Ep 04: "But I Need It!" | World Coffee Championships Podcast
This week, we’re excited to release the fourth episode of the World Coffee Championships Podcast.
“But I Need It!” continues the story of the World Barista Championships from where we left off in Episode 03, nearly halfway through the competition’s journey, to today. Along the way, co-host Roukiat Delrue leads us through stories of evolutionary meetings, competitors who played in the grey areas of the rules, wildcards, and the drive to “bring the trophy” through interviews with Carl Sara, Federico Bolanos, María Esther López-Thome, Martin Shabaya, Innocent Niyongabo, and Annet Nyakaisiki.
Special Thanks to Our Series Sponsor, Victoria Arduino
This series of the WCC Podcast is brought to you by Victoria Arduino. Born in the early twentieth century amid social and cultural transformation, Victoria Arduino broke with tradition and focused on progress, a mission it carries forward today. Victoria Arduino advances coffee knowledge and innovates across design, technology, and performance to produce machines that nurture coffee professionals' passion for espresso excellence. For more information, visit victoriaarduino.com. Victoria Arduino: Inspired by your passion.
Special Thanks to Our Episode Sponsors, Scotsman and Urnex
This episode of the WCC Podcast was made possible with support from Scotsman and Urnex.
For over 50 years, Scotsman has been one of the world's leading manufacturers of ice machines. At the forefront of practical, sustainable ice machines, Scotsman has expertise in every aspect of ice production. Combined with its passion for coffee, Scotsman has the perfect type of ice for any coffee preparation, whether iced coffee, cold brew, or cocktails. Learn more at www.scotsman-ice.it Scotsman: 50 years of ice innovation.
Even the slightest unwelcome scent or taste of bitterness can ruin a delicious coffee. Whether you have a dirty grinder, a grimy group head, or a soiled steam wand, Urnex has a product that can remove the buildup of oils, fats, and minerals that occurs from the regular preparation of coffee beverages in cafés and at home. Learn more about Urnex and its new line of biodegradable cleaners by visiting Urnex.com.
We’d like to thank Rouki Delrue, our co-host for this episode, and our interviewees for their time in sharing their stories about the evolution of the World Barista Championship, in order of appearance: Carl Sara, Federico Bolanos, María Esther López-Thome, Martin Shabaya, Innocent Niyongabo, and Annet Nyakaisiki. Thanks, too, to Henk Langkemper, for his recording of Alejandro’s winning moment in 2011.
For a full list of those who helped across the entire series, a year-long effort, click here. Series 01 of the World Coffee Championships Podcast is a coffee documentary series produced by James Harper of Filter Productions for the Specialty Coffee Association.
Full Episode Transcript
James Harper: So, welcome back to the World Coffee Championships series. If you haven't listened to the previous episode, WBC Part 1, I suggest you go back to listen to that before you listen to this. And I'm joined by a new co-host.
Roukiat Delrue: Hello?
James Harper: Tell me. Who are you?
Roukiat Delrue: I’m Roukiat Delrue. I am from Belgium, but I live in Guatemala. I was born in Africa. It's just a whole long story.
James Harper: So where are you calling from right now?
Roukiat Delrue: I am in Guatemala. Very much locked down, but yeah, in Guatemala.
James Harper: What does Guatemalan lockdown look like, feel like?
Roukiat Delrue: It is very military-enforced, let's say. We have curfew every single day and during weekends, basically, if you're outside, you go to prison. So, I don't advise that.
James Harper: Sounds really, that sounds really serious. And I see you're calling me from your office and there's a picture behind you. It's quite blue, with purple flowers?
Roukiat Delrue: That's actually a painting my mom did. My mom is colorblind, so I don't know what she thought it looked like, but it's actually very pretty, so...
James Harper: I think it's beautiful. That's great. So, Rouki, chart for me, your coffee journey.
Roukiat Delrue: I've been a certified judge since about 2008? I was fortunate to judge a whole bunch of finals on and off since 2010, I started helping the national competitions happen in either African countries or a lot of the Latin American ones, and then eventually I moved on full-time for a while with CQI as the director of the Q program, so certifying the Q graders and all of that. And I'm happy to be here.
James Harper: All right. Let's jump into part two of this story about the World Barista Championships.
Roukiat Delrue: Okay. Before we start let's thank our sponsors.
James Harper: Ok, so the World Coffee Championships Podcast Series is supported by Victoria Arduino. Victoria Arduino advances coffee knowledge and innovates across design, technology, and performance to produce machines that nurture coffee professionals' passion for espresso excellence. You can learn more at victoriaarduino.com or give them a follow @victoriaarduino1905. And today's episode on the second part of the WBC Story is supported by Scotsman and Urnex. You can learn more about how Scotsman has been one of the world’s leading manufacturers of ice for over 50 years at www.scotsman-ice.it. And you can learn more about Urnex and its new line of biodegradable cleaners by visiting Urnex.com.
So Rouki, let me bring you and the listeners up to speed from the last episode. So these competitions had been going for ten years, and they were fueled by volunteer passion, and winning this competition was actually changing people's careers in major ways. But at the same time, some of the competitors were getting frustrated with the rules and some of the rules themselves, well, they were kind of missing the point.
Roukiat Delrue: Yes.
James Harper: Like, let's take an example. Rouki, tell me about professional attire.
Roukiat Delrue: Like where do you draw the line of what professional attire is?
James Harper: Well, how was it scored before?
Roukiat Delrue: It was scored zero to six.
James Harper: It was zero to six, right? So, it was like, how professional were you from a zero. So, what does it, what does the zero look like?
Roukiat Delrue: Like completely dirty or open shoes or like clearly something really off. But, but that's what I mean, it made you have these conversations that were, they were also difficult to have even while leading them, like—
James Harper: So, you're spending time evaluating, you know, if you have brown shoes versus black shoes, does that, is that a four or five points kind of distinction?
Roukiat Delrue: Pretty much.
James Harper: Yeah. Right, right. So Rouki, I'd love to share with you a story from a New Zealand competitor that listeners may remember from the latte art episode.
Roukiat Delrue: Hmm. Is it Carl Sara, by any chance?
James Harper: Indeed, it is!
Carl Sara: I'm Carl Sara, I'm a four-times New Zealand barista champion.
James Harper: And he felt that things needed to change and he wants to be part of that change.
Roukiat Delrue: Okay. Well, let's hear it!
Carl Sara: As we moved through the years of competition, the baristas, we definitely improved, you know, we went from signature drinks that were only layers through to Troels Paulsen in 2005, deconstructing the signature drink for the first time. Those innovations were coming in, the judges were using a rule set that still wasn't able to capture innovation.
I mean, the nitrous oxide incident for me was particularly frustrating in Tokyo. What I wanted to do with my signature drink involved me being able to use, you know, nitrous oxide canisters. Rather than just having the drink that you drink, an important part of my signature drink was also having flavored air being pushed through, into a brandy snifter.
I did my research and I found out that in the public spaces, in the trade show, you weren't allowed any nitrous oxide inside the premises. It required all sorts of permits, but I was determined. So, I, I spent literally months, I called in contacts all over the world to try and be able to get the correct permits.
It was ridiculous. I mean, you know, and this was 2007, it's not like you just jump on Skype. I speak no Japanese and have no idea about what I'm even meant to be applying for. So finally, I managed to get the right permits and get them to the barista briefing at the start of the competition. When they say, "just to be clear, nobody here is allowed to use nitrous oxide. It's not allowed in the venue." [music fades out] There’s sort of silence over the crowd and then voice of Heather Perry pipes up. And she says, "but I need it. Just, I just need it. You have to make it happen."
James Harper: Heather Perry, who's espresso ended up being too sweet when she got to the finals.
Roukiat Delrue: Yes, I remember.
Carl Sara: And then, you know, there was a lot of like heated discussion around it. And they sort of went away and eventually they decided that they would completely change the format of the competition. They had to install a nitrous oxide station that could charge up people's cream charges out the back of the competition. And I was flabbergasted. I mean, I'd done all of this work to find a work around and understand the rules. And then all of a sudden, at the last minute, you know, this sort of really significant rule change. This was incredibly frustrating.
I was involved in the competitions throughout my period as a barista, and I was always opinionated. And I felt if I was going to express disappointment or frustration at a piece of the competition, then I at least had to put myself forward to try and be part of the solution.
James Harper: So, Rouki, here we have these tensions and they needed to be resolved. So how were they resolved? Where were they resolved?
Roukiat Delrue: So, at that time, the joint leaders of SCAA/SCAE decided on a more like, joint approach. And there was a meeting in early 2011 in Dublin.
Carl Sara: I think a lot of baristas didn't really understand what happened in Dublin. I mean, most people probably don't even know that the Dublin event ever happened. It was well acknowledged within the existing rules and regulations and judge’s committees that we needed to do something, that there was a really significant opportunity to improve. And so, the Dublin event was organized to bring all of the key people together.
I would say 50 to 70 people were there in total. We had judges, we had national coordinators. We had sponsors. We ended up in breakout sessions, looking at different competitions and different components of different competitions. It was one of those meetings where there were charts on the wall, but I think what actually came out of that was a really clear roadmap for us to move into the future.
And I think the result of that was the 2011 Barista Championships in Bogota. It was the first time—and I'm not excited that we had to do it, but I'm proud that it got done—where we had to say to a judge, "I'm sorry, you haven't passed that calibration, so you're not going to be judging." And we have to remember that these are incredible volunteers who, off their own expense, flown from their own country and paid their own accommodation.
And it was a really, really tough decision to make. And we did things like comment calibration, where we went through every single score sheet and every single comment that every single judge made and made sure that the score that they put down matched the comment that they had beside it. So, you know, they didn't say, “excellent espresso; two.”
And at the time when you're judging, when you're in the throes of it, you're tasting it, and you're like, "Oh, I’ll remember this forever," but these judges worked damned hard. And you know, if you get through another ten competitors, you can't remember a cappuccino that you had two days and 80 coffees ago. And so, my feeling as a barista myself, was that people saw things happening. People saw change happening. Some people loved it, some people hated it, but I think overall the competition ended up in a much better position than it was before.
James Harper: Carl also said something about volunteering that I thought was kind of special. And I want to share it with you.
Carl Sara: When I was 21 years old and standing in my own café, that I owned, people would walk up and say, so what are you going to do when you finish university? You know, at the time it wasn't recognized that being a barista was a genuine profession, certainly at that level. I think the way that baristas are viewed, even by the general public now, has evolved massively, massively. And I think that's in no small part to the work that all of these volunteers have done over decades and decades. They’ve committed their lives to improve the lives of others in the industry.
Roukiat Delrue: Yes! There are so many volunteers always involved in this. Like Carl said, all of the judges are volunteers and it's not an easy thing to have to tell them, "yeah, you flew all the way to Bogota, and sorry, but no, you can't judge."
James Harper: Wow. Do you remember how that person felt?
Roukiat Delrue: Yes, I remember. It was... And obviously it was horrible, however, it isn't about the judges. It is about the competitors. It is about the barista. And if you have somebody that you can't really trust, it's a worse situation to put the competitor through that and be like, "yeah, but the judge paid a certification, so we have to have him judge you."
James Harper: Oh, so judges pay for certification?
Roukiat Delrue: Yeah, judges pay for certification and pay for their travel and accommodation and expenses to go, to go judge all the world events.
James Harper: What does it cost to judge?
Roukiat Delrue: It depends on where you do your certification. If you're lucky enough that there's one in your country, which they absolutely do not happen in every country, even if World Coffee Events does a huge effort in trying to make them happen. So basically, if you are a person in Guatemala or Honduras, you most likely have to fly to the US, so it's not just the cost of the certification, which is usually not that expensive, but it's the cost of travel to go and take the tests, and then either you pass or you don't, and then you go back to your country and then you have to pay for the cost of travel to Worlds.
James Harper: I mean that's easily five grand and a couple of weeks of your life.
Roukiat Delrue: Yeah, absolutely.
James Harper: And what changed, post-Dublin, in terms of rules, in terms of how things were organized?
Roukiat Delrue: Ok, some aspects of rule revisions in the sense of some things as simple, let's call it, as professional attire or even almost driven by some competitors, things like, "what do you consider served?" When can they do certain things, or like starting to push the rules a little bit, but allowing the rules to have that—I don't want to say flexibility, because it's not really that, but at the same time, yes—so be a little bit bendy and understand like, "okay, what are we trying to obtain here?" Instead of, "let's just focus on what it says here, word by word, and use it exactly like that." Like understand the meaning of it.
James Harper: The spirit of the law, not the letter of the law.
Roukiat Delrue: Exactly.
James Harper: I see. Which is interesting because at some point baristas start to push that distinction between what is written versus what is intended.
Roukiat Delrue: And then yeah, if we go back to Bogota, then we had Alejandro and Federico as a team, also pushing the rules a little bit.
James Harper: Ah, yes, I have that story for you, Rouki. Last year, I was in San Salvador and I recorded this interview when I was making a Filter Stories episode.
Federico Bolanos: Um, I'm Federico Bolanos. That's about it.
James Harper: So, Rouki, what listeners need to know about Federico is that in the mid-2000s, he and business partners set up Viva Espresso.
Federico Bolanos: The vision was very simple. The vision was to make a world-class coffee available for consumers in El Salvador.
Roukiat Delrue: Yes! I have been fortunate enough to visit a couple of times. They've done fantastic work.
Federico Bolanos: Basically, as I researched about specialty coffee, I discovered about the Coffee Expos in the United States, right?
I think it was 2006, just after we had opened, as I was walking the hallways of the Expo, I remember, uh, hearing a crowd cheering in the back of the room. And I remember asking the person in the booth I was talking to, I said, "what is going on over there?" "Oh, that's a coffee competition. It's the barista competition."
So, I said, "wow, that's fascinating. I going to go check it out." And, as I walked into the competition area with the stands full of people and cheering for the competitors, like they were gladiators in the arena, we, it was just an immediate feeling. It was, it was such a great energy. "I said, I want to do this for the rest of my life. This is what I want to do." The next year, I signed up to see if I qualified to be a judge at the national barista competition of United States. So, I signed up, I passed all the calibration tests and they chose me to be as a, as a judge for the nationals.
James Harper: Once Federico had trained up to be a judge, he then started implementing a barista championship program in his Viva Espresso cafés, and he chose one of his young baristas to try and win the world championships. A young Salvadorian called Alejandro Mendez.
Roukiat Delrue: Federico? He walked the walk, let's say, because Federico not only trained as a judge, but was also a competitor himself in the early competitions in, in El Salvador.
Federico Bolanos: Training for a World Barista Championship meant training sessions from eight o'clock in the morning, all the way to 10 o'clock at night and, not only practicing, but also, one of the things I like the most, it is also about experimenting and exploring the coffee.
James Harper: So Rouki, in 2011 Alejandro goes to Bogota to compete at the World Barista Championships.
Roukiat Delrue: I remember him, I remember the song that everybody sang, that Alejandro song, which was a hit that year for more reasons than one!
James Harper: Can you sing it for me?
Roukiat Delrue: I will not sing it, no matter how much you insist.
Federico Bolanos: The first round was nerve-wracking. I mean, hugely nerve-wracking because it's, I always like to be right on the edge of what can and cannot be done, I think it's more interesting and I think it pushes the industry forward. So, with Alejandro, we had developed this idea—which actually wasn't my idea, I just read it—which was that espresso was sweeter without the crema. I mean, the crema doesn't help the espresso. The crema is just, it's just a bitter part of the drink that when mixed, it, it adds complexity. So in 2011, we had developed this routine where we would ask the judges to get rid of the crema. But in the rules, the rules say, you have to serve the espresso with crema, or it was a complete disqualification. And we did, we serve the espressos with crema, but the rules didn’t say you couldn't ask the judges to, to get rid of it. So that's what we asked the judges to do and then drink it. So, it was very, very sweet without this bitter component. So, the first round was very nerve-wracking because we didn't know how it would go.
[Recording of cheers for Alejandro in Bogota as his name is called]
James Harper: And of course, Rouki, what happened in the end?
Roukiat Delrue: Well, Alejandro just went and won. It was a huge excitement. I cannot imagine how Federico felt. We were first in a coffee producing country and then the first champion from a producing country wins. So, like those two things together, like I think added to that level of excitement that everybody had.
Federico Bolanos: I just remember saying thanks to God. I mean, it was just... it was magical. It was just unbelievable.
James Harper: And I asked Federico, "what impact did it have on coffee-drinking culture in El Salvador?"
Federico Bolanos: I don't know if I'm going to make a good measure of this, but I think it did have a very, very big impact on the country, on the consumer, not wide from corner to corner to El Salvador, but at least in the consumers that had access to our coffee, which is maybe a small niche, but that niche is very important, because that niche trickles down, right? And the word of mouth is, it is very big. The people that, that knew and read about this started to realize that El Salvador had a product that was world-class. I mean, not Viva Espresso, El Salvador’s coffee. And I think that not only El Salvador’s consumer, but the coffee world, also paid attention to El Salvador's coffee.
And I remember that the following years, I think the next year. El Salvador’s coffee was the most used, uh, origin at competitions. And after that other competitors have won the World Barista Championship using El Salvador’s coffee.
I would like to say like a message to aspiring baristas, especially from coffee producing countries. First of all, follow your dreams. Don't listen to people that say that because other countries have more resources, because other baristas have a company that supports them better, or... This has to make a bigger flame in them. This has to push them forward. This has to be the reason they have to do it. Viva Espresso, we were a very small company who are bootstrapping all this time and we manage to compete with the big ones. And that was very rewarding. So, keep on at it!
Roukiat Delrue: Very inspiring! I think it, they had an impact on specifically El Salvador, on baristas from producing countries, on all of that. And yes, I think his final message is a great one because obviously a lot of it still depends on sort of personal ambition. It's not just about the country, it's not just about the support, it's not just about that. You have to want it. You have to be the one driving it.
James Harper: And the year after, a competitor from another producing country, Guatemala, won
Roukiat Delrue: Yep. Two years in a row. That was a good message from baristas of producing countries. But it at least definitely changed the, um, the paradigm or the misconception before that there used to be a lot of baristas from producing countries that would think like, "wow, it really sucks that I have to use coffee from the country I'm in."
Do you see the advantage you have in being able to actually go to the farm, get involved in the processing, understand the coffee to such depth that maybe the others don't have that opportunity to be flying halfway across the world to, to get their coffee? So, there's the two different sides and everybody could be at an advantage.
James Harper: One thing I do notice is that there are a lot of Panamanian Geisha—Gesha, Geisha—in these competitions.
Roukiat Delrue: Yes. It, it can be used if it is specifically well processed ones and well-tended to ones. And, and I just saying this because I'm two billion percent cautious of people wanting to see this as the magical solution, when obviously it's not just about that.
James Harper: Because a few years later, Hidenori won, and he used a coffee that wasn't a Geisha.
Roukiat Delrue: Many of the competitors after that have actually won without using, uh, a Geisha. Even when Dale won, he was the only one non-Geisha in those finals.
James Harper: So Rouki, you've been a judge now for over a decade, you must have tried your fair share of coffees on stage.
Roukiat Delrue: Yes.
James Harper: I mean, on the whole, how good are these coffees?
Roukiat Delrue: It's obviously a privilege, honestly, to be able to do this? And to keep doing it, this, and you have to be passionate about it. Yes. It is a huge privilege to try of the best tasting espressos that you can probably have, like in your entire life, on those stages.
James Harper: And you don't have to be a WBC judge on the world stage to get to try these coffees.
Roukiat Delrue: Yup. Of course, if you're a volunteer and you're hanging out backstage, chances are, you'll get to try a whole bunch of things.
James Harper: And I have a story about someone who did just that. And I should also say her story is so much more than trying a delicious coffee backstage. It has to do with Venezuela, politics, and… love.
Roukiat Delrue: Okay. Tell me about it.
María Esther López-Thome: Hi, I’m María Esther, I'm a lawyer of Venezuela, a lawyer living in Miami, Florida. As a Venezuelan, I used to work in the tax organization in my country, like doing the defense of the state. And I really loved my job, but sadly Venezuela has this problem with, uh, a president, and that is the government of President Chavez. I was against Chaves since the very beginning. He brought military to the government. And when this started happening, it was really stressful because I always say, "no, I won't do that. This is not right. This is not what the law says." So, at some point, this affected my health. This affected my relationship at the time, with my daughter, with my husband, everything is.
The story is a little bit more complicated. My sister was working for the very famous and most important coffee company in Venezuela, that is Café Familia Merida. They brought these people from Switzerland to give like a kind of speaking about better practices in agriculture and talking about 1996, something like that. They talk about specialty coffee. So, like in 2003, I was sitting in my job, suffering and crying and struggling. And I decided to go to Google and try to find out what the specialty coffee was.
And then in 2008, I was in New York and I went to the Intelligentsia lab. They teach you in this course, how to be a barista, what is the specialty coffee. After that, it wasn't a combat for me. I wanted to learn more. So in 2010, I read about these events. They were huge events where all the people from specialty coffee are coming and you have producers, equipment, and everything, and you say, "I need to go."
So, I started volunteering in 2010. In 2014, I was the volunteer for in different roles. And one of the roles was to work with this guy. His name is Hidenori, and it turns out that he was at the end of the, on Sunday, he was the World Barista Champion. My role when I worked with him, it was to be a helper. This means that you are there standing since really early in the morning, you are standing there, and you are going to help whatever they need.
He was sweet because you know, they smile at you and they, they know that you are there to help them. But he was really, since the very beginning, uh, you know, with this shark look in his eyes that he was going to get the thing. So yes, they are sweet, but they go to the point.
When you are a volunteer, you need to be there really early. Most of the time, if you are on the shift in the morning, you need to be there at seven. And they're there, too, the competitors. They are really early, and you have no coffee in your, in your system. So, this is good to be a helper. Because you have the chance to try the coffees that they're dialing in and they're calibrating.
One thing that I remember about Hidenori is that he was working with a Caturra and I think, I do believe that it was a Typica, I'm not 100% sure. And it was different, you know, because everybody wanted to bring Geishas, and he brought a Costa Rican Caturra and Typica that was amazing. I got the chance to try the coffee with milk because they were doing some cappuccinos in the practice and they gave me some coffee and I tried, and it was amazing. It was beautiful.
All my students to try to be a volunteer, always, because the experience that you get, the people that you know, it is priceless. In fact, I met my husband in Rimini! He was, yes, he was a volunteer in front of me. We were so busy doing coffee. I was the barista leader for Aeropress and he was the barista leader for Chemex and we were so busy that don't even interact. But two months later we got like introduced again on Facebook and I said, "Oh, I remember you, you were in the espresso bar, in the brew bar." "Oh, yes!" And we started—four years later, we are married and we have this school in Florida. So, these are the things that, only coffee, you know, I always say that coffee is like Nokia, is connecting people all the time.
Roukiat Delrue: Super sweet story! So, the first thing that rang true to me was there is no harder place to get coffee early in the morning than a coffee show. So yeah, she had a good volunteering position to be getting coffee from the future champion.
James Harper: So Rouki, while we're on the topic of volunteering, I want to introduce you to Innocent, a barista from Burundi, and his volunteering journey.
Innocent Niyongabo: I’m Innocent, Burundi by nationality. The way I get into coffee industry as a barista is I was just in the hotel industry where I used to work as, um, a waiter in the service. But I saw like a baristas around like in the hotel, making coffees, making a latte art. Then I got interested, like wow, I said "it's so cool." I, then I moved to Kenya. I did one year. Then after, I moved to Uganda where I did two years, then after there I moved to China, Shanghai.
James Harper: And the reason I'm sharing Innocent’s story is because I love his reasons for volunteering and where it leads him.
Innocent Niyongabo: I volunteer because I think first of all, I felt it in me, it was just my, my passion. Because, you know, while volunteering, you can learn a lot. The second thing was like, I felt like I want to meet famous people in the coffee industry.
I think I achieved my dreams because I met Martin Shabaya from Kenya. Yeah, man! It was like, "no, I can't, I can't believe it. I can't believe it." And he was also like, "no, how did you get?" He said like, "how did you get to arrive here?" Then I told him, "yeah, it's happened." You know, man, for example, in China, we don't have like a lot of foreigners work in the coffee industry. They are not many.
James Harper: So, do you remember Martin Shabaya?
Roukiat Delrue: Absolutely. But I've known him from a few years as a, as a competitor.
James Harper: And Martin's had quite the history. He's represented Kenya for three years in a row. In 2015, he came 43rd, but the next year he was 24th. And that leads me onto a change in the WBC rules. Rouki, can you tell me what happened in 2017?
Roukiat Delrue: That's when the WBC evolution working group decided to make a wild card.
James Harper: Ok, so the top 15 baristas who had the highest points from the first round got through into the semis. And then, a wild card was added. So, overall, there would be 16 people in the semis. Why?
Roukiat Delrue: There is a lot of symbolic value of making it into semifinals and being able to say you were a semifinalist.
James Harper: And I remember the year before was the first year that we had live-scoring, live-ranking. So many of the competitors knew whether they were going to get through to semifinals. So it meant that when it came to semifinals announcements, I remember cause I was there, it was like, "well, we know who's going to get through." There's not very much tension.
Roukiat Delrue: Exactly, but you didn't know the 16th place.
James Harper: Ahh. So, how was the wildcard slot decided?
Roukiat Delrue: So the whole, the system is quite complicated. And basically, what it meant is that a competitor who would have gotten between 16th and 30th actually had a chance to make it into semifinals.
James Harper: And of course, Rouki, we were both there when we saw Martin Shabaya get the 16th place, the competitor from Kenya.
[Recording of Martin Shabaya being announced as the 2017 Wild Card competitor]
Roukiat Delrue: Yes, exactly. I remember him being like pretty much happier than the person who won that year. [laughs]
James Harper: I can attest to that! I had a microphone with me and I ran to find Martin after that was announced.
James Harper: How do you feel, man?!
Martin Shabaya: I can't explain, but this is something that has never happened. I mean, I'm really honored. I feel like I'm not too heavy on the final. Yeah. What do I do?
James Harper: Did you hear how, loud the cheer, the cheer was for you?
Martin Shabaya: I don’t know, man. At that time, I was really confused actually until now. Yeah, I'm going to take back the coffee that I give out. All of it!
James Harper: You gave out all your coffee?! Because you didn't think you're going to get this far? So, you gave it away?
Martin Shabaya: Not EVER. Not this year. I was planning for 2019.
James Harper: And, you know, when competitors don't get through, you know, they trade their espresso coffees with each other and even I managed to bag a couple and they were delicious. And so that's what Martin had done, he'd given away all of his championship Kenyan coffee.
Roukiat Delrue: Oh my God. That's, that's really cute, but also kind of a problem.
James Harper: And so straight after me and Martin spoke, he went to get back all the coffee he'd given out.
Roukiat Delrue: Well, he had coffee to compete. So, however he did it, he did have coffee.
James Harper: He did, he did. And Rouki, from what I understand, this wildcard rule change and Martin getting through had an impact on countries neighboring Kenya as well.
Roukiat Delrue: Yeah.
James Harper: And I spoke with a woman called Annet from Uganda.
Annet Nyakaisiki: I’m Nyakaisiki Annet, a barista with 10 years’ experience.
James Harper: She was working in a café in Kampala and she remembers the day Martin got through, into the semifinals.
Annet Nyakaisiki: In 2017, it was usual day as usual, serving coffees to my clients. And then something happened. I remember my manager calling me, "Annet, come and see, come and see!!" And I was like, "what is it?" "Come and see your colleague, a barista from Africa, who has made it!" It was like, "who is that?" "Come and see the scores!!" Because I was a head barista. Entering the office, so he was showing me the scores. He said, "I know you love coffee so much. Someone from Africa has made it!" This was Shabaya. I say, "Oh my God, oh my God! We need the trophy. You don't leave without, we need the trophy to come to Africa." I was so excited. Then I went direct to my Facebook page and posted. Then we started exchanging messages. "Congratulations!! We need it, we need the trophy. Oh my, God be with you," you know? Actually, we got so inspired, seeing an African and reaching the semis. We are like, "you know what? One day, we shall bring the trophy to Africa," and really, we are working hard.
Roukiat Delrue: There are so many committed baristas in Africa. And I really hope they get to "bring the trophy," as she says.
James Harper: Well, Rouki, I would argue that Annet is one of those committed baristas because her story is so inspirational and it shines the light on how the Ugandan specialty coffee community is using these barista competitions to change coffee-drinking culture in Uganda.
Roukiat Delrue: I would love to hear more about that. I have very little experience teaching there, but I do remember people being super passionate and I'd sometimes be there to teach Q, so something related to cupping specifically, not at all related to barista, but people knew that I also judged barista competitions and I had helped them years before.
And then like, suddenly at the end of the day, I thought everybody left and I would suddenly start to hear, like the clinking of the cup on the saucer of somebody coming, like all the way from the other side of the facilities where we were to teaching, for me to judge like their espresso or their cappuccino and give them feedback, yeah. So much commitment. I would love to hear about Annet’s story.
Annet Nyakaisiki: Oh, I mean, Kampala, that is the capital of Uganda. But I was born from the West. If you've ever heard about the Rwenzori Mountains, that's where I come from. You know, we have dreams when you grow up from the village, we keep on like, dreaming that when you finally reach the capital of Uganda. So, the same applies to me.
After my senior six, I decided to visit the city. And, oh my God, it became magical, because, in the villages, we used to see coffee growing here and there, but we didn't know that even it could end up in a cup. So, when I joined the city, so that was in 2010, I started working in a restaurant. So, it's when I saw people taking coffees.
So, I got inspired, but I didn't know where to go and learn more until one day when it joined the barista competition, which I had gone, just to watch and see what was happening. So, since that day, I saw how people were presenting, baristas. They had the coffee there, each and everything. So, I got inspired, but I promised myself that one day, I will be a champion.
So, in 2013. I competed and ended it in the semifinals, but I was so happy because it was my first time. Then in 2014, I'd say to do it again, but this time, it was marvelous because I became the first runners up for the Uganda national barista championship. And then the best female barista there, so I got inspired. I was like, “oh my God, I can make it! All I need is to do more and work on myself.” Actually, in those years, I had challenges being as a female barista, I was being appointed in different posts. But you could find some like male baristas don't want to work with you. Cause they be like, we can't be working in a company, we are B, we are on the lead D, so very many baristas at times that would leave jobs because they are being headed by a female. But all I could do, train others! The most important thing, which I like in life, is giving others a chance. Life goes on!
In 2017, I was given an opportunity where it was nominated to present Africa. That one's in me, Mexico, All-Stars, female. I got an idea. I can start like a barista house. And start now training and sharing knowledge with my fellow baristas, youth and women in the coffee industry and see how we can do it like other countries.
So, when you come back to Uganda, I thought about it and that's when I started The Barista House. The barista championship is very important in Uganda because through the championship, the same youth gain more knowledge, skills. So actually, it's working a lot because it's even creating for them even like opportunities. Cause I've been having high-end employment, but through the championships, we've seen very many youth coming on board becoming baristas, and of which they get employed, starting up their own jobs. So, to me, it's something which has done a lot. Actually, the coffee-drinking culture in Uganda is still low, but we are doing a lot to see how we can promote it. Ugandans are used to drinking tea, but we are changing it to coffee.
Now we are teaching them on how to use simple equipments like French Press, because we know in the French Press, it's very common in Ugandan supermarkets and very affordable. That's why I've told you, we are looking at how they can make their own coffees, but using simple equipments. So if someone can buy a French Press, still you can enjoy your filter coffee at home.
James Harper: So Rouki, tell me, what have you seen in terms of the development of the barista profession in Uganda and its neighbors?
Roukiat Delrue: They've been very committed as a region. It's maybe not cultures that are used to drinking espresso necessarily, or not the whole time. But her approach sounds so realistic that, "okay, you can buy a French press in the supermarket here, so why don't we even teach you to do that correctly?" And then at least you'll enjoy the cup of coffee that you’re having at home.
James Harper: Yeah. And it makes me reflect back on the conversation I had with Sonja in the last episode about the early days of the championships and, you know, judges were sipping on straws and they did things back then that makes us laugh today. Where do you think it's going to be in 10 years’ time? What are we going to be seeing?
Roukiat Delrue: Well, I think this year has thrown us a major curve ball, called COVID-19. So honestly, we don't even really know where next year is going to be at right now. But hopefully, like you said, of 10 years ago, we're going to be laughing about some of the things we're seeing now. Why not?
James Harper: Yeah. And I noticed like these days people are drinking less cow milk and more alternative milks. And I know baristas have been asking, why do the rules still incorporate cow’s milk and not alternative milks?
Roukiat Delrue: Yeah. I think the rules are based on, let's call them "classic" definitions of drinks. And then obviously if you go back again to, like you were saying before, like the early days or when this started, the only milk alternative you had was soy and... soy that you had back then with coffee was not a very good combination. And now, we obviously have like so many options and some milk alternatives that are almost developed specifically for coffee. So yeah, we'll, we'll see. It just obviously means like you have to set the reference, like what is a good-flavored, even, oat milk? When, for example, if I go to a café here in Guatemala, in non-COVID times, I cannot find oat milk. That's not a thing yet here. It's still soy that you can find everywhere. So we have to still have the standard so that people in pretty much every country can have access to understanding like, okay, this is what we're aiming at.
James Harper: Mm. Yeah. I have to remind myself that, you know, you have parts of the world where the barista profession is developing very quickly and pushing boundaries. And you have other parts of the world, which are using that as a reference point to learn and develop and grow. And these rules somehow have to balance both of these needs.
Roukiat Delrue: Yup. They do. They have to tend to both sides of the full spectrum and still work for both. Still be challenging or bending enough that these people that are like have mastered, let's say, “the basics” can still find interest and challenges in seeing what they can play around with, but also still have just a standard if somebody doesn't want to do anything crazy, what's wrong with that? Like both sides are completely valid.
James Harper: Right, right. But, when it comes to espresso, I mean, surely we've gone a bit too far and we can loosen things up a bit. I mean, in the rules, there are 12 sub points that define what an espresso is. Why don't we just make it more experimental? Why don't we just say espresso is liquid that comes from a portafilter and it can be as long as you want.
Roukiat Delrue: With the rule, as specific as it is, it is already a challenge with the add-ins to fermentation and with aging in barrels and things like that—with decaffeination. It's just coffee and water in theory, but there's a line there, somewhere. So even with the rule, as specific as you think it is, there is already like a whole challenging side to it that we end up discussing about every single time.
James Harper: So you're saying that even within the espresso, if a competitor wants to push the rules, they could go into the backend, into the actual coffee, and what happened to the coffee bean up until the point, you know, it got ground onstage, and it could include fermentation and all sorts of things. And that is an example of the scope for experimentation within the definition of espresso.
Roukiat Delrue: Yes, absolutely. Right.
James Harper: But for a barista in a country, which doesn't have as developed espresso drinking culture, these prescriptive rules offer them a roadmap to brewing better espresso coffee.
Roukiat Delrue: Yeah, exactly.
James Harper: So Rouki, if a listener wants to volunteer at these competitions and indeed maybe eventually even shape the future direction of the rules, how can they get involved?
Roukiat Delrue: It depends on where you are. So, the first thing I would say is get involved in your national competition. Obviously not everybody can afford to necessarily travel and go volunteer at worlds. If you can. and that's what you want to do, then that's fantastic. So, if you wanted to do it internationally, on the WBC website, so worldbaristachampionship.org, there's a section specifically to the right side that says volunteer. And it's as simple as that. And there are a lot of different positions that you can volunteer as depending on what you want to do and things like that. And for nationals, just contact. You can also see on the WBC website, who the national organization, your country is. If you have no idea who organizes the competitions, you can also have a look there and then simply reach out and ask, ask how you can get involved. I'm sure every national organization would appreciate it.
James Harper: Amazing.
Roukiat Delrue: All right, James, I think maybe it's time to do the credits now.
James Harper: Yes. For this episode, we'd like to thank Carl Sara, Federico Bolanos. María Esther López-Thome, Innocent Niyongabo, Annet Nyakaisiki,
Roukiat Delrue: and Martin Shabaya, but I think there were many more, right?
James Harper: Yeah, so many people helped out in this series and we've lifted them all on the SCA website.
Roukiat Delrue: Fantastic. And the ones that we wouldn't be here without, let's talk about our sponsors!
James Harper: Yes! So the World Coffee Championships Podcast Series is supported by Victoria Arduino. Victoria Arduino advances coffee knowledge and innovates across design, technology, and performance to produce machines that nurture coffee professionals' passion for espresso excellence. You can learn more at victoriaarduino.com or give them a follow @victoriaarduino1905. And today's episode on the second part of the WBC Story is supported by Scotsman and Urnex. You can learn more about how Scotsman has been one of the world’s leading manufacturers of ice for over 50 years at www.scotsman-ice.it. And you can learn more about Urnex and its new line of biodegradable cleaners by visiting Urnex.com.
So Rouki, let me bring you and the listeners up to speed from the last episode. So these competitions had been going for ten years, and they were fueled by volunteer passion, and winning this competition was actually changing people's careers in major ways. But at the same time, some of the competitors were getting frustrated with the rules and some of the rules themselves, well, they were kind of missing the point.
Roukiat Delrue: And finally, James, who actually put all of this together? Because I can imagine this is a ton of work.
James Harper: Well, this podcast was produced by me, James Harper of Filter Productions for the Specialty Coffee Association. And Rouki, I want to thank you for coming on the show and helping me navigate this story of the World Barista Championships.
Roukiat Delrue: Thank you so much. It was a ton of fun to go back in time as well, and remember all of this. And I'm curious though: what will happen in the next episode?
James Harper: Ah, yes. So in the next episode, we are covering the roasting competition and cezve/ibrik. We're going to be asking, "why did we need a roasting championships in the first place?" There'll be stories of people falling in love, personal journeys, being wrapped up in coffee-drinking culture in Syria, and so much more.
Roukiat Delrue: Sounds exciting. I cannot wait to hear it.
James Harper: And Rouki, I hope you survive lockdown and I can't wait to see you face-to-face next year at the competitions.
Roukiat Delrue: Thank you, me too.
James Harper: Okay. Take care. Bye-bye.