Things you should know #10

In this week’s issue: NZ on the big stage in Athens; When does coffee stop being coffee?; Another coffee Kickstarter.

Win the morning win the day right? Well, with your weekly dose of Things you should know in your inbox, you’re going to win the whole god damned year.

In this week’s issue: NZ on the big stage in Athens; When does coffee stop being coffee?; Another coffee Kickstarter.

2022 NZ Barista Champ Hanna Teramoto is competing this week

2022 NZ Barista Champ, Hanna Teramoto, is representing New Zealand on the big stage this week, over in Athens.

The World Coffee Championships kicks off on Wednesday. It’s a massive event that will see a new World Barista Champion crowned.

Hanna is an absolute legend of the NZ coffee scene. I was fortunate enough to taste her espresso at the competition last year, and it knocked my socks off.

The action is going to be streamed live, so keep an eye on the World Coffee Championships website to watch Hanna live!

Hanna will be on at around 11:30pm on Wednesday night (NZ time).

Good luck Hanna!

2022 Cup Tasters Champion Ewan Kim is also competing in Greece!

We also have a competitor in the Cup Tasting champs - Ewan Kim.

What is cup tasting?

The World Cup Tasters Championship awards the professional coffee cupper who demonstrates speed, skill, and accuracy in distinguishing the taste differences in specialty coffees.

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 2 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 8 triangles are placed in each round. The top 8 competitors with the most correct answers and the fastest time proceed to the next Semi-Finals round. Then the top 4 will compete again in the Finals round to determine the next World Cup Tasters Champion.

Ewan will be on at 7:00pm NZT on Thursday night. Lesh go Ewan!

Sprudge: The Truth About Fruit Infused Coffee

Last month I purchased a bag of an insane Colombian coffee that had gone through a grape/tartaric acid fermentation. The result of that process was a coffee with heavy grape on the nose, and grape hubba bubba in the cup. It was bonkers.

I shared some with TMR contributor Matty T (not to be confused with Matty S), and we asked ourselves ‘with these crazy new methods, when does coffee stop being coffee?’

Well, it was like Sprudge was listening to our conversation, because they pondered the same thing.

It was like they stealing thoughts directly from our brains, as they noted:

“Some people get excited reading about these sorts of flavor possibilities, but others find infused coffee in this style to be fundamentally, diametrically opposed to what they love about coffee in the first place.”

That’s what we said!

They went on to say:

“If the [infusion] process can be done well, it can increase the cup score of poorly harvested coffee,” says Karla Boza. “This can help me elevate my coffee despite setbacks I have no control over.” In this statement you can find both the challenge and the promise of infused coffee in equal measure: what some look to as an opportunity to elevate a coffee that might score poorly, others view as a disingenuous means to cover up flaws; many who work in specialty coffee would welcome the opportunity for producers to make the very most out of the entirety of their annual harvest; many who work in specialty coffee also hold strongly felt purist ideas about quality, transparency, and coffee’s artisan identity.

Have a read - it’s pretty interesting stuff and we’re going to see a lot more of it in the future.

From the Kickstarter desk: FinalPress V2

Kickstarter loves coffee gadgets, and the coffee community seem to love them too.

This one is for the FinalPress V2 - a device that allows you to brew coffee (and tea) directly in your cup.

What is this monstrosity?

Seems like it wouldn’t be able to brew something magic, but nearly 25,000 backers think I’m wrong.

One to keep an eye one. Hopefully it doesn’t end up the way of many other coffee kickstarters, and not delivering.

Bop this week, right on the nose

You’re a legend. Have a great week.