MILAN – Our account of the World Coffee Championships held at the World of Coffee in Athens continues: after interviewing champion barista Boram Um and champion brewers Carlos Horacio Medina Isamit, now it’s the turn of the world’s most trained palate. Young Baek from Australia has the floor.
Young Baek, first time participating in a world championship and winning first place as a cup taster: what’s your secret?
“Well there aren’t any particular secrets. I was blessed with great friends and mentors that gave me the time of day to practice together and supply training beans for regional, national and world competitions. If there was any secret, it would be cupping coffees everyday and training with at least 4 sets of 8 triangulations regardless of if I was sick or tired.”
Can you tell us about your final test? How many cups did you recognize and in how much time?
“I was just happy to have shared the stage with such amazing people. Each of the champions had amazing backstories that had me rooting for them. During the final round I ended up with 7 cups correct out of 8 at the time of 4 minutes and 8 seconds. The sets at worlds are especially harder due to the added pressure of cameras and hundreds of people in attendance. It was all good fun though.”
What was the most difficult thing about Young Baek’s world competition
“Looking back, the most difficult things were probably adjusting to the food, maintaining physical and mental conditioning and sleep. Because Athens is about 8 hours different to Sydney Australia, adjusting sleep patterns was crucial. My team and I arrived a week prior to settle in and adjust to the time difference and food in Athens. I’m pretty sure we had Gyros and Greek Salad for lunch and dinner every day during the week of competition.”
And what, on the other hand, during your journey that led you to victory? How long and how did you train?
Young Baek: “I had some unbelievably generous friends and mentors. Nuno Park (3x time Australian National Finalist), Frankie Shi (5x time Australian National Finalist), and Yama Kim (2018 World Cup Tasters Champion) who have been my coaches and mentors ever since first starting in Cup Tasters Last year in February. I believe that having a solid foundation with great teachers is key when learning a new discipline. Lucky for me I had three world class mentors that reminded me to stay disciplined and focused. Each training session would consist of 4-8 different 2L batch brew sets.
These sets would have a difference of about 5 grams out of 120g and I would practice on average 6, 8 set triangulations a day. Once hot, then again cool. Replace sets and repeat. Training would take around 4 hours each time from start until finish with 5 – 10 minute breaks here and there to rest the palate and get some fresh air.”
Was the level of competitors high? Was there a moment when you thought you would win over everyone?
“36 Champions from across the world, each getting past regional selections and winning their national competitions in order to represent their country. All the champions at this level have gone above and beyond with their training in order to make it to the world competition. I strongly believe the level of competitors was all among the best the world had to offer.
The only difference would have come from mental and physical conditioning during competition week. Many friends in the past have had issues with their health just days before the start of competition so taking this into account, my team and I travelled to Athens as early as one whole week before the start of competition in order to get used to the different environment, food and time difference.”
Young Baek why did you decide to compete for the cup tasters competition? Does it have to do with your career path or simple passion?
“All the above really. I initially had an interest with Cup Tasters among all the other competitions as I believed my biggest weakness was in sensory evaluation. It was a means to become better and turn my weaknesses into strengths. Unsure if I would be pursuing the route of coffee roaster or green bean buyer, I just wanted to learn as much as I could in the lead up to either opportunities presenting themselves.
I took my Q graders shortly after starting my journey with Cup Tasters and found that having this as a foundation was crucial in being successful with the competition. Cup Tasters is about finding the odd cup out of a triangulation (three cups) but the difference could be as low as a single gram of difference among 60g/1L. Although an extreme example, a clear understanding of sensory evaluation went a long way in terms of identifying what was different and why.”
Was there any company that supported you during the preparation?
“I would first like to thank Paul Lee from Diggy Doo’s coffee. He runs an underground coffee bar in the middle of the city back home in Sydney and regularly runs these wild underground cuppings of exotic coffees from all over the world. He is one of the biggest inspirations in my life and has always served as an older brother and mentor figure. Thank you for believing in me from the get go and always leading by example.
The list of roasters I would like to thank extend to are Leible, Stitch, Zest, Infinity, Haven, Jibbi Little, Normcore, Single O, Ona, and Normcore. Thank you for supporting my journey to worlds and the vision of bringing the Sydney coffee community together.
Next I would like to thank Sttoke and co-founder Samuel Soong and filmmakers Luke and Kerby Ng for their generous time and support from all the way back in Australia to half-way across the world Athen. The run and gun nature of the events and trip was something I could not have done alone. Thanks team.
A huge thank you to Nuno Park, Yama Kim, Frankie Shi, Simon Gautherin, Carlos Escobar, Hanny Ezzat, Dao Pirada, Jibbi The little, Nawar Adra, Jack Hanna, Andrew Hunt, Jason Gao, Tim Song, Jim Lin, Victor Vu, and Luna for the mentorship and guidance I desperately needed. These people shared with me all their experiences and taught me everything from how to taste coffees, training for competitions, and finding my reason “why”.
There is one friend who started with me in specialty coffee who I would like to extend my thanks to. Hansel Tanadi. My best friend in Sydney, thanks for all the beans and endless amounts of encouragement you poured into me. This guy would be writing notes on coffee bags saying “next World Cup Tasters champion 2023” since the very first regional competitions and really believed the dream would come true.
Thank you Wilson Chung (Global product development manager) from Breville for supporting my side projects and competition journey. I owe you big time for all the extended amount of leave I have taken in the lead up to competition, thank you sir for the guidance and patience.
Last but not least, I would like to thank my wife Jeane for putting up with all the late night training, and for supporting my endeavours. Whether it was my first barista job or pursuing a world championship title, you have always been there with endless support from the start.
Also a massive thank you to the sydney coffee community. I would like to thank all the barista’s and roasters who participated in the training and events we ran back home. Your energy and support during world competition was unlike anything I have ever seen. Thank you so much.”
And now what do you think changes in your routine and career?
Youn Baek: “II would love to take this opportunity to celebrate coffee lovers of all levels. To create a platform for the next generation of Baristas and home brewers and connect them with the champions from the past and present. I wish to create a space that can host guests from all over the world while delivering the most unique and informative classes. I believe homebrewers and budding baristas also find competitions to be rather intimidating and scary to participate in for a number of reasons.
I plan to change this and take competition disciplines such as Cup Tasters and make them more accessible all over the world by making them fun and engaging. My team and I have already started with a Cup Tasters and Brewer’s Cup event in Sydney and we are planning on taking this to Melbourne and Asia next. I hope to one day have our own roastery and academy, but only time will tell.”
