SCA 2024 UK Latte Championships

GCF 2024 welcomed the Specialty Coffee Association to Glasgow once more. This time it was to host the first Latte Art Championship heat in Scotland ever! We were delighted to welcome the SCA UK events team and of course our local community of competing latte artists to the festival!

Commenting on this year’s competition, SCA UK National Coordinator Alexx McKendry said:

“We couldn’t be more excited to bring the second heat for this year’s Latte Art Championship to the Glasgow Coffee Festival. Within the speciality coffee community, Glasgow Coffee Festival has always had a reputation for being one of the country’s most dynamic and exciting coffee events, run by a passionate group of coffee people who always have the interests of the coffee community at the heart of what they do”

Glasgow Coffee Festival and Dear Green, the driving force behind the festival, have been committed to ensuring that Scotland is well represented in the UK competition scene, having previously secured the UK Barista Championship, UK Cup Tasters Championships, and the UK Brewers Cup Final. GCF even launched the UK Roasting Championship! Hosting one of the UK Latte Art heats marks an exciting time for Scottish specialty coffee with the hope that this will be the beginning of Scottish heats for all UK-wide coffee competitions.

Local baristas Kangni Dai, Orla Cameron & Ross O’Brien all scored highly in the Glasgow heat which took place on the 11th of May in the stunningly beautiful Briggait. They went on to compete at the semi-finals & final in London with Kangni earning a 3rd place finish overall, behind Ernie Jr Fernandez in second & the Champion Haruka Nango.  

Haruka was crowned the 2024 Speciality Coffee Association UK Latte Art Champion after an exciting final took place in London last week. With the competition’s expansion of the heats, the 2024 Championship was the largest ever, with competitors battling it out to be crowned the best latte artist in the country. The final was a culmination of four thrilling days of competition across two heats, one in Victoria Arduino’s office in London and the other, as mentioned, taking place in Scotland for the first time ever during the Glasgow Coffee Festival.

Haruka will now go on to represent the UK at the World Championships taking place in Copenhagen on the 27th - 29th June 2024. We want to congratulate all the finalists on their amazing work and wish Haruka the best of luck for the World Championships at the end of the month!