best performing n - World Coffee Events

YEAR IN
REVIEW
2015
INTERVIEWS WITH
CHAMPIONS & COMPLETE
COMPETITION RANKINGS
—
HIGHLIGHTS FROM
SEATTLE & GOTHENBURG
—
BEST PERFORMING
NATION: AUSTRALIA
SPONSORED BY
CONTENTS
FROM THE CHAIR, MIKE YUNG
An incredible year
—
INCREDIBLE COMPETITORS
Pete Licata reflects on the 2016 World Barista
Championship
—
CALEB’S PRIDE
05
10
16
Raising the standard of latte art
—
THE UNDERDOG WINS IT ALL
21
Q&A with George Koustompardis
—
FIVE YEARS OF WORLD BREWERS CUP
25
Hand-brewed coffee made to perfection
—
A TROPHY OF INFLUENCE
Inspiring great roasting worldwide
—
AN INTERVIEW WITH JUAN GABRIEL CESPEDES
29
33
World Cup Tasters Championship Q&A
—
BEST PERFORMING NATION
Australia
—
RE:CO RECAP
37
38
WCE’s new, paradigm-busting event
—
READY, SET, RE:VERB
Focusing on stories of challenge and success
—
A YEAR OF ALLSTARS
Featuring the world’s best baristas
—
COFFEE FILM FESTIVAL FUN
Driven by coffee, community, and creativity
—
SEASONED VOLUNTEERS
40
42
44
47
A Q&A with Steven Hall and Talya Strader
—
MEET THE WCE
Advisory board and staff
48
HISTORY OF CHAMPIONS
2015 APRIL SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, USA
World Barista Champion Sasa Sestic, Australia
2015 FEBRUARY ATHENS, GREECE
World Cezve/Ibrik Champion Davide Berti, Italy
2014 MAY MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
World Latte Art Champion Christian Ullrich, Germany
World Coffee in Good Spirits Champion Matthew Perger, Australia
World Cup Tasters Champion Pang-Yu Liu, Taiwan
World Brewers Cup Champion Stefanos Domatiotis, Greece
World Coffee Roasting Champion Yu-Chuan Jacky, Taiwan
2013 MAY MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
World Barista Champion Pete Licata, USA
World Brewers Cup Champion Erin McCarthy, USA
2012 JUNE VIENNA, AUSTRIA
World Barista Champion Raul Rodas, Guatemala
World Brewers Cup Champion Matt Perger, Australia
World Cup Tasters Champion Cory Andreen, Germany
Ibrik/Cezve Champion Zoltan Kis, Hungary
2011 JUNE BOGOTA, COLOMBIA
World Barista Champion Alejandro Mendez, El Salvador
2010 JUNE LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
World Barista Champion Michael Phillips, USA
World Latte Art Champion Haruna Murayama, Japan
World Coffee in Good Spirits Champion Jeroen de Corte, Belgium
World Cup Tasters Champion Hector Gonzalez, Guatemala
Ibrik/Cezve Champion Aysin Aydogdu, United Kingdom
2009 APRIL ATLANTA, GEORGIA, USA
World Barista Champion Gwilym Davies, United Kingdom
2007 JUNE TOKYO, JAPAN
World Barista Champion James Hoffmann, United Kingdom
2006 JUNE BERNE, SWITZERLAND
World Barista Champion Klaus Thomsen, Denmark
World Latte Art Champion Scott Callaghan, Australia
World Coffee in Good Spirits Champion Anna Serova, Russia
World Cup Tasters Champion Gloria Pedroza, Switzerland
2005 MARCH ATHENS, GREECE
World Latte Art Champion Johann Carlstrom, Sweden
World Coffee iaood Spirits Champion Demitri Kostifacos, Greece
World Cup Tasters Champion Tim Wendelboe, Norway
2004 FEBRUARY RIMINI, ITALY
World Cup Tasters Champion Fabiana Pozar, Italy
2002 JUNE OSLO, NORWAY
World Barista Champion Fritz Storm, Denmark
2000 JUNE MONTE CARLO, MONACO
World Barista Champion Robert Thoresen, Norway
2015 JUNE GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN
World Latte Art Champion Champion Caleb Cha, Australia
World Coffee in Good Spirits Champion George Koustoumpardis, Greece
World Cup Tasters Champion Juan Gabriel Cespedes, Costa Rica
World Coffee Roasting Champion Audun Sørbotten, Norway
World Brewers Cup Champion Odd-Steinar Tollefsen, Norway
2014 JUNE RIMINI, ITALY
World Barista Champion Hidenori Izaki, Japan
World Cezve/Ibrik Champion Stavros Lamprinidis, Greece
2013 JUNE NICE, FRANCE
World Latte Art Champion Hisako Yoshikawa, Japan
World Coffee in Good Spirits Champion Victor DelPierre, France
World Cup Tasters Champion Lajos Horvath, Hungary
World Coffee Roasting Champion Naoki Goto, Japan
2012 NOVEMBER SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA
World Latte Art Champion Victoria Kashirtseva, Russia
World Coffee in Good Spirits Champion Akos Orosz, Hungary
2011 JUNE MAASTRICHT, NETHERLANDS
World Latte Art Champion Chris Loukakis, Greece
World Coffee in Good Spirits Champion Philip Leytes, Russia
World Cup Tasters Champion Kyriakos Ouzounidi, Greece
Ibrik/Cezve Champion Bae Jin-Seol, Korea
World Brewers Cup Champion Keith O’ Sullivan, Ireland
2009 JUNE COLOGNE, GERMANY
World Latte Art Champion Peter Hernou, Belgium
World Coffee in Good Spirits Champion Marta Piigli, Estonia
World Cup Tasters Champion Valentina Kazachkova, Russia
Ibrik/Cezve Champion Christine Koumpouni, Greece
2008 JUNE COPENHAGEN, DENMARK
World Barista Champion Stephen Morrissey, Ireland
World Latte Art Champion Con Haralambopoulos, Australia
World Coffee in Good Spirits Champion Tasos Delichristos, Greece
World Cup Tasters Champion Casper Engel Rasmussen, Denmark
Ibrik/Cezve Champion Gleb Nevejki & Nadezhda Motylkova, Russia
2007 MAY ANTWERP, BELGIUM
World Latte Art Champion Jack Hanna, Australia
World Coffee in Good Spirits Champion Helger Aava, Estonia
World Cup Tasters Champion Annette Moldvaer, United Kingdom
2005 APRIL SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, USA
World Barista Champion Troels Overdal Poulsen, Denmark
2004 JUNE TRIESTE, ITALY
World Barista Champion Tim Wendelboe, Norway
2003 APRIL BOSTON, USA
World Barista Championship Paul Bassett, Australia
2001 APRIL MIAMI, FLORIDA, USA
World Barista Championship Martin Hildebrandt, Denmark
LETTER FROM THE
CHAIR: MIKE YUNG
—
Mike Yung
WCE CHAIR
5
“THANK YOU FOR MAKING
2015 AN INCREDIBLE
YEAR FOR WORLD COFFEE
EVENTS.”
WORLD.
Seattle, Los Angeles, Kortrijk, Taipei, Singapore,
Tolentino, Gothenburg, Montréal, Beijing, Santa
Ana, Vancouver, Shanghai, Jakarta, Dublin, Saint
Petersburg, Milan, Athens, Bogotá, Auckland, Seoul,
and Guangzhou all hosted World Coffee Events at
some point in 2015. When you add in the sanctioned
national body events held in 59 countries, that’s a
pretty sizeable imprint on the globe made in just one
year.
I would like to offer our deep gratitude and
appreciation to all of our hosting partners, national
body licensees, and sponsor companies world-wide
for continually and selflessly supporting our events,
allowing us to continue offering a platform for
engaging a truly global coffee community. Without
you, we would not be able to spread our reach so far.
COFFEE.
On behalf of WCE, I applaud the 172 national
coffee champions who walked onto world stages
set in Seattle or Gothenburg and represented
their coffees with unbridled passion, enthusiasm,
innovation, and excellence.
Well-deserved
congratulations go to Audun Sørbotten of Norway,
George Koustoumpardis of Greece, Odd-steinar
Tøllefsen of Norway, Caleb Cha of Australia,
Juan Gabriel Cespedes of Costa Rica, and Sasa
Sestic of Australia for winning the World Coffee
Roasting Championship, the World Coffee in Good
Spirits Championship, the World Brewers Cup
Championship, the World Latte Art Championship,
the World Cup Tasters Championship, and the
World Barista Championship respectively. We look
forward to the impact that you will all continue to
make across our industry. Thank you to all our
volunteers and judges who travel around the
world to our competitions for your continuous and
incredible support.
EVENTS.
2015 marked the first year for three very special
and unique non-competition events, which are the
result of many years of hard work and planning:
Re:co, Regarding Coffee – The Specialty Coffee
Symposium. Inaugurated at the SCAE World of
Coffee in Gothenburg, Sweden, Re:co was met with
great success and a follow-up event was held late
in the year in Auckland, New Zealand. Re:co shines
as a platform that enables coffee innovation and
expertise to be shared and celebrated among the
top leaders of our industry. This year, 25 speakers
shared their experiences with 179 attendees over
the course of the two events.
Reverb – held in Belo Horizonte, Brazil; Seoul, South
Korea; and Guangzhou, China – made its debut as
a very accessible, informal, and educational way to
hold a single-day gathering of the coffee community,
focusing on speaker stories.
Finally, World Coffee Events also premiered its first
one-day Coffee Film Festival in Santa Ana, USA
and Vancouver, Canada, showing industry-relevant
short and feature films.
Besides these three new features, we have also
begun holding our World Competitions Educational
Program, which is designed to take anyone who
has an interest in our competitions through a range
of modules, which demystify what it takes to be
successful (either as a competitor or as a judge)
at the WBC, WLAC, etc.. This WCEP took us to
Tolentino, Italy; Montréal, Canada; Saint Petersburg,
Russia; Milan, Italy; Jakarta, Indonesia; and Athens,
Greece. World-level judge certifications were also
held in Seattle and Los Angeles, USA; Kortrijk,
Belgium; Singapore; Taipei, Taiwan; Dublin, Ireland;
Jakarta, Indonesia; and Shanghai, China.
“WITH THE HELP OF ALL OF
OUR STAKEHOLDERS, WE
WERE ABLE TO REACH AND
EXCEED OUR TARGETS FOR
SUCCESS.”
We also held our popular WCE All-Stars
programming in Bogotá, Colombia, Seoul, South
Korea, and Guangzhou, China, with a very special
women-themed event in Colombia in collaboration
with the International Women’s Coffee Alliance.
2015 was an audacious and challenging year
of investing into new products while innovating
and refining existing ones. With the help of all
of our stakeholders, we were able to reach and
exceed our targets for success. None of these
accomplishments could have been possible without
the full support of our two parent organizations,
the SCAE and the SCAA, as well as guidance and
leadership from the World Coffee Events Advisory
Board. But the greatest accolades go to the true
workforce, our dedicated volunteer committee
members and most importantly our hardworking
staff: Cindy, Laura, Jamie, Amy, Irene, Rouki, Shelby,
Irene, Irene (again), Nathan, Jenn, Amanda, Sabine,
Kyonghee, Matt, Connor, Jillian, and Veronica.
Thank you for an amazing and memorable 2015; we
look forward to seeing you soon in 2016.
Very Best Regards,
Michael Yung
World Coffee Events
2015 Chair
SEATTLE
2015
WORLD
BARISTA
CHAMPIONSHIP
SCAA EVENT
APRIL 9-12, 2015
Seattle Skyline view from Queen Anne Hill.
Photo by Daniel Schwen. 17 February 2010
INCREDIBLE
COMPETITORS
2015 WORLD BARISTA CHAMPION SASA SESTIC.
PHOTO BY KATE BEARD.
