Top Gong

It’s Official: Canberra Is Home To Some Seriously Good Coffee.

The student has become the master.

ONA Coffee’s Hugh Kelly has succeeded his boss, Sasa Sestic, at the 2016 national championships. The win makes Canberra home to the country’s best barista for the second time in two years.

It’s been a successful awards season for the capital, with Fyshwick group Bean! Top Gong Roasters taking out the title of best roaster at the Australian International Coffee Awards.

Hugh’s win means Canberra has gone from never having a representative in the Australian Barista Championship finals to back-to-back titles.

The former commerce student has been a barista for about eight years and competing for around five.

He graduated two years ago but “by then coffee had a hold of me, and I wanted to do that [full-time],” he told Good Food.

“You have to really bring a lot to the table to be able to win it. You get to that stage you’re so prepared, that you’re not stressing on the day, you just go out and have fun.”

Hugh when to great lengths to prepare for the championship, even working with a coffee bean producer in Colombia to develop a competition-worthy blend.

Unusually, the former Cupping Room barista said Colombians used the robusta. While elements of the competition included taste and a barista’s technical ability, part of the challenge was conveying a message. For Hugh, this message was one of environmental consciousness and sustainability.

“With climate change and all the pressures on different areas of the industry, it’s having a really clear vision of what a coffee can be,” he said.

“And what you can do with a coffee all the way through the supply chain, and tying them together in a way that fits the experience.”

Hugh is now preparing for the World Barista Championship in Dublin, Ireland in June.