Coffee Champion Sasa's 30,000+ Yuan Paragon Ice Stone High-Tech! Can You Get an Affordable Alternative for Just Tens of Yuan?

Not long ago, SaSa Sestic — winner of the 2015 World Barista Championship (WBC) — competed in the 2022 Australian Brewers Cup and took second place. His "comeback" became one of the hottest topics among baristas.

A Revolutionary Brewing Technique: Paragon

Although he didn't take first place, Sasa brought us something very new this year — Paragon — a brewing technique that intrigued everyone with its mix of novelty and the familiar.

In the dripper Sasa presented, a self-invented ice stone sits in the middle, designed to lock in the aroma of freshly extracted coffee. Before diving into the ice stone, let's review Sasa's full brewing process and methodology. (It's rather lengthy, so I'll use screenshots for the recap — if you've seen them already, feel free to skip ahead.)

A small ice stone, it's claimed, can lock in more of the aromatic compounds extracted during the early to middle stages of brewing. When the theory was introduced, everyone got extremely interested — some enthusiasts were ready to buy one straight after watching the competition!

In a post-competition interview, Sasa mentioned he would put this new invention up for sale. According to Sasa, he wanted to enhance the rich, fruit-gummy-like sweetness of a Green Top Geisha fermented for 90 hours at low temperature, so he teamed up with Professor Jahan and the Swiss Coffee Excellence Center to explore the science of the brewing process.

The Science Behind Aroma Preservation

During brewing, volatile aromatic compounds are extracted to varying degrees. High-temperature extraction pulls out more aromas — more volatiles — which is why brewing coffee hot fills the entire room with fragrance.

But as extraction continues, more and more of those aromas simply evaporate. So by the time the brew is finished and you take a sip, what you're tasting is not the coffee's most complete aroma profile.

To preserve those easily lost aromatics, Sasa's research team — building on research into extract cooling technology — found that rapidly cooling the coffee during the early-to-middle stages of brewing, when the main acids, sugars, and aromatics are being extracted, can capture (lock in) 40% more specific aromas by reducing their volatility, letting people experience more, fuller coffee flavor in the cup.

The Price Revelation and Alternative Solutions

Until recently, the price of the Paragon brewer was a mystery. "One, ten, hundred, thousand..." Original price: $4,292?! Let me double-check... Yes — over 30,000 yuan for a brewing stand plus a metal ice stone.

Coffee content creators on YouTube quickly began reviewing the device. When one creator picked up the ice stone and shook it to hear the liquid sloshing inside, the comment section lit up: "I know this one — it's the common food-grade stainless steel ice cubes you find in bars, with coolant inside (an alcohol and water mixture)." A quick search on a shopping platform confirmed they cost just 30 yuan...

Of course, for something to sell for tens of thousands, the ice stone must have extraordinary qualities. During the review, it was observed that coffee dripping onto the ice stone is rapidly cooled and gently separated, preserving the volatile aromas — perhaps a smoothness that food-grade stainless steel ice balls can't quite achieve.

Comparing V60 vs. Paragon Brewing Results

So what's the biggest difference between coffee brewed with a V60+Paragon setup versus a plain V60? According to the reviews, using identical extraction parameters on the same Geisha beans, the straight V60 coffee measured TDS 1.27, while the Paragon-extracted coffee came in higher at TDS 1.37. That 0.1 difference brought higher concentration and a fuller mouthfeel.

The reviewer noted that the straight V60 Geisha had a melon aroma and tea-like aftertaste, with persistent melon flavor, medium body, an overall clean balance, and a slight milk chocolate finish. The Paragon-extracted Geisha, by contrast, showed very intense melon flavor — the melon aroma rushed straight into the nasal cavity on the first sip — with an overall fuller experience and heightened sweetness: both acidity and sweetness, along with aroma, were significantly enhanced.

The reviewer offered an analogy: if the V60 is listening to music at volume 5, Paragon cranks it to 10 — intensity like the music banging in your ears. But the overly concentrated Geisha flavors felt somewhat flattened, making it harder to distinguish the coffee's layered nuances.

Limitations and Alternatives

Overall, while this extraction method can boost coffee aromas, it has its limits — not every coffee bean suits an approach that amplifies flavor so dramatically.

The reviewer also thoughtfully dropped a link to food-grade stainless steel ice balls in the comments. The implication was clear — yes, exactly: these tens-of-yuan ice balls can get you a similar effect.

As for the stand, if your DIY skills are up to it, I have no doubt some netizen will eventually 3D-print one.

Image sources: YouTube (Geisha Gang, Nucleus Coffee Tools), Internet

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Whether or not you chase high-tech aroma tricks, sweetness is something you can chase directly through the beans — and FrontStreet Coffee's high-sweetness shelf has you covered. The FrontStreet Blackberry, a high-altitude single origin from Costa Rica, is a black honey lot: the most intact mucilage, the deepest fermentation, the highest sweetness of all the honey processes, best roasted medium-light so the cup blooms with sweet florals, grape, sweet orange, and liqueur chocolate. The FrontStreet Boundary Estate Sidra takes sweetness in another direction — layered notes of grape, apricot, passion fruit, and fruit-candy sweetness, with chocolate and a whisper of spice, a wine-like finish, and a medium-light roast that suits anyone who loves intense fruit character and can't stomach bitterness; as an iced Americano it drinks like grape juice.

And if you want it all in one bag, the FrontStreet Strawberry Candy Geisha Blend marries Costa Rica's honey-processed sweetness with Ethiopia's bright citrus and florals — rose, strawberry soft candy, and dried blueberry on the nose, balanced grape and citrus acidity, and an almond-scented finish, equally at home as pour-over, cold brew, espresso, or latte.