INDUSTRY PROFILE
For the first time, the 2021 World AeroPress Championship was held as a virtual event.
Virtual victory The World AeroPress Championship has crowned its first virtual winner while uniting the global coffee community at a time it needs it most.
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hat started as a playful pastime is now a worldwide phenomenon. The 2021 World AeroPress Championship (WAC) saw more than 40 national representatives vie for the title of World AeroPress Champion, held as a ‘Compete from Home’ event on 5 March. Going virtual for the first time, the 48 competitors brewed their best recipe for the judges via surrogate baristas in Melbourne at Bureaux Coffee Roastery and Coffeebar. The knockout tournament followed, with judges blind tasting each AeroPress coffee and picking the cup they found tastiest each round. That honour consistently went to Finland’s Tuomas Merikanto. “The Finnish AeroPress Championship was the first competition I’ve ever competed in,” Tuomas says. “I haven’t been on the third wave coffee scene all that long. It wasn’t until I started working at Kahiwa Coffee Roasters a year ago that I really got into coffee. To go from having minimal knowledge on the subject to winning a world competition in such a short time is an honour.”
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“All my thanks go to my gorgeous coaches [at Kahiwa Coffee Roasters]. Owners Joonas Reinikainen and Joonas Markkanen taught me everything I know and have been such an important part of my journey.” All competitors used Third Wave Water capsules to add minerals to the distilled water. Tuomas, however, was the only competitor to use the Espresso Profile capsule, which is a 100 per cent espresso profile capsule. “I would have liked to use the same recipe as I did in the Finnish AeroPress Championship because I liked it a lot, but it didn’t just come out right with this specific coffee, so I made adjustments to suit the brew,” he says. Maru Mallee from the Netherlands won second place, and Brandon Smith from South Africa won third place. Simon Gautherin, Australia’s World AeroPress competitor from Toby’s Estate, unfortunately did not make it to the quarter finals. While the event was not open to the public, online coverage was accessible across the Bureaux Coffee and World AeroPress Championship platforms. Event Organiser and CEO of Bureaux Coffee, Tim Williams, says at its heart, the
World AeroPress Championship exists to bring coffee-loving people together in an open, inclusive, and fun environment. “Over the last two years, that has been very difficult to do. We developed a remote competition format so that anyone around the world could still take part,” he says. “Although it was spectator free, we shifted our focus to ensure it was broadcasted and made people feel connected to the global coffee community, while still keeping safe.” Tim says what originally started as a joke when two coffee lovers tested who could brew the best cup of AeroPress coffee, has blossomed into a global sensation. “The first competition took place in a small room in Oslo, with only three competitors. Like many simple ideas, the competition has since grown organically, and now spans 120 regional and national events taking place in over 60 countries,” he says. “I think anything that starts as a joke and 14 years later has a following in 65 countries and tens of thousands of people involved has some significance of its own.” Tim adds that while it’s nice to crown an AeroPress champion, the real value is coming to an event like the AeroPress
