I have worked in coffee shops and espresso bars since I was 18, starting with classic flappy grinders, no scale and the believe that real espresso is more “feel” than measure. Little did I know. Fast forward 17 years and I have realised that precision is key to evolve in coffee quality and that every gram matters. I have become a fan of modern coffee tools and can't live without my scale when it comes to making coffee professionally. I have also realised that for years the so-called “emotion” that I have been putting into making coffee has left its marks on my body. After years of tamping manually every single coffee and standing all day my back, my shoulders and my whole body suffered from the repetitive movement. It made working painful and not pleasant. On top of that, it made me inconsistent. Different pressures applied to my coffee puck resulted in varying qualities I served. Working behind the bar as a barista is a social and very exciting job, it’s fun and can help you develop incredible skills like tasting, workflow, management, social skills and so on. But recently we are facing a new generation of baristas that don’t want to suffer physically for this job and you know what, good on them! There is no reason why they should! I have left the bar as well because it was time for me and because my body was aching every day. So how can we make coffee bars as a workplace more sustainable? We are living in the year 2023 and there is no reason to manually tamp your coffee anymore! Tamping is one of the most tearing movements a barista exercises day after day for more than 100 times. It creates a pressure on your joints, your wrists, elbows and shoulders. A healthy employee is worth so much more than the initial cost of investing in a PUQpress. Imagine the costs that are generated by covering a worker's sick leave because he/she can’t move from back pain. Despite the huge impact it has on the physiology of a barista, a mechanic Tamper can also improve coffee quality immensely. The pressure applied during tamping can influence very subtle and refined taste elements of your coffee, which is very important when we talk about specialty coffee. Overall, the influence on tamping weight could be seen as secondary when we talk about commodity coffee, following the results of the research done by socratic coffee http://socraticcoffee.com/2015/07/the-impact-of-tamping-pressure-on-espresso-extraction/ What matters though is the level of tamping. If not tamped perfectly straight, the coffee puck is very likely to channel, which means an uneven flow of the water through the coffee grounds puck, when water finds a narrow path instead of flowing through the entire coffee bed evenly. Straight and even tamping will even out the extraction and insure a full saturation by the showerhead. The likelihood of replicating both manually, even pressure and tamping level, during rush hour is very low. A mechanical Tamper will help you work more consistently and more sustainable and a lot of the different models are made to fit on your countertop while taking up minimal space. Would I also use a PUQpress at home? Absolutely yes! The newest addition to my coffee corner is the PUQpress Q2, made for professional use but they also offer the PUQpress mini, made for small coffee shops or home use and it makes my morning coffee so much easier! A few years ago I got my first espresso machine and I started disliking the ritual at home, although I loved it at work. I always thought my coffee corner looked messy with coffee grounds everywhere… Some of this had to do with my grinder back then. I have since then upgraded to a Rancilio Silvia Espresso machine and a Rancilio STILE grinder, which makes grinding a lot easier, quieter and cleaner as the funnel distributes my coffee much better. The main mess now came from my tampers. Coffee got stuck and I don't know why but it still made everything messy. I was spoiled from my clean work environment that the PUQpess was the next logical step in my equipment evolution. It makes making coffee easier and cleaner. Who should definitely get a PUQpress? Passionate home Baristas, Cafés, Restaurants and OFFICES! The setup at many start up companies I have visited is good, but the tamping usually is a catastrophe. Between not tamping at all and pushing the portafilter through the bench, I think I have seen everything. The PUQpress will also shut up the know-it-all “you can only drink real espresso in Italy” colleges, that usually also are the ones that think tamping is some sort of sport exercise. Tamping should be easy, should be consistent and not a strength battle. So that is pretty much why I don’t want to make coffee without it anymore. It is one of my most recommended coffee making devices and I use it at home, in the bar and even during competitions. If you have any questions, just message me! Thanks for reading.

Every year I get to know new and exciting recipes, techniques and brewing devices. The coffee world is an industry that never stands still and the more you learn, the more you understand that you know nothing about it. However, I have used a couple of recipes this year that seem to be working very well and that help me make my coffees more flavour consistent and simply better. First things first One of the main features that has helped me produce excellent coffee at home, is the BWT best protect water filter under my sink. Water makes up most of your beverage and I think that most people, especially at home, still underestimate it. With the permanent filter installed I used a lot of water during summer for the brewers cup training and I could maintain a steady water quality. The filter lasted me for 4 months, is easy to install and easy to replace. I absolutely recommend investing in a water filtration system at home! With the right water, I brewed a lot of coffees this year, from Cup Tasters Training to the World Brewers Cup. Here are some of my 2022 highlight recipes Moccamaster 1.25l KBG I have started drinking a lot of batch brew at home and it is one of my absolute favourite ways of brewing coffee without thinking too much. I love the Moccamaster for its extremely easy handling, its simple structure and its fast performance, not to mention the exquisite design and the colour options that you can choose from. I use the Moccamaster to practise for Cup Tasters and I placed 2nd last year which was a great result for attending the first time. My recipe for 2 cups/ 500ml is the following: Grind Size on Commandante: 28 clicks not using the red clicks Grind Size in EK: 15 Grin Size on Mazzer ZM: 0.846 Coffee: 32g Filtered Water: 500g Filter Paper: original Moccamaster paper or bleached Tschibo Filter paper Brewing time: usually 3 minutes My favourite batch brew this year was a very full bodied and sweet 48 hour natural fermented El Salvadorian coffee from Fjord Coffee Roasters in Berlin, called Puerto Arturo. Graycano pour over The Graycano Dripper made quite a splash this year, as 2 world competitors, me and Martin Wölfl (Austria) have used it on the World Brewers Cup stage in Melbourne. For both the German Brewers Cup and the World Brewers Cup, I used the Graycano. The German-made dripper is constructed with an aluminium core, and layered with a high technology ceramic strengthened coating. Its V-shaped ribs create a natural and consistent agitation of the grinds during extraction. On the underside specially designed air pockets capture the heat from the already extracted coffee, maintaining a consistent brewing temperature. Another plus for this dripper is that it can't break when you have to travel to the other side of the planet. The sleeves can be personalised and performance and taste experience have absolutely convinced me. I will also write a couple of words about the server and the cups I have used after the recipe. The coffee I have used was a blend of 15g Ethiopian Mixed Heirloom, carbonic macerated and 5g natural geisha from Abu Coffees, Panama. My Brewers Cup recipe: Grind Size on Commandante: 33 clicks not using the red clicks Grind Size in EK: 15.5 Grin Size on Mazzer ZM: 0.980 I personally have used the KINU grinder, unfortunately the grind size was more of a feeling than an actual number… Coffee: 15g Ethiopa, 5g Panama, equal grind sizes Filtered Water: 300g at 93°c (I actually made my own brewing water and wrote about it in this article: https://www.nicolebattefeld.com/post/how-i-made-my-own-brewing-water ) Filter Paper: Sibarist small Brew: 5x 60g with 40 second breaks between the pours Time: 3:20-3:30 This recipe has become my go to for every coffee I try. It is consistent and emphasises acidity equally as much as body and overall texture. On stage I used the Brewista gooseneck kettles with 600ml capacity. The carafes I have used were from Kinto, they are just much more durable than the Hario carafes and do not break as easily. The cups I have used are the 280 ml Lovearamics Latte/Cappuccino Cups. The wide cups help the coffee to cool down faster and open up the flavours better. I find overthinking the choice of cups can easily become a waste of time. There are 3 classic shapes that work, wide rim, open lip and closed lip (like a wine glass). I always come back to those classic shapes. This brewing recipe is also adaptable for other drippers. Last year I used the metal V60 from Hario and I have realised that I do prefer Metal drippers in general. They have convinced me with their heat transferring qualities and with their durability as they dont break as easily. Aeropress I am not a huge fan of Aeropress, or shall I say I was? This year I found my magical Aeropress recipe that helped me win the German Brewers Cup in the compulsory round and it is definitely the best recipe to get the most out of any foreign coffee in the shortest amount of time. Grind Size on Commandante: 34 clicks not using the red clicks Grind Size in EK: 15.5-16 Grin Size on Mazzer ZM: 0.850-0.950 Coffee: 35g Filtered Water, 1st kettle: 180ml 81°C Filtered Water, 2nd kettle: 75ml 100°C Filter Paper: Aeropress paper Brew: Place inverted Aeropress on scale and add 35g of coffee Add 180g of 81°C hot filtered water and stir 10 times Add filter cap with single rinsed paper filter After 30 sec flip on jug and start pushing at 35 sec Push for five seconds until 40 seconds, until it reaches between the 3 and 4 symbols on the side of the Aeropress. After this, wait another five seconds and push again for another five seconds (at 45 seconds) for one more measurement line (between the 2 and 3). Repeat this again, wait five seconds and start pushing at 55 seconds, all the way to the end without pushing too hard Bypass with 75g of 100°C hot filtered water Once you practise this technique it gets easier and easier, you just have to stay focused. For more recipes check out https://www.nicolebattefeld.com/post/a-brewers-cup-competition-guide-to-compulsory-serviceafter-the-2022-world-brewers-cup-in-melbourn Espresso Since working for Rancilio Group Germany, I have the luxury of testing a lot of Espresso machines and grinders! However I do have a standart go to recipe that is the following: Espresso machine settings: Temperature coffee water boiler: 93°C Water: filtered! Espresso In 18.5g Out 38g Time 27 sec This is my standard recipe and from there I taste and adjust. I use the Puqpress to tamp my coffee with 15kg and the NCD coffee distributor. Those tools combined minimise the risk of channelling and help me be more consistent. My favourite milk to use is still Oatly, followed by Alpro No Mlk 3.8% fat. If I would ever use normal milk then I would freeze distil an organic 1.5% fat milk to get the sweetest taste. If you want to know more about that, shoot me a message! Those are my 4 go to recipes 2022! This year has shown me that base recipes help me be more comfortable in exploring new coffees and techniques and they are easy to modify with different temperatures or doses. Please keep in mind, when changing a base recipe, please only ever change one parameter at the time, otherwise the changes are not traceable. I hope you will find this article useful and if you have any questions, feel free to contact me! Happy brewing!

