Jenny Silva and her story

Jenny Is Back From Melbourne.
You will remember her as the runner up in Mackay Coffee Idol 2011
Here is her report, and what a great story it is.

“It sounded Crazy …”

“Compete in a Barista Competition” – this was on my 2011 To Do List. This was definitely something foreign and out of my comfort zone. And, I thought living in Moranbah I was safe from actually doing it.

Then one day Norelle showed my an article in the paper advertising the Mackay Barista Competition. I wanted to follow through. It was an exciting challenge for me.

And, I met some cool guys from Mackay. I remember Steve from Gloria Jeans saying “can you do the latte art like Tim Adams – his 10 leaf tulips are incredible”. I thought to myself “not yet– but that’s what I’ll aim towards”. I vigorously practiced my basics, being my tulips and Rosettas. The Mackay Competition helped me to increase my speed, latte art and confidence. I competed and placed second. I loved the Mackay comp – because I had the encouragement of my closest family and friends.

I continued to practice and posted some art on my La Crema Facebook Group. This was how I got invited to the Pura Milk Latte Art Comp in Melbourne. This was another opportunity and challenge for me. The idea of competing in Melbourne was crazy to me. But I created a new goal and that was – “to compete and do my best so that I would have a goal to beat next year”. I blurted to my staff that I was going to compete in Melbourne – this meant that I had to follow through. I knew I wouldn’t be fully ready but I felt if I didn’t compete I would regret it.

The beauty about competing is the drive to push yourself, develop our skills and improve our craft. It was another learning opportunity for me. For my Melbourne Comp it was a race try new creations such as triple Rosettas, swans, dragons, hanging tulips and hanging rosettas – anything! This comp really pushed me to be creative.

Other thoughts included what to wear, the concept, my routine, my equipment, the beans. But, definitely the biggest challenge was balancing my workload – I work generous hours in my café and sometimes practicing was not always fun. Sometimes giving up seemed like a better idea – but it was never not an option.

I tried to remember my lessons from my Mackay Competition so that I wouldn’t lose points repeating mistakes. They were silly things like remember to stay within the time limit, wipe your steam nozzle, improve the signature drink, don’t stop and start again, remember to call time, remember to talk to the judges.

At Melbourne - Yes, I was pretty nervous. Then Tamra sent me text - “wow them with your skill and smile”.

It was showtime! I told my nerves to ‘please go away’. I decided to have fun and be myself. I pretended the judges were people I knew. It was crazy. I winged my act and used humor, cheek and a casual concept to perform my show. I did my best – but this time did not come a place.

My lessons from my Melbourne comp include; stay within the time limit, don’t panic and rush you’re extraction, don’t rush your latte art, remember to think about what you’re doing, remember the name of your beverage, don’t hesitate, be fast but be calm. Obviously silly and simple lessons.

I’m happy that I put myself out there, took some risks and cured some stage phobia.

It’s exciting to be part of this small, competitive and fast evolving industry that is experiencing great growth. The best part of it all is just having an adventure – and making fun.

“It sounded crazy … so I did it!”

Jenny xoxo