The World Barista Championship received a mention by Reuters news service this morning in the article Copenhagen to crown a New World Barista Champion.

COPENHAGEN (Reuters Life!) – At Cafe Europa in the heart of the Danish capital of Copenhagen the baristas know how to make the world’s best cup of coffee.

Staff from the upmarket cafe in Copenhagen’s shopping district have brought home three of the Nordic country’s four titles at the World Barista Championships.

This weekend, Europa is preparing to try and win over judges and coffee lovers for a fourth time at the ninth annual championships, which are being held for the first time in the Danish capital.

“The reason why we’ve done so well is because we are very concerned with cleanliness and making our effort look spotless and cool,” Cafe Europa owner Jens Norgaard said, gesturing at the espresso machine in the cafe.

Danish baristas have won four out of eight world titles so far, with Norway winning twice, and Australian and British baristas taking the title once each.

This weekend, baristas will compete making four standard cups of espresso and cappuccino and create four individual concoctions, using espresso as a base.

The World Barista Championship will crown the 2008 Champion barista on Sunday. Baristas from 52 nations compete for three days to impress judges with great froth and perfect espressos.

The skill of the Denmark’s baristas have now taken them to Italy, a country known for its coffee-making expertise.

“They (the Italians) realized what a huge industry this milk in coffee is, and that just making espressos is no good,” Norgaard said.