WORLD
BARISTA
CHAMPIONSHIP
BY PETE LICATA
2013 WORLD BARISTA CHAMPION
2015 WBC TOP SIX. PHOTO BY KATE BEARD.
“THE SEATTLE CONVENTION CENTER IS
BUZZING WITH EXCITEMENT. IT IS THE 2015
WORLD BARISTA CHAMPIONSHIP, SIX FINALISTS
ARE PUTTING ON QUITE A SHOW, AND I AM
ON A LIVE ONLINE FEED WITH THREE OTHER
WORLD BARISTA CHAMPIONS DISCUSSING THE
COMPETITORS’ PRESENTATIONS.”
conversation. He waxed poetically about customer
service and even the competition format itself as
way to discuss how we experience flavor and service.
By “breaking the 4th wall” he was able to make a
competition that can be sometimes awkward into
a comfortable and welcoming presentation for the
judges.
This moment became surreal for me when I
realized that I was witnessing the exact event that
first propelled my career into the depths of the
coffee industry, ten years prior. After all of this
time the WBC has grown massively, with baristaoperated cafe and brew bars, stadium seating, local
media coverage, and a greater focus on specialty
coffee excellence than ever. So for me it was poetic
to witness this 10th anniversary of my first barista
competition in the exact same room.
Chan Kwun Ho, champion of Hong Kong, turned
expectations on their ear by using an immersion
circulator to sous-vide his coffee beans before
grinding and extracting with the intention of
increasing extraction. His presentation didn’t focus
on fancy table settings, but rather on how to get
more from the beans through technique as well as
technology.
As the WBC has grown over the years we have seen
many groundbreaking, and even controversial,
concepts presented, but who would have known just
how much the competitors were going to push the
boundaries this year?
Charlotte Malaval, champion of France, focused
on temperature as an overriding theme while
still showing solid farm knowledge. The theme of
temperature related to important aspects of cherry
development and origin production of her coffee,
milk steaming, roasting technique, and for the
primary focus of her signature drink. The French
champion had never reached the final round before
and Charlotte did it on her first trip to the WBC.
Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood, champion of the
United Kingdom, stayed true to himself with plenty
of technical data about his coffee—though with
an approach that was akin to having a personal
11
Ben Put, champion of Canada, brought more heavy
duty chef equipment into the WBC by using a vacuum
chamber to remove all air, gas, and bitterness from
his espressos. He was focused on every detail about
his coffee, starting with the decision to source his
coffee specifically for espresso. Every decision Ben
made was done to bring the best flavor to the cups.
Charles Babinski, champion of the United States,
wowed the room with a presentation addressing
systems and scalability, and how they relate to both
coffee farms and his own cafes. He toyed with the
judges by starting with very general descriptions,
and then turned up the details gradually. The
result being an incredibly complex, yet clever,
presentation. Charles gave more than just coffee
and professionalism however, he gave a glimpse of
the future of coffee service.
And finally Sasa Sestic, champion of Australia (and
now the world), introduced us to the Sudan Rume
variety of coffee, as well as a compelling processing
“HIS COMBINATION OF WARM
HOSPITALITY AND INCREDIBLY
PRECISE PRESENTATION
WOWED THE JUDGES.”
technique. Carbonic maceration is used in wine
production, but seems to have found its use in
coffee production as well. His combination of warm
hospitality and incredibly precise presentation
wowed the judges.
We witnessed six very different presentations in the
finals this year, but one thing remained consistent:
everyone showcased the coffee they were using in
intense detail, reinforcing the importance of farm
level knowledge as an indicator of the professional
barista.
Sasa Sestic, a former Olympic athlete, has been
a long time competitor. After trying at local and
national championships for years he suddenly shot
to the top of the list in the 2015 Australian Barista
Championship, taking the title for the first time. In
the process he surpassed two highly experienced
and talented former champions, Craig Simon
and Matt Perger, as well as the rest of the highly
competitive Australian baristas.
If you were to ask me if a first-time national
champion would take the WBC crown on their
first attempt, I would tell you that it is possible but
not expected, as the competitions require a lot of
experience to master. In fact, it had only happened
there times prior to Sasa’s win. To his benefit,
Sasa found the support of none other than my own
student and then reigning WBC champion, Hidenori
Izaki, to coach him.
So what was it that put Sasa’s coffee and presentation
above the other incredible competitors? Of course,
flavor is huge. Being on the interviewing panel, we
were able to taste all of the competitors’ espresso,
and he certainly had great tasting coffee.
But then, so did the other competitors.
On top of great coffee, Sasa had a beautiful
presentation that illustrated the pertinent
information about his coffee. Combine that with
support from his team and coach, and he truly
became unstoppable this year, despite nearly being
hospitalized from an illness in the middle of the
championship.
Sasa worked intensely developing his concepts
in utilizing carbonic maceration with the coffee,
carefully forming the information into relevant and
concise presentation points. He didn’t push the
boundaries in the ways that some of his competitors
did. He redefined them.
If watching my 10 year anniversary of competitions
was poetic, then seeing the evolution of my own
training techniques was profound. I saw ideas
similar to what Hide and I worked on, such as specific
enunciation and purposeful time management.
However, I was witnessing progression in a grand
fashion, as I could see the basic ideas I had shown
Hide, but matured and transformed far beyond the
original concepts. A great student does more than
learn the given material. A great student owns and
masters that material and makes it into something
more. I can see that in Hidenori and I couldn’t be
happier to see that growth being given to our new
World Barista Champion, Sasa Sestic!
2015 WBC CHAMPION SASA SESTIC.
TOP: PHOTO BY JAKE OLSON.
BOTTOM: PHOTO BY KATE BEARD.
ABOUT WBC
THE WBC IS THE PREMIER COFFEE COMPETITION
PLATFORM ENGAGING A WORLDWIDE AUDIENCE,
PROMOTING EXCELLENCE IN COFFEE AND
ADVANCING THE BARISTA PROFESSION. THIS
EVENT IS A MULTI-DAY COMPETITION THAT
INVOLVES
COMPETITORS,
JUDGES
AND
VOLUNTEERS FROM COUNTRIES AROUND THE
WORLD. THE ANNUAL CHAMPIONSHIP IS LIVESTREAMED TO A GLOBAL AUDIENCE ONLINE.
EVENT STRUCTURE
This competition takes place over four days and
consists of a preliminary round a semifinals
round and a finals round. Competitors come from
sanctioned national competitions that produce
one winner to represent their country in the World
Barista Championship. The competitors have 15
minutes to make a set of espresso, cappuccino,
and signature beverages. The beverages are judged
by four sensory judges, while two technical judges
review the barista’s technical performance, and one
head judge presides over the entire presentation.
Each competitor competes in the preliminary
round, and then the top 12 scoring baristas proceed
into a semi-final round. From the semi-final round,
the top 6 will compete again in a finals round to
determine the winner with the highest score, who
becomes the World Barista Champion.
12
WORLD
BARISTA
CHAMPIONSHIP
2015 WORLD BARISTA CHAMPIONSHIP OFFICIAL RANKINGS
13
FINAL ROUND:
1
Sasa Sestic
Ona Coffee
2
Charles Babinski
Go Get Em Tiger
3
Ben Put
Monogram Coffee
4
Chan Kwun Ho
The Cupping Room
5
Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood
Colonna & Small’s
6
Charlotte Malaval
Independent
SEMI FINAL ROUND:
1
Chan Kwun Ho
The Cupping Room
2
Sasa Sestic
Ona Coffee
3
Charles Babinski
Go Get Em Tiger
4
Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood
Colonna & Small’s
5
Charlotte Malaval
Independent
6
Ben Put
Monogram Coffee
7
Yoshikazu Iwase
Rec Coffee
8
Giacomo Vanelli
Pasticceria Vanelli
9
Kalle Freese
Freese Coffee Company
10 Adam Neubauer
EMA Espresso Bar
11 Alexander Hansen
Collaborative Coffee Source
12 John Ryan Ting
A.R.C Coffee
FIRST ROUND:
1
Charles Babinski
Go Get Em Tiger
2
Giacomo Vanelli
Pasticceria Vanelli
3
Yoshikazu Iwase
Rec Coffee
4
Sasa Sestic
Ona Coffee
5
Chan Kwun Ho
The Cupping Room
6
Ben Put
Monogram Coffee
7
Charlotte Malaval
Independent
8
Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood
Colonna & Small’s
9
Adam Neubauer
EMA Espresso Bar
10 John Ryan Ting
A.R.C Coffee
11 Kalle Freese
Freese Coffee Company
12 Alexander Hansen
Collaborative Coffee Source
13 Jose De La Pena
Tecnochef
14 Diego Francisco Campos
Vive Café
15 Lex Wenneker
Headfirst Coffee Roasters
16 Julietta Vasquez Rivera
Arendela Barra de Café
17 Ariel Bravo
Independent
18 Ishan Natalie
TriBeCa Coffee Company
19 Addison Dale
Pure Café Co.
20 Julio Cesar Ruiz Gomez
Slaverria Pillersdorf Coffee Roaster
21 Stefanos Paterakis
Taf
22 Tse Lin Wu
Simple Kaffa
23 Soren Stiller
Great Coffee
24 Yinzhe Jeremy Zhang
M2M Coffee
25 Sonja Zweidick
La Cabra
26 Aldrin Lumaban
Exquisite Café Corporation
27 Jason Loo Hsien Yuen
The Red Beanbag
28 Linnea Vannesjo
Drop Coffee Roasters
29 Alexy Kugaenko
OMNI Coffee
30 Daniel Rivera
Hacienda San Pedro
31 Dmytro Griekhov
Café Rider
32 Natalia Piotrowska
3fe
33 Jong Hoon Lee
Coffee Grafitti
34 Agnieszka Rojewska
Brisman Kawowy Bar
35 Vaiva Maskovaite
Caravan Coffee Roasters
36 Emi Fukuhori
Independent
37 Luis Blanco Valverde
Dromedario
38 Thiago Sabino
Octavio Café
39 Mark Okuta
Royal Suits
40 Mehran Mohammadnezhad Mirjani Café Yasi
41 Jesica Avalos Contreras
OR Coffee Roasters
42 Francisco Alonso Garcia Lubiate
Master Coffee Peru
43 Martin Shabaya
Artcafe Coffee and Bakery
44 Gregor Dattner
Espressone GmbH
45 Cezara Cartes
Starbucks
46 Diego Mejia
Isveglio
47 Sudarat Changcharoen
the First Espresso
48 Ozkan Yetik
Coffee Brew Lab
Australia
United States
Canada
Hong Kong
United Kingdom
France
618
613
593.5
587
568
548
Hong Kong
Australia
United States
United Kingdom
France
Canada
Japan
Italy
Finland
Czech Republic
Norway
Singapore
611.5
600.5
587.5
585
584.5
577.5
572
551
523
511.5
510.5
496
United States
Italy
Japan
Australia
Hong Kong
Canada
France
United Kingdom
Czech Republic
Singapore
Finland
Norway
Guatemala
Colombia
The Netherlands
Mexico
Costa Rica
South Africa
New Zealand
El Salvador
Greece
Taiwan
Denmark
China
Austria
Phillipines
Malaysia
Sweden
Russia
Puerto Rico
United Arab Emirates
Ireland
Korea
Poland
Lithuania
Switzerland
Spain
Brazil
Uganda
Iran
Belgium
Peru
Kenya
Germany
Romania
Ecuador
Thailand
Turkey
613.5
606
605.5
599.5
560.5
557
555.5
553
547.5
547
546
545
541.5
541.5
539.5
532.5
528.5
528
527.5
526.5
522
520.5
518
507.5
500
499
499
497.5
495
494
486
486
468
466.5
463
455.5
445.5
444.5
442.5
424.5
418
409.5
397.5
376.5
364
340
316
DQ
GOTHENBURG
2015
WORLD
LATTE ART
CHAMPIONSHIP
WORLD COFFEE IN
GOOD SPIRITS
CHAMPIONSHIP
WORLD
BREWERS
CUP
WORLD COFFEE
ROASTING
CHAMPIONSHIP
WORLD
CUP TASTERS
CHAMPIONSHIP
SCAE WORLD OF COFFEE
JUNE 16-18, 2015
Panorama of Gothenburg, taken from Ramberget in Keillers Park at Hisingen.