In September 2022 I competed in the World Brewers Cup in Australia with coffee that I roasted on a small sample roaster called ‘Nucleus Link’ and I want to talk a little bit more about this great machine! But first things first… How did I go about finding the coffee that I used on the world stage? Competition has a lot to do with trust and gut instinct for me. When I used a coffee from primrose, sourced by Project Origin, in 2021 on the world stage I fell in love with its profile and performance. After this great experience I wanted to find a coffee with a similar profile and cleanliness. In May 2022 I contacted Sam Corra , Director of Coffee at ONA Coffee as he isn’t just a coffee wizard but also knows the coffee I used pretty well. He had a very good overview of the new year's available crops and helped me narrow down the samples I ordered. I ended up with 8 different choices and I settled on the 2022 Konga from Primrose. After a couple of testroasts we realized the coffee is beautiful but a bit shy and Sam offered a blend option from Panama, Abu coffees. It was a beautiful natural geisha that really complimented the mixed heirloom and created a flavor profile of strawberries, champagne and mild tropical fruits. How was my experience using the Nucleus Link? The first time using the Link I was shocked how easy it was. I was used to a 50g sample roaster that is quite delicate and the feel of the link is way more robust in comparison. Also the amount of smoke seems way less which was very important to me as I roasted all my coffee in the middle of summer in my flat. Before the first use I had the luck to get a detailed airflow adjustment via zoom chat and it was very easy to understand. After that my friends from Australia and New Zealand could just send me example profiles and I could send them my feedback. The ability to share roast profiles and knowledge is amazing! And the community is steadily growing to the point where I went to a coffee convention in Brazil and friends just brought their link and roasted at the stand because it is so easy to travel with! Now for those who know their way around domestic and sample roasters, you'll notice that the Nucleus Link is similar in shape and performance to the Kaffelogic roaster. The Link is actually a collaboration between Nucleus and Kaffelogic, with a range of customisations that were specifically created to be a new product. The Link is designed to be a roaster that you can take to origin and sample roast the coffee directly at the farm, making it easier to give direct feedback to the farmers to improve coffee quality. I love this idea and the price is about ¼ of the other sample roasters on the market. Why did I choose to roast my coffee on the Link? The link has a unique approach to roasting as it starts at room temperature. This minimises scorching and helps the coffee to roast way more evenly. The profiles usually get cleaner and can be used already one to two days after roasting. This short amount of time between roast and taste profile is very good when choosing a coffee or deciding on a special profile as it is still very much in your flavour memory. Roasting as a Showstopper One of my favourite moments of this year's World Brewers Cup was the Brewbar time. The Brewbar is a mandatory part of the Brewers up, where you get to serve your competition coffee to the audience and I used this opportunity to freshly roast my coffee and give little doses to the people to brew it at home! The small roaster allowed me to build a special connection between the audience and me and everyone felt very special, getting a fresh dose. This has definitely motivated me to use the Link in future conventions to attract a bigger crowd at my stand. It also came in very handy in Brazil, where I was just a couple of weeks ago. A friend of mine brought his link with him and we could roast different samples directly from the producers at the convention and taste them. This connected everyone on a different level and clearly contributed to a valuable session of learning from each other about roastprofiles and flavour structures. Conclusion I can only recommend this little roaster as it isn’t just the best value for money I have ever seen, but also the new staple item when it comes to professional coffee equipment and competition preparations. Over 20 competitors in the World Brewers Cup and World Barista Championships used the Link roaster this year and I am sure we will see even more competitors using it next season! Most of all, the Link gives you the chance to be flexible and consistent at the same time and to travel with our coffee, without having to compromise quality. If you want to know more about this little roaster, check out https://nucleuscoffeetools.com/link/ or https://roastrebels.com/kaffeeroester/kaffelogic-nano, where you can buy a Kaffeelogic which is a similar model to the link.

Every year during christmas season, the coffee gifts pop out from every corner. From branded mugs to the classic christmas coffee blend, it is a very busy time for the coffee industry. One of the most requested items are coffee advent calendars. Preferably 24 little doses of coffee to stay well caffeinated during the christmas season. When I researched some specialty coffee calendars on the market, prices varied from 30-90€ and the coffees used in it were usually in the points range between 81-86. Until I found the ‘Dear Judges’ advent calendar. 24 x 15g of exquisite specialty coffee, chosen by 2 coffee professionals with impressive CVs. Reason enough for me to find out a little bit more about this project! What does “Dear Judges” mean? “Dear Judges” as a brand was my idea of bringing the coffees that normally only competitors and judges at coffee competitions would taste to a wider audience and coffee lovers.” said Janina, founder of “Dear Judges”. She also told me: “ I roast on a Stronghold S7 in 500g batches. I find this is the perfect batch size for tasting sets. The roaster is in the basement of my house." Who are the people behind the ‘Dear Judges’ advent calendar? Janina Łaszkiewicz aka Jane Lash is a qualified World Coffee Events judge for Brewers Cup and Roasting, AST in brewing, sensory and roasting, a home-roaster for the ‘Dear Judges’ brand and an absolute coffee geek. Jane also coaches for Brewers Cup and can help adjust someone’s brewing recipes literally in messages or by the phone. Łukasz Gałęcki aka LukMasterBrewing is the Community Manager and Editor at European Coffee Trip, Communication, Support and Events Handler at Comandante Grinder and the Polish Barista Ambassador of Alpro. He is based in Warsaw, Poland but frequently on the road and certified in brewing and sensory skills. He organizes coffee tastings, workshops, and helps coordinate events and championships. The two coffee professionals have known each other for more than 5 years and consider themselves as “good and truly veracious friends that worked together on various coffee projects.” I personally know Lukasz from social media and Janina as one of my Judges from the 2021 World Brewers Cup in Milan. If it comes to sourcing some great coffee, those two definitely have great connections! When I asked them what motivated them to release the calendar, Janina said: “We got the Idea after the World Coffee Championships in Melbourne that were super close to the Polish competitions and we just had the opportunity to get as much high class coffee as never before! On top of that, the new Panama harvest was about to drop as well and we contacted a very famous farm from Colombia as well, who promised us some high class coffee.” Lukasz tells me: “I have to admit that the initial idea was fully Jane's, I was there to be the pragmatic voice of common sense and scale the project to our capabilities. Because we wouldn't be really able to produce 100-200 calendars and the 24 calendars we did at the end were already very challenging for us." As a Barista that is well connected, even I have a lot of trouble finding and sourcing the best coffee I know from time to time. So how did the 2 find the 24 different coffees for the calendar? Janina told me: “ I asked some friends around for more green and my friend Kaapo, Barista Champion of Finland, had some great beans coming in as well. It seemed like getting 24 different coffees together wasn't impossible. When we decided to announce the calendar, we didn’t really have a plan when it came to packaging and not a full list of coffees