Sharing the experience of participating in the World Coffee pull Competition

In 2015, as the coach of Byron Kit, I took part in the World Coffee draw Competition for the first time. For beginners, what preparations do you need to be prepared to compete with the big names?

Contestants: Byron Kit

After the game, I asked Byron some insights about participating in the competition, and here's his answer:

As the champion of South Africa, I not only want to win honor for my country, but also want to enjoy and express my love of coffee through this competition platform. So I made a lot of preparations, decided what I was going to pull, and then kept practicing and practicing.

In the past three months, I have used 10 kilograms of coffee beans and practiced more than 1000 cups of flowers. The competition is a difficult process, but also carries a lot of joy, I also learned a lot from other baristas from all over the world.

Coach: Sean Opias

I have been engaged in training in the coffee industry for many years. I am also a regional and national barista, referee and coach of coffee pull competitions. Over the past three years, I have witnessed the great development of local coffee culture, and more and more cafes have begun to attach importance to coffee flowers sweeping the world.

What preparations do you need to make for the competition?

In the preliminary round, you need to first make a flower for the photographer to take pictures, and the referee will score according to the photo. During the competition, you need to do a regular pull and a creative pull, and if you pass the final round, you also need to make a macchiato.

Conventional flower drawing requires you to pull the pattern out of the cup completely with your bare hands, while creative flower drawing requires you to use your imagination as much as you can. You can use a carving needle to carve flowers on it, or you can add some foam to the cup to paint. For each flower, you need to make the same two cups within eight minutes, and make sure the pattern is consistent with the photo you provided to the referee in advance.

What experience do you have?

The World Coffee pull Art Competition is very professional, requiring both skill and strategy, and when your competitors are talented masters, you need to find a winning point. There are more than 400 technical points and standards in total, and the whole competition will be nerve-racking for you. In order to finish the flower drawing efficiently and creatively, Byron spent a lot of time practicing.

Byron didn't make it to the final round, but we are quite satisfied with his current results. This competition has given us a lot of confidence and made us more passionate about coffee. We have really done our best and learned a lot of valuable experience.

The experience learned

During the preparation period we reviewed the 13 and 14 years of the game, but the 15-year standard has increased a lot. experience? No matter how you prepare, it is worth constantly improving. Some people adopt the strategy of "less is more", hoping to keep it as simple as possible, which may be right in design, but for the game, in the eyes of the referee, more complex is the best.

As a coach, I have three main suggestions:

1. Creativity, to create your own unique pattern of flower drawing.

two。 Calm down and stay focused, but don't forget to enjoy the game.

3. Confident, you have the strength to stand on such a world stage, so believe in yourself.

I have been following the flower-drawing competition for many years, and the enthusiastic contestants have repeatedly broken through the limitations of their own creativity, not only completing some seemingly impossible designs, but also making them look easier. It is particularly exciting to think that we have the ability to create such a beautiful native art. you can also pull out beautiful patterns with only time, experience and energy.