Photo by David Lindecrantz. 11 September 2011
CALEB’S PRIDE
CALEB CHA SPEAKS ABOUT BECOMING AUSTRALIA’S SECOND CHAMPION
BARISTA FOR THE YEAR, AND RAISING THE STANDARD OF LATTE ART.
2015 WORLD LATTE ART CHAMPION CALEB CHA.
PHOTO BY KATE BEARD.
16
WORLD
LATTE ART
CHAMPIONSHIP
BY SARAH BAKER
EDITOR, BEANSCENE MAGAZINE
2015 WLAC TOP SIX. PHOTO BY KATE BEARD.
CALEB CHA RECALLS 18 JUNE 2015 IN
GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN AS ONE OF THE MOST
MEMORABLE DAYS OF HIS LIFE. “ALL MY DREAMS
CAME TRUE THAT DAY FOR TWO REASONS. FIRST
I WON THE WORLD LATTE ART CHAMPIONSHIP
(WLAC). THEN I GAINED A FIANCÉ,” HE SAYS.
As the top six placings were revealed one by one,
Caleb says he started to feel nervousness and
excitement. But when he was left standing next to
China’s Xuechao Wang, the moment became real.
“To be honest it’s a complete blur. When they read
my name I just stood there frozen,” Caleb says. “I
didn’t realise I had won. I looked to the emcee and
said: ‘Me? Really? Are you kidding? Are you sure?’
I looked to see my girlfriend [Alice Jeong] in the
audience and she was going crazy with excitement. I
spotted Sasa Sestic [2015 World Barista Champion]
out of the corner of my eye cheering, and I got goose
bumps. Then it hit me. I won.”
And so the hype of winning the WLAC began. Confetti
fell, camera lights flashed, and Caleb held the
trophy as high as his arms could extend. But there
was one more important thing to do. Caleb dug deep
into the right pocket of his jacket to reveal a small
square box. He dropped to one knee and asked his
long-time girlfriend and coach Alice to marry him. “I
made a promise with myself that if I won the WLAC
I’d also propose. I had to keep my promise,” he says.
Caleb says if he’d been asked what latte art was back
in 2000, he wouldn’t have known, nor would he have
understood the question. Caleb grew up in South
Korea, where he says his life was very structured.
He finished high school and went straight into four
years of study at the top-ranked Yonsei University.
He served as a Korean marine, and gained a
high-powered job as a financial consultant. “I had
achieved everything I set out to achieve career-wise,
but it didn’t make me happy,” he says.
17
Instead, with his parents’ support, Caleb moved to
Australia in February 2008. Living in a foreign city
with next to no English, Caleb swapped his business
suit for an apron. He started working in a Korean
restaurant waiting tables. At just $8 per hour, Caleb
was being paid well below minimum wage. That was
until he came across an advertisement that asked:
‘Do you want to make good money working in a
restaurant or café?’ I sure did,” Caleb says.
That ad was for a barista course at William Angliss
Institute of TAFE in Melbourne. That course was the
launching pad of Caleb’s career. He went on to work
in a Melbourne CBD café called Red Cup, and later
joined the Cafenatics team where he’s been ever
since.
In 2014 Caleb began to show flair for latte art. He
signed up for the 2014 Australian Specialty Coffee
Association Victorian Latte Art Championship and
placed second. He went on to win runner up in the
national final. In his second attempt at the title,
Caleb again won second place in the 2015 state
latte art championship. In the national finals he was
determined to go one better, and he did.
Just three months separated Caleb’s national finals
win and his date with Gothenburg for the WLAC.
After testing a range of designs, Caleb settled on
showing the world judges his smiling butterfly
design for the art bar, as well as the Flirting Peacock,
Caffeinated Zebra, and Love Triangle in his routine.
The emcee commented that he’d never seen a zebra
drinking coffee, but this is exactly the reaction Caleb
set out to achieve. “I wanted to create something
new because it’s a competition and you want to see
something new,” he says.
Caleb finished in first place in the preliminary
round, and achieved the highest art bar score in
“AUSTRALIA’S COFFEE
INDUSTRY IS ALREADY AT
SUCH A HIGH LEVEL...AND
NOW THE WORLD KNOWS
THAT WE HAVE TOP-CLASS
COMPETITION BARISTAS...”
the competition’s history. But his performance
wasn’t without fault. “I wasn’t 100 percent satisfied
with my routine. I made so many little mistakes. I
overstretched the milk, I ran out of room in my
macchiatos, and my contrast wasn’t great. I even
had a final summary to present to the judges, but
when I looked at the clock it was 9.58 minutes. With
two seconds left, I plonked the cups on the bench
and called time,” Caleb says.
Australian Latte Art Judge and WLAC Head Judge
Lance Brown says the reason Caleb excelled on the
world stage was largely because of the originality of
his patterns. “Caleb ticked all the boxes in terms of
presentation, professionalism, communication, eye
contact, quality of patterns, clarity, and accuracy,
but most importantly he excelled in his creativity,”
he says.
Lance has worked as an Australian latte art judge
since 2003. He was accredited as a WLAC Judge in
2013 in Nice, and took a WLAC Head Judge position
in 2015. Within Lance’s 12 years of judging, he says
the transition of patterns has been “extraordinary”.
raised the standard for next year’s competition. The
next generation of competitors needs to step it up
and show creativity.”
The 2016 WLAC will take place in Shanghai,
China from 29 March to 1 April. Lance anticipates
spectator interest will be at an all time high given the
top six finalists of the 2015 competition were from
Asian countries.“Their success emulates the Asian
mentality of perfection. Each of those countries
would be working hard to get to the standard that
Caleb did,” Lance says. “I can guarantee there won’t
be an empty seat in the stands.”
It’s been a big year for Australia on the world
competition stage. In April, Ona Coffee’s Sasa Sestic
brought home the World Barista Championship title,
and just two months later Caleb helped Australia
claim the second world title for the year.
“Australia’s coffee industry is already at such a high
level. We have passionate coffee consumers, world
class judges and competitions, and now the world
knows that we have top-class competition baristas,”
Caleb says. “I’m so proud of myself for achieving my
dream of becoming a world champion, for making
both Australia and South Korea proud.”
2015 WLAC CHAMPION CALEB CHA.
PHOTO BY KATE BEARD.
SINCE 1995
“Five years ago WLAC judges were impressed with
well-defined, clean rosettas and a simple heart.
Less was more. Now it’s complex. Symmetry,
position, level of difficulty and creativity are more
important. This is a result of the skills of barista
evolving, and judges expecting more in the cup,”
Lance says.
Australia has had a great history of WLAC
champions. Scottie Callaghan won in 2006, Jack
Hannah won in 2007, and Con Haralambopoulos
won in 2008.
“Australia’s latte art appeal is so high that it puts
the next world baristas in extreme pressure to go
beyond what anyone has seen before,” Lance says.
“Latte art is not just something we see on the world
stage. At any visit to a local café we expect to see
a heart, tulip or swan poured into the cup. That’s
the norm now. Because of this, Australia has really
Durham, NC 27713 • Emeryville, CA 94608
WORLD
LATTE ART
CHAMPIONSHIP
ABOUT WLAC
THE WORLD LATTE ART CHAMPIONSHIP
HIGHLIGHTS ARTISTIC EXPRESSION IN A
COMPETITION PLATFORM THAT CHALLENGES
THE
BARISTA
IN
AN
ON-DEMAND
PERFORMANCE.
EVENT STRUCTURE
For the preliminary round of the championship,
baristas produce a single creative latte pattern at
the Art Bar, then move to the WLAC stage to create
two identical free-pour lattes and two identical
designer lattes. Scores from the Art Bar and Stage
are combined, and the top 6 competitors qualify for
the final round, where they are asked to create two
identical free-pour macchiatos, two identical freepour lattes, and two identical designer patterned
lattes. The top-scoring competitor in the final
round is declared the World Latte Art Champion.
Baristas are judged based on visual attributes,
creativity, identical patterns in the pairs, contrast
in patterns, and overall performance.
2015 WORLD LATTE ART CHAMPIONSHIP OFFICIAL RANKINGS
FINAL ROUND:
RANK NAME
COMPANY
1
CALEB CHA
Cafenatics
2
XUECHAO WANG
Jiangbeileran Coffee
3
KYEONG-WOO JUNG
Corea Coffee Belt
4
MAO NAGURA
Fonz
5
ARNON THITIPRASERT
Ristr8tto
6
HONG-SHENG LIAO
Café Moment
FIRST ROUND:
RANK NAME
1
CALEB CHA
2
MAO NAGURA
3
KYEONG-WOO JUNG
4
XUECHAO WANG
5
ARNON THITIPRASERT
6
HONG-SHENG LIAO
7
PIETRO VANNELLI
8
NICK VINK
9
DHAN TAMANG
10
SAM LOW
11
DANIEL ACOSTA BUSCH
12
MARKUS BADURA
13
IWAN SETIAWAN
14
ENG BOON HONG
15
NIKOS BELLIS
16
ABNER ROLDAN
17
CLARA PIHLGREN
18
LUCIA ONDRUSKOVA
19
BENJAMIN GRAF
20
ANTHONY CALVEZ
21
FREDERICK BEJO
22
FARCAS SEBASTIAN LOAN
23
AHMAD KAMIL
24
HECTOR HERNANDEZ
25
ALEXEY IVANOV
26
NICHOLAS BOUCHARD
27
SIMEON BRICKER
28
JERVIS TAN
29
MIRIAM ALDANA
30
ELEONORA CERNIAUSKAITE
31
BYRON KEET
32
MARK CHAN
33
OZGUR GENC
34
OLDRICH VAPENIK
35
ANIBAL KOVALEFF CASQUINA
36
DAVE REGAN
COUNTRY
Australia
China
South Korea
Japan
Thailand
Taiwan
COMPANY
Cafenatics
Fonz
Corea Coffee Belt
Jiangbeileran coffee
Ristr8tto
Café Moment
Pasticceria Vannelli
H32
Caracoli
Independent
Rause Café e Vinho
WeinCafé KostBar
Common Grounds Coffee Roastery
JWC Global
Mind the Cup
Hacienda San Pedro
da Matteo
Glacio
La Cultura del Caffé
Cafés Richard
Specialty Batch LLC
One Workshop cafe
Grande Café
Cafes el Criollo
Coffeemania
Independent
The Roasterie
Kinsmen Coffee
Barista Store MX
UAB “Šviežia kava”
Famous Brands Coffee Co
Common Man Coffee Roasters
Independent
Independent
Zanesco E.I.R.L
Vice Coffee
19
SCORE
373.5
365.5
339.5
318.0
267.5
265.0
COUNTRY
Australia
Japan
South Korea
China
Thailand
Taiwan
Italy
Netherlands
UK
New Zealand
Brazil
Germany
Indonesia
Malaysia
Grrece
Puerto Rico
Sweeden
Slovakia
Austria
France
UAE
Romania
Switzerland
Spain
Russia
Belgium
USA
Singapore
Mexico
Lithuania
South Africa
Philipines
Turkey
Czech Republic
Peru
Ireland
SCORE
443.5
440.0
431.0
397.5
392.0
377.0
368.0
360.5
358.5
354.5
340.5
340.5
338.5
336.5
335.0
333.5
332.5
328.5
323.0
321.0
317.5
308.5
306.0
302.5
288.0
287.0
283.0
280.5
272.5
260.5
252.5
251.5
232.5
197.5
197.5
195.0
THE UNDERDOG
WINS IT ALL
WORLD COFFEE IN
GOOD SPIRITS
CHAMPIONSHIP
BY CHRISTINE SEAH
PERFECT DAILY GRIND
2015 WORLD COFFEE IN GOOD SPIRITS CHAMPION GEORGE
KOUSTOUMPARDIS. PHOTO BY KATE BEARD.
