We’re brewing up trouble over at the 2016 World Brewers Cup! Highlighting the craft of manually brewed filter coffee, the Brewers Cup is a competition that celebrates both skill and service excellence. Today is Round One, Day One – and nineteen Brewers Cup Champions will compete in two separate services.
There’s a compulsory service, and that’s a hush-hush brew component where brewers use water, coffee, and a grinder provided by the competition. Judges are basically blindfolded, and there’s no big presentation. It’s all about the brew. The points from this one service account for half of the total points for both the first round and the final round.
During the Open Round service, competitors from all over the world prepare and serve three individual beverages in front of a panel of judges. Watch us as we follow along with these talented brewers during their Open Round service! WATCH THE LIVESTREAM HERE!
Sprudge.com’s coverage of the 2016 World Brewers Cup Championship is made possible by Acaia. All of our Sprudge Live coverage from Dublin is supported by Urnex Brands and KitchenAid.
John Ryan Ting, A.R.C. Coffee, Singapore
Coffee: Ethiopia Shakisso from Ninety Plus – 40% Light Roast & 60% Dark Roast Blend
Brew Method: Kalita Wave
Recipe: 18g coffee to 235ml water
Benny Wong, The Cupping Room, Hong Kong
Coffee: Cerro Azul Esperanza La Granja
Brew Method: Melitta
Recipe: 12g coffee to 201ml water
Hannes Fendrich, Coffee Circle, Germany
Number of Years as a Coffee Brewer: 4
Number of Competitions Competed In: 2
Coffee: Gesha Village, Ethiopia
Brew Method: Kalita Wave
Recipe: 13.5g coffee to 235ml water
Does your routine have a theme?
Coffee and music have a lot in common
How many hours total do you think you’ve practiced for this competition? 300
Tetsu Kasuya, Coffee Factory, Japan
Number of Years as a Coffee Brewer: 3
Number of Competitions Competed In: 7
Coffee: Natural processed Gesha from Ninety Plus Gesha Estate in Panama
Brew Method: v60
Recipe: 20g coffee to 300g water
Flavor: Tropical fruit, Peach tea, Strawberry
Aroma: Tropical fruit, Peach tea, Jasmine
Body: Medium, Smooth, Silky
Does your routine have a theme? Always clean
How many hours total do you think you’ve practiced for this competition? 200+
Do you have a coach/coaches?
Yoshiharu Sakamoto. He is an owner of ACT COFFEE PLANNING.
Is there anything else you want to tell us? We’d love to learn more about you.
The Brewers Cup is so exciting! You can brew however you want!
Dane Oliver, La Cabra Coffee Roasters, Denmark
Number of Years as a Coffee Brewer: 3
Number of Competitions Competed In: 3
Coffee: Natural Lactic Processed Geisha, La Palma Y El Tucan, Colombia
Brew Method: v60 with adapted Chemex filter paper
Recipe: 6.5g coffee to 260g water, with a net yield of 229g
Does your routine have a theme?
Portraying the remarkability of Speciality Coffee and how it can serve to satisfy and challenge us
How many hours total do you think you’ve practiced for this competition?
Total hours I can’t put a number on. However I’ve been waiting to present a coffee from La Palma Y El Tucan for over a year.
Do you have a coach/coaches?
I’ve been fortunate to have the wonderful support and coaching from La Cabra on a daily bases over the past two years. However for this competition I’ve been closely working with and expertly coached by Jochem Verheijen
Is there anything else you want to tell us? We’d love to learn more about you.
I’m an Australian currently living and working in Denmark with La Cabra Coffee Roasters. I feel very fortunate to be representing Denmark and the entire coffee community.
Ryan Wibawa, PT. Sari Coffee Indonesia/Starbucks Indonesia, Indonesia
Number of Years as a Coffee Brewer: 5
Number of Competitions Competed In: 2
Coffee: I’m using the Cerro Azul Geisha from Colombia
Brew Method: v60
Recipe: 15g coffee to 220g water
Does your routine have a theme?
I’m focus on the components inside the coffee bean
How many hours total do you think you’ve practiced for this competition?
I’ve spent 5 hours a day to practicing for this competition
Do you have a coach/coaches?
His name is Mirza Luqman. He is not only a mentor/coach but he also a friend and a great motivator. So, I want to say thank you to him because without him I wouldn’t be in this competition.
Is there anything else you want to tell us? We’d love to learn more about you.
