HUGH KELLY
2020 VITASOY BARISTA CHAMPION
Hugh Kelly of Ona Coffee is the 2020 Australian Vitasoy Barista Champion for the third time. Hugh won the title at the Australian Specialty Coffee Association (ASCA) 2020 Condesa Co Lab Coffee Championships from 11 to 13 March 2021 at Batman Royale in Melbourne, having previous claimed the 2016 and 2017 titles.
Anthony Douglas of Axil Coffee Roasters was runner-up and Lena Richrath of Five Senses Coffee placed third.
In his presentation, Hugh presented Coffea eugenioides to the judges, a different species of coffee to the more common Arabica and Robusta, which he described as having a Stevialike sweetness.
“I first tasted this coffee at the same farm [Inmacaluda in Colombia] that Sasa [Sestic, Ona Coffee Founder] used to win [the 2015 World Barista Championship]. It was a washed version and it tasted like corn tea, with practically no acidity,” Hugh tells BeanScene.
“I thought of it as a novelty, and it took me five years to realise I’d looked at this thing wrong the whole time.”
After several years of cupping different coffees, Hugh says he came to realise