yet. We had a basic idea of the coffee we wanted to feature and we calculated a budget that only included green, deliveries, packaging and taxes. The ‘Dear Judges’ Advent calendar is a 100% non profit project!” After the two tried some different packaging options like bottles, small bags or jars they decided to use traditional sample bags, as they minimized the oxidation of the coffees and helped preserve them fresh for longer. Eventually they also had to overcome some difficulties as Janina explained to me. “We were having big hopes on some known Colombian producers to send their coffees on time but unfortunately they never did. We also had the worst nightmare when it came to logistics. What should have taken 2-4 days delivery time ended up being stuck at customs or very expensive, but luckily some befriended roasters helped us out and sent us roasted coffee. This way we ended up with way more roasted coffee than expected and way less Colombian.” Whilst Lukasz helped figure out the visual aspects, graphic design of details and social media coverage, he also had to pack the coffee and it took him a lot of physical work putting the coffee calendars together. “I still need a good back massage after that (!!!) :D” he told me. After most of the problems were mastered, both of them celebrated with a bottle of German Riesling Kabinett 1990 and chocolates from UK based bean to bar producers Solkiki. “A true Sensory warm up for our Competition Coffees Calendar.” said Janina. When I asked Janina how many competition coffees are in the calendar, she said: “There is no such thing as Competition Coffee. Meaning there is nothing like a magic type of coffee you use in competitions and win. In some ways our calendar highlights some premium producers, varieties that everyone buzzes about or coffees that won some grading events.” In her eyes, the calendar is more of a help to any coffee person to see what is on the market right now. It can help expand your sensory experiences and at the end, it is just a very delicious experience, drinking 24 exclusive coffees. Lukasz added: “For me personally, the coffee calendar is a networking and educational project. It's connecting people who seek competition-level beans with producers and roasters and at the same time, we all can enjoy some great coffee together. In the end, I would like our subscribers to remember not only "almost a month of drinking expensive coffees" but remember the people who stand behind these coffees. Because they are the ones who made these beans so special." How to brew these coffees? When I opened my first “door” I weighed the dose that was in the package. It was 15g of a blend of Colombia La Palma & El Tucan Sidra natural and I was already very impressed with the quality of this calendar. But how to brew such a small dose without ending up with a only semi good brew? I learned a great recipe when I was in Australia, working with my friends from ONA and I want to share it with you here! I use 28 clicks on a Comandante or actually a similar grind size on my KINU grinder. Then I split my pours in 5 equal stages, always allowing the water to completely pass through. 5x 45g= a total of 225 ml 92C° water. My ideal extraction time is between 2:30 and 3 minutes. Conclusion I am more than happy that I paid a bit more than 120€ for 360g of coffee because it is absolutely worth it. I am currently drinking coffee number 7, a honey processed Geisha from Colombia, Finca La Colombia, roasted by The Naughty Dog in Prague from the former World Champion Gwilym Davis! The coffees I have tried so far have been quite exceptinal and my favourite was the Sudan Rume from Friedhats, Lex Wenneker. A excellent currated coffee experience! Follow @jlbrewing , @dearjudges and @lukmasterbrewing and keep up with their future releases! It is definitely worth it! Also, Schrödi loves it.... he wanted to be in every picture.

Eine neue Mühle hat sich der Rancilio-Familie angeschlossen! Der STILE Grinder von Rancilio Grindertec ist ein kompakter Allrounder und ich durfte ihn ausprobieren. Aussehen Der STILE Grinder ist unglaublich klein, platzsparend und mit den Maßen B X T X H / 130 x 185 x 308 mm und gerade mal 4,5kg passt er auch in einen kleinen Raum, wie meine Küche. Ich habe das schwarze Modell in einer matten Farbe und das Design ist sehr elegant und minimalistisch, nur ergänzt durch einen übersichtlichen „STILE“-Aufkleber, ebenfalls in Schwarz an der Rückseite der Mühle. Ich liebe das Design des Bohnenbehälters, da er nahtlos in den Rest der Mühle integriert ist, wodurch sich kein Staub ablagern kann und die Mühle sauberer erscheint, selbst wenn sie täglich in der Küche verwendet wird. Normaler Weise sitzen Bohnenbehälter wie ein Trichter auf der Mühle und der Freiraum zwischen Trichter und Mühle ist oftmals sehr schmutzig nach einiger Zeit, daher mag ich das nahtlose Design der STILE sehr. Der Trichter lässt sich sehr leicht abnehmen und auch wieder aufsetzen und kann mehr als 300 g Kaffeebohnen aufnehmen. Der Deckel des Trichters kann gleichzeitig auch als Tablett unter dem Kaffeeauswurf verwendet werden, was ihn zum ersten Mehrzweckdeckel macht, den ich je gesehen habe. Der Mahlgrad-Einstellring ist von zwei Seiten des Gehäuses erreichbar, sodass der/die Barista die Mühle entweder links oder rechts neben der Kaffeemaschine platzieren kann, und er ist ebenfalls sehr elegant im Design. Keine störenden Aufkleber oder großen Designs trüben das visuelle Erlebnis. Das auffälligste und für Rancilio sehr neue Merkmal ist das große Touchscreen-Display, das sich in der vorderen Mitte der Mühle befindet. Es hat große Symbole darauf, die leicht zu tippen sind. Ich werde die verschiedenen Einstellungen später erklären. Unter dem Display befindet sich die Ausgabe für das Kaffeemehl und eine höhenverstellbare, rutschfeste und abnehmbare Siebträgerauflage. Ich bin ein absoluter Fan der rutschfesten Beschichtung, da es eine der ersten Mühlen ist, die ich hatte, die den Siebträger nicht zerkratzt und ein handfreies Mahlen ermöglicht, was mir sogar zu Hause professionelle Coffeeshop-Atmosphäre verleiht. Die Mühle selbst ist die perfekte Design-Ergänzung für das Rancilio Silvia-Sortiment oder jede Heim-Espressomaschine und ein Muss für designorientierte Heimbaristas, die eine professionelle Ausrüstung suchen. Weitere Merkmale Die Kombination aus präzisen 58-mm-Flachmahlwerken und einem mikrometrischen Einstellring macht es einfach, sowohl Espresso- als auch Filterkaffee-Mahlgrade zu erreichen. Als ich die Mühle mit einem kleinen Schalter an der Seite einschaltete und Kaffee in den Bohnenbehälter gab, war ich sehr erstaunt über die Geräuschkulisse, die diese Mühle erzeugt. Weil es fast keine gibt! Diese Mühle ist so leise und hat dennoch einen sehr starken Motor. Sie ist etwa 1,5 Sekunden schneller, eine 18-g-Dosis mit einer feinen Mahlgröße zu mahlen, was einem 27-Sekunden-Shot mit 39 g entspricht, verglichen zu einer der führenden Heimmühlen eines deutschen Unternehmens auf dem Markt. Also kleiner, schneller und leiser! Programmierung Als ich die Mühle zum ersten Mal einschaltete, befand sie sich in einem Ausgabemodus, der über die Tastatur aktiviert wurde. Das heißt, Sie können Ihren Siebträger einsetzen und auf der rutschfesten Ablage lassen und dann entweder das Symbol für eine einzelne Espressotasse, das Symbol für die doppelte Tasse oder ein Pause-Symbol drücken. Verwenden Sie den Touchscreen, um mit dem Mahlen zu beginnen, indem Sie auf die Voreinstellungen für Einzel- oder Doppeldosis tippen, oder mahlen Sie kontinuierlich, indem Sie auf die Schaltfläche „Kontinuierlich“ tippen. Wenn Sie im Tastenfeldmodus auf die Schaltfläche „Kontinuierlich“ tippen, wird Ihre Dosis angehalten. Tippen Sie erneut auf dieselbe Schaltfläche, um fortzufahren. Um eine Ausgabezeit einzustellen, drücken Sie die gewünschte Dosiertaste länger, bis sie blinkt. Es erscheint ein Plus- und ein Minus-Symbol und Sie können die Ausgabezeit einstellen. Ich brauche derzeit 10 Sekunden bei einem doppelten Espresso, um 18 g zu mahlen, aber das ist nur mit meinem aktuellen Kaffee. Um Ihre Dosis richtig einzustellen, verwenden Sie bitte eine Waage. Sie können den Dispensiermodus auch in 'Aktivierung durch Siebträger' umschalten. Dazu müssen Sie nur die Continuous-Taste und eine der Dosiertasten (Einzel- oder Doppeltasse) gedrückt halten, bis beide Symbole 3 Mal blinken. Jetzt können Sie den Siebträger einsetzen, um mit dem Mahlen zu beginnen. Tippen Sie auf das Display um Voreinstellungen