Top coffee maker Gareth Southern, who works at Costa coffee in the Grand Arcade, has been named the best "barista" in the North West.

The 20-year-old, from Springfield, will now represent the region in a national championship in Leeds on September 9.

Gareth, a computer networking undergraduate, said: "I was really pleased to win but I was surprised because there was some very stiff competition. Some of the people I knew there were really excellent brew masters, they were really fantastic."

He beat around 13 other baristas from across the region at a competition in Preston after his brewing skills, knowledge of the coffee-making process and even his personality, were judged.
Gareth developed a love of coffee while working for the Cookies cafe chain.

He jumped at the chance to learn the more technical aspects of the brewing process with Costa and has worked at the Wigan store since it opened 18 months ago.

Although the computer student is enjoying his course, he says his real passion in life is coffee and he would love to be involved in the business even after graduation.

He added: "The thing about making coffee is the more you learn about it the more you love it and the more you want to learn."
Gareth, whose favourite coffee is an espresso, has three top-tips for making a great cuppa:

Freshness – "Good quality ingredients are essential and the beans should be freshly ground."
Tamping – "It's important to do a really good, hard tamp of the coffee grounds before they go in the machine."
Cleanliness – "You need to keep the preparation area very clean."

"Other than that," adds Gareth, "it's all down to the equipment and the better that is the better the coffee".
If Gareth is successful at the national championship in Leeds, he could go on to the international competition where he would take on the top baristas from Costa coffee outlets across the world.