The champion of the 2018 World Coffee Brewing Championship, Emi Fukahori, a Japanese girl from Switzerland, brought many surprises.

First, it turns out that Brazil’s specialty coffee beans are also good.

Although Brazil is a major coffee producer, coffee beans from Brazil are not common on stages such as the World Coffee Competition.

The coffee beans she chose for the competition were Laurina from Brazil.

The coffee beans are processed using anaerobic maceration and the variety is Bourbon Pointu from the volcanic island of Reunion.

She decided to use this coffee because she was impressed by its juicy and non-bitter taste, and secondly, the different flavors it released at different temperatures.

There was a small episode. She asked the 2016 WBrC (World Coffee Brewing Championship) champion Tetsu Kasuya to help her check the quality. He expressed his confusion about choosing Brazilian beans to participate in the world championship.

So Amy selected more than a dozen types of beans and asked Tetsu Kasuya to do a blind test. This Brazilian Laurina was one of them.

The result of the blind test was that Amy took Laurina to the competition.

Second, the Gina brewing equipment she used was very eye-catching.

After deciding on the beans for the competition, Amy's challenge was to find the right equipment to bring out the characteristics of those beans: showing the different layers and aspects of the coffee flavor at different temperatures.

Gina was chosen because there is a control valve under the filter cup, which allows her to choose different brewing methods, control the water flow rate, and regulate the water temperature in the filter cup.

This coffee brewing hot standby is a project that was crowdfunded on Kickstarter. It is a smart coffee brewer that monitors water temperature through a mobile phone app, has a built-in electronic scale, and can realize three functions in one machine: hand brewing, drip filtering (ice extraction/cold extraction), and immersion (French press).

Third, constantly change the operation method and water temperature when hand brewing to add dynamics to the coffee.

She uses a unique brewing technique, switching back and forth between immersion and dripping, while consciously changing the water temperature.

The coffee itself has a more complex and layered feel, and because of the different techniques and temperatures, the coffee is given a more lively sense of change.

As usual, unlock the key to winning the championship——

Coffee Information:

Country of Origin: Brazil

Manufacturer: Daterra

Altitude: 2200m

Variety: Laurina

Processing method: Semi-Carbonic Maseration

Brewing parameters:

Equipment: Gina smart coffee brewer

Coffee powder: 17g (coarsely ground)

Water: 220g

Brewing method:

First injection: 50g water, 80℃ water temperature, 45s soaking (to extract sweetness);

Second shot: 100g water, 95℃, 60s drip filter (to extract the layers of coffee);

Third injection: 70g water, 80℃ water temperature, 45s soaking (to extract the juicy taste);

At 2’55”, stop extraction to ensure a clean finish.

Amy first became interested in coffee when she was studying in the UK. She followed her classmates’ example and ordered a cup of Flat White, and found the sweet taste of milk particularly delicious.

At that time, coffee was the medium through which she enjoyed chatting with friends.

Later she came to Switzerland and worked in the tourism industry. Drinking coffee was a hobby and a habit, but not her profession or specialty.

In 2014, she went to a coffee roasting shop and drank a cup of coffee with a strong strawberry flavor. The coffee was made by a Swiss barista championship champion.

How can there be strawberry-flavored coffee? Curious, she dug deeper and ended up meeting the champion’s coach, and that’s how her own journey to compete began.

In 2015, she won the Swiss Barista Championship and went to Seattle to participate in the World Barista Championship.

After that, she continued to participate in coffee industry competitions.

Yes, you read that right. She had no experience in the coffee industry, but she went to the roastery for training after work. After one year, she won the title of champion.

After winning the championship, she met and fell in love with a coffee lover. The two later collaborated and opened a coffee shop, MAME, in Zurich, Switzerland. Only then did Amy truly become a coffee practitioner.

Is the story of Amy and coffee as magical as the novel?