America's top baristas teach you how to make a perfect cup of coffee!

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For Lyme Butler, coffee is not just coffee, a small cup of Italian concentrate can unite the whole world.

Butler, winner of the 2016 US baristas Championship, traces the origins of his favorite drink: from the farmers who grow coffee, to the companies that roast coffee beans, to his successful students.

"it's a simple recipe for coffee and water, but it's also a recipe that can be made well," Butler said. "but usually, it's easy to screw up." His goal is to teach people to make coffee correctly so that they can make it better and enjoy it. "We have to keep figuring out how long it takes to mix coffee and water before we can make coffee that is both sweet and beautiful." In a recent course, Butler told baristas who learned the basics of Italian concentration.

Inheritance

Currently, the best barista in the United States trains baristas for wholesale customers at the headquarters of counter Culture Coffee (Counter Culture Coffee) and roasting in Durham, North Carolina. (the company has 11 training centers across the United States, with two more planned. )

After tasting five cups of coffee, he began to talk to his students about the elements of making a perfect cup of coffee, including the origin of coffee, the ratio of coffee to water, the amount of coffee and other factors. "the details can be seen in the real chapter. If you grasp the proportion of the formula, the final product will be very delicious." Some baristas take junior and advanced courses before opening their own cafes, while some clients send new employees here to learn more skills.

Learning from the American barista champion is stressful, but Brett Smith, the company's co-founder and president, says Butler's approachability will ease the pressure. "he has this charm, his way of doing things, you don't feel that he has the slightest arrogance," Smith said. "the most important thing is that he is very good at competition, but he doesn't think he is a threat to others. He will make you feel comfortable. "

Although he knows that his product is good, of course it is necessary, he is still very "easygoing and graceful", which is a special point that Smith added.

A barista from scratch

Intermediate espresso basic teaching photo source: CNN

As a music and political science graduate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), Butler never thought he would pursue a career as a barista for more than a year. After years of band touring and DJ work, he applied for a job as a barista in a cafe in UNC without knowing anything about coffee.

In 2004, when a friend asked him to be a member of a group of relatives and friends in the regional baristas competition, he gladly went. "I was obsessed with Iron Man Cuisine at that time," he said. "when I walked into the center, I saw three TV stations and an espresso machine."

"there is a host at the scene, there are people everywhere, they are enjoying coffee, I have to integrate into the competition." He said.

When he took part in the competition the next year, he was almost at the bottom of the ranking. "it made me realize that I didn't understand my role as a coffee worker. I hope to learn as much as possible how to be a barista. I came to the counter culture and began to learn courses like this. " That's the course he's teaching right now.

"I have learned a lot about coffee."

The following year, he won the championship of the regional competition. His boss gave him more opportunities to train his staff and finally got a job related to counter culture. Ten years ago, the company put him in charge of wholesale customer service.

Award-winning works pay homage to the Rangers Choir Outkast

Butler's award-winning coffee "SouthernPlayalisticCadillacCoffee" Photo Source: CNN

After winning the Southeast Division championship five times, Butler won the national championship in Atlanta in 2016 with his southern signature drink, SouthernPlayalisticCadillacCoffee.

The inspiration for this work comes from his southern roots and the 1994 Outkast album Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, which made him fall in love with southern hip-hop. His recipe is amazing: frozen Finca Nuguo espresso with magnolia syrup and hibiscus, mixed in a cream foamer and nitrous oxide, and served in a beer mug brushed with lemongrass.

Lemongrass doesn't make the drink sour, but it increases its acidity and "makes your taste feel like there's a wonderful lemon in it," he explained.

Butler will not be complacent about the reputation of a champion. Now he is trying to use his experience to teach baristas who are expected to be the next champion. In this competition, Butler is Shane Hess's mentor to help him improve his work. Hess is the general manager of Jubala Coffee, a cafe located in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, and a wholesale customer of counter culture.

As Butler did before him, Hess created his own signature drink as part of his 15-minute public display at the Seattle race. Each contestant needs to create three drinks for the four judges to taste, namely, espresso drinks, milk drinks and free-play signature works.

The judges judge the contestants according to their taste, skill, expressiveness and even the degree of waste of food. Hess made it to the semifinals. Hess said it was not just Butler's kindness and teaching skills that made him stand out, but also his taste. "every time we make coffee together, he describes what it tastes like after tasting it," Hess said. "being able to accurately describe your drink to the judges accounts for a large proportion of the score."

The development trend of coffee

Butler visits coffee farms in Panama to learn more about coffee producing areas Photo: CNN

In the cafe, customers drink regular coffee every day, and most espresso is mixed with milk, masking the original aroma of roasted coffee. But gradually, customers want to know more, and Butler believes this is due to Starbucks' activities.

"A lot of people thought Starbucks was bad, but Starbucks started it," Butler said. "they began to unveil the mystery of coffee. They disclose the origin of their coffee, announce the way they bake coffee, and provide customers with good service and experience. " Now that customers seem to be more concerned about the origin of coffee, Butler is happy to provide information about the origin of coffee around the world.

"the coffee we are drinking now comes from the southern hemisphere, such as South America, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi and Papua New Guinea," Butler said. "

"when spring comes, the coffee will disappear, and coffee from the Northern Hemisphere will be available, such as Central America and Ethiopia. These coffees will be supplied from spring to early autumn, and then until winter is the world of coffee in the southern hemisphere. "

Customers are no longer concerned about the place of origin. Now they focus on single-source coffee and trade activities that benefit farmers, who don't even drink coffee from their own farms.

'The cafes and customers want to know what the farmers did and how they did it,'he said. "is the price of coffee we give these farmers sustainable? They want to know that, "Butler said." in fact, that's what we're trying to do. the prices we give coffee farmers are amazingly sustainable to make sure they can continue to produce high-quality coffee. "

A trip to the producing area of coffee

Make coffee for Brazilian coffee growers. Photo: CNN

After winning the national championship and finishing fourth at the World barista Championships in June, Butler had more opportunities to visit the coffee producing areas. In July last year, he and other top American baristas, winemakers and roasters from the United States went on a coffee-producing trip to Brazil to make coffee for local coffee farmers who had never drunk finished coffee.

We set up a table and "put it in the coffee plantation and brought a roaster and an espresso machine," he said. "We roasted coffee beans and made coffee for coffee pickers and coffee farmers. We also had a latte art competition, and these Brazilian farmers were the judges of the competition. "

When farmers and coffee practitioners increased communication, although farmers rarely went to the United States, they also learned how Butler and other coffee practitioners treat coffee. "A lot of coffee farmers don't drink their coffee," he said. "for them, it's a cash crop for export. Once all the coffee beans were exported, they began to replant and harvest again and again, but they did not try the coffee made from the coffee beans they exported. " This means that they do not always know the difference between picking well-cooked coffee beans and coffee beans that have not yet been fully eaten.

"it's great to find this and have an one-on-one relationship with a coffee farmer," he said. " There are more than 2,000 kinds of coffee in Ethiopia, which is a place of pilgrimage for coffee practitioners. In February, when the coffee flowers were in full bloom, Butler came here. Coffee blossoms look like cherry blossoms instead of peas, and they don't ripen at the same time. "when I came to Ethiopia, I felt like I was in a forest, and it was a natural forest, and coffee was growing in the wild," Butler said. "it was the season for coffee to blossom, and the flowers smelled and bent the branches. It's so beautiful. "

Photo Source: CNN

The coffee itself and its cohesion deeply attracted Butler and made him willing to teach.

"I don't think perfect baristas exist, but as long as we work hard and set goals, everything is fascinating in the process of pursuing perfection."