für Einzel- oder Doppeldosis auszuwählen, oder tippen Sie auf die Schaltfläche „Kontinuierlich“, um kontinuierliches Mahlen auszuwählen. Leider erscheinen die Einzel- und Doppeldosis-Symbole nicht auf diesem Startbildschirm, sodass Sie nur dort tippen müssen, wo sich die Symbole normalerweise befinden würden, und sie erscheinen, sobald Sie darauf getippt haben. Halten Sie die Dosistaste gedrückt, die Sie bearbeiten möchten. Verwenden Sie die Tasten + und -, um die Dosierungszeit einzustellen. Durch Entfernen des Siebträgers (so dass der Knopf nicht gedrückt wird) wird die Dosis angehalten. Setzen Sie den Siebträger wieder ein, um fortzufahren. Ich brauchte gute 15 Minuten, um alle verschiedenen Einstellungen auszuprobieren, aber sobald ich verstanden hatte, wie ich in jeden Modus gelange, wurde alles ganz einfach. Für den Hausgebrauch ist meine Lieblingseinstellung die Aktivierung per Tastatur, da Sie den Siebträger in die rutschfeste Ablage legen und sich organisieren können, bevor Sie mahlen müssen. Reinigung/ Wartung Der Trichter kann zu Reinigungszwecken ganz einfach abgenommen und mit Wasser und Seife gewaschen werden. Das Mahlwerk selbst kann mit einer Bürste oder einem Staubsauger gereinigt werden, aber bitte ohne dass Flüssigkeiten das Mahlwerk berühren. Einmal im Monat verwende ich Reinigungstabletten, speziell für die Mühlenreinigung der Firma Urnex. Das Produkt heißt Grindz und es sind glutenfreie Getreidetabletten, die extrem ölabsorbierend sind. Das Display zeigt auch die Wartungsintervalle an, sodass Sie wissen, wann die Mahlscheiben ausgetauscht werden müssen. Mahlen für Filterkaffee Da diese Mühle damit wirbt, auch für Filterkaffee geeignet zu sein, wollte ich sie unbedingt ausprobieren! Ich habe die Mahlgradeinstellungen auf eine sehr grobe Einstellung gestellt. Ich würde empfehlen, den Mahlgrad einzustellen, während die Mühle mahlt. Der Mahlgrad ist sichtbar gröber geworden und für Filterkaffeezubereitungen brauchbar und das war ehrlich gesagt das Letzte, was mich absolut überzeugt hat! Fazit Ein kleiner, leiser, schneller und sehr schnittiger Grinder, der alles macht, was ich von ihm will. Mit dieser Mühle ist es Rancilio gelungen, ein Produkt auf den Markt zu bringen, das nicht nur sehr funktional und hübsch, sondern auch äußerst professionell und einfach zu bedienen ist. Ich kann es nur empfehlen. Ich habe eine Kurzanleitung und einige Statistiken für weitere Informationen beigefügt. Bei Fragen kannst du mir gerne eine Nachricht schreiben!

A new grinder has joined the Rancilio Family! The STILE grinder from Rancilio Grindertec is a compact all rounder and I had the chance to try it out. The looks The STILE grinder is incredibly small, space saving and with the dimensions of W X D X H / 130 x 185 x 308 mm and just 4.5kg it fits even in a small space, like my kitchen. I have the black model, which is in a matt colour and the design is very sleek and minimalistic, only complemented with a uncluttered ‘STILE’ sticker on the back, also in black. I love the design of the bean hopper, as it is integrated seamlessly to the rest of the grinder, resulting in no space for dust to settle and the grinder appears cleaner, even if it is used everyday in the kitchen, compared with a grinder where the hopper sits like a funnel on top of the grinder. The hopper is very easily taken off and put back on and can hold more than 300g of coffee beans. The lid of the hopper can also be used as a tray underneath the grinder shoot at the same time, which makes it the first multi purpose lid I have ever seen. The grinding degree adjustment ring can be reached by two sides of the grinder, giving the user the option to place it either to the left or the right hand side of the coffee machine and it is again very sleek in its design. No disturbing stickers or big designs muddle up the visual experience. The most prominent and for Rancilio very new feature is the big touch screen display, placed in the front centre of the grinder. It has big symbols on it that are easy to tap. I will explain the different settings later. Underneath the Display is the shoot for the ground coffee and a height adjustable, non-slip portafilter rest that can also be taken off. I am an absolute fan of the non-slip coating as it is one of the first grinders I have had that doesn’t scratch the portafilter and it allows hand free grinding which actually gives me professional coffee shop vibes, even at home. The grinder itself is the perfect design addition to the Rancilio Silvia range or any home espresso machine and a must have for design orientated home baristas, that are looking for professional equipment. Inside the grinder The combination of precise 58mm flat burrs and a micrometric adjustment collar make it easy to achieve both espresso and drip coffee grind sizes. Once I turned the grinder on, with a little switch at the side, and added coffee into the hopper, I was very surprised by the amount of noise this grinder produces. Because there is nearly none! This grinder is so quiet and yet has a very powerful motor. It is about 1.5 seconds faster to grind a 18g dose with a fine grind size that equals a 27 second shot with 39g out, compared to one of the leading home grinders from a German company on the market. So it is smaller, faster and quieter! Programming The first time I turned the grinder on, it was in a dispensing mode that got activated by the keypad. That means you can insert your portafilter and leave it on the non-slip rest, then push either the single espresso cup icon, the double one or a pause symbol. Use the touchscreen to start grinding by tapping the Single or Double dose presets, or grind continuously by tapping the Continuous Button. Tapping the Continuous Button in Keypad mode will pause your dose. Tap the same button again to resume. To set a dispensing time, push the desired dose button longer until it flashes. A plus and minus symbol appears and you can set the dispensing time. I currently need 10 seconds on a double espresso to gain 18g, but this is just with my current coffee. To set your dose right, please use a scale. You can also switch the dispensing mode into activation by portafilter. To do so you just have to hold the Continuous button and one of the dose buttons (single or double cup) until both icons blink 3 times. Now you can insert the portafilter to start grinding. Tap to select Single or Double dose presets or tap the Continuous Button to select continuous grinding. Unfortunately the single and double dose icons don’t appear in this start screen, so you just have to tap where the icons would usually be and they appear once being tapped. Hold the dose button you want to edit. Use the + and - buttons to adjust the dose time. Removing the portafilter (so that the button isn’t pressed) will pause the dose. Reinsert the portafilter to resume. It took me a good 15 minutes to try all the different settings out but once I understood how to enter each mode, everything got quite easy. For home use my favourite setting is the activation by keypad as you can place the portafilter in the non-slip rest and organise yourself before having to grind. Cleaning/ Servicing For cleaning purposes the hopper can be very easily removed and washed with soap and water. The grinder itself can be cleaned with a brush or a vacuum cleaner but please without any liquids touching the burrs. Once a month I use cleaning tablets, specifically made for grinder cleaning from the company Urnex. The product is called Grindz and it are gluten free wheat tablets that are hyper oil absorbent. The display also shows servicing intervals and so you know when to get the burrs replaced. Grinding for Filter Coffee As this grinder promotes to also be suitable for filter coffee, I really wanted to try it! I turned up the grind adjustment settings to a very coarse setting. I would recommend adjusting the grind size whilst the grinder is grinding. The grind got visibly coarser and is usable for filter coffee preparations and to be honest, that was the last part that absolutely convinced me! Conclusion A small, quiet, fast and very sleekly designed grinder, that does everything I want it to do. With this grinder, Rancilio has managed to release a product that is not just very functional and pretty, but also extremely professional and easy to use. I can only recommend it. I have attached a quick start guide and some stats for more information. If you have any questions, feel free to drop me a message!

