IT’S OFFICIAL! Ground really do make the best coffee in the UK
At the recent UK Barista Championships held at The Hotelympia show in London two local Barista’s from Ground Espresso Bars competed for the coveted title of UK Barista Champion 2008 and for a chance to represent the UK at the World Final’s in Copenhagen in May.

Subi Tweed from Ground in Portush narrowly missed out on the title taking third place with only a few points between her and the winner. She is now a part of the UK Barista Team and will represent the UK at various events in the forth-coming year.

Although placed third in the Barista final Subi walked away with the prize for THE BEST CAPPUCCINO in the UK and THE BEST ESPRESSO in the UK. This was an incredible achievement considering the level of competition at the show. Over 120 Barista from all over the UK entered this years competition in a series of regional heats with the top 24 going forward to the semi finals in London last week. The top six at the semi finals then competed again on Thursday in the final.
A bitter pill for Subi to swallow was that she went into the final with the highest score and was nearly 40 points ahead of her nearest competitor but as the scores were reset for the final they all had to start from scratch again. Subi commented;

“I am so excited to have done so well I never thought we would be awarded the best cappuccino and best espresso, coming third in the competition was amazing and I still can’t quite believe it.'

Kerry McGaughey from Ground in Coleraine also got through to the London Finals after finishing Third in the Belfast heats. She invented a special coffee just for the competition, a blend of acai berries and manuka honey mixed with Ground espresso. Kerry was placed 12 in the final out of 24 competitors from across the UK and is delighted to have had the opportunity to compete in the competition. When asked about the experience she said,

“I loved the experience and could not believe the standard at the competition, what it has taught me and all of my staff for that matter is that there is a lot more to coffee than meets the eye. Ground is one of only a handful of coffee shops in Northern Ireland that have properly trained Barista’s and we take our coffee very seriously. We are already discussing how we can do better nest year, although having the best cappuccino and best espresso in the UK is going to be hard to beat.'


Ground have just announced this week that they are opening an exciting new store in Ballymoney and with the management team looking at other sites throughout the North Coast and N.Ireland the future is looking bright for one of our own home grown success stories.