As people are getting their costumes together for Halloween festivities, local baristas are armoring up to see whose latte art is the best in town.
Wyatt’s Coffee, located at 202 SE Second Ave, partnered up with its sister company, Resident Coffee Roasters, to host a latte art competition Oct. 21. Baristas throughout Florida will be putting their skills to the test in an effort to win hundreds in cash.
Gabriel Chavez, one of the owners of both Resident Coffee Roasters and Wyatt’s Coffee, said the competition, while niche, is not a new creation.
“Gainesville has seen a few of them, hosted at places like Volta and Karma Cream, and they've been really great community events,” he said.
With the Halloween season rolling around, Chavez took advantage of the timing to plan Wyatt’s Coffee’s first latte art throwdown competition.
Participants will have to steam their milk, pour it into a shot of espresso and create some form of latte foam art. The results will be presented to a panel of judges who will deliberate and pick the best art as their winner. Doors open around 6 p.m., and the first pour of the competition will be at 7 p.m.
The first-place winner will get a grand prize of $300 in cash. Other prizes will be available for contestants as well, ranging from merch to specialty coffee equipment provided by some of the competition’s sponsors and the two host companies.
The event will also include music from a DJ, alcoholic beverages, pretzels and a merch raffle.
“As much as it's going to be a throwdown and a competition, it's also a party as well,” Chavez said.
For Peyton Agliata, Wyatt’s Coffee bakery director, this event is truly one for the community.
“It’s an opportunity for the coffee community of Gainesville to compete and show off their latte art skills,” she said.
This coffee community isn’t exclusive to just the Gainesville area either. The event has already garnered the attention of baristas in the neighboring cities as well.
“We have signups already from baristas in Jacksonville and Orlando. In the Tampa area as well,” Chavez said.
Though it’s Wyatt's first year holding such an event, the hosting companies have every intention to continue these community-building events in the future, Chavez said.
“These are just really great community events that bring the coffee community together,” he said. “It's going to be really great seeing a lot of awesome talent come out and pour some really beautiful beverages.”
Agliata, who said that she’s going to be “slinging our selection of famed soft pretzels” throughout the event, is most excited to see these baristas’ latte art. Chavez, on the other hand, is especially thrilled about these very same pretzels that Agliata and the bakery are going to be working on throughout the night.
“We thought it'd be a great time to host one ourselves… and it's gonna be a really great time,” Chavez said.
Contact Luigi at lbencosme@alligator.org.
Luigi is a third-year media production, management, and technology major at UF and is currently one of the multimedia editors for the Alligator. Prior to his editor position, Luigi was a staff writer under the Avenue as well as the podcast producer for Rowdy Magazine. In his free time, he likes to read up and investigate the most obscure fun facts that would interest no one else.