How can you judge coffee? How can a number of people agree on a subjective experience of a coffee? And how can competitors prepare a performance if they aren’t knowledgeable about how they will be judged? Coffee competitions are the Olympic Games of the coffee world. They demand a skilled coffee professional that is creative, has found a coffee (or coffees) they believe to be world-class, and that is a great presenter. In regional, national and world level, these competitions usually cost quite a lot of money, time, nerves and resources. In the following I want to explore coffee competitions, the experience of competitors and in particular, the judging of these competitions. I believe that as the quality and popularity of these competitions continues to increase, two things are happening: (i) there is a growing divide between the competitors who interpret/work within the rules and scoresheets, and the judges who use these scoresheets and; (ii) competitors and judges are approaching the competitions from very different angles. I propose the idea that it should be mandatory (if not strongly encouraged) for coffee competitors to gain experience on the other side of the stage – to judge, volunteer and be part of the non-competitor side of competitions. Before we get into this idea, let’s look at what a competitors’ experience is like. When investment doesn’t pay off We’ve all had that experience of spending too much money on something, only for it to end poorly. It could be a fancy pair of jeans you ripped, a new phone you smashed in the first week, or the most expensive coffee you could get your hands on for a coffee competition. When I attended my last World Coffee Competition in 2022 in Australia I met several competitors that had issues with their luggage, as it simply got lost during transit. One competitor that I spoke to had to repurchase a lot of his equipment in Melbourne. Repurchasing all this equipment, in addition to coffee costs, roasting, travel, accommodation and more meant that his costs for the year's competition campaign were close to €100,000 – which is mind-boggling. This shows how expensive it is to travel the world for these competitions. Bear in mind, this does include the costs of coffee and probably the money that went into developing this coffee with different experiments on fermentation and roasting, so it’s an extreme example. Despite this huge investment, and all the time and stress over many months, this competitor did not place in the top 6, the finals. The judges simply did not agree with a lot of what he said, and didn’t experience the coffee in the way he believed that they would. This story isn’t entirely unfamiliar to me, and I have also experienced this feedback more than once. Luckily I have spent way less money on my competitions, but I’ve dedicated months of my free time, sanity and a fair chunk of savings to purchase coffee, train and travel for coffee competitions. What does it take to win? So, what is that we have to do? What can we do to impress the judges? What are the judges calibrated on? And the question I have heard many competitors ask over and over: Do the judges understand my coffee? If we bring something new to the table, will they even appreciate it? How can the winning coffees year after year always be different trends? And these are questions I have asked myself after a world competition. When we talk about national championships, there are many other problems. I would say that a huge percentage of competitors in the nationals have absolutely no idea what they should do to win – that isn’t due to a lack of talent or passion, purely a lack of experience or a misunderstanding of the rules. Receiving bad scores is never a fun experience. Unfortunately there is always a great deal of frustration and many competitors in the national rounds, after having invested so much time and effort, don’t want to compete again. This leads to a stagnant coffee scene and a huge distance between what judges want and what baristas are bringing to the table. That’s not to say that this is always the case. Whether you’re someone who didn’t place as well as you wanted in your national competition, or you’re a World Coffee Championship competitor who received bad scores, many people choose to return to competitions to prove to themselves (and the judges) that they have what it takes. More than once I felt unfairly judged or misunderstood after hearing my competition debrief. During these debriefs, I have often felt crushed and twice in my life I was unsure if the judging was truly fair. I am a person that grows after criticism, but sometimes the debrief after your competition isn’t really satisfying. But instead of giving up, I got back on the horse and had to understand that a lot of competition at the world level, no matter what you do, is plain luck. The judges are not there to coach you, they don’t (or won’t) say ‘You should have done this’ or ‘do that instead’. All you see are low scores on a presentation you worked on for months, and you have to listen to their justifications as to why their scores are low. Crossing to the other side of the table I believe that high-level coffee competitors are some of the best trained coffee tasters in the world. They focus on every single angle of extraction in order to give a very accurate and detailed coffee experience, whilst maintaining a comfortable environment for their “guests” aka judges. They bring a great value to the world of coffee and are billboards for our slowly but steadily growing message to the world: that coffee is special! As I mentioned, I try to use debriefs and feedback to make myself a better competitor and to come back better than ever. This year, after feedback from last year’s World Brewers Cup and the 2022 national competition, I went into the World Brewers Cup feeling more confident than ever. I had a great coffee, a great concept and had my sights set on a place in the top 6 – however, some of the judges didn’t have the experience that I promised. Once again, I had to deal with the disconnect between competitor and judge. I was so sure about everything I described about my coffee – where did I go wrong? How could they have such a different experience? Why didn’t they taste exactly what I tasted? My debrief was crushing, and after speaking to judges and friends in the industry I have made my peace with what happened. However, I still eel that there is something I can do to give myself some more closure and to become a better coffee professional and competitor. I could become a judge to understand why my past competitions and this year's competition failed at certain points, and to gain insight into what judges actually get calibrated on. It's an open secret: want to become a better competitor? Become a judge! Many competitors have taken a year or two off from coffee competitions to gain experience as a judge and came back stronger, better equipped and more informed for their future competitions. And if we look at it: who is better to judge than a person who already spends so much of their time tasting coffee over and over and over, finding the right recipe, explaining detailed fermentation processes or choreographing every single step and speech pause. If we had more competitors among our judges, we would have a better connection to the people on stage and less discussions if the judges actually understood the stress and effort behind the whole event. This brings me to an extreme sounding thought experiment, and the point of this article. If so many competitors are confused or disheartened by judges' feedback, should it be mandatory for competitors to participate in coffee competitions as judges? Should judging (or volunteering) be mandatory? I propose three different ideas for mandatory (non-competitor) participation in coffee competitions. The first (which I will call ‘Legacy Judging’) focuses on giving back to the community after success in competitions, and the second (which I will call ‘Eligibility Judging’) enables new competitors to gain insight before taking the stage for the first time. The third I’ll simply call ‘Chapter Participation’, referring to volunteering for a national coffee chapter or a certified coffee event. I’ll provide some brief pros and cons for each idea. (i) Legacy Judging The idea of Legacy Judging is that coffee competitors who win their national competitions would be required to participate as a judge in the next years’ competition. As a national champion you are an official ambassador for your country and in my opinion, your goal should be to make the coffee scene in your nation better, more seen and to evolve. By providing your knowledge and insights as a successful competitor and a judge, you can assist new and less experienced competitors and leverage your position as a champion to promote the status of the competitions further. And as a winner, what is better than giving back to the competition? By making any national champion a mandatory judge for the next year, we would have immediate learning and involvement from the competitors into the system of the competitions. The following year, should they wish to compete again, they would have better insights and a better chance to place well in the world championships, it also would make the nationals harder and more evolved. With Legacy Judging, I believe that the SCA and other coffee chapters would become more diverse, with more people with competition experience being able to share their expertise with new competitors, rather than just winning and owning a title for a year. I say this also criticizing myself, because I have not yet judged – it has taken me a long time to realize how important it is to contribute not only just as a competitor. I also think it would have saved me literally years of competition if I would have had to learn how to judge. Pros: Sharing your knowledge with your community; elevating the competitions; giving back to the community that provided you with a win; learning more for future competitions Cons: Conflict of interest should you wish to coach a competitor (or competitors) (ii) Eligibility Judging In the Eligibility Judging model, prospective coffee competitors would only be eligible to register for competitions having previously volunteered as a judge. This is probably the most controversial of the three ideas I propose. On one hand, future competitions will learn what the judges are actually judging and we would have more people that contribute to the sustainability of the national coffee chapters. On the other hand, this means that once someone decides they want to participate in a coffee competition, they have to wait another year to finish their judges volunteering (assuming they haven’t already done it). I think that aside from insight into how coffees are judged, the greatest benefit of Eligibility Judging would be seeing what the experience of competitions is like for judges themselves. Most of the people that run the national chapters and judge in these competitions are coffee loving people that invest their private free time without getting any pay. Most of the time, they are also the ones coping with all of the complaints and criticism. Pros: Gaining insight and experience prior to competing; learning what competitions are like for judges; creating a more rigid criteria for competitors Cons: Longer time invested in order to compete (iii) Chapter Participation The idea of Chapter Participationis much like Eligibility Judging, but rather than prospective coffee competitors needing to volunteer as a judge before being eligible to compete, they would only need to