Licor 43 Bartender and Barista Challenge 2022
Yeferson Avila from the bar Cardinal and the restaurant Mar y Zielo in Colombia won the 2022 Licor 43 Bartenders & Baristas Challenge with their Armonía cocktail. The runners-up were Cristian Ponce from Mexico with his Alquimista 43, and Raimond Ummus from Estonia with Ruibarbo 43.
Winning recipes
Armonía cocktail by Yeferson Avila
23ml Licor 43, 7ml Amaro Montenegro, 30ml Espresso, 40ml pineapple extract and 2gr of toasted coconut.
Alquimista 43 cocktail by Cristian Ponce
30ml Licor 43, 30ml Espresso, 25ml Vermouth Rosso, 2 dashes Angostura Bitters and orange peel as a garnish.
Ruibarbo 43 cocktail by Raimond Ummus
40ml Licor 43, Espresso 12,5 ml, 10ml pineapple juice, 20 ml lime juice, 11 gr of rhubarb, 7gr of ginger and with a garnish of pineapple leaves and local flowers.
The 2022 competition
Designed to explore coffee cocktail creativity, every year, Licor 43 calls on cocktail and coffee professionals around the world to showcase their expertise and imagination in the art of pairing Licor 43 and coffee. This, the sixth edition of the competition, which returned to a live final format for the first time in three years, was once again held in Licor 43's home-from-home, Gran Canaria and welcomed regional finalists from nine markets around the world: USA, UK, Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Estonia, Germany, Mexico, and Spain.
Yeferson Avila won a bursary to put towards professional equipment and career development courses and will take their place on the judging panel next year.
The 2022 judging panel was led by International Barista Champion Merijn Gijsbers, who has worked with the competition since 2019. Joining him were American bartender Lynnette Marrero, the co-creator of the all-female speed bartending competition, 'Speed Rack', and Thalita Freire, the 2021 Bartenders & Baristas Challenge Champion from Brazil who won with her Tropicália cocktail.
Lynnette Marrero, Thalita Freire, Merijn Gijsbers
"It felt so very good to be back to our in-person final - and after months of live regional finals around the world, too," says Zamora Company Global Marketing & Innovation Director for Spirits Julian Fernandez. "Gran Canaria is home to the plantation we source coffee from for our Licor 43 Baristo expression so it's a natural home for us. This trip is always educational as well, and we make sure everyone is totally immersed in the world of Licor 43 and coffee so we can spark their coffee cocktail creativity. Enormous congratulations to Yeferson Avila - a thoroughly deserved winner.
Julian Fernandez, Zamora Company's Global Marketing & Innovation Director of Spirits
Licor 43 Original
Cuarenta Y Tres, the name of this yellow Spanish liqueur means forty-three, and happily, for us Anglo-Saxons, it also goes by the more pronounceable, Licor
Licor 43 Baristo
A blend of Licor 43 with Arabica Typica coffee from the Agaete Valley in the Canary Islands where local farmers grow coffee in rich volcanic soils at an
Licor 43 Horchata
Inspired by the traditional drink Horchata from the city of Valencia in Spain where it is made by blending tiger nut milk with sugar, cinnamon, and citrus.
