It had been two and a half years since the last champion was crowned when the 2021 World Barista Championship (WBC) was held in October. But Ona Coffee’s Hugh Kelly had been preparing for the competition even longer.
“It was August 7, 2015, when I first visited Julian Holguin at his Finca Inmaculada [coffee farm] in Colombia. Julian took us up to a little house on the mountain in amongst the coffee trees. There was a long wooden table for a cupping session. I remember there was this coffee in the middle of the table, unlike anything I’d tried before,” Hugh told the judges as he began his routine.
“As I tasted it, it was unbelievably sweet. It reminded me of Stevia sweetener, which has this clean refined sweetness similar to icing sugar. The second time around the table, this coffee had completely changed. It turned savoury and vegetive, but I knew that sweetness and gentle acidity were the bones for an incredible.”