volunteer for their local coffee chapter. This could be timekeeping, as a stage runner, and more. We need to find a way to reinvest in our own coffee scene. I believe that we can do this through Chapter Participation volunteering, creating a sustainable competition scene, and sharing knowledge. We all stand on the stage of the coffee competitions and claim to love coffee and the scene and so on. However, the people that truly support the coffee scene are the people in the background, that do so year after year and get nothing in return. The great thing about this idea is that some countries are already adopting it. For example, the SCA Germany has stated that prospective competitors who have volunteered will get first preference for registration in coffee competitions. I think rather than being restrictive, this idea is enabling more people to become involved in the coffee community and the volunteers who make everything possible. Pros: Engagement and participation with community; insight into competition structure; volunteering for a great event! Cons: Investment of time (but I think it's worth it); volunteer position potentially not relevant to competition itself Why else should you judge or volunteer? If more prospective competitors participated in competitions and events in nationals and world levels, it would be an incredible way to gain great insight into coffee competitions. You can see what is actually happening on stage and backstage, to learn from mistakes that others have made, and to observe what long-time competitors are doing to be at the top. It also gives you an inside of all the stress and emotions backstage – and trust me, there are a lot. An essential part of many great competition presentations is tasting, so as a volunteer you might also have the chance to try some coffee and simply just understand what competition coffee tastes like. I can’t emphasize enough that these coffees are not normal, and outside of the competition scene it is hard to experience coffees of this quality. Being part of these events might open new doors and to connect with other coffee professionals. It might be the opportunity to find your future mentor, or to connect you with people that can help you build a presentation, find a coffee, and more. I truly think that global coffee events are a great place to start sourcing coffee, as many producers are present. What do you think? As I already said, I am also being critical of myself. I always try to give as much to the community as I can and I am taking my ambassadorship for the German coffee scene very seriously. However, I still only started thinking about becoming a judge after my experience this year, to become a better competitor and to increase the number of experienced judges in Germany. Going out of a competition and resigning because one doesn't agree with the judges decision isn’t right, although it may feel like a reasonable decision at the time. Instead, we should all try to improve not just ourselves, but the competitions as a whole – if we think something went wrong, we should be part of the solution to make it better. The bottom line is, we need more judges and more skilled coffee professionals who are willing to improve the competition format. Please feel free to discuss this topic with me and to tell me your thoughts about this. If you enjoyed reading this article, feel free to share it on your socials as well. Thank you for reading! All Photos property of Sinan Muslu @coffeesomething

French Presses are probably one of the most common and easiest to use coffee making utensils on the market. The design and functionality hasn’t changed in over a century and many companies offer beautiful carafes to make medium to large amounts of coffee at home. With some tips and tricks you can really push the quality of your french press coffee and you might be surprised by the technique I am about to explain to you. French Press is an immersion brew, but what does that mean? Immersion means that the ground coffee soaks in the water without applying any pressure or filtering technique. During the contact time of water and coffee, you are creating a solution that will take as much flavour as it can until it is saturated. That has many benefits. Firstly, your coffee can not be over extracted and secondly, given you maintain the same recipe all the time, you have a very reproducible and consistent brew. Unfortunately the French press is known to taste quite grippy and muddy, but there are ways around it that leave you only with the benefits of an immersion brew. All you have to do is stick to the following aspects: Take your time. This technique will offer you a great round and full bodied coffee experience without any grippy solubles, but it does require some time. If you are in a hurry, maybe try using a filter coffee machine for easy use and consistent results. If you are ready to celebrate your coffee ritual, let's start! Use high quality coffee. Many people ask me, which method or machine makes the best coffee and the answer is always the same: you can not get a great cup of coffee, if you do not use quality beans. But what are quality beans? A great indicator is smell and colour, as well as information on the coffee bag. A good quality coffee shouldn’t be roasted longer than 2 months ago, should not be oily and dark on the outside, shouldn’t smell dark or as I like to say “ like black rubber”. A fresh coffee should smell light, slightly sweet and aromatic and depending on the origin you should smell characteristics from terroir and fermentation. If the beans are sourced well, the company will most likely provide many of those information on their coffee packaging. French Press is the perfect way to easily try out different coffees and get to know their true potential. Grind your Beans fresh and preferably yourself. Coffee reacts very aggressively with oxygen and can lose a lot of its volatile aromas within the first 3 minutes (!!!) after grinding. Investing in a hand grinder or even a medium price range electric grinder (over 50€) will improve your coffee quality drastically. The grind size for a French Press can be quite coarse so you will not need a grinder that can grind espresso fine. Why do we need a coarse grind setting? The grind setting for an individual coffee extraction method orientates itself depending on the used force or pressure. When extracting Espresso, we have a lot of pressure. 9 bar pressure will force the water to press as many solubles out of the coffee as possible. If the grind setting would be coarse, the water would just splash through the coffee and the extraction would be way too short, resulting in a watery and sour coffee. That is why espresso is ground very fine, to give a resistance to the provided water pressure. When using a filtration technique like a hand filter or filter coffee machine, gravity is our force, pulling the water through the coffee bed, extracting our desired filter coffee. For a hand filter the grind size should be coarse but not too coarse, otherwise the water will run too fast and we once again have a too watery and sour coffee. When making a French Press, we have no force, we are making a solution. Immersion brews will extract to their point of total given flavour and that's it. That is why we should use a quite coarse grind setting. That doesn’t mean super coarse, just a tiny little bit coarser than filter setting. To reduce the amount of small floating particles that will make the coffee “muddy” or “grippy” To not oversaturate the solution A coarse grind setting will provide a large amount of bigger particles that will evenly soak and give a mix of lighter flavours like florality and acidity but also body and sweetness. Use fresh and filtered water. Water makes 98% of our drink so it is quite important. I would always recommend using filtered water. If you want to know more about water for coffee brewing, read my article about how I made my own water : https://www.nicolebattefeld.com/post/how-i-made-my-own-brewing-water Find a recipe that you like. I would recommend a ratio of 60g of ground coffee on 1 l of filtered water. That means 30g on 500 ml and so on…. If you like your brew to be lighter or stronger, feel free to adjust your recipe, depending on your own taste. To find your perfect recipe please invest in some digital scales and a timer, preferably a scale that has an included timer. They will help you achieve more consistent results and to be more accurate. How to brew. Remove the plunger from the French Press and lay it by the side. Weigh your coffee and grind it on a quite coarse, not too coarse grind setting and place it in your french press. I will use the following example recipe now: 30gr ground coffee on 500ml freshly filtered water with 95 degrees. You can fill the water all into the cylinder of the French Press in one go with a fast flow kettle and start your timer. Once the water is added, please stir the water coffee mix firmly for about 6 times to make sure, all the coffee is in contact with the water. After 4 minutes you will see a visible crust at the top of your brew. That is the CO2 escaping the coffee, carrying some of the lighter particles to the top. Please take 2 tablespoons. With one spoon you can swirl the crust back into the brew so the coffee grounds sink to the bottom of the brew, some bits will remain at the top and now you can scoop this thin foam off with the 2 spoons. You can just throw this foam in the sink or maybe in a plant pot as it is a great fertiliser. Even if the coffee looks clean now, it is not ready to soak, so wait another 5-.6 minutes. During this time the floaty coffee grinds will sink to the bottom of the French Press and the brew will also cool down a little bit, as it is way too hot at the start. You might have noticed that we STILL didn’t add the plunger to the French Press. That is correct and now it gets really wild. After 10 minutes, we are ready to serve the coffee. Place the plunger on top of the brew and DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT press the plunger down! We still use the plunger as a coarse filter but we don’t want to agitate the water with the grounds again! Once placed only at the surface of the brew, gently pour the coffee into a cup. You have now just made a super balanced coffee without any muddyness or floating particles. Here is a short overview: Required equipment: -great coffee -filtered water -fast flow kettle -scale -timer -2 table spoons -cup to serve Steps: 30gr coffee Coarse grind setting 500ml 95 degrees water Soak for 4 minutes Break and clean crust with spoons Pour into cup at 10 minutes without pushing plunger down Biggest surprise: Do not push the plunger down, only use it as a filter. Enjoy! I love this recipe as it shows the full potential of a coffee and is very similar to a professional cupping! It usually reveals a very silky coffee experience that is easy to brew and that can not over extract as the water, once fully saturated, will not take any more flavour. You do however have to calculate a designated amount of time to celebrate this ritual. When do I brew this recipe? Usually every time I travel. It is so easy and most hotels or apartments have a French Press in their kitchen. It is a very simple way to convince non coffee professionals of how great specialty coffee can taste and how a great coffee experience mostly depends on great beans and not the most fancy equipment. I hope this motivates you to try a new technique when it comes to making French Press coffee! If you find this article helpful, feel free to share it with your friends and the community. Happy brewing!

