Costa Coffee: Sheffield barista named best in the UK

Evie Ranson, who works as a Barista Maestro at the Costa Coffee store in Rotherham, has been crowned Costa Coffee’s UK Barista of the Year 2022.

The 28-year-old, who lives in Sheffield, has been working for Costa for over eight years and impressed the judges with her flare, skill, and passion for coffee and creating beautiful, crafted drinks.

After seeing off competition from all over the UK and Ireland, Evie competed against 11 other finalists in two days of intense competition to take the coveted title of Barista of the Year 2022.

Scott Miles from Rainham in Kent was the runner up and third place was awarded to Laura O’Keefe from Cork in Ireland.

Evie said: “It has been an intense journey, but I’m absolutely overjoyed to be crowned Costa Coffee’s Barista of the Year for 2022.

"When you enter competitions like this you realise being a barista isn’t just a job, it can be a career too.

"The talent and standards have been high amongst the finalists, but I’m delighted the judges have chosen me as the best in the business!”

All finalists underwent numerous challenges on the day, focusing on technical barista skills that showcased not only their skill, ability, and passion but their ability to show consistency in the drinks produced whilst still retaining a premium quality.

This included creating 16 core drinks, identifying the character roast of coffee using sight, taste and smell and creating latte art.

Gennaro Pellicia, Costa Coffee’s master of coffee and head judge, said: “The Barista of the Year competition is an opportunity to see the best of the best in action.

"It’s a tough competition to judge as I’m always impressed by the levels of skill and passion that are shown by the finalists to create beautiful hand-crafted coffee to an exceptional standard.

"Evie is a well-deserved winner who showed calm and confidence throughout the competition. She really demonstrated the perfection, art and craft that goes into a premium tasting coffee and I can’t wait to see what she does in the future!”