United Coffee barista to judge at inaugural World Brewers Cup

Lynsey Harley, the barista lead at http://www.jimseven.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">United Coffee,](http://www.unitedcoffeeuk.com/) was asked to join the judging panel for the inaugural [World Brewers Cup](http://www.worldbrewerscup.org/) less than a month after achieving the required qualification as a Licensed Q Grader.

Harley passed the gruelling three-day Q-Grader exam in May after completing 22 tests that included Olfactory (the scents associated with coffee), Triangulation (selecting the odd one out based on coffee origin) and cupping, to identify the coffee region.

- It is being held at the [2011 SCAE World of Coffee ](http://scae.com/scae-world-of-coffee-maastricht.html)event in Maastricht, the Netherlands, between 22 and 24 June.

Harley has already cut her judging teeth at the UK heats in London's Prufrock café earlier this month, which was won by [Square Mile Coffee Roasters' ](http://shop.squaremilecoffee.com/)James Hoffman - a former World Barista Champion - who praised the judges for their heroic sampling of 25 cups of coffee over a nine-hour period on his blog, [jimseven

First- round competitors at Maastricht will be asked to use the same coffee to create three brews in seven minutes which will be judged purely on taste. The six finalists will then brew a coffee of their own choice using their preferred brewing method which will be judged on both taste (70%) and presentation (30%).

"I'm absolutely passionate about great coffee and I'll be looking to ensure that the competitors have perfected their extraction techniques to create the best brew possible," said Harley.