A competitor insight of how to figure out which water matches your competition coffee, based on my experience from the 2022 World Brewers Cup in Australia. Explanation of terms, used in this article In this article, I will use a couple of termes that I would like to explain before you start reading. Total dissolved solids (TDS) is a measure of the dissolved combined content of all inorganic and organic substances present in a liquid in molecular, ionised, or micro-granular (colloidal sol) suspended form. TDS concentrations are often reported in parts per million (ppm). Water TDS concentrations can be determined using a digital meter, a so-called TDS meter. Reverse Osmosis is a technology that is used to remove a large majority of contaminants from water by pushing the water under pressure through a semipermeable membrane. Distilled water is water that has been boiled into vapour and condensed back into liquid in a separate container. Impurities in the original water that do not boil below or near the boiling point of water remain in the original container. Thus, distilled water is a type of purified water. Introduction Water is a big mystery to me. I am aware that water is incredibly complexe, actually so complexe, that I have huge respect for it. Water tastes different if you change only 2 ppm of one of its components and makes 98% of our coffee. It transports flavour or overshadows it, depending on its ingredients. If we want to use water for brewing coffee, not every water is the same. Some waters have different mineral contents and can push or mute different flavours in our coffee. That is why coffee professionals always recommend filtered water when it comes to brewing coffee or espresso. The healthiest water isn’t necessarily the best for brewing coffee and tap water? Difficult. When I profile a competition coffee, there are so many things I have to figure out. Which coffee do I want? Which roast style? Which dripper? Which Paper? Which paper filter? What grinder and is the grind size perfect yet? It is like juggling with 100 different parameters and never knowing exactly if the decision I made is the perfect one. And then there is water. In the competition circle it is widely known that certain ingredients in your water can benefit the taste of your brew. That is why most competitors these days make their own water. If it is mixing different types of water, mixing solutions or building it from scratch. In the following article I want to show you how I approached this topic, how I slowly learned how to make water and what you can do if you want to make your own water. My experiences are based on my practice to compete in the World Brewers Cup 2022 in Melbourne where I placed 11th in the world. How to start making water First of all, I am based in Berlin and tap water in Germany is very good with a fantastic drinking quality. However It changes a lot depending on region, household and sometimes even season. When I first measured the tap water at home I wasn't surprised when I had a total hardness of 21 and a TDS of 420ppm. Berlin water in old flats is quite hard. I knew I had to use filtered water or make it myself. To measure the total hardness and alkalinity I have used the water test kit from BWT, a company that specializes in water filtration systems, to measure the TDS (Total dissolved solids ) I have used a TDS meter from Third Wave Water, a company that offers products to create your own water. (Imige below) At the start, I used filtered water from a specialty coffee shop, filtered by using reverse osmosis and mineralised afterwards to match the sca standards of coffee brewing water. The osmosis system was a ROC filtration system from BWT, one of the official sponsors of this years world coffee competitions. Even if I have had great experiences with this water in the past, it didn’t quite match my coffee this time. Also I would have had to bottle it and transport it to Australia which seemed quite impossible. For me that was more a reinsurance to tackle the scary mystery of making water by myself. What are the options to make water? I had 3 options. Using third wave water, aquacode or buying minerals and mixing my own water cocktail. Third Wave Water is a company providing mineral mixes in sticks which are designed to ensure the perfect balance of minerals in your brewing water, supposed to optimise the taste of your coffee. You just have to add one Third Wave Water stick to one gallon of distilled or RO ( reverse Osmosis) water, shake, and use it to brew. Those sticks contain powder, are very easy to use, handy and you can just buy distilled water from the store. Aquacode is another company that I know of, which provides the same idea. Minerals preportioned that have to be mixed with purified water to make balanced brewing water. The mineral content is a bit different and it provides them in liquid form, which is easier to dissolve. I really like how easy these mineral concentrates are to use and that you can make them on the spot, achieving consistent results. The only problem that I actually had was, when I researched distilled water I found out that distilled doesn’t always mean the same. Some waters are distilled using salt or other techniques and they respond differently to the minerals. Another problem was that the mineral content can not be manipulated and I can not enhance single features, according to what matches best with my coffee. So once again, I was unsure. This is when I reached out to my friends in Australia, competitors and coffee professionals with years of experience. They have told me that using pre mixed minerals doesn't always suit the coffee you are using, the same as online recipes. They are a great guideline or starting point, but as every coffee and every water, even distilled water, is different, it sometimes is better to completely mix the water yourself. I have opened another rabbit whole…. But I also trusted my friends and I really wanted to evolve and learn more about water, even if that means try and error. The ingredients So I had to get 5 basic ingredients: Purified base water that I could buy in Europe and in Australia with the same quality, Magnesium Chloride, Calcium Chloride, Potassium chloride ( also known as kaliumchloride) and natron. As a purified base water I got Lauretana recommended. A very very soft Italian water with a total mineral content of 8-9ppm. This water is so soft and pure that it works perfectly as a base water and its quality is always the same as it all gets in bottles in Italy. In Germany most of the organic supermarkets have it in stock. I ordered all the other ingredients either online or from my local pharmacy ( Apotheke). Magnesium Chloride Magnesium chloride Hexahydrat means that one particle of magnesium can take 6 parts of water, the one I bought I got from the pharmacy and it is extra pure to create solutions. Magnesium can emphasise florality, acidity and sweetness in a coffee. Calcium Chloride Calcium chloride is available as powder or liquid. Both versions work well. My friends suggested the liquid one but after a lot of tries I found the powder worked better for me as I found it easier to dose. The powder I used was 100% pure water free calcium chloride that I ordered online. Calcium binds sweetness and pushes the body of a coffee. It creates a structure for the flavour and helps transitioning flavours to shine. Potassium and Natron Both of those I got online and they act as a so-called “buffer” in your water. They bind all the minerals together, regulate the PH. Now that I had all the ingredients, I had to start mixing solutions. Many people have suggested different options, how I should do water so I just want to emphasise that this is the way I did it. It doesn't mean it's the only or the correct way, but by sharing my experience I hope I can take some of the fear away when it comes to making water. I had so many people talk at me that I literally didn't even want to make water and I forced myself to go through this rabbit hole and learn as much as possible. Please remember: water and coffee are organic and in the world of flavour there is never a ‘correct way’ to do anything and no set recipe for success. Mixing solutions I used 1l Lauretana water and added 6g magnesium chloride, closed the bottle, labelled the bottle, shook it and placed it in the fridge. For the calcium chloride solution I used 4g on 1l of Lauretana and did the same. For my buffer I mixed 1g natron and 1.2g Potassium together and added it to 1l of Lauretana water. After all bottles were clearly labelled and closed in the fridge, I let them sit for a night. Those bottles were my base solutions and I could use them to try different ratios. According to the sca the perfect brewing water has a tds between 75 and 250ppm so within this, I can try different ratios. I measured the TDS of the Lauretana each time, because it varied from 8-11ppm with the TDS reader from third wave water. And to be honest, I just tried everything. The only thing I knew is that the buffer is usually very little and more magnesium gives more florality. Too much magnesium makes the coffee soapy and astringent. The measurements are very small and you have to be very detailed, that is why I used syringes to slowly add the minerals one by one. Depending on how much water I was making ( 1 liter to try or 5 liters to make multiple brews) I added millilitre by millilitre, then closed the bottles and swirled them to mix everything, then measured the TDS and so on and so on. I settled for a total ppm of 105 containing 10ppm Lauretaner water, 15ppm buffer, 40ppm magnesium chloride and 40ppm calcium chloride. However, some days my coffee tasted better with 50ppm magnesium chloride or other measurements of the given ingredients. I had to try it out every single day. The more I tried it, the more I got a feeling for it. I got an idea of how the coffee interacts with the minerals and also different brewing temperatures. When we got to Australia, one of our friends had already organised Lauretana water and we could start comparing waters. Interestingly Sam Corra, head of coffee at ONA, world vize brewers cup champion 20187 and mastermind behind many world competitors like World Brewers Cup Champion Matt Winton and a dozen more, suggested Sydney tap water as it is apparently magical. So we also organised 10l of this to get driven to Melbourne. After brewing my coffee with a lot of different waters, I had to make a decision. Together with some of the world's best brewers we decided for the self made water with 40-40-15 ratio I have explained earlier. It gave the coffee florality and lightness. But to be honest, I know that if I would have ground my coffee slightly differently I would have probably needed a different water recipe again. CONCLIUSION So no matter what you do: just enjoy the learning path and the flavour experience you get. After making about 300l of water at home, carrying 200 glas (!!!) bottles from the supermarket to our flat and back, I am fairly certain that there is no correct recipe, not one special wonder water and no ultimate formula to success. I think overall I have seen many competitors using Lauretana water and some also mixed it with a mineral water of their choice, or went straight with a bought mineral water. If you do so, take a look at the hydrogencarbonat amount and that it is quite low, meaning under 100. Hydrogencarbonate is a naturale neutraliser of acidity, great for overly acidic bodies but not great for our coffee taste. Some really healthy waters that are on the market are so healthy because they are full with minerals, making it hard for delicate coffee flavours to shine through. If you are overwhelmed with the topic, I can recommend the soluble minerals that are pre mixed and are added to distilled water. You have great water with constant quality and can focus on all the other parameters that are so difficult to master. For me, learning about different waters was scary at first but super interesting the more I tried. I love the diversity of options and the impact water has on our flavour conception. I hope this insight is helpful and I encourage you to make your own experiences. If you need any help do not hesitate to reach out. Until then, have fun exploring the rabbit hole water for yourself.

