us was to host it in a location accessible to baristas and friends from Torino, Brescia, and Bergamo. Besides getting to know Giulia, Brent, and Matthia of Orsonero Coffee as highly hospitable and down-to-earth, the reason why we decided to host the first Italian Coffee District event there is because I think that the cafe itself signifies a certain openness to changes and additions to Italian culinary institutions. There are clearly systematic hurdles like the 1-euro-espresso-rule, but the massive diversity of customers that their team is able to accommodate is astounding. It doesn’t matter where you’re from and what your certification level is. If you make people happy, you’re doing something right. They have a little something for everyone, and I believe that this serves as an important example for anyone working in the Italian specialty coffee industry. Competitions are already competitive enough as they are, adding it to the atmosphere can overdo it for a lot of people, and this open-minded cafe space defined exactly the creative and non-competitive energy we like to maintain at our events.”

We can’t but agree and extend our congratulations to all those who contributed to the fun, foamy Latte Art moments this past Friday!

*Courtesy pictures of Rhianna May – See more on Instagram | Website