You Can't Win Awards Just by Brewing Coffee! 2022 WBC Runner-Up Smashed Cups in Front of Judges?!

The Crisis Facing Specialty Coffee

"Two years ago, specialty coffee faced extinction. Coffee was once like a canvas on which excellent customer relationships could be built, but that has changed. Coffee service has become increasingly efficient, yet terribly dull and tasteless.

Two years later, as we steadily advance the coffee industry, the loss of coffee service has become unavoidable. While pursuing progress, we should look back at the past." That was the theme Morgan Eckroth of the United States, runner-up at the 2022 World Barista Championship, chose for her competition.

Unlike some earlier barista championship contestants, Morgan was already a coffee blogger with over 7 million followers before she competed.

Since the pandemic, Morgan has helped more people experience the charm of specialty coffee, making sure they did not lose access to professional service and specialty coffee simply because they could not visit a shop. She shares frequently on social platforms in a simple, relaxed way, so anyone watching her videos can make a cup of specialty or creative coffee at home.

To help more people fall in love with specialty coffee and learn more about it, baristas' proper dissemination of coffee culture is indispensable. That professionalism is not limited to face-to-face service; daily sharing is valuable too. Morgan also said during this year's World Barista Championship US regional selection that, as a coffee blogger, she considers sharing professional coffee knowledge and promoting specialty coffee to be her responsibility.

The WBC Journey

Back to the WBC stage.

For the milk coffee course, Morgan selected an endangered variety: Coffea Eugenioides from Colombia, the mother of Arabica, originally native to East Africa. Its leaves and coffee fruits are smaller than those of Arabica. Growing it is not especially difficult, but its yield is indeed lower than Arabica, and the variety is still regarded as a rare or experimental coffee.

"This incredibly unique coffee flavor gives us new expectations for coffee. In the entire coffee garden, people almost forgot about it. Fortunately, a coffee laboratory 'resurrected' this variety, and with careful care and cultivation deep in the Colombian Andes, it reappeared," Morgan said.

Today, with technological help, Eugenioides has reproduced its remarkable flavor — low acidity and a complex, rich sweetness — and the natural processing method further enhances the coffee's inherent sweetness.

For the espresso portion of the milk coffee, Morgan used 23g of coffee grounds to extract 36g of coffee liquid in 25 seconds, paired with frozen distilled purified milk. Whole milk was frozen and distilled to 30% concentration, giving it an excellent creamy texture. After heating, the lactose in the milk is further awakened, blending fully with the sugars in Eugenioides to create a candy-like sweetness.

The cream-like texture of the purified milk lets the coffee showcase flavors of yellow cake batter, melted chocolate ice cream, caramel butter, sugar, vanilla and salty nuts, along with a rich milky feel and a butter-like weight.

Eugenioides previously faced an extinction crisis, and in recent years — affected by climate change and falling production — it faces another. Morgan hoped that by enhancing the milk's sweetness, Eugenioides' own sweetness could be maximized, letting everyone rediscover the flavor magic of this variety.

The Creative Coffee Course

For the creative coffee course, Morgan chose a light-roast natural processed Rume Sudan from Colombia, preserving the variety's tropical fruit acidity.

First, using 18.2g of coffee grounds to extract 40g of coffee liquid in 25 seconds, the flavor showed red grapefruit, floral notes, brown sugar and kiwi, with moderate oiliness, a soft, smooth mouthfeel, and a finish in which rose and kiwi turned into orange acidity with a lasting aftertaste. Each judge received two espressos — one for direct tasting, one reserved for the later preparation.

Next, Morgan used 80g of Rume Sudan espresso that had been prepared and frozen at the start of the competition. She then added lulo, a lemon-shaped citrus fruit unique to Colombia, mixed with 25g of sugar in a 1:1 ratio to make a syrup. Blended with the coffee, it produces tamarind and maple leaf flavors.

— Lulo fruit

She then added 30g of pineapple juice with salt water. The salt water balances the coffee flavor and enhances the sweetness in the coffee, creating a spiced cocoa note; then 20g of frozen distilled milk brought a creamy texture; finally, carbon dioxide was injected and the judges' remaining three espressos were poured in for mixing.

After the coffee was poured, Morgan broke the espresso cups, symbolizing the coffee crisis that has been faced, is being faced, and will continue to be faced. In turbulent times, is the coffee industry really ready? Morgan hoped so, because we can see this when we look back at the past. Coffee itself survives through constant renewal, and so will we.

After mixing, the coffee carried fruit jam, cream soda, spiced cocoa and spicy plant aromas, with dense foam and a light yet creamy, smooth mouthfeel. It was served in cups made using Japan's ancient Kintsugi technique — the art of repairing broken objects with gold, making them stronger. That symbolizes coffee, and humanity too: take a deep breath and look forward to the broken pieces.

After serving, Morgan sprayed each coffee with a mixture of orange blossom water and tea, simulating Colombia's national liquor Aguardiente — symbolizing celebration and the hope for the complete return of specialty coffee in the future.

The Future of Specialty Coffee

It is not only Eugenioides that faces extinction. Global climate change, major shifts in consumer markets and the decline of the coffee industry have put specialty coffee itself in danger. The inherent value of coffee, therefore, has to be enhanced.

Professional coffee knowledge and an understanding of extraction principles are essential for any barista, but for the industry to develop we need more people who can appreciate specialty coffee and are willing to learn about it.

Every specialty has its focus, and different fields are as different as mountains. Not everyone who drinks coffee has a deep understanding of coffee culture or knowledge. When facing beginners who want to know or learn about coffee, what baristas need to do is properly simplify complex knowledge — understand it first, then express and pass it on. That is the only way specialty coffee develops better.

From coffee beginners to coffee experts, everyone adds value to the industry. Finding new niche markets is the key to the industry's advancement.

Image source: YouTube (World Coffee Championships) screenshots, Internet

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Morgan's routine is a reminder that coffee's range is far wider than most drinkers ever get to taste — and there is no need to start at the extremes. For a first step into specialty coffee, FrontStreet Sun-Dried Huakui is hard to beat: an Ethiopian natural with an intensely tropical aroma of strawberry, passion fruit, jackfruit and lychee, clear sweetness and very little bitterness, smooth and full of juice.

Drinkers who prefer something brighter can turn to FrontStreet Washed Gotingding Cooperative, a classic Yirgacheffe washed lot known for jasmine, bright citrus and lemon acidity and a tea-like finish, or to FrontStreet Sun-Dried Red Cherry, also from Yirgacheffe but dried as whole ripe fruit, showing citrus-like acidity, jammy berry, honeyed sweetness and a creamy smoothness.

And for a taste of the variety that has driven so much of the specialty conversation, FrontStreet Boquete Geisha is a reasonably priced way in. From Panama's most representative specialty region and washed processed, it lets you clearly taste the orange-blossom and honey character Geisha is known for, and its value means you can try it across several different brewing methods.