During my free time I love to travel around the city with my friends by riding my Vespa. Usually we will visit some coffee shops to create relations and friendship with others. This is also my first time competing in the World Brewers Cup, so I’m nervous yet really excited. It’s like a dream comes true for me, so I hope I can give it my best in this comp..:)
Devin Loong, Slater St Bench and The Bench Projects, Australia
Coffee: Panama Esmeralda Natural Geisha
Brew Method: V60
Recipe: 15g of coffee to 250ml of water
CHRIS Li Ning Wong, Just Want Coffee, Malaysia
Number of Years as a Coffee Brewer: 4
Number of Competitions Competed In: 2
Coffee: Panama Janson Geisha Natural
Brew Method: Gino double-walled glass dripper
Does your routine have a theme?
The focus is on the correlation between brewing water, brewing temperature and coffee
How many hours total do you think you’ve practiced for this competition? 300
Do you have a coach/coaches? My coach is my boss, Mr. Nelson Lai.
Is there anything else you want to tell us? We’d love to learn more about you.
I’m addicted to this competition. I really enjoy in it, it’s a great learning experience, and a great motivation to improve my brewing skills.
Ria Mariano-Lingad, Cerebos Gregg’s Ltd, New Zealand
Number of Years as a Coffee Brewer: I’m not a barista, I’m a food scientist working in coffee. 5 years with Cerebos now. Really privileged to be doing this!
Number of Competitions Competed In: 1
Coffee: A Geisha from the Gallardos in Finca Nuguo in Jurutungo, Renacimiento, Chiriqui, Panama
Brew Method: Steeping with paper filtration
Recipe: 19g coffee to 300g water
Flavor: sweet oranges, distinct brown sugar sweetness
Aroma: jasmine, oranges
Body: smooth as satin, light
Does your routine have a theme? Finca Nuguo, its uniqueness and people
How many hours total do you think you’ve practiced for this competition? Many many hours! Months of preparation too.
Do you have a coach/coaches? Sunday, my husband who is my #1, a very honest critic! Scott Pepler, my boss and avid supporter who is also the roaster. Rob Hulse and Ryan Mitchell, awesome guys at work who’ve embraced my endeavour and helped me a lot in training. Super generous people in the NZ coffee community – Tom Handiside, Arianna Pozzan, Hanna Teramoto, Jessica MacDonald, David Huang, Masako Yamamoto, Casey Deane, Sam Harvey, Rachel and Nick Berry who directed me in my practices, amazing people! Silvester Samonte and Daniel Humphries of Origin Coffee Network in providing heaps of material for me to work on.
Is there anything else you want to tell us? We’d love to learn more about you.
Pleased and blessed to be brewing and sharing this amazing coffee. I’m in this new realm that’s super awesome I don’t want to leave!
Eddy Righi, Caffe Pascucci, Italy
Number of Years as a Coffee Brewer: 18
Number of Competitions Competed In: 8
Coffee: A natural processed Gesha from Valle del Cauca in Colombia
Brew Method: full immersion, pourover on a v60, 10% bypass
Recipe: 22g sieved coffee to 300ml water (94°C)
4:00 immersion brew time
pourover on a V60
bypass with 25ml hot water
I’m extracting 73g per liter, 18% extraction with 1.55 TDS to be bypassed down to 1.3 TDS
Flavor: yellow raisin, peach, maple syrup
Aroma: yellow raisin, peach, rose hip
Body: smooth, syrupy with a medium high intensity
Bianca Ganea, Origo Shop, Romania
Coffee: Ethiopia Sidama Heirloom Natural
Brew Method: V60
Recipe: 16g of coffee to 250ml of water
Odd-Steinar Tøllefsen, Supreme Roastworks AS, Norway
Coffee: Ethiopia Semeon Abay
Brew Method: V60
Recipe: 20g coffee to 300ml water
Connor Bramley, Coutume Café, France
Number of Years as a Coffee Brewer: 5
Number of Competitions Competed In: 10
Coffee: I’m using the Peaberry from the Roowad Cooperative in Yemen
Brew Method: Kalita Wave
Recipe: 15g coffee, sifted to remove particles smaller than 500 microns, to 250g water (92°C)
30g bloom for :30
220g in one continuous pour to 1:30
2:25 total brew time
Does your routine have a theme?
I guess the ‘theme’ would be the amazing lengths that people go to to source coffee
How many hours total do you think you’ve practiced for this competition?
It feels uncountable, but if I had to take a guess I’d say hundreds of hours of preparation in total
Do you have a coach/coaches?
I have several coaches: my colleague, best friend, and kindred spirit Mati Touis, my sensory master Idar Ellingsen, and my moral support Steaven Marks
Is there anything else you want to tell us? We’d love to learn more about you.
I live for these competitions. Every single one I learn something new about myself and so much more about coffee. I meet so many incredible people and all being well, I have absolutely no intention of stopping any time soon.
