Finalists for ABC 2008:
(in no particular order)

Australia - Mr. Scott Callaghan
Korea
Malaysia
New Zealand - Mr. Carl Sara
Taiwan

I got to the competition area late, so I didn't get to see the announcement for the finalists. My apologies for not getting the Korea and Malaysia barista's names.

I got to see Scott's performance and it was great. He was obviously one of the favorites, and competing at centre table show-cased his presentation skills immensely. He attempted 4 different milk art for his capps - heart, rosetta, double hearts and double rosetta. His table was crowded with photographers! I couldn't get a shot of any of his drinks. His signature beverage had elements of orange juice, star anise, reduced rose syrup, ginger and was meant to be an after-meal beverage, layered in flavor and complexity. i thought he quite cleverly bent the rules by combining the OJ and something else in the blender, without any ice though, and effectively made a "blended freestyle espresso-based beverage." I don't remember reading any rules that states it needs to be an ice-blended beverage...

More tomorow. Sorry I couldn't live-blog a la zacharyzachary style. It's my first industry event and I was busy checking the floor out.

Later..