THE WORLD COFFEE IN GOOD SPIRITS
CHAMPIONSHIP IS A COMPETITION WHERE
BEING A GOOD BARISTA SIMPLY ISN’T ENOUGH.
COMPETITORS NEED AN INTIMATE KNOWLEDGE
OF ALCOHOLIC PRODUCTS, AND NEED TO
BE COMFORTABLE WITH THE COMPLEX
TECHNICALITIES OF BARTENDING TECHNIQUES.
This year, from a pool of 14 competitors, and
6 eventual finalists, George Koustoumpardis
of The Underdog in Athens, Greece conquered
the competition, and emerged overwhelmingly
victorious.
This being his second run in the competition,
Koustoumpardis pulled off a smooth, creative
routine, with a heavy focus on filter coffee based
cocktails. Koustoumpardis’ trademark style of
quirky presentation with a side of zeitgeist played
heavily in his routine this year -capturing the spirit of
a period in time, and putting it together in the form
of liquid time travel. His “Coffee Beer” signature
cocktail encapsulated the essence of the 1920’s
prohibition era- dodgy bottling and all.
In our interview, George sheds some light on the
elements of bartending, his thoughts on next year’s
competition, and why espresso machines have no
place in cocktail bars.
Q: So George, why WCGIS?
A: While I definitely identify with myself more as a
barista than a bartender, I find bartending techniques
interesting and fun, and it was nice to diversify
myself. In the coffee bar, you only have 3 ingredients
you can play with- coffee, milk and water. But in the
cocktail bar, you have over a thousand ingredients
at your fingertips! WCGIS is the only competition
where I can combine my knowledge of bartending
and coffee-making and utilise it to the fullest.
21
Q: How has bartending made an impact on yourself as
a barista?
A: I guess the biggest difference was the element
of showmanship. When you’re a barista all you
really have to focus on is getting as many drinks
out as quickly as possible; there really isn’t time for
talking, and it’s a very technique-based profession.
When I was practicing making cocktails behind a
bar, I realised that I had to sell myself as much as I
had to sell the drinks! People come to cocktail bars
expecting entertainment, so learning to bartend
really boosted my confidence and made me more
comfortable talking and presenting to people.
Q: Traditionally, espresso has been the preferred
form of coffee when it comes to making cocktails
(eg: Espresso Martini). Why do you use filter coffee
instead?
A: I’ve strongly believed up till now, that in the
context of a cocktail bar, espresso simply doesn’t
work. The thing is, when you come to an expensive
cocktail bar, you want to be surrounded by beauty. A
little espresso machine and grinder tucked away in
the corner of the bar just looks miserable. It’s also
noisy and clumsy.
But really, the reason why I wanted to showcase
filter coffee is because it’s more practical, and also
adds on to the showmanship involved in bartending.
You shouldn’t need an expensive espresso machine
to be able to make good coffee.
Q: Filter coffee is super delicate to work with though!
How do you account for the extra dilution?
A: That’s true, but there are lots of little tricks you
can do to get around this. For example, when I used
ice cubes made from filter coffee in the shaking of
my signature drink. The brewed coffee I use is also
2015 WORLD COFFEE IN GOOD SPIRITS FINALISTS.
PHOTO BY KATE BEARD.
about twice the strength of regular brewed coffee
too.
Q: You once said in a showcase in Taiwan, that when it
comes to cocktail making “Less is more”. Why do you
believe that?
A: I’ve been drinking cocktails for an awfully long
time, and I’ve always prefered simple classic
cocktails. Most of them, like the Margarita or the
Old Fashioned only have 2-3 ingredients. I think this
minimalist approach really helps exaggerate the
flavours of the ingredients and helps preserve the
integrity of them.
Q:You usually like to ask the judges to “imagine a
time/place” before they approach your drinks. What’s
the thought process behind the liquid time-travel?
A: (Laughs) Well, I guess it’s an added touch of
service? What most people don’t really know is that
it’s actually a lot more nerve-wrecking being a judge
than it is being a competitor! You’re surrounded by
cameras, and your every decision has to be perfect
and impartial. I try to make the judges “time travel”
because I want them to feel more relaxed, and to
forget that they are in the hot seat. Breaking this
barrier by inducing memories or emotions is what
I always try to do in competitions.
Q:Are you looking to defend your title next year?
A: I have no plans to compete next year actually,
I’m looking into training up other budding baristas/
bartenders instead. I want to help bring in new blood
into the competition and to promote the awareness
for it. It’s really super fun, and I want more people to
be able to experience it as I have.
Q:The rules and regulations for 2016 have changed
quite a bit! Any thoughts on the brand new mysteryspirit preliminary round?
“WHILE I DEFINITELY
IDENTIFY WITH MYSELF
MORE AS A BARISTA THAN
A BARTENDER, I FIND
BARTENDING TECHNIQUES
INTERESTING AND FUN, AND
IT WAS NICE TO DIVERSIFY
MYSELF.”
A: I’m actually extremely excited about the mystery
spirit round! It’s almost like a TV game show
(laughs). But I’m very happy as well, because
competition always needs change. For example
when the rules were changed for the Latte Art
Competition in 2011, everyone was shocked by it,
but you get to see lots of people really stepping up
and showcasing a crazy amount of talent. A bigger
challenge always brings out bigger talent, and that’s
what makes competitions exciting!
Q: Any competitors in particular you’re looking out for
next year?
A: I would love to see more Asian countries compete
in WCIGS. It’s going to be held in Shanghai next year,
and the Asian scene has always had a long history
involving mixology. I’d like to see competitors from
Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, obviously Japan and
Korea too. I think Europe is going to be coming in
strong as it always does, but I’m curious to see
who’ll be able to fully grasp the new rules and run
away with them.
Christine Seah is a Singapore-based
correspondent for Perfect Daily Grind
www.perfectdailygrind.com
coffee
22
WORLD COFFEE IN
GOOD SPIRITS
CHAMPIONSHIP
ABOUT WCIGS
THE WORLD COFFEE IN GOOD SPIRITS
CHAMPIONSHIP
PROMOTES
INNOVATIVE
BEVERAGE RECIPES THAT SHOWCASE COFFEE
AND SPIRITS IN A COMPETITION FORMAT.
THIS COMPETITION HIGHLIGHTS THE BARISTA/
BARKEEPER’S MIXOLOGY SKILLS IN A SETTING
WHERE COFFEE AND ALCOHOL GO PERFECTLY
TOGETHER. FROM THE TRADITIONAL IRISH
COFFEE (WITH WHISKEY AND COFFEE), TO
UNIQUE COCKTAIL COMBINATIONS.
EVENT STRUCTURE
During the preliminary round, competitors produce
four drinks – two identical hot/warm coffee and
alcohol-based designer drinks, and two identical
cold coffee and alcohol-based designer drinks.
The six competitors with the highest preliminary
round scores will compete in the final round. The
final round requires competitors to produce two
Irish Coffees and two coffee-and-alcohol-based
designer drinks. The highest scoring final round
competitor will be named the World Coffee in Good
Spirits Champion.
2015 WORLD COFFEE IN GOOD SPIRITS
CHAMPIONSHIP OFFICIAL RANKINGS
FINAL ROUND:
1 GEORGE
KOUSTOUMPARDIS
2 ONDREJ HURTIK
3 PAUL UNGUREANU
The
Underdog
Doubleshot
Roastery
Paul
Ungureanu
Consulting
GREECE
351
CZECH
278
REPUBLIC
ROMANIA 269
4 EDUARDO AFFONSO Lucca Cafés BRAZIL
267.5
SCORSIN
Especiais
5 SANG MOO HYUN
Maris Coffee SOUTH
253.5
KOREA
6 SANG HO PARK
Square Mile UNITED
243.5
Coffee
KINGDOM
FIRST ROUND:
1 GEORGE
KOUSTOUMPARDIS
2 ONDREJ HURTIK
The
Underdog
Doubleshot
Roastery
3 SANG HO PARK
Square Mile
Coffee
4 EDUARDO AFFONSO Lucca Cafés
SCORSIN
Especiais
5 PAUL UNGUREANU Paul
Ungureanu
Consulting
6 SANG MOO HYUN
7 STEEVEN HERRY
8 SHUICHI OFUCHI
9 LUCAS WOODS
10 DAVIDE BERTI
11 SHARAPOV KIRILL
12 VICTOR BOLEA
GOMEZ
13 EDWIN GORRITZ
14 MONICA STRØM
GREECE
402
CZECH
372.5
REPUBLIC
UNITED
362
KINGDOM
BRAZIL
343
ROMANIA
Maris Coffee SOUTH
KOREA
Mycafé.fr
FRANCE
321.5
302
293
Mixology Bar JAPAN
288.5
Source 2102
Coffee Lab AUSTRALIA 279.5
and Ona
Coffee
La Chichera ITALY
Café
North-West RUSSIA
Coffee
Company
279
Cafes el
Criollo
Barista
Squared
Dromedar
Kaffebar
SPAIN
254.5
PUERTO
RICO
NORWAY
250.5
264.5
233
2015 WORLD COFFEE IN GOOD SPIRITS FINALIST
ONDREJ HURTIK. PHOTO BY KATE BEARD.
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24
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FIVE YEARS OF WORLD
BREWERS CUP
25
WORLD
BREWERS
CUP
BY ALES POSPISIL
EUROPEAN COFFEE TRIP
2015 WORLD BREWERS CUP CHAMPION ODD-STEINER TØLLEFSEN.
PHOTO BY YOUNGMIN LEE.
IN 2011, KEITH O’SULLIVAN STEPPED ON THE
STAGE HUGELY SURPRISED TO FIND HIMSELF
IN THE FINAL NEXT TO JAMES HOFFMANN
AND STEFANOS DOMATIOTIS, BOTH COFFEE
VETERANS. HE WAS AN ‘AMATEUR,’ AS HE PUT IT
IN HIS OWN WORDS, BUT CAN ONE REALLY BE AN
AMATEUR AND GET TO THE WORLD FINAL?
O’Sullivan confessed it hadn’t taken him that much
time to prepare and it was one particular coffee
from Bolivia that convinced this PhD candidate to
give competition a try. Five years later, Odd-Steiner
Tøllefsen, a professional barista and a former stillphotographer from Norway, spent nearly a whole
year preparing his routine to win the title. Travelling
to the coffee origin, sourcing coffee, sample
roasting, selecting the right beans, cupping, and
preparing the routine: this is what it takes to win
the World Brewers Cup these days, demonstrating
how the competition and its level of excellence has
developed over the past years.
(unknown to the competitors prior to the competition)
and the same standardised brewing device. This
round tests their general knowledge about coffee
brewing and the ability to quickly dial in coffee,
find its “sweet spot” even using the competitionprovided service vessel. In contrast, open service
is about hospitality and the knowledge about coffee
that baristas share. They have carefully picked their
coffee and brewing method, they have a chance to
explain and inspire, they takes judges on the journey
of discovering the best possible experience they can
have with this particular coffee. Tasting notes can
go as far as ‘eating grapefruit in the shower,’ as
Benjamin Prager, 2015 Brewers Cup Finalist from
Switzerland vividly described the fresh mouthfeel of
his Kenyan coffee. Moreover, competitors must be
very consistent as they individually brew coffee for
each of three judges.
Compared to the World Barista Competition,
founded in 2000, five years is relatively short amount
of time to develop, but year by year more baristas
and countries take part in the World Brewers Cup.
The competition is simple in its form - “black,
manual, hand-brewed coffee made to perfection,”
as describes Odd-Steiner, 2015’s World Brewers
Cup Champion. It’s about unlocking the potential of
coffee, brewed by a baristas in ten minutes in front
of judges. It takes a huge amount of time to make the
best out of these ten minutes though, and in a way,
competitors are preparing every single time they
brew coffee in front of their customers. Customers
today are the ultimate judges; judges who don’t fill
scoresheets, yet provide the instant feedback with a
smile or a comment.
Water makes a significant impact on the resulting
cup of coffee in Brewers Cup. “In the past, water
filtration was used only to protect machines from
scaling up,” points out Willem Huisman, sales
director at BRITA Professional, World Brewers Cup
Qualified Water Filtration Sponsor. “During this
process we also discovered the improvements in
taste by filtering out several off-tasting minerals,”
adds Willem. As international transportation of
their own water may be risky and difficult, most
competitors share the water specification in
advance and BRITA’s support team do the best to
fulfil their requests in the field. “We can create the
individual water for every single competitor but in
most cases they make use of our standard one,”
adds Willem. Odd-Steiner was one of risk takers
who brought natural mineral water from the West
Coast of Norway with him - a water with a low
mineral content that fit well his coffee.
In Brewers Cup, there are two stages that every
competitor must go through. In the compulsory
service, every competitor uses the same coffee
It wasn’t the only risk that the current champion
accepted. He used Acaia scales connected via
Bluetooth to iPhones that he placed in front of
“I AM ALWAYS VERY
ACCURATE WHEN BREWING
AND I WANTED THE JUDGES
TO SEE IT WITH THEIR OWN
EYES.”
People want to explore and discover more than ever.
And I like that.” That’s how Odd-Steinar describes
the current state of speciality coffee. So, what coffee
won the World Brewers Cup in 2015 then? There is
no surprise that it was naturally processed coffee.
Supreme Roastworks, an Oslo-based company
that Odd-Steinar joined in 2012, has always been
focused on natural processed coffee and they were
eager to prove that it can win big in competition too.
judges. “My first thought was, this is going to be
cheesy… But after a while I started to like the idea
that the judges could monitor my brewing,” explains
Odd-Steiner his thought process. “I am always very
accurate when brewing and I wanted the judges to
see it with their own eyes. There was no room for
error. I knew the blooming time would be 35 sec,
pouring time 3.00 and total extraction time 3.30
exact. No one had done it before!” laughs OddSteinar, knowing his risk paid off.
Odd-Steinar’s brewed coffee had intense dried
apricot, mango, passion fruit, and strawberry taste
combined with a sweet, ripe tropical fruit aroma.
It was coffee from Semeon Abay Maker Series, an
Ethiopian natural processed coffee from Ninety
Plus’s production. Right after the competition, there
was only 50 kilos left, 35 kilos with Ninety Plus and
15 kilos in Oslo. Interestingly enough, this coffee
was a “part crop.” It was left resting for over year
but there was nothing that could come even close
to the fresh crop that was tasted in roastery. Once
again, a prejudice about “correct” processing was
shaken to its core.
This championship represents innovation in brewing
and its precision, but Brewers Cup is, this year in
particular, also about exceptional coffees. Many
people returned from the competition area with a
strange excitement in their face, saying: “There is
coffee that tastes nothing like coffee. It’s very sweet
but …” struggling to describe what this experience
was like. It’s something we have many times from
those tasting speciality coffee for the very first time,
but this coffee excellence takes on new meaning
when those so blown away are coffee professionals
used to tasting the very best coffee. Sarah Anderson,
the 2015 World Brewers Cup finalist from the United
States, brought one of these coffees, allowing both
judges and audience to try Cafea Eugenoides. “It’s
not even Arabica species, this coffee is known as a
mother of Arabica,” Sarah surprised the full room of
coffee professionals. “About 10 to 15 thousand years
ago Eugenoides combined with Robusta to create
Arabica which we use in speciality coffee everyday. “
2015 WBRC CHAMPION ODD-STEINER
TØLLEFSEN. PHOTO BY YOUNGMIN LEE.
Odd-Steinar and his whole family will remember
this year in competition for one more reason: right in
the middle of the Norwegian Brewers Cup, between
open service and the finals, his son was born. As
his girlfriend had suggested a coffee-related name,
they made an agreement that if Odd-Steiner were
to win the World Championship, they would name
their child Sidamo, in honor of the coffee he used.
In Gothenburg, during the media frenzy following
the awards ceremony, Love Sidamo Tollefsen was
smiling into the cameras with his father. Let’s wish
young Love Sidamo and the World Brewers Cup
many thriving years ahead.
“The people and judges are more open to ‘new’
coffees. Experimental processing methods, natural
processing - it’s not only about the Geishas anymore.
2015 WORLD BREWERS CUP TOP SIX.
PHOTO BY YOUNGMIN LEE.
WORLD
BREWERS
CUP
ABOUT WBRC
THE WORLD BREWERS CUP COMPETITION
HIGHLIGHTS THE CRAFT OF FILTER COFFEE
BREWING BY HAND, PROMOTING MANUAL
COFFEE BREWING AND SERVICE EXCELLENCE.
In this Championship, competitors prepare and
serve three individual beverages for a panel of
judges. The Championship consists of two rounds:
a first round and a finals round. During the first
round competitors complete two coffee services –
a compulsory service and an open service. For the
compulsory service, competitors prepare three
beverages utilizing whole bean coffee provided
to them by the competition. For the open service,
competitors may utilize any whole bean coffee of
their choosing and must also accompany their
beverage preparation with a presentation. The six
competitors with the highest score from the first
round will go on to compete in the finals round
consisting exclusively of an open service. One
competitor from the final round will be named the
World Brewers Cup Champion.
2015 WORLD BREWERS CUP OFFICIAL RANKINGS
FINAL ROUND:
RANK
1
2
3
4
5
6
148.49 90.60 239.08
Greece
147.63 89.76 237.39
FINALS SCORE
Switzerland 155.04 79.70 234.74
USA
152.21 80.36 232.57
The
146.95 76.90 223.86
Netherlands
Russia
147.23 70.42 217.64
FIRST ROUND:
COMOPEN
PULSORY SERVICE TOTAL
SCORE SCORE SCORE
RANK
NAME
COUNTRY
1
Benjamin
Prager
Sarah Jean
Anderson
Odd-Steinar
Tøllefsen
Konstantinos
Iatridis
Ruslan Shulga
Switzerland 73.25 81.79 155.04
2
3
4
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
Visit timwendelboe.no
Ruslan
Shulga
ROUND
ONE
COUNTRY
Norway
5
We are now offering international
shipping of our coffees.
NAME
Odd-Steinar
Tollefsen
Konstantinos
Iatridis
Benjamin
Prager
Sarah Jean
Anderson
Rob Kerkhoff
24
25
26
27
28
USA
70.67 81.55 152.21
Norway
69.08 79.40 148.49
Greece
68.58 79.05 147.63
Russia
68.42 78.81 147.23
Rob Kerkhoff The
68.08
Netherlands
Gordon
United
68.00
Howell
Kingdom
Qiling Wang China
68.83
Petra
Czech
67.33
Strelecka
Republic
Dane Oliver
Australia
66.92
Mikaela
Finland
68.83
Wallgren
Carlos De
Mexico
72.92
La Torre
Shih-Ru Wang Taiwan
69.17
Nicholas
New Zealand 71.08
Rapp
Alexander
Sweden
66.92
Ruas
Nikolaus
Austria
70.67
Hartmann
Rubens
Italy
63.42
Gardelli
Andrea Tan
Singapore
70.67
Carolina
Brazil
69.17
France De
Souza
Brian
O’Caoimh
Leszek
Jedrasik
Yuta Ueda
Umut
Gokdeniz
Lavinia Toma
Youn Joo Yu
Regine Wai
Daniel
Muliyanto
Thomas
Cassignac
78.87 146.95
76.31 144.31
75.36 144.19
76.01 143.35
75.24 142.15
72.56 141.39
68.39 141.31
72.02 141.19
70.00 141.08
73.21 140.13
69.35 140.01
76.50 139.92
68.75 139.42
69.46 138.63
Ireland
70.33 68.04 138.37
Poland
68.75 69.35 138.10
Japan
Turkey
68.75 68.75 137.50
72.25 64.94 137.19
Romania
South Korea
Malaysia
Germany
69.83
66.50
67.83
66.83
France
73.67 DQ
66.19
68.45
65.12
64.46
136.02
134.95
132.95
131.30
73.67
PROUDLY SUPPORTING BARISTAS AT THE
HIGHEST LEVELS OF PROFESSIONAL COMPETITION
SINCE 2009
w w w. m a h l k o e n i g . d e
facebook.com/Mahlkoenig
twitter.com/Mahlkoenig
A TROPHY OF
INFLUENCE
WORLD COFFEE
ROASTING
CHAMPIONSHIP
2015 WORLD COFFEE ROASTING CHAMPION AUDUN SØRBOTTEN, NORWAY.
PHOTO BY YOUNGMIN LEE.
THE YOUNGEST CHAMPIONSHIP IN THE WORLD
COFFEE EVENTS PORTFOLIO MET ITS THIRD
VICTOR IN JUNE IN GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN.
AUDUN SØRBOTTEN, OF AUDUN COFFEE,
EARNED THE TITLE OF 2015 WORLD COFFEE
ROASTING CHAMPION WITH HOPES TO INSPIRE A
GREATER STANDARD OF ROASTING WORLDWIDE.
roasters to know everything possible about coffee.”
With this entry into what he compared to a “coffee
university”, Sørbotten started off his roasting
expedition strong. His new career led him to new
discoveries in roasting technique, new terrains on
origin trips and a new confidence to compete as a
specialty coffee roaster.
Audun Sørbotten had not had his first cup of
notable coffee until his late twenties. He describes
the experience as “just a coincidence, but it was
amazing.” Living a life dedicated to research and
things of the scientific realm, he stumbled upon a
small café near his university in Norway. That first
sip changed his life trajectory.
In 2011 and 2012 Sørbotten competed in and won
the Nordic Roasters Competition. He says it is
a “very prestigious competition between Nordic
roasteries.”
“I stopped wanting to talk chemistry with chemists,”
Sørbotten says.
“FOCUS ON YOUR OWN THING,
THIS IS BETWEEN YOURSELF
AND THE COFFEE, NOT THE
COMPETITORS.”
When he found himself thinking more about his
coffee than his research, he figured it was time for a
career change. “I had a good job, but the passion for
coffee was far greater.”
Fervently seeking the truth behind great coffee,
Sørbotten went straight to the source and began
roasting for Solberg & Hansen, a high quality
roaster in Oslo, Norway.
“I came at just the right time,” Sørbotten says, “the
company had a new quality manager who wanted
29
BY TAYLOR MAY
Sørbotten competed against the best of the best,
roasting alongside “Tim Wendleboe and the really
good roasters of the Nordic countries.” Taking home
the Nordic championship pushed him further, as he
competed in and won the 2015 world championship.
In June, Sørbotten enjoyed the company of
outstanding roasters around the world. As opposed
to focusing on the competitors, he saw the
competition as a personal opportunity to grow as
a roaster. During the event he thought to himself,
“Focus on your own thing, this is between yourself
and the coffee, not the competitors.”
Every roaster was given a single origin coffee from
Kenya, and a customized blend of Ethiopian, Chinese,
and Costa Rican coffees to roast. The competitors
were judged on three stages of quality: how well
they evaluated the grade of the coffee, development
of a roast profile that best characterized each coffee
and the final cup prior to roasting.
While Sørbotten faced familiar challenges like new
equipment and nerves, he found competing similar
to his every day job, he was simply roasting coffee
the way he knew best. “If I could do it again I would
do it exactly the same,” Sørbotten says.
“SØRBOTTEN’S SIMPLE
GOAL FOR HIS BUSINESS IS
‘TO CONSTANTLY ACHIEVE
BETTER AND BETTER TASTING
COFFEE.’”
“A roaster who can do well in such a competition, or
even a national champion, is a big resource, because
he proves he can follow good SCAE/SCAA standards
of how coffee should taste,” Sørbotten says.
2015 WORLD COFFEE ROASTING CHAMPION AUDUN
SØRBOTTEN, NORWAY. PHOTO BY YOUNGMIN LEE.
This was only the third World Coffee Roasting
Championship since its 2013 debut in Nice, France.
With many components adding to the competition,
it proves a compelling spectacle. As it grows,
Sørbotten hopes to see a larger variety of countries
enter the competition, in order to spread great
roasting standards around the world.
Sørbotten also has high hopes for his own new
business. He started Audun Coffee in December
2014, and is now roasting and sending coffee to 10
different countries. Sørbotten’s simple goal for his
business is “to constantly achieve better and better
tasting coffee.” With a world championship title on
his side, his coffee is thriving and he is making a
strong impact in the ever evolving world of coffee.
Taylor May is an enthusiastic barista, freelance writer
and blogger in Southern California.
WORLD COFFEE
ROASTING
CHAMPIONSHIP
ABOUT WCRC
2015 WORLD COFFEE ROASTING CHAMPIONSHIP
OFFICIAL RANKINGS
The World Coffee Roasting Championship debuted
this year in Nice, France. In this three-stage event,
competitors are evaluated on their performance
evaluating the quality of green coffee (coffee
grading), developing a roasting profile that best
accentuates the desirable characteristics of that
coffee, and on the ultimate cup quality of coffees
roasted.
1 Audun Sørbotten
Audun
Coffee
NORWAY 193.35
2 Joanna Alm
Drop
Coffee
SWEDEN 186.4
3 Min Keun ChoI
Coffee
HOW’S
Company
KOREA
185.45
4 Çağatay Gülabioğlu
Probador
Colectiva
TURKEY
183.25
5 Shih-Hsien Lo
Alton
Coffee
TAIWAN
182.85
6 Rubens Gardelli
Gardelli
Specialty
Coffees
ITALY
182.55
7 Aleksandr Shevkunov Travelers
Coffee
RUSSIA
182.4
8 Alexandru Niculaie
Hotspot
Coffee
Roastery
ROMANIA 180.25
9 Takaomi Eguchi
Tokado
Coffee
JAPAN
10 Nicolas Martinez
Demetrio
Café
MEXICO
Solemnus
2015 WORLD COFFEE ROASTING CHAMPION AUDUN
SØRBOTTEN, NORWAY. PHOTO BY YOUNGMIN LEE.
173.93
172.7
AN INTERVIEW WITH
JUAN GABRIEL CESPEDES
WORLD
CUP TASTERS
CHAMPIONSHIP
BY SØREN STILLER
TRANSLATION BY TOMÁS
QUESADA-ALPÍZAR
2015 WORLD CUP TASTERS CHAMPION JUAN GABRIEL CESPEDES.
PHOTO BY ANNA BRONES, SPRUDGE.COM .
AS A BARISTA AND COFFEE ROASTER, MY
BIGGEST HONOR TO DATE HAS BEEN BEING
ASKED TO ROAST THE COFFEES FOR THE
2015 WORLD CUP TASTERS CHAMPIONSHIP.
KNOWING THAT 36 HIGHLY-SKILLED COFFEE
PEOPLE WOULD BE SHOWING THEIR VERY BEST
ON THE WORLD STAGE—WELL, YOU DON’T WANT
TO MAKE A MISTAKE, BECAUSE FROM MY PAST
COMPETITION EXPERIENCE I UNDERSTOOD
EXACTLY HOW MUCH IS AT STAKE. KEEPING THIS
IN MIND HELPED THE FANTASTIC BACKSTAGE
CREW TO DO THEIR BEST IN SETTING UP ALL THE
TRIANGULATIONS.
Based on my experience in the three world
championships that I have participated in, the first
round has always been the most difficult for me.
This is not only because of the coffees in each
triangulation but also because the pressure on all
competitors to make it to the second round, and not
staying behind in the first one.
In preparation for the event, 20 different coffees
were roasted at GreatCoffee in Aarhus, Denmark
and then transported by car to Gothenburg. With
only 5 kilos of each coffee, there was no room for
mistakes. After a day dedicated to roasting for
each coffee we then spent a full day of cupping,
putting the right cups together from easiest to
most difficult for competition rounds one through
four. The coffees were fantastic and tasted really
good! With 20 Technivorm brewers and a host of
volunteers backstage, the competition ran smoothly
and we were all in ecstasy when each time a barista
selected a cup, whether right or wrong.
The third round is as difficult as the previous ones,
but in this one the capacity to deal with nerves and
pressure is crucial, since you know that you are just
one step closer to the big final that every competitor
has dreamt about.
I spoke with 2015 WCTC champion, Juan Gabriel
Cespedes of Costa Rica, to catch up after the
competition and get his take on how it ran.
Søren: I am very keen to know what you think of the
difficulties of the level from 1 round to the final round?
Juan: Once the competition starts and as you move
through the upper rounds, the coffees become very
similar which makes triangulating difficult. You
have to be extremely focused in order to identify any
kind of difference between them.
33
In the second round the coffees start tasting very
similar, so staying focused becomes extremely
important given that the public starts cheering for
you, and it can become a little distracting if one does
not know how to handle it.
“THE TASTE OF SOME OF
THE COFFEES WAS UNIQUE,
SPECIAL, AND EXOTIC...
IT WAS VERY SURPRISING
TO COME ACROSS SOME
OF THESE EXOTIC COFFEE
FLAVORS.”
At the big final, I always thought that if I had made
to the last stage it was because I had overcome
the most difficult part of the competition, and that
me and the other three competitors were similarly
capable of winning the cup.
I also want to mention that last September I won
for a fourth time in a row the National Cup Tasters
Championship, therefore I will be defending my title
in Shanghai, China, next year.
ABOUT WCTC
THE WORLD CUP TASTERS CHAMPIONSHIP
AWARDS THE PROFESSIONAL COFFEE CUPPER
WHO DEMONSTRATES SPEED, SKILL, AND
ACCURACY IN DISTINGUISHING THE TASTE
DIFFERENCES IN SPECIALTY COFFEES.
Søren: Considering the coffees together, how did you
find the coffees and the taste?
EVENT STRUCTURE
Coffees of the world have many distinct taste
characteristics and in this competition format the
objective is for the cupper to discriminate between
the different coffees. Three cups are placed in a
triangle, with two cups being identical coffees and
one cup being a different coffee. Using skills of
smell, taste, attention and experience, the cupper
will identify the odd cup in the triangle as quickly
as they can. A total of eight triangles are placed
in each round. The top eight competitors with
the most correct answers and the fastest time
proceed to the next Semi-Finals round. Then the
top four will compete again in the Finals round to
determine the next World Cup Tasters Champion.
Juan: For me the coffees were extraordinary, and
the origin of the coffee were well represented in
each triangulation. In a few words, these were
coffees suited to the world level of the Cup Tasters
Championship.
The taste of some of the coffees was unique, special,
and exotic. Even for me, coming from Costa Rica, it
was very surprising to come across some of these
exotic coffee flavors.
Congratulations again to Juan on his 2015 World
Coffee Tasting Championship win, and we look
forward to seeing him again on the world stage in
Shanghai!
2015 WORLD CUP TASTERS FINALISTS.
PHOTO BY ANNA BRONES, SPRUDGE.COM.
2015 WORLD CUP TASTERS CHAMPION
JUAN GABRIEL CESPEDES. PHOTO BY
ANNA BRONES, SPRUDGE.COM .
September/October 2015
July/August
May/June 2015
CONNECTED
COFFEE of Things
Internet
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industry
meets the coffee
CHANGING
THE CHAINS
hitters are
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CASTILL
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REINVENTING TH
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CONQUERIN
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WORLD
CUP TASTERS
CHAMPIONSHIP
2015 WORLD CUP TASTERS CHAMPIONSHIP OFFICIAL RESULTS
FINAL ROUND:
RANK NAME
COMPANY
COUNTRY
#
TIME
1
JUAN GABRIEL CESPEDES ECOMTRADING COSTA RICA
2
MATEUSZ PETLINSKI
WOYTON ROAST INC.
3
YOERI JOOSTEN
BOOT KOFFIE
4
KRISSE MCGREGOR
COFFEE LAB
SEMIFINAL ROUND:
COSTA RICA
GERMANY
THE NETHERLANDS
NEW ZEALAND
8
7
6
6
7:14
4:32
4:10
4:54
RANK NAME
COMPANY
1
JUAN GABRIEL CESPEDES ECOMTRADING COSTA RICA
2
MATEUSZ PETLINSKI
WOYTON ROAST INC.
3
KRISSE MCGREGOR
COFFEE LAB
4
YOERI JOOSTEN
BOOT KOFFIE
5
PIOTR SOWA
RELAKS
6
TERUKIYO TAHARA
COFFEE RANKAN
7
JAN RICHTER LORENTZEN KAFFEMISJONEN AS
8
JORGE DE LEON
CASTELLCAFE/AXIOM COFFEE
VENTURES
QUARTERFINAL ROUND:
COUNTRY
COSTA RICA
GERMANY
NEW ZEALAND
THE NETHERLANDS
POLAND
JAPAN
NORWAY
GUATEMALA
#
TIME
7:37
3:59
4:26
6:14
3:11
4:58
3:25
6:48
RANK
NAME
COUNTRY
#
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
JUAN GABRIEL CESPEDES
JAN RICHTER LORENTZEN
MATEUSZ PETLINSKI
TERUKIYO TAHARA
PIOTR SOWA
JORGE DE LEON
KRISSE MCGREGOR
YOERI JOOSTEN
ANGELICA ARROYAVE
JOHAN MONTEZA
ZHANG ZHEBIN
PEI-SHAO CHANG
VLADIMIR NENASHEV
MARIUS NICA
ZUZANA ČERNÁ
SEIVIJUS MATIEJUNAS
TERRY TSE
COSTA RICA
NORWAY
GERMANY
JAPAN
POLAND
GUATEMALA
NEW ZEALAND
THE NETHERLANDS
COLOMBIA
PERU
CHINA
TAIWAN
RUSSIA
ROMANIA
CZECH REPUBLIC
IRELAND
HONG KONG
8
7
7
7
7
7
6
6
6
5
5
5
5
4
4
3
3
RANK
NAME
COUNTRY
#
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
16
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
ZHANG ZHEBIN
YOERI JOOSTEN
ZUZANA ČERNÁ
JORGE DE LEON
PIOTR SOWA
SEIVIJUS MATIEJUNAS
KRISSE MCGREGOR
MARIUS NICA
ANGELICA ARROYAVE
JUAN GABRIEL CESPEDES
PEI-SHAO CHANG
TERRY TSE
VLADIMIR NENASHEV
JAN RICHTER LORENTZEN
TERUKIYO TAHARA
MATEUSZ PETLINSKI
JOHAN MONTEZA
MARKUS VESTERGAARD
MATHIAS BÜHLER
ZAFIRIS MAVROS
PETER CSERKÓ
ANDREW TOLLEY
ALESSANDRO GHIZZARDI
DONOVAN MCLAGAN
YEONJUNG LEE
EDIMILSON GENEROSO
OTNIEL CHRISTOFER
CHRISTOPHE RUBINO
ARNAS URBANAVIČIUS
BRENDA KEMIGISHA
JAMES TOOILL
MARISA BAQUE DELAS
HYUNSUK KO
BART VAN SANDEN
PANU REINIKAINEN
TOBIAS RADINGER
CHINA
THE NETHERLANDS
CZECH REPUBLIC
GUATEMALA
POLAND
IRELAND
NEW ZEALAND
ROMANIA
COLOMBIA
COSTA RICA
TAIWAN
HONG KONG
RUSSIA
NORWAY
JAPAN
GERMANY
PERU
SWEDEN
SWITZERLAND
GREECE
SLOVAKIA
UK
ITALY
SOUTH AFRICA
SOUTH KOREA
BRAZIL
INDONESIA
FRANCE
LITHUANIA
UGANDA
USA
SPAIN
AUSTRALIA
BELGIUM
FINLAND
AUSTRIA
8
8
8
8
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
5
5
5
5
5
5
4
4
4
4
3
3
3
FIRST ROUND:
CORRECT TIME
7:35
2:38
3:00
6:04
6:06
6:48
5:35
7:09
7:36
2:18
5:05
5:56
6:11
6:35
7:57
4:45
6:15
CORRECT TIME
2:44
4:26
6:32
7:26
3:46
3:59
4:16
5:21
6:18
6:23
6:44
7:13
7:21
3:02
3:11
3:50
3:50
4:44
5:39
6:41
7:19
7:38
7:47
3:12
3:24
3:52
5:54
7:17
7:36
3:25
4:33
5:27
6:59
4:17
4:21
7:27
CORRECT
CORRECT
8
7
7
7
6
5
4
3
BEST PERFORMING
NATION: AUSTRALIA
PHOTO BY LACHLAN FEARNLEY.
