Barista Mark Lamberton prepares his coffee for the judges. Photo: George Drake Jr

The 2nd London Coffee Festival (LCF) was held at the the iconic Old Truman Brewery on Brick Lane over the weekend, April 27-29.

The three day festival saw 12,000 coffee lovers and foodies come together for a celebration of dynamic, new and exciting coffee and food culture.

The LCF gave the public the chance to meet professional baristas, coffee shop owners and industry experts; as well as a number of musicians and artist.

Coffee industry personnel were given the opportunity to demonstrate their latest roasted coffee beans from all over the world, as well as the latest coffee machines and gadgets.

The LCF also hosted The UK Barista Championships, which saw 20 of the country’s best coffee shop baristas pitted against each other in a battle to secure the top prize and a place at the World Barista Championships.

Winner's Trophies for 2012 Uk Barista championships. Photo: George Drake Jr

In the first round, 20 competitors pitted their coffee making skills against each other. After 15 minutes to prepare their equipment, the baristas had 15 minutes to make four espressos, four cappuccinos and four signature drinks of their own creation. All  faced a panel of sensory and technical judges, to whom they explained how and why they chose their ingredients and the flavours and tastes that the judges would be experiencing. Marc Pierre Dietrich was the head judge for the competition.

On Friday (April 27 2012) 20 of the contestants competed against each other, and out of them six were chosen to go through to the final on Saturday. Mark Lamberton, was one of the six finalists. George Drake Jr spoke to him about coming fourth in his final round.

The London Coffee Festival was also supporting Project Waterfall, a clean water initiative currently providing for communities in Tanzania Mbulu District, and 50% of all ticket sales went to support this project.

You can listen to East London Lines full report from the London Coffee Festival here: