You recently won your regional competition and are heading to the South African Barista Championships. Can you tell us a bit about your regional performance?

I tried to keep the performance simple. Bearing in mind that I had a different theme for Nationals if I’d made it. I was reading the 7 habits of highly effective people & came across an illusion image where you see either an old or young woman. During my set I had an image of a young woman on the opposite end of the table to influence the judges perception and for them to see a young women in the illusion instead of an old one. This is the exact same thing our consumers experience on daily basis, except that the barista is the influencer of their perception on so many different levels.

I then stated that the barista is able to influence the consumers perception in a positive & meaningful way by using excellence, consistency and familiarity. The espresso represented excellence & the milk represented consistency. My signature drink represented familiarity and to do this I created a coffee cola soda by making a home-made version of Coca Cola’s 7x syrup. It contains spices, quite lot of sugar & citrus fruit. Because of the citrus nature of the Thageini espresso I emitted orange but still used lemon. I added the syrup and espresso to ice & topped it off with a bit of sparkling water to reduce sweetness and give it an authentic soda fizz.

What first made you decide to compete in the barista competitions?

The roastery I worked at had a long line of previous SA Barista Champions so there was a healthy competing culture. But I was also very hungry to learn more about coffee and my Head Barista at the time said there would be no better way than to enter competition. 

You’ve been to the World Barista Championships several times. How have you seen coffees and competition change during your years on the world stage, and what impact do you think these changes are having on coffee producers?

I’ve been to two WBC’s, in 2017 and 2018, which were only 7 months apart so I haven’t witnessed a significant change while competing at the WBC myself. But since I first started competed in 2016 till now it seems as if there has been a shift from Varietal focused coffees such as Geisha to process focused coffees such as CM or Anaerobic. Not that many competitors have won using Gesha in the last few years but it’s safe to say that the flavour profile lends itself well to high scores. Certain rule changes give competitors more freedom to provide judges with a personal experience. All in all there are just so many options and approaches to take for competition in 2020.

What impact does this have on the producer? With process focused coffees there’s been a lot of experimentation from producers which provides competitors with different options to choose from. But this isn’t a sustainable way for a producer to earn a living in the long run. It does however give unknown producers a chance to have their coffees showcased to the world, giving them a platform which might not have been possible were it not for the WBC. 

What is your process of selecting a coffee for competitions (do you cup many samples, does someone pick for you, how many do you try)?

As an African competitor I am only ever going to use African coffees so that narrows down the options quite a bit. To be honest I don’t have a set structure of choosing coffees for Comp. In the past it has been based on the theme of my set, the uniqueness of the coffee, price or whether or not the coffee has stood out on the cupping table compared to all considered samples. Another factor is what is accessible to me based on price (what I can afford as an independent) or whether or not a producer would make a coffee available to me (as a relatively unknown competitor).

The only factor that has to be constant is whether or not the coffee is delicious enough for me to serve on stage.

What made you decide on using the coffee that you did for your most recent competition?

I had never tasted a Naturally Processed Kenyan. And with Nationals and possibly a WBC in mind I thought that it would be a good start to what might be a coffee or a similar coffee to use in the competitions that follow. 

The Thageini also has a balance of what I like in Natural and Washed processed coffees – sweetness and body with clarity and a “clean” flavour profile. 

Do you have a favourite origin/process/flavour profile? Why?

Not in particular. As most coffee people would say, the magic of coffee is the range of Flavour profiles that can be achieved with different origins, varietals and processes. And choosing one in particular would be like choosing whether I love my mom or my dad more 🙂 

Where do you see the future of African coffees heading?

I would like to see it heading in a direction where domestic consumption increases and better quality coffee is retained in producing African countries for that specific domestic consumption. Of course there are many factors to reason why this is not the case but it is something I would like to see change and am working towards changing in the future. 

What can consumers (including roasters) do globally in order to support and help develop African coffee producers?

Ask questions about the coffees you purchase. If there is a coffee you enjoy ask if it will be available the next year and if not ask why. Push for more traceability and discussion. I’ve come to find that there are many external factors that affect the development of African producers that differ from country to country but, in the long run, a collective consciousness from consumers and roasters when purchasing green or retail can make an impact.

What would be your advice to someone who is looking to compete in coffee competitions (ie. How do they start)?

The first step is to figure out why you want to compete and set clear goals to achieve during the entire Competition experience.

And then find someone who has competed before to answer any questions you may have and to provide you with some insight on the preparation leading up to Comp and what to expect on stage. 

What is next for you?

With competition specifically I’m preparing for Nationals to get back to WBC. The goal is to be the first or part of the first group of African Competitors to automatically qualify for Semi Finals and beyond. Once that goal is achieved I think it’s important to figure out how that can be used to develop education and drive domestic consumption of coffee in Africa. The competition is a great avenue and I have a few ideas for barista comp workshops that I’d like to get off the ground at some point. 

At the moment I’ve focused on Coffee Education and Development projects in Cape Town but I’d like to extend that beyond South Africa and into more African Countries.