About us
Xavi Iglesias, world barista judge
Founder of Degusto Arte and Core Coffee. The technical authority behind every coffee we serve at your event.
Degusto Arte was born to bring specialty coffee to places where industrial coffee was still being served. Today we are a coffee and barista operator for events, led by Xavi Iglesias: more than 25 years dedicated to hospitality and specialty coffee.
His career has taken him to work with the most demanding brands — Google, Amazon, Mobile World Congress, Dell, Gartner — and to serve coffee at more than 500 events: international trade shows, corporate kickoffs, 5-star hotels and weddings.
Besides running Degusto Arte, Xavi is the founder of Core Coffee, our artisan roastery in Barcelona, and personally trains the team's baristas at our school. The standard he applies as a judge is the same one he demands at every service.
Why trust Degusto Arte
World barista judge
Xavi judges baristas in competition against international technical criteria. That same standard defines how every coffee is prepared and served at our events.
Our own roastery: Core Coffee
We roast our own specialty coffee in Barcelona, with single origins from Colombia, Ethiopia and Brazil. Full control of flavour and freshness.
Operations hub in Barcelona
Our own professional equipment — machines, grinders, portable stations — lets us serve from 50 to over 1,000 people without compromising quality.
Barista school
Every barista on the team trains at our school under Xavi's direction, and serves in English, Spanish and Catalan.
What does a barista judge do?
In a barista competition, the judge evaluates against strict criteria: espresso extraction, milk texture, cleanliness of technique, consistency between cups and the complete experience received by the person sitting in front of the bar.
Applied to an event, that standard translates into something very concrete: consistent coffees from the first to the five-hundredth of the day, baristas who own their station, and an experience your guests notice — even if they cannot say exactly why.
“Coffee is the excuse — the experience is what matters.”