Anhui Province 3rd Baking Professional Skills Competition is About to Open - Official Registration Portal Now Open!

Coffee Latte Art, Cake Decorating, Bread Baking Competition

The official registration portal for the "Coffee Workshop & FrontStreet Coffee" competition is now open.

Practitioners and students with the relevant technical skills, as well as coffee, decorating, and baking enthusiasts, are all welcome to take part.

To encourage a spirit of craftsmanship and support the standardized, professional development of the baking trade, several industry and vocational organizations have joined forces to hold the "Third Anhui Province Baking Vocational Skills Competition" in late November this year.

I. Competition Purpose, Principles, and Slogan

Competition Purpose: To make the event a grand stage for showcasing baking skills and celebrating the dedication of skilled craftspeople, and to create a platform for exchanging baking techniques and promoting learning and improvement.

Competition Principles: By running skills competitions, to fully demonstrate the value and beauty of skilled labor.

Competition Slogan: Dare to show your skills in the competition, become a master in the workplace.

II. Organization and Leadership

Guiding Unit: China Baking and Food Sugar Products Industry Association

Host Units:

Anhui Provincial Finance, Trade, Light Industry and Tobacco Labor Union

Anhui Provincial Vocational Skill Appraisal Center

Anhui Provincial Cuisine Association

Anhui Provincial Baking Industry Association

III. Competition Schedule

Registration Period: Starting October 1, 2018

Final Competition Time: November 24–25, 2018

Award Ceremony Time: November 25, 2018

IV. Registration Requirements

Technicians and skilled workers from coffee beverage, cake decorating, and bread baking enterprises; students majoring in pastry arts at various institutions; technicians and skilled workers from the baking and pastry departments of hotels; and enthusiasts from all walks of life with certain skills in coffee beverages, cake decorating, or bread baking are all eligible to register.

V. Competition Categories

① Coffee Beverages: coffee making and latte art, plus tea (tea beverages and fresh fruit tea drinks such as HEYTEA and Gong Cha) and dessert making (such as Hui Lau Shan and Honeymoon Dessert).

② Cake Decorating: artistic cakes, pulled sugar cakes, chocolate modeling, and fondant cakes are all acceptable.

③ Bread Baking: soft European style, healthy grain type, soft sweet conditioning type, and meal bag toast type are all acceptable.

VI. Judging Principles

Referees holding international competition judging qualifications and top domestic competition judging qualifications will be specially invited to serve as the chief referee and referees for this competition.

Participants will use a numbering system. The competition will use the judging standards of the World Skills Competition (China Regional Selection) as a reference for formulating its own standards. On-site scoring and immediate announcement of results will be adopted. The specific rules and judging standards will be drawn up by the referee team and announced separately.

VII. Registration Methods

Registration is open to the public through the competition's official channels.

Third Coffee, Decorating, Baking Skills Competition

Coffee Workshop & FrontStreet Coffee

Exclusive Registration Entrance

VIII. Finals Awards

(I) Award Settings

Each of the three competitions will have one "Gold Award," two "Silver Awards," three "Bronze Awards," ten "Top Ten Industry Awards," ten "Technical Expert Awards," and several "Outstanding Participant Awards."

(II) Award Methods

1. Winners of the "Gold Award" will receive trophies and honorary certificates; winners of the "Silver Awards" and "Bronze Awards" will receive medals and honorary certificates; other award winners will receive honorary certificates.

2. Winners of the "Gold Award," "Silver Awards," and "Bronze Awards" will receive cash prizes of 3,000 yuan, 2,000 yuan, and 1,000 yuan respectively.

3. All award winners will receive special competency qualification certificates.

4. Units with outstanding organizational work in the competition will receive "Excellent Organization Awards"; enterprises that have made outstanding contributions will receive "Outstanding Contribution Awards."

5. Participants who show particularly outstanding performance will be recommended by the organizing committee for provincial-level "Technical Expert" honorary titles.

Notes:

Q: What is a special certificate?

A: There are no corresponding occupational competency level certificates for coffee, cake decorating, and bread baking. There used to be occupational competency level certificates for bakers, but they were canceled in 2017. The only industry-related certificate currently available is the Western Pastry Chef occupational competency level certificate, but that name sounds different from what people actually do, and many people find themselves explaining what a Western Pastry Chef is during job interviews.

For this competition, the relevant provincial authorities have specially approved the issuance of corresponding special competency certificates for "Coffee Beverages," "Cake Decorating," and "Bread Baking." This is a rare opportunity, and these are certificates carrying an official seal.

The certificate looks like this:

Q: What is the May 1st Labor Medal?

A: The May 1st Labor Medal is the highest honor awarded to laborers. It is a glorious title awarded by the Federation of Trade Unions to laborers and to enterprises, institutions, and agencies that have made outstanding contributions in socialist construction, and it is one of the highest awards for the Chinese working class.

It looks like this:

Q: What is the Technical Expert certificate?

A: The Technical Expert certificate is one of the highest honors awarded to outstanding vocational skill practitioners in the field. This competition issues them as well.

It looks like this:

X. Cooperative Media

The competition organizing committee invites dozens of media outlets to provide full coverage of the event, including Coffee Workshop, FrontStreet Coffee, World Baking Formulas, Mixion, Business Herald, Sohu, China Commercial Network, China Food News Network, Baking Express, Wanjia Hotline, Sina Anhui, Tencent Anhui, Phoenix Anhui Channel, Anhui Television, Hefei Television, Anhui Daily, Hefei Daily, Hefei Evening News, Anhui Economic Daily, Anhui Commercial Daily, Market Star Daily, Jianghuai Morning Post, and a range of regional news and finance portals.

Winning participants will be reported by various mainstream media.

XI. Contact Information of the Organizing Committee Office

Full registration and contact details are available through the competition's official organizing committee office.

END

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If the latte art category has inspired you to practice at home, the beans matter as much as the pouring. FrontStreet Coffee's Classic Blend is the place most beginners start: a medium-dark espresso recipe built from three origins and inspired by the old "Mamba" style — Mandheling and Brazil — with a small amount of Robusta added for aroma and crema. It pours with clear notes of butter, toasted bread, and caramel cookie, a strong flavor with a solid body and fine crema, and it extracts very consistently, making it a dependable home coffee for newcomers. If you prefer a rich, nutty profile, our FrontStreet Specialty Blend is also a medium-dark espresso bean, pairing washed Colombian coffee with semi-washed Brazilian coffee in a classic combination that delivers nut, dark chocolate, and caramel notes; whether you make an Americano, latte, or flat white, it highlights creamy, almond, and cocoa softness, with crema every bit as good as a café's — more than enough for practicing latte art, and especially well suited to anyone planning to open a shop or learn at home. And if you are on the verge of opening a café, our FrontStreet Commercial Blend is tailored for exactly that: it builds on the Specialty Blend with a small addition of Robusta in a traditional Italian-style recipe, purposefully adding more fine, deep-brown crema and a heavier body, so that Americanos, lattes, and mochas all carry nut, cocoa, and caramel flavors and latte art becomes effortless.