New National Coordinator triumphs as Danish Barista Champion
18th March 2008
Not only did Søren Stiller Markussen and his colleagues at SCAE’s Danish chapter take on and brilliantly succeed at a new task in organising this year's barista championship in early March, but Søren also put the work in to become the country’s 2008 Barista Champion.
Søren Stiller Markussen, Denmark's 2008 Barista Champion
Pauline Sherwood reports that the competitors performed in an impressive theatre setting at the Messecenter Herning in Jutland, assessed by judges from Iceland, Norway, Germany, the UK and Denmark, and sponsored by many Danish coffee businesses. Fellow Dane and former World Barista Champion Claus Thomsen was the Master of Ceremonies, with former NC (and now SCAE Marketing and Events Officer) Jens Henrik Thomsen stage-managing the proceedings.
The winner’s circle was as follows:
- Søren Stiller Markussen, Growers Cup
- Mikkel Otto, Freelance
- Mikkel P Madsen, Sigfreds Kaffebar
Winner Søren Stiller Markussen, of the newly established coffee firm Grower’s Cup, has twice previously been runner-up at the Danish Championships in 2005 and 2006, plus regional champion in 2007. “When I came second in the World Latte Art Championship in 2007, I knew I had to work hard to win this year,” he said.
“I think it was very interesting to see even new baristas, and how much they already understand about coffee,” he added. “Three years ago, there were only a few baristas who had access to that knowledge. The coffee level and interest in good coffee seems to have found its way to a bigger group now”.
The most interesting part of the Championship for the new NC was that every barista had his own message and a story to tell. Mikkel Otto had milked his own milk from his favorite cow. Marianne Jonsdottir, from Sigfreds Coffeebar had a “cake-alike” signature drink, while Mikkel P Madsen, also from Sigfreds prepared an “earthy” signature drink.
Following the traditions of Nordic cuisine and the art of coffee, Søren chose to compose his signature drink from the traditional Danish rye bread soup, birch syrup, muscovado sugar, roasted coffee beans, ginger syrup and fresh cream, and of course his own espresso blend, which he himself calls “a matter of taste”. 
The Danish winners: Third place Mikkel P Madsen (left) and runner-up Mikkel Otto flank Søren Stiller Markussen
Søren is looking forward to representing his country and to competing against the most outstanding baristas in the world at the WBC in Copenhagen in June. At the same time, he is delighted that the theme of the event goes hand in hand with his own mission: to show consumers the joy of good coffee, so that they can be baristas in their own kitchens and raise the coffee level.
Søren started his coffee career at a café in Aalborg in 2003, and then came to Copenhagen, where he got a job as bartender at Café Europa, one of the capital city’s most prominent cafés. Since then, he has worked as a freelance barista coach and coffee consultant for Kontra Coffee and Café Dag H, and now as the SCAE’s Danish National Coordinator. He’s a man with a mission: to show the “ordinary” consumer the many aspects of brewing a good cup of coffee, and to undermine the barrier between the somewhat snobbish barista milieu and the coffee consumer.