Yorkshire barista prepares for world championships

Will Woodhouse-Banks is representing Yorkshire in the international competition

A coffee expert from Yorkshire is representing the UK at the World Barista Championships after winning a national competition.

Will Woodhouse-Banks from Harrogate is competing in Milan on 17 October, taking on more than 50 rivals in the hope of becoming World Barista Champion.

After previously contesting three UK championships, this is the first time Will has qualified for the international finals.

Will said: "I really enjoy the presentation routine that we've put together, and doing it for a new set of judges and trying to make them have a good time and serve them some delicious coffee.

"I am particularly proud to be repping Yorkshire where I live and where I work. I'm not from here originally, but this is definitely my home now."

Competitors have to present their coffees to judges and an audience

Will, who is originally from Wigan, moved to Yorkshire to work for Taylor's of Harrogate after a career in cafes and roasteries.

However, Will did not develop a taste for coffee until age 22.

"I think it was because I'd just not been drinking the right coffee and I had a friend who introduced me to light roast, specialty coffee, and suddenly it was like a different world.

"I did my first competition in 2018 and it was just kind of like something that I'd seen and thought was quite interesting.

"So I gave it a go and the second and third time I did it, I was like 'maybe I could win this, I would really like to win it'. So this year actually winning it felt really good."

Trust the coffee

The competition requires baristas to make four espressos, four milk-based drinks, and four unique signature beverages in a 15-minute performance, with a theme.

Will won the UK Championships with a drink flavoured with cascara - the fruit that surrounds a coffee bean.

"My theme is about trust and I was looking for things that tasted good, but things I could somehow work into this concept, so I took two double espressos in my competition coffee and I made a syrup from apricot jam and cascara.

"When you harvest coffee, a lot of the time that cherry either goes to waste or is pulped to use as fertiliser. Occasionally it's dried, and you can brew it kind of like a tea.

"I'd also got some coconut water and I put it all together, very cold, infused it with nitrogen to make it creamy and it tastes like mango ice cream, orange juice and toffee apple."

The coffee beans Will used in the competition come from a farm in Columbia that is popular with other baristas.

"It's produced by a doctor who now owns a coffee farm. So he applies a very sort of methodical, scientific approach to how he grows and produces coffee. And it's delicious."

"In the UK Championships this year, the top three, we all had coffee from the same small farm and two of us had the exact same coffee.

"So it just shows that's a really good coffee. But what it all comes down to is what you do with it and how you talk about it."

Four of the competition drinks are milk-based

With the international competition taking place in Milan - a city famous for its coffee culture - Will said there would be some tough competitors.

"It's quite far removed from that raditional espresso, but that being said, the Italian barista champion is somebody who's really good, has had a lot of success previously, so he's definitely someone to watch out for.

"And the Canadian barista champion is a guy I look up to. He's called Ben Put and he's won the Canadian championships seven times.

"So he's been to the world championship six times before and come close quite a few times. If he's ever going to do it, maybe this could be his year."

Despite travelling the world and tasting coffees from across the globe, for Will the best place for a coffee is still home.

"Everywhere you drink coffee is going to reflect the community that surrounds it.

"The actual cup of coffee you get served might not be so different in, let's say, Leeds to what you might get served in Paris, but it's the way it's served, what vessel it's served in, the environment you're in.

"Yorkshire is a good place for warm, cosy hospitality. That's what I enjoy when I go to cafes."

Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.