WBC Competition judges talk about: the significance of holding the World Barista Competition WBC

Professional coffee knowledge exchange more coffee bean information please follow the coffee workshop (Wechat official account cafe_style)

The winner of the 2017WBC World Barista Competition has been announced! British player Dale Harris wins the championship!

At the end of the judges of the 2016 Dublin World baristas Competition (WBC), in the face of the upcoming Australian domestic baristas competitions in 2016-2017, I would like to share my experience on the importance of the World baristas Competition to the development of the global boutique coffee industry. To outsiders, the World Barista Competition has little to do with the coffee we drink on weekdays. The high-end equipment, fine coffee and advanced technology used by the contestants are almost unmatched by ordinary baristas and coffee shop operators.

So, why do we have to hold such a big competition? As the organizer of the event, WCE, a pioneer in the world coffee economy, how do they fulfill their promise of "interacting with the boutique coffee industry and constantly improving the quality of coffee products"?

With refined and relatively objective criteria, the World baristas Competition has become the benchmark for measuring coffee quality around the world. The World Barista Competition now has divisions in more than 50 countries, and its impact on the development of the boutique coffee industry mainly lies in two aspects.

◆ for countries and regions where the boutique coffee market is still in the development stage, such as the United Arab Emirates (I have visited the country many times in recent years and served as a judge of the competition), unified and systematic scoring standards can help young baristas to move forward to the top ranks in the world.

◆ for countries and regions with highly developed boutique coffee markets, such as Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom, the competition can stimulate players' sense of innovation, thus bringing the production level and service standards of boutique coffee to a new level.

At the same time, the rise of single-product coffee has aroused more and more attention to the information of coffee producing area, and the coffee supply chain has made great progress. In order to highlight the authority and professionalism of coffee production and tell the judges why coffee is so delicious, in recent years, contestants have prepared a lively and interesting story for each type of coffee, in addition to telling about the coffee itself. it also contains a lot of valuable information about growers and producers. If coffee is recognized in the competition, both the grower and his plantation will benefit. With the continuous efforts and innovation of producers, the quality of fine coffee will be improved around the world.

Of course, in order to find the best quality micro-batch coffee to win the competition, contestants will sometimes take a fancy to the same origin or even the same plantation coffee, which will greatly increase the awareness of growers and plantations, such as Aida Batle, the grower of the two-year champion coffee in 2014 and 15. In this year's competition, we found that many baristas choose the best quality coffee provided by Ninety Plus. Ninety Plus-certified micro-batch coffee is usually extremely expensive and rare on the market, but at least we can see that coffee production and processing processes are constantly improving, and it is believed that before long, the cultivation and processing of these highest quality coffee will become widespread.

In addition, in this competition, many contestants have played the banner of "the fourth wave", which aims to show consumers the origin of coffee to the maximum extent and let them understand the origin of the special taste of coffee. Compared with the previous taste description for the purpose of competition, the new wave pays more attention to the influence of coffee bean seed and processing technology on taste.

Bean seed

Dutch contestant Lex Wenneker, who entered the top six of the competition, borrowed a lot of red wine tasting and competition skills with "species" as the core. The three coffees selected by Lex come from the Las Margaritas plantation in Colombia. All three types of coffee are picked in the same season and are treated in the sun. The only difference is the beans of the three types of coffee. During the competition, Lex made hand-brewed coffee from these three types of coffee and filled them in a red wine cup in order to show the judges the very different and unique sensory feelings brought about by Sudan Rume, Geisha and Pacamara.

Nowadays, the cultivation of single and special beans is becoming more and more common. with the increasing market demand, I believe that more and more boutique coffee roasters and coffee shop operators will pay attention to and adopt this practice in the future. It can be said that the performance of Lex in the competition led a new wave of coffee with bean seed as the theme in the future.

Treatment process

Yoshikazu Iwaze, who won the runner-up in the competition, won the hearts of the judges with his "unconventional blending" of the two types of coffee. Yoshikazu grinds the two kinds of coffee to the ideal degree, and blends the two kinds of coffee with a score of more than 90 according to a certain proportion after grinding. The beans of the two types of coffee are different, and the treatment methods are not the same.

When ◆ Panama Geisha is treated with "cold fermentation", the fermentation temperature is lower, and the taste is more balanced and complex.

◆ Ethiopian coffee is "mildly fermented" at a higher temperature and for a shorter time.

These two creative processes give coffee more unique taste characteristics, enabling producers to control the final quality of coffee at will. It can be seen that Yoshikazu uses these two processing processes to make coffee taste more in line with personal preferences and needs. His approach is undoubtedly of great reference and reference value for every boutique coffee roaster and coffee shop operator. By controlling the coffee processing process, we may be able to bring consumers a new sensory experience of coffee.

In my opinion, after this competition, bean seeds and processing technology will lead the development direction of the fine coffee industry in the future, and will not only affect the consumption experience of every coffee lover, but also affect growers' understanding and technological innovation of coffee production process.

I often compare WBC with F1 cars because both lead the innovative trend of industrial development. Ordinary consumers may not know where these technological innovations come from, but technological innovation will affect the quality of life of every consumer.

We found that in this year's competition, more and more contestants began to use the OCD powder plucker created by last year's world barista champion Sasa, which even affected the scoring criteria of the judges, because more and more people began to realize the importance of plucking powder and pressing powder to the quality of coffee. Stable powder and pressing powder are equally important for daily coffee shop management, which will greatly reduce the probability of coffee diversion during production and improve the uniformity of coffee extraction. Nowadays, it is not difficult for us to see OCD in all the boutique coffee shops.

In addition to choosing the highest quality coffee, the quality of the baristas also affects the sensory feelings of the judges in the competition. We find that more and more baristas begin to pay attention to and study brewing ratio, precise brewing ratio and high-end electronic applications such as Acaia can greatly ensure the constancy of coffee quality. Acaia has become the standard weapon for many boutique baristas.

In addition, many high-end equipment we have never seen before made a stunning appearance in this year's competition. For example, Canada's Ben Putt, who won the third place, used a reflux siphon, which can reduce the carbonic acid content in siphon coffee, thus greatly improving the extraction rate and fruit acidity of the coffee.

As the main judge of the World Coffee normal University, I am deeply impressed by the importance of the competition to the boutique coffee ecology. After many world barista competitions, I deeply feel the far-reaching impact of the competition on the future development of the coffee industry. Although the competition is the epitome of boutique coffee ecology, it is undoubtedly of great significance to the innovation and innovation of the world coffee industry.

.