Jailing Du, M2M Coffee, China
Coffee: Panama Ninety Plus Makers Series
Brew Method: Siphon
Recipe: 17g of coffee to 221ml of water
Osleksii Fedorovskyi, Best Friend of Barista, Ukraine
Number of Years as a Coffee Brewer: 5
Number of Competitions Competed In: 3
Coffee: Ninety Plus Gesha Estates, The Juliette
Brew Method: Kalita Wave
Recipe: 3 blooms: 50g at :30, 200g at 1:00, 50g 1:40
Does your routine have a theme? It’s mix of everything from growing to brewing
How many hours total do you think you’ve practiced for this competition?
I haven’t counted
Do you have a coach/coaches? Coffee friends from Ukraine
Mikaela Wallgren, The Coffee Collective, Finland
Number of Years as a Coffee Brewer: 5.5
Number of Competitions Competed In: 3
Coffee: From the Kieni wet mill in Kenya
Brew Method: Kalita Wave 155
Recipe: 15g coffee to 250ml water
Does your routine have a theme?
Sweetness
How many hours total do you think you’ve practiced for this competition? 60
Do you have a coach/coaches?
Chef fiancé Martin for taste and aroma notes, colleague Astrid for presentation and communication, The Coffee Collective owners and staff for watching and commenting my practice presentations and offering their help at each step!! Amazing people!
Is there anything else you want to tell us? We’d love to learn more about you.
I’m passionate about fresh vivid sweetness, consistency, Direct Trade and sustainability.
Slawek Saran, Forum, Poland
Number of Years as a Coffee Brewer: 11
Number of Competitions Competed In: 12
Coffee: Costa Rica Don Oscar, a white honey processed Catuai grown by Oscar Solis
Brew Method: Aeropress
Recipe: 17g coffee to 220ml water (96°C)
2:05 total brew time
Does your routine have a theme?
It’s about the journey with one customer who wanted to have high quality coffee at home and I am talking about tips I gave him
How many hours total do you think you’ve practiced for this competition? 30
Do you have a coach/coaches?
Ilona Przewozniczek, my partner, and Lukasz Jura, my coach
Stay tuned for more as the day progresses! The following competitors will go on later today:
Jeremy Challender, Prufrock Coffee, United Kingdom
Number of Years as a Coffee Brewer: 15
Number of Competitions Competed In: 4
Coffee: Zorro Geisha by Finca Santa Teresa in Panama
Brew Method: Full immersion in a vacuum sealed flask
Recipe: 32g coffee to 425g water
Shake flask 8 times
4:00 steep in flask
filter through 5-8um screen
Flavor: Sangria then with cooling it’s pears poached in red wine with white sugar
Aroma: Buttercups and Mirabelles with white nougat
Body: Agave syrup
Does your routine have a theme?
Taking the mask off of Zorro
How many hours total do you think you’ve practiced for this competition?
10,000!
Do you have a coach/coaches?
Gordon Howell, first generation ledge, Dalle Corte Pro and last year’s UK Brewer’s Cup Champion. Jacob Thue: Ro system fabricator. Matthew Robley-Seimonsma: Prufrock GM and UK Roasting Champion. Toby Smith: owner of FST. Gwilym Davies: 2009 World Barista Champion
Is there anything else you want to tell us? We’d love to learn more about you.
I have a degree in improvisation. Really!
Estela Cotes, Café do Moço, Brazil
Number of Years as a Coffee Brewer: 2
Number of Competitions Competed In: 1
Coffee: A black honey processed Typica cultivar called “Sumatra” from Brazil’s Red Foot Project developed by my husband Leo Moço
Brew Method: Alto Air
Recipe: 20g coffee to 250g water
Bloom 40g water for :40
3:20 total brew time
Does your routine have a theme?
It’s about the Red Foot Project and how we can transform coffee culture production in small regions using science and new paradigms.
How many hours total do you think you’ve practiced for this competition?
Over 60 hours since May
Do you have a coach/coaches?
Leo Moço, Marcia Shimosaka (QGraders), Fabio Henrique Ferreira (Notes Coffee – London)
Is there anything else you want to tell us? We’d love to learn more about you.
I graduated with a degree in Journalism and I met Leo Moço because off the Jacu Bird Coffee!! Coffee is responsible for building our family. I won the Brazilian Cup talking about women’s role in this chain, from the farm to the coffee shops. In Brazil we have many women starting to get in charge of their families’ farms to improve coffee quality and start to produce specialty grade coffee. And now I’m here at the World Brewers Cup to show how we can work together (man, woman, its doesn’t matter!) to make this market grow in our country, in a sustainable and profitable way for everybody.
And that does it for today! We’ll be back first thing tomorrow morning for another exciting day of Round One!