EACH YEAR, WCE REVIEWS ALL THE
COMPETITION RANKINGS TO DETERMINE THE
YEAR’S BEST PERFORMING NATION, WITH THE
AWARD GOING TO THE LICENSED NATIONAL
BODY THAT ACCUMULATES THE MOST POINTS
IN THE WCE CHAMPIONSHIPS.
All licensed national bodies are awarded points
on a descending scale from first place (six points)
through sixth place (one point) for every finalists
that places in one of the 2015 world championships.
This year was a heated race, with two countries
with equal points in first place. As a tiebreaker
to determine first place, competitions with more
competitors were weighed more heavily and a
clear winner emerged…
WORLD COFFEE EVENTS IS
PLEASED TO PRESENT THE
BEST PERFORMING NATION OF
2015: AUSTRALIA!
Demonstrating exceptional participation and
performance with a total of 12 points, this is
WCE STAFF
Australia’s first time to claim the title of WCE Best
Performing Nation!
• World Barista Championship:
Sasa Sestic – 1st Place (6 points)
• World Latte Art Championship:
Caleb Cha – 1st Place (6 points)
Fighting off stiff competition, Australia claimed the
top spot in both the World Barista Championship
and World Latte Art Championship in 2015. At WBC
in Seattle, Sasa Sestic wowed the audience with his
chosen coffee containing the Sudan Rune varietal
as well as demonstrating the carbonic maceration
process. In Gothenburg, Caleb Cha kept the
audience on their toes with pours entitled ‘Flirting
Peacock’, ‘Love Triangle’ and ‘Caffeinated Zebra’.
Congratulations to the Australian National Body,
this year’s talented competitors, and to the entire
Australian coffee community!
Final Best Perfoming Nation Rankings
• 1st – Australia
(12 points) [weighted - 84]
• 2nd – Norway
(12 points) [weighted - 38]
• 3rd – Greece
(11 points)
FOR MORE INFORMATION
ON THE AUSTRALIAN
NATIONAL BODY, AUSTRALIAN
SPECIALTY COFFEE
ASSOCIATION SEE WWW.
AASCA.COM
2015 WLAC CHAMPION CALEB CHA.
PHOTO BY KATE BEARD.
37
2015 WORLD BARISTA CHAMPION
SASA SESTIC. PHOTO BY KATE BEARD.
RE:CO RECAP
PHOTO BY EILEEN KENNY.
SPEAKER PANEL WITH MICHAEL SHERIDAN, CHARLES SPENCE, ISABELLE
LEGERON AND CHAHAN YERETZIAN, LED BY STEPHEN MORRISSEY .
PHOTO BY EILEEN KENNY.
BY PETER GIULIANO
PREPARING FOR SENSORY EXPERIENCE . PHOTO BY
EILEEN KENNY.
SR. DIRECTOR OF SCAA SYMPOSIUM
RE:CO SESSION HOST, THOMAS
KOZIOROWSKI. PHOTO BY EILEEN KENNY.
THE IDEAL OF SPECIALTY COFFEE IS THAT WE
CAN BUILD A COMMERCE ON A SIMPLE CONCEPT
- THAT COFFEE CAN BE, AND SHOULD BE,
DELICIOUS, COMPELLING, AND SPECIAL. IN THE
45 YEARS SINCE THE CONCEPT OF ‘SPECIALTY
COFFEE’ FIRST EMERGED, THE INDUSTRY HAS
GROWN INTO AN INTERNATIONAL MOVEMENTTRANSFORMING HOW COFFEE IS CONSUMED
EVERYWHERE
IN
THE
WORLD.
WE’VE
EXPERIENCED UNPARALLELED SUCCESS- BUT
WE ALSO FACE UNIQUE CHALLENGES: IS THE
SUPPLY OF SPECIALTY COFFEE SECURE? HOW
ARE COFFEE DRINKING PATTERNS CHANGING?
WHAT IS THE STATE OF THE ART IN COFFEE
SCIENCE, AND FLAVOR PERCEPTION? HOW CAN
WE WORK TOGETHER TO CHANGE THE FUTURE
OF SPECIALTY COFFEE FOR THE BETTER?
The Specialty Coffee Associations of the world
have long been dedicated to addressing these
challenges within their own communities, by
engaging their leaderships, connecting their
members, and driving research and development
in coffee. In 2013, WCE began a project with a lofty
aim: to build a network of events with the intention
of engaging thought leaders in coffee at the global
level, distributing critical research and insights in
an environment of connection and collaboration.
Building on the success of such projects as the
SCAA Symposium, SCAE’s World of Coffee event,
and the Specialty Coffee Association of New
Zealand’s annual symposium, we assembled a
group of coffee leaders under the banner of WCE
to design this new, paradigm-busting event.
The result was the Re:co Symposium. An
abbreviation of “Regarding Coffee”, Re:co is
committed to high-level discussion, leading
innovation and strategy development for those
passionate and influential in the world of specialty
coffee. To achieve this, we’ve designed an event
based on compelling talks, unparalleled researchsharing, and sensory experience that is absolutely
unique in the specialty coffee industry. We knew
38
it was critical to settle for nothing less than to be
the highest-quality coffee leadership event in the
world, and so we aimed high, seeking to achieve
nothing less than the transformation of the
specialty coffee industry.
SPEAKER MICHAEL SHERIDAN
.PHOTO BY EILEEN KENNY.
The world’s first Re:co Symposium took place in
Gothenburg, Sweden, in the days just before the
SCAE’s World of Coffee show. 133 coffee thought
leaders from Europe, the United States, Latin
America, Asia, and Africa gathered together to
listen to talks from fourteen experts, discuss the
future of coffee, build networks, and plan. Topics
ranged from emerging markets for coffee, to the
state of the market, to new scientific research,
to our relationship with wine. The result was
compelling, and though many people came for the
speakers, they reported that the actual best part
of the experience was the opportunity to interact
with their fellow thought leaders in coffee. As one
attendee remarked: “The opportunities throughout
the two days to network and talk to both new and
experienced people in the coffee industry was
remarkable.”
Following the success of the Gothenburg Re:co
Symposium, our second Re:co happened in
Join us for our
upcoming 2016
events!
13-14 April
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, USA
Hosted by SCAA
21-22 June
DUBLIN, IRELAND
Held immediately prior to
the SCAA World of Coffee
Auckland, New Zealand. Created in concert with
the New Zealand Specialty Coffee Association, the
event gathered 58 Kiwi coffee leaders together to
contemplate the future of coffee from the unique
perspective of New Zealand. Experimenting
with different formats like the first-ever Re:co
Symposium debate, the Auckland event took Re:co
in a new, compelling direction.
In 2016, we will debut Re:co Symposium in the
United States, at the Specialty Coffee Association
of America show in Atlanta. We expect more than
400 delegates, a full roster of compelling speakers
and conversations, and even more connections and
research. In June, Re:co Symposium will return to
Europe - again in concert with the World of Coffee
event in Dublin, Ireland.
But Re:co’s mission to transform the future of
coffee does not stop at our events. WCE hosts a
Re:co Symposium YouTube channel, where talks
from Re:co events are posted for the benefit of
attendees and the coffee community at large.
In this way, we seek to continue to broaden the
influence of the leaders who engage in Re:co, and
help them make the future of Specialty Coffee
ever-brighter.
READY, SET,
RE:VERB
REVERB SPEAKERS ASLI YAMAN & MICHAEL SALVATORE, & WCE STAFF MEMBER
AMY BALL ON A BRAZILIAN COFFEE FARM.
BY AMY BALL
WCE STAFF
EMCEE JEFF FENG TALKS TO SPEAKER DARRIN DANIEL ONSTAGE AT RE:VERB
GUANGZHOU. PHOTO BY KYONGHEE SHIN.
WORLD
COFFEE
EVENTS’
NEWEST
INTERNATIONAL PROGRAM, RE:VERB, WAS
LAUNCHED IN SEPTEMBER, 2015 IN BELO
HORIZONTE, BRAZIL. RE:VERB IS A PROGRAM
THAT BLENDS SPEAKERS, MEDIA, AND OTHER
CONTENT SPECIFICALLY DEVELOPED FOR EACH
LOCATION INTO A ONE-DAY EVENT, CREATED TO
INSPIRE THE SPECIALTY COFFEE COMMUNITY.
“It was an honor for us to have hosted the first
Re:Verb in the world during the International
Coffee Week in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. We received
very positive feedback from attendees about the
content, especially the relationship between coffee
and design…Re:Verb Belo Horizonte was an unique
opportunity to know more about the international
coffee market and to exchange new ideas with high
level speakers!” remarked Caio Alonso Fontes,
Director of International Coffee Week, Brazil
By focusing on individual stories of challenge
and success, and incorporating media and films
produced by WCE, Re:verb offers a unique way
to explore current trends and themes with the
specialty coffee industry.
An offshoot of the longer, two-day program that
Re:co offers, Re:verb is designed to keep its focus
on issues pertinent to the country in which it is
located, and with a spotlight on individuals who
help define and shape our community, directly or
indirectly.
Below is the list of the content which debuted at
Re:verb programs in 2015. The locations of the
events were Belo Horizonte, Brazil; Seoul, Korea;
and Guangzhou, China.
