Tauranga's Excelso Coffee Roasters' barista Matt Ross has been crowned fifth in New Zealand at the Meadow Fresh New Zealand latte art championship.

Matt, along with 17 other baristas from all over New Zealand, travelled to Auckland to compete.

The first round allowed competitors a total of eight minutes stage time. They were asked to pour two matching sets of drink. Two matching free pour lattes and two matching designer pattern lattes.

Anna Jiang of Tauranga's Zone Café also went up to Auckland to compete but unfortunately didn't make it through to the final round.

'I had a great deal of fun, during the latte art competition. However, since this is officially my first time on stage, it has resulted in me for not being well prepared, therefore I wasn't selected to go forwards into the finals. No matter what, I've had great experiences,” says Anna.

Matt, however, made it through to the final round. During the final round competitors were allowed 10 minutes.

During this time they were asked to pour three matching sets. Two sets of matching free pour lattes and one set of matching designer pattern lattes.

Matt walked away from the competition, being able to call himself fifth in New Zealand for latte art.

'I am very proud of that, especially for my first time competing. It was so much fun competing with so many talented baristas from all over the country. It was an amazing experience connecting with like-minded people, and representing Tauranga on the New Zealand stage,” says Matt.

'There is a lot I still need to work on to improve, the judges gave me some amazing feedback to work on, the main thing is nerves, I was shaking a lot while pouring, so I think just competing more will help in that area.”

The winner of the competition was two time champion Leo Li of Atomic Coffee Roasters in Auckland. Leo will now represent New Zealand at the World Champion Latte Art in Brazil, later this year.