It was almost 2 months ago, since the finals of the UK Barista Championship 2022, where I managed to reach the 8th place and oh boy, what a journey it has been! It took me a while to write this post as I had put probably everything I could in this competition but I didn’t manage to achieve the results I wanted. It’s been an amazing journey where I learnt not only how to make better coffee, perform better on stage, work directly with a producer, but also how to work with a larger team, manage my own and other people’s expectations and mainly how to receive feedback. I’m very proud of what was delivered on stage and in the performance, despite all the unexpected obstacles that occured, but what I mostly struggled with, was the feeling that the result didn’t give justice to the hard work and the trust that the team put in me, the tremendous work of the producer and his amazing coffee. A big thank you to the whole team @watchhouse for the endless support, @doyouevenbrew @matteofromtheswamps @barista.kel for coaching and guidance, @pochogallardo for his exceptional coffee (apologies Jose if the result wasn’t the best) and family and friends for giving me the space and courage to train and compete. TIme to reflect, take a step back, focus on making better coffee and come back stronger! Time! 🙋 📸 @mshyrbi #UKBC #Barista_Competitions #Coffee #Specialty_coffee #Coffee_Competition #Barista_life #Barista #Passion #Espresso.