The Art of a World Class Barista

Hoony Chae plans to compete in Taiwan.

By Sue Fea

In just four years Hoony Chae has made an art out of making coffee, holding his own against the world’s best baristas.

Hoony has been New Zealand’s grand champion Barista of the Year since 2019, a reign he hopes to continue through until 2022 after this year’s September championships.

He’s represented New Zealand on the world stage, travelling to Berlin in Germany for the World Latte Art Championships in 2019 where Hoony placed 22nd out of 42 other baristas representing their individual nations.

In November this year he’s hoping to better that score, winning over the judges with his incredible latte art designs.

South Korean born Hoony spends three to four hours a day in training for three or four months leading up to a big event and is passionate about all things coffee.

A barista for Mojo Coffee Auckland for six years, working both at its Queen Street espresso bar, and also as a barista trainer for the company, Hoony says he first got interested in latte art about four years ago.

He now has a number of ‘signature’ designs that continue to woo his customers back for more and he’s a regular feature at food shows and events. “I like to day dream about what I’m going to create next,” he says. “We need to interact with the judges at competitions about what has inspired each design,” says Hoony. “We need three patterns of designs each year to compete.”

Some of his designs are inspired by his childhood in South Korea, the honey bees and squirrels in the local park, while the fantail off the old New Zealand $1 banknote is another of his trademarks.

“I also create iconic New Zealand designs like the face of a lamb and a yellow eyed penguin.”

Beautiful swans and all manner of other intricate designs are all part of his ever-expanding repertoire. “There’s no end to my study. I’m really attracted to studying more and more about visual latte art,” he says.

Hoony gets great satisfaction out of latte art, as well as making the customer happy by serving them up great coffee. “Latte art is a bonus,” he says. “People can drink through their eyes and taste great coffee through their mouths.”

It’s all good practise for November when he heads to Taiwan to compete once again in the World Latte Art Championships, postponed last year due to the pandemic. This year’s winner will then go on to next year’s event.