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“Rocky-road” to national award nominee

Barista Kelsey Ashby, 24, who works for The Savvy Baker in Leeds, has been nominated for a national award. 

the Savvy Baker storefront, with an orange display window with the words "Born in Leeds and proudly independent". there the white store logo above the glass doors. Featured image: Erin Morrison | All Rights Reserved

29 October 2026

Erin Morrison

“Its still just shell-shocking, I can’t believe it.” 

Kelsey is one of four nominees from across the UK for La Marzocco’s Barista Hero! Of the year and represents England.  

When she first received the email telling her that she had been nominated, she thought it was a scam.  

A café counter with a stainless-steel coffee machine, coffee grinders, stacked takeaway cups and milk bottles. A barista prepares a drink behind the counter, with a tiled wall in the background.Source: Erin Morrison | All Rights Reserved

She said: “I just felt so overwhelmed… it’s nice to be recognized for what I do. 

“its just crazy I feel like sometimes I don’t realise the weight of the competition.”

She admitted that finding a career that suited her has been ” a bit of a rocky-road” but has been able to explore her creative side at the Savvy Baker through their innovative drinks. 

An orange Savvy Baker box containing four assorted brownies sits beside a takeaway coffee cup on a white-and-yellow tiled counter. The box lid features colourful, playful branding.Source: Erin Morrison | All Rights Reserved

Kelsey Ashby is a self-taught barista have had no prior experience before starting work at The Savvy Baker. She expressed that the difficult part was learning the coffee theory of how to extract the coffee correctly and texturize the milk. 

A storefront of The Savvy Baker in an indoor shopping arcade, with orange and pink dessert-themed window graphics, and three people walking past.Source: Erin Morrison | All Rights Reserved

The Savvy Baker is a company started by Savannah Roqaa during lockdown shipping brownies from her apartment kitchen, but now has 4 stores across Leeds, York and Chesterfield.  

A smiling staff member standing behind the counter at The Savvy Baker, with coffee equipment baking ingredients, with a white and yellow tiled wall behind her.Source: Erin Morrison | All Rights Reserved

Jess Robinson is a supervising manager at The Savvy Baker who said the Kelsey is: “an absolute dream, she’s so enthusiastic, she puts her heart and soul into everything.”