Unlike her origami, Honoka didn't fold
Slaying the coffee world, one yarn at a time
We knew that Honoka Kawashima was a world class barista, but that title has now been confirmed with an incredible forth place at the World Barista Champs, held in Korea on 1-4 May.
The World Barista Champs isn’t really about coffee. It’s about answering the question, ‘what makes a great barista?’.
Sure, you need to be able to make coffee, but you also need to be able to transport a coffee drinker on a journey through time and space. It’s as much about story-telling and manakitanga and celebrating the hard work of growers and pushing the idea of coffee to new corners of taste, as it is about a cup of coffee.
That is what makes this competition so compelling to follow. I wasn’t there, I couldn’t taste the coffee, but I damn well felt like I was a part of a coffee experience, even though I was sat in my lounge thousands of miles away.
What makes Honoka’s forth place even more special, is the consistency she had throughout the competition. Twelfth after round one, third in the semi finals, forth in the finals. Her skill and execution were on point for the entire weekend. Her pallet dialed in, her concentration at an all time high.
All delivered with an infectious energy.
The routine
Honoka had 15 minutes to make four espressos, four milky coffees, and four signature drinks.
Lets break down her routine.
0:07 “My name is Honoka, lets have a great time together” - what a way to introduce yourself to the world stage. I’m already in, and it hasn’t even been 10 seconds.
0:16 Honoka introduces her narrative arch - origami. Leaning on her Japanese heritage, Honoka uses origami as a metaphor for the complexity of coffee. Each judge has a card in front of them, something they can hold, and fold. The judges aren’t just a spectator of this routine, they are a part of it.
Through folding origami with the judges, Honoka hopes to “unfold the complexity of coffee and reveal it’s beauty, step by step.” Amazing.
Captivating story-telling.
1:40 Coffee time. Honoka introduces her competition coffee. The variety is maragesha - a Gesha and Maragogype hybrid from Colombia.
In keeping with the simplicity of origami, Honoka says to the judges “Let’s simply call her Maria, today.”
Maragesha
3:55 Storytelling takes a step to the side for a brief moment to let the coffee skills shine. Honoka serves up Maria as a milk drink.
It might be easy to steam up some milk and mix it in with a coffee, without much thought. But that sort of attitude doesn’t make you a world class barista.
No - Honoka uses her expertise to make sure the delicate Maria shines. She balanced out the delicateness by using 80ml of milk at 55 degrees, to “highlight her sweetness.”
Then, to “accentuate the beauty of Maria”, she used a blend of two milks - 90 percent high fat cows milk which is frozen and distilled to remove 50 percent of the water to “create a greater sweetness and creamier texture.” The other 10 percent is almond milk, which “balances the saltiness of high fat milk”.
Imagine the skill, knowledge and experience that all went into coming up with that.
You don’t have to imagine how that’d taste - that is something you can easily do at home. It’s worth a try.
As she serves her milky beverage, shes exhibiting the attributes of a world class host. Inviting the judges to enjoy, thanking them for waiting, giving them instructions on how to stir the beverage to get the best out of it, and even providing somewhere for their spoons.
Their spoons, FYI, look like ACME teaspoons. I have these at home, and they are amazing.
5:05 You’ll notice throughout Honoka’s routine that she is always cleaning, wiping, polishing. This isn’t a nervous tick (though might be a good way to get rid of some of the nervous energy), it’s something competitors get judged on. Everything has to be well prepped, clean and tidy, and in perfect order. It’s that attention to detail that separates the world class baristas from others.
6:06 It’s signature drink time. This is the part of the competition where competitors make up a drink that uses coffee as a base.
As Honoka preps the espresso for this, she is explaining to the judges the things they will taste “rock melon, dehydrated sour plum, dry ginger ale”. This is a huge part of the competition which requires accuracy, a well trained pallet, and a vocabulary that the judges will recognize. One person’s rock melon might be another persons feijoia. There are a lot of points attached to getting these right.
On top of that little nugget of stress, the flavour notes will change from day to day. Coffee is organic and will keep changing as it ages. Today ‘sour plum’ tomorrow ‘car oil after a 100,000km service’ - so Honoka has to taste the coffee before she goes on stage, every single time.
7:15 Honoka explains to the judges a bit about where Maria is grown and the impact that the growing conditions has on the flavour of the coffee.
Then, using that information, she explains how her signature drink will enhance and highlight those attributes.
At this stage, I’m beyond words. I’m the sort of dude who’ll happily dunk a bag of Farmbake cookies in Raro and be happy as. That’s the level of ‘flavour experience’ I’m at. This is a whole new and amazing world that is triggering the synapses in my brain and inspiring me to reach for other corners of the flavour world.
The signature drink includes a mixed fruit infusion, high in potassium. Equal parts orange, red apple and strawberry. This infusion is slow cooked for four hours at 60 degrees. Adding 40 grams of that infusion into the espresso she just pulled, changes the ‘pink grapefruit’ note of the original espresso, into ‘rock melon’.
I mean, WTF.
8:15 Honoka talks about how the way the coffee cherries are dried following picking preserves “beautiful brightness and sweetness.” Nice bit of useless information right? WRONG. To enhance that, Honoka adds a 40 gram mixture of a osmanthus tea and fructose syrup that brings out sour plum notes.
8:53 Now Honoka is Talking about how the roasting process was used to bring out the citric acidity of the coffee and a complex sweetness. To highlight this fact, she used 5g of tomato water and distilled almond milk.
The tomato water used frozen tomatoes to break down the cells, extracting the rich magnesium water that creates complex umami.
Every single part of this coffee’s life cycle is being used in the creation of Honoka’s signature drink.
My brain hurts.
10:02 “When you get your drink, my only instruction is this - please simply enjoy”.
I mean, how could they not. I am, and I can’t even taste it.
11:15 oooooooo the music has changed. We’re into the final step - the espresso.
“Each origami fold has given us a new understanding of the beauty of Maria. And as we got to know her, we understood how much complexity was behind the simple beauty.
“As a barista, it’s my role to take away the complexity behind the coffee.”
As Honoka takes back the origami the judges have been folding, but there’s one more fold to do… anticipation is rising.
12:34 Honoka made a discovery about how Maria’s aromatics shined when chilled. So the espresso beverage is being flash cooled as she pulls it. This creates a long tasting and more complex taste experience.
13.14: The judges are being served the espresso, but can’t drink it, yet. “Wait to drink, until I call time”.
14:00 With one minute before she has to call time, Honoka is starting to wrap up her amazing routine.
With the origami back in hand, “and now let me reveal the beautiful shape of the origami. It shows us the simplest, but most important thing - that’s our love for coffee.”
HOLY SMOKES - IT’S A LOVE HEART!
“Coffee doesn’t have to be complicated to show it’s beauty. As a barista, i love seeing people unfold their coffee journeys.
“This origami is a gift from Maria and I, to remember that our love for coffee can unfold into something extraordinary.”
Absolutely blown away.
I have watched this over and over and each time I am captivated.
A massive congratulations to Honoka, and her team, for taking on the world and smashing it.
We are all so incredibly proud.