A coffee expert from Wrexham is full of beans after being named one of the top three in the UK.
Gareth Hopkins, 23, won the accolade at the coffee making championships in London.
He works as a Barista (that’s Italian for bartender) at Costa in the Odeon cinema complex at the Eagles Meadow shopping centre.
Gareth, who lives in Marchwiel, was competing at the prestigious Costa Roastery.
He was up against the best Baristas from the company’s franchises across the UK, including outlets at the Hilton hotels and Canary Wharf.
The former Yale College student impressed the judges with his Welsh coffee creation, Dragon’s Kiss, which has chocolate sauce at the bottom and is flavoured with rose syrup.
As a finishing touch, it is served in a Martini glass and has the pattern of a heart in the froth at the top.
Gareth said: “I’m ecstatic to be honest, I can’t believe that I actually came third, it’s a really big achievement.
“The competition was in two stages. We had to calibrate the grinder and make eight drinks in 30 minutes.
“After that we had to make a speciality drink for the four judges and mine was the Dragon’s Kiss. You have to make sure that everything is spot on.”
“I was really happy with it and more importantly so were the judges, they really liked it.”
Gareth went to school at Penley and then studied IT, business and mathematics at Yale College.
He started working in IT but after 12 months of looking at a computer screen he decided to move into retail.
“I thought there would always be plenty of variety and retail means you meet someone different all the time.
“I applied to the Odeon in general, not realising there was going to be a Costa included. On my second interview I was told I was going into Costa and I thought ‘well, that’s OK’ and now it’s the longest job I have had, two and a half years.
“I must admit I didn’t know much about coffee before, just that I liked drinking it,” said Gareth.
But he had a good grounding in the art of coffee making from his manager Phil Gallanders who won the Odeon heat in the same competition last year.
Set up by the Costa brothers in 1971, Costa has concessionary outlets in 17 Odeon cinema complexes throughout the country.
Costa take coffee very seriously – each barista is given a 400-page book on the company’s core standards!
According to Gareth, people are becoming more and more sophisticated in their taste.
He said: “eHHeH
The art of coffee making has developed tremendously in recent years and the choice of coffees is phenomenal – and it’s getting bigger all the time.
“The company has just released the new Costa light range for people who don’t like strong coffee, so there’s something for every taste.”
Kevin Critchley, the Manager of Eagles Meadow, is one of Gareth’s regular customers and believes his success at the Roastery was well-deserved.
He added: “Gareth is a very talented Barista and his Dragon’s Kiss coffee has shown that he is on fire at the moment!”