• A Coffee Buyer’s Journey: Sustainability and Its
Discontents—Darrin Daniels
• The Art of Wholesale in Speciality Coffee—Damon
Chen
• Barista 2.0 & The Third Wave Coffee Shop—
Francesco Sanapo
• Branding and the Moment of Hospitality—Alex
Bernson
• Building a Coffee Community—Cory Andreen
• Building a Specialty Coffee Community: A BoundaryBreaker’s Story—Asli Yaman
• Climate Change and the Coffee Plant—Emma Sage
• Connecting with Your Customers in an Effortless Way
(Is Really Hard Work)—Klye Glanville
• Cutting Through the Coffee Noise: How to Create
a Relevant and Unique Brand that Lasts—Stephen
Morrissey
• Dependency Issues: Why Direct- and Fair-Trade
Models Rely on Each Other—Colleen Anunu
• The Future of Café Design—Ben Kaminsky
• Recent Snapshots from Origin—Stephen Vick
• The Right Space for Coffee Isn’t Always a Coffee
Shop—Michael Salvatore
• Ten Coffee Myths, Busted!—Matt Perger
• Why We Should Not Try to Please the Consumer—
Isabela Raposeiras
40
“RE:VERB OFFERS A UNIQUE
WAY TO EXPLORE CURRENT
TRENDS AND THEMES WITH
THE SPECIALTY COFFEE
INDUSTRY.”
SPEAKER STEPHEN MORRISSEY AT
RE:VERB BELO HORIZONTE. PHOTO BY
KYONGHEE SHIN.
JEFF FENG & DAMON CHEN AT RE:VERB
GUANGZHOU. PHOTO BY KYONGHEE SHIN.
SPEAKER FRANCESCO SANAPO AT RE:VERB
GUANGZHOU. PHOTO BY KYONGHEE SHIN.
SPEAKER ASLI YAMAN, CUPPING
BRAZILIAN COFFEE. RE:VERB BELO
HORIZONTE. PHOTO BY AMY BALL.
Re:verb was also the platform to launch WCE’s first
independently produced film, WCE’s Film About
Design, which was well-received and lauded for its
excellent production values and beautiful footage
wherever it was screened. The film explores the
concept that current design trends in specialty
cafes are fundamentally Scandinavian, and dives
into this concept by taking a closer look at some
notable cafes in Copenhagen, including Atelier
September and the Coffee Collective.
Media Specialist Nathan Slabaugh has been
leading the charge to develop new concepts for
WCE-produced films in 2016, and is excited for
“an amazing year of new content, developed and
produced from the creative minds of WCE.”
A YEAR OF
ALL-STARS
WCE STAFF
ALL-STARS BEIJING - PETER LICATA, GIACOMO VANNELLI, JONG HOON LEE, BERG WU, CHRISTOS LOUKAKIS, JEREMY ZHANG. PHOTO
BY IRENE BERETTA.
“I LOVED THE ENGAGEMENT AROUND THE
CUPPING DEMOS WE DID… I HAD A BLAST
PARTICIPATING!”
AMANDA JURIS
ALL STARS KOREA
WORLD COFFEE EVENTS FEATURE ACTIVITES
“WBC ALL-STARS” AND “WCE ALL-STARS” WERE
ESTABLISHED IN 2013. SINCE THEN, THE EVENT
HAS CIRCLED THE GLOBE FOR 10 SEPARATE
EDITIONS.
At each All-Stars event, some of the world’s best
baristas were featured in activities including
mystery drink challenges, pop quizzes, on-demand
performances, meet-and-greets, and more, while
special guest hosts guided us behind the judging
table.
Enjoy this selection of photos from our 2015 AllStars events, along with quotes from some of our
baristas!
CALEB CHA DURING A MYSTERY CAPPUCCINO CHALLENGE,
ALL-STARS GUANGZHOU.PHOTO BY VERONICA CHOU.
“THE DYNAMISM AND
ENTHUSIASM OF THE PEOPLE
IN SEOUL WAS PLEASANTLY
SURPRISING...AS A BARISTA,
CONNECTING DIRECTLY WITH
THE FARMERS IN BOGOTA
WAS A GREAT OPPORTUNITY
TO SHARE AND LEARN”
BERG WU AND JONG HOON LEE AT THE ALL-STARS BEIJING
BREW BAR. PHOTO BY IRENE BERETTA.
CHARLOTTE MALAVAL
ALL STARS BOGOTA & KOREA
42
AN ALL-STAR AUDIENCE! PHOTO BY IRENE BERETTA.
BUTTONS FROM ALL STARS BEIJING. PHOTO BY IRENE BERETTA.
“I NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD BE
ABLE TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS TYPE
OF EVENT. IT WAS AN HONOR TO BE
ABLE TO REPRESENT BARISTAS AND
THE GLOBAL COFFEE COMMUNITY!”
CALEB CHA PHOTOBOMBING VICTOR
DELPIERRE AND EDIT JUHASZ.
PHOTO BY IRENE BERETTA.
BEN PUT
ALL STARS KOREA
MAXWELL COLONNA-DASHWOOD AND AMANDA JURIS AT ALL-STARS
HOST MILANO. PHOTO BY IRENE BERETTA.
SONJA GRANT AND MAXWELL
COLONNA-DASHWOOD AT ALL-STARS
HOST MILANO. PHOTO BY AMY BALL.
AMANDA JURIS AND HIDENORI IZAKI
AT ALL-STARS HOST MILANO. PHOTO
BY AMY BALL.
COFFEE FILM
FESTIVAL FUN
WCE STAFF
PHOTO BY JESSICA RODRIQUEZ.
“IT TAKES COURAGE TO SUPPORT A NEW
CONCEPT LIKE A COFFEE FILM FESTIVAL”
PETER GIULIANO
WCE ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER
WORLD COFFEE EVENTS EXCITEDLY PRESENTED
OUR FIRST SERIES OF COFFEE FILM FESTIVALS
IN 2015. DRIVEN BY COFFEE, COMMUNITY,
AND CREATIVITY, THE EVENTS FEATURED
ESTABLISHED COFFEE FILMS AND COMMUNITYCREATED SHORTS.
The two inaugural dates were open to the public
but curated for the specialty coffee lover. Guests
also found hand-brewed coffees and local treats
on site.
PHOTO BY JESSICA RODRIQUEZ.
“IT WAS AN OPPORTUNITY TO
REVEAL A LARGER PURPOSE
FOR OUR WORK. ONE THAT IS
SOMETIMES HARD TO DEFINE
WORKING DAY IN AND DAY
OUT AT A CAFÉ.”
PHOTO BY JESSICA RODRIQUEZ.
CHRISTOPHER RODGERS
ELYSIAN COFFEE ROASTERS
44
“‘IT ILLUSTRATED IN A SIMPLE WAY THE PASSION THAT IS
BEHIND SOME OF THE FACETS OF THE COFFEE INDUSTRY;
THE WORK, THE CRAFTSMANSHIP AND THE MOTION OF THE
COFFEE FROM PRODUCER TO CONSUMER.”
SØREN STILLER
FILMMAKER
“IT PROVIDES AN OPPORTUNITY TO MEET AND BOND WITH
OTHER WHO SHARE AN INTEREST IN THE COFFEE INDUSTRY…
OUTSIDE OF THE CAFÉ ENVIRONMENT.”
JESSICA RODRIQUEZ
CFF VOLUNTEER LEAD
BeanScene Magazine
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10.04.15 14:43
SEASONED
VOLUNTEERS: A Q&A
WCE STAFF
Brazil, Colombia, Ethiopia, and Kenya in the past
four months.
Q. What brought you to volunteering?
A: Firstly, because I enjoy it! Some of my most
memorable coffee experiences are from coaching
Nick Clark for WBC in Melbourne. It was an
incredible experience, and it felt like we’d been
welcomed with open arms by the coffee community
worldwide. The following year I volunteered in
Rimini and I also managed the bars in Gothenburg
this summer. It’s a great opportunity to be at face
level with the leaders of our industry.
STEVEN HALL
Q. Can you tell us about your coffee journey so
far?
A. I truly fell in love with coffee when I first started
making it in a small, but extremely busy café in
Wellington, New Zealand. From there I joined
my friends in their new roasting venture, Flight
Coffee, where I worked for three years. I’ve been
living in London for the past two years, working
in a quality focused position at Caravan Coffee
Roasters. My role as green buyer has sent me to
Q. What’s they key to working at these events?
A. Go into these situations with a plan and you
stay motivated. Communication, scheduling, and
bar flow are major factors that come into play
when preparing for TED, and as long as all of
those components are set, things tend to work out
smoothly. However, staying flexible, keeping sharp,
and having a calm & positive attitude like Amy Ball
around definitely ensures the aforementioned.
TALYA STRADER
Q. Can you tell us your origin story?
A. Since age 12, I have wanted to own a coffee shop,
and have been pursuing that dream ever since. At
this point, I have been managing coffee bars across
the US since 2001. There is something about the
physical counter at a coffee bar that enables me
to be the best version of myself and allows me to
initiate relationships in a genuine and confident
manner.
47
Q. What’s the key to volunteering at these events?
A. The key is to be patient and understanding of
different skill levels. You’ve got to be enthusiastic
and helpful with someone who’s a first time
volunteer while also engaging the more skilled
baristas. It’s so important to make sure that all
volunteers feel important and welcome!
The best advice for a volunteer is to be confident and
trust your abilities! Engage with your customer on
their experience and perfect your craft… You never
know, you might be talking to a past champion!
Q. You’ve been consistently volunteering at
events like TED for a number of years. What
keeps bringing you back?
A. I love TED and the energy that surrounds it. It’s
not only a privilege to provide some of those most
forward thinking minds with beautiful coffees, but
it’s also a huge honor to serve shoulder to shoulder
with the finest baristas in the USA.
Q. …and the biggest reward of volunteering?
A. Meeting the very talented and smart people
that gather around this event. The baristas that
volunteer are always true professionals that have
a desire to serve other industry top professionals.
Q. Do you have any celebrity moments (coffee or
other) from volunteering at TED?
A. My first TED was the most shocking, and I
was the most awestruck I have ever been when
encountering celebrities. Meg Ryan told me that
my cappuccino looked lovely, my team let me take
point on talking with Andrew Bird, I stumbled
over my words pretty embarrassingly with Natalie
Merchant, got pretty giddy when watching Paul
Simon walk about, and I was shocked by how many
soy cappuccinos John Cusack could put away.
Two years later, I found great delight in directing
Jim Carey to the best tea service I’ve seen at TED
(shout out to Rishi), and then this past year I was
truly delighted to see Jimmy Carter speak about
women in a beautiful and inspiring way.
MEET THE
WCE!
ADVISORY BOARD
Directors
Drewry Pearson (Treasurer)
David Veal (SCAE Executive Director)
Ric Rhinehart (SCAA Executive Director)
Peter Giuliano (Sr. Director of SCAA Symposium)
Advisory Members
Mike Yung (Chair)
Marcus Boni (Vice Chair)
James Shepherd (Past Chair)
Bart Deprez
Carl Sara
Dan Streetman
Lina Chiodo
Stephen Morrissey
Yoshihito Kato
STAFF
2015 was a huge year for WCE! Not only did we expand our portfolio of events,
we also had many new faces join our team!
Cindy Ludviksen
Managing Director
Durham, NC, USA
Laura Lee
Director of Business
Development
Riverside, CA, USA
Connor Clarke
Sales Administrator
Dublin, Ireland
Veronica Chou
Sales Associate
Taipei, Taiwan
Amy Ball
Events Creative Director
Los Angeles, CA, USA
Kyonghee Shin
Events Administrator
San Francisco, CA, USA
Irene Beretta
Events Coordinator
London, UK
Nathan Slabaugh
Media Specialist
Spokane, WA, USA
Shelby Paul
Re:co Event Manager
Camarillo, CA, USA
Matt Slater
International Re:co
Symposium Director
Leeds, UK
Roukiat Delrue
National Bodies Manager
Guatemala City, Guatemala
Irene Dennehy
Financial Manager
Dublin, Ireland
Amanda Constantinides
Design Coordinator
Garner, NC, USA
Jamie Jessup
Partnership Manager
London, UK
48
RELIVE THE
BEST OF 2015
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