A Brewers Cup Competition Guide to Compulsory Service after the 2022 World Brewers Cup in Melbourne with a recipe summery at the bottom of the article. After the 2022 World Brewers Cup in Melbourne many people have asked me what happens in the mysterious first round, the so-called ‘Compulsory Service’. In the following, I will give a detailed insight into what this discipline actually is, how it is scored, why it makes up 50% of the total score, how to prepare for it and what happens on the day. What is Compulsory Service? Compulsory Service is a component of the Brewers Cup, the filter coffee competition operated by the Specialty Coffee Association and the World Coffee Championships. In both national competitions and World Brewers Cup, competitors must compete in both Open Service and Compulsory Service as part of their involvement in the championships. If you have seen a Brewers Cup presentation before, it’s most likely that you would have seen the Open Service component. This involves a competitor brewing three identical cups of filter coffee in a performance of no more than 10 minutes; competitors must bring their own coffee, brewing equipment and must prepare a performance which provides the relevant information and tasting notes for the judges. The Compulsory Service is quite different – no performance, no judges in front of you, and you have no idea which coffee you’ll have to use. Let's have a look into the official rules and regulations for Compulsory Service in the Brewers Cup: 3.1. Compulsory Service The Compulsory Service is 1 of the 2 coffee services in the Brewers Cup competition. Competitors will be given 8 minutes of Setup Time and 7 minutes of Competition Time to prepare and serve 3 cups of coffee, each brewed individually, to 3 judges. Competitors in the Compulsory Service will all use the same whole-bean coffee, the same grinder and water, and the same standardized service vessels as provided by the BrewersCup competition. One 350g bag of the whole-bean coffee will be provided right before each competitor's official practice time. As instructed by the stage manager, competitors will prepare and serve their coffees when their competition time begins. Once their competition time finishes, competitors will pour approximately 100ml of water out of the kettle that was used to prepare the coffees into the cup provided by the organizer. Competitors will wait to clean their station (including brewers and kettles) until the head judge tastes both the coffee and the water. The beverages will be evaluated by sensory evaluation only and in accordance with the World Brewers Cup judging protocols (see relevant section below). In the Compulsory Service, accompanying information (visual, verbal, sensory, etc.) will not be evaluated and should not be presented. During the Compulsory Service competition time, there will be no music played, the competitor does not have to provide a performance, and they will be disqualified if he/she/they talk to anyone. The coffee is always a washed process coffee, and competitors must serve three identical cups for blind judging. Changes in recent years also mean that a competitors’ coach is not allowed to help or taste any of the brewed coffees. Finally, the minimum amount of coffee served in the final cup must be more than 180ml. Basically, you start your time and you are on your own – just you and the coffee. Why does Compulsory Service exist? The Compulsory Service is a great way to see a competitors’ ability to create a great cup of coffee, regardless of how much money, time and effort they spend on their open service performance. In Compulsory Service, everyone is equal and has to use the same coffee, same water and same grinder. The overall goal of Compulsory Service is to create the best possible cups of coffee with a coffee that is roasted approximately seven days prior to the competition. The Compulsory Service exists in order to demonstrate who not only has the best abilities on stage, but who has the professional barista skills to create a great cup of coffee As this part of the competition doesn't require any talking, most of the time it isn't broadcasted and never narrated. However, it makes up 50% of the competitors total score – which is huge! So even if you have the best ever Open Service and have used the most delicious and expensive coffee in the world, if you can’t make an average coffee taste good then you will most likely not excel in the competition. For example, in the World Brewers Cup 2021 I placed 7th in the world. I had the 5th best Open Service scores out of all the competitors, but unfortunately I had very average Compulsory Service scores. With the scores combined, I just missed out on finals by 0.04 points! In 2022, I worked really hard on my Compulsory Service skills, and managed to have the 4th best Compulsory Service scores out of all competitors – however, my Open Service was scored lower than last year and I placed 11th overall. It is of course annoying to have the scores balanced out like this, but I still like how Compulsory Service levels out the competition, making it more even. It shows who has great skills overall, and doesn’t just leave it up to impressive Open Service coffee and presentations. Personally, I would love to see such a discipline in the Barista Competition as well, so that it could test the competitors ability to dial in at the spot. But that’s a topic for another time! What is scored at compulsory service? The Compulsory Service competition is judged much like the Open Service, without scores and judges’ notes for presentation, professional, brewing method, roasting information, etc. The World Brewers Cup Scoresheet is as follows: If we have a look at this scoresheet, we can see that acidity, body and balance get scored double (see the grey ‘x2’ inside the boxes where the score goes), and that the judges will judge the cups in 3 temperatures: hot, medium and cold. So then, the biggest aim is to create a stable coffee that retains great qualities throughout each of the temperature stages. If you brew a coffee that is super acidic at the start but gets grippy and dusty at the end, or has changing textures or sweetness throughout, you won’t score well. A balanced cup will gain you the most points with emphasis on a clean acidity structure and a pleasant body. Most of the time the compulsory coffee will not score higher than 7.5 so don’t be disappointed if your score looks quite low on paper. How can you prepare for this scoresheet? The best way to practice for Compulsory Service is to practice, practice, practice! I found that the best method is to use freshly roasted washed coffee, without focusing on its origin, variety or roast colour. The aim of the competition isn’t to know or find out what coffee it is – the aim is to make it taste great! But how do you find the best recipe and the best method? Try them all and compare them. Different competitors have different methods, however in my experience I’ve found it’s best to practice with and compare a range of brewing methods and recipes. To start, I recommend trying two different recipes for three different methods: 2 different recipes for Aeropress 2 different recipes for Drip methods (eg. v60) 2 different recipes for Immersion brewing (eg. Clever Dripper or French Press) This way you can compare your brews and decide, maybe make small adjustments from there. How I prepared my 2022 Compulsory Service PREPARATION AND SET UP Following my poor result in 2021, in my preparation for the 2022 World Brewers Cup I trained with this range of brewing methods and recipes. At the 2022 competition, I used two different kettles – one fast flow kettle from Brewista with 1.2L volume and one smaller Brewista kettle with a slower flow rate for the pour overs. I also used cold water and not the provided hot water, as the boiler changes the water and the particles in it. This means I need about seven minutes for my big kettle until it reaches a temperature of 91 degrees Celcius. During this time, I set everything up and rinse my papers with water from the boiler (which is provided and mandatory at the competition). During Compulsory Service, you receive seven minutes of set up time before you’re able to start brewing. I used this time to heat up the kettles, and to grind and dose the coffee. In 2022, we had to use the mandatory sponsored grinder, the Mazzer ZM. Once my time started my kettles both had a temperature of 91 degrees and were filled to the top. IMMERSION – CLEVER DRIPPERS When my brewing time officially began, I started with my immersion brewers, the Clever Drippers. To make the Clever Dripper more temperature stable, I wrapped the outside of them in bubble wrap and insulation tape. In the first Clever Dripper, I used 27g coffee, ground on a burr distance of 850 on the Mazzer Grinder (EK 15.5) with 400mL 91 degrees of hot water. To create a controlled agitation I poured 250mL quite fast, using the bigger fast flow kettle. I then waited 30seconds before I filled the Clever Dripper up to 400mL and closed it with the lid. Simultaneously I prepared a second Clever Dripper with 29g on the same grind size with the same technique. After filling both Clever drippers up, I refilled the bigger kettle and put it back on heat. I started draining the Clever Drippers at 3 minutes and 30 seconds, however I only let each dripper drain for 30 seconds so as to not get the finer particles you can get by letting it drain completely. DRIP METHODS – GRAYCANO BREWERS Once I had finished with my Clever Drippers, I was then able to start brewing my drip coffee, using the Graycano brewer and Hario V60 paper filters. I used the same recipe for both drippers, but used two different grind sizes. My recipe for both was 20g of coffee and 300g of 91 degrees hot water from the slow flow rate kettle. Graycano 1 had a grind size of 850 on the Mazzer grinder (15.5 EK), and Graycano 2 had a grind size of 888 on the Mazzer grinder (16 EK). My pours were 5 increments of 60g with 30-40 seconds in between each pour. When I finished the last pour it was time to drain the Clever Drippers and set up the Aeropresses. AEROPRESS With the drip and immersion brews done, I then started with my two Aeropress recipes. For the first recipe, I used 35g of coffee with a grind size of 850 on the Mazzer (15.5 EK). I Placed the coffee in an inverted Aeropress, and filled it up with 180mL 81 degrees hot water from the fast flow kettle, I then stirred 10 times, and placed the kettle back onto the base to heat it up to 91 degrees. Once I had I filled the Aeropress, I added the filter cap with a single rinsed filter paper. After 30 seconds, I flipped the Aeropress and started pushing down at 35 seconds. I push for five seconds until 40 seconds, until it reaches between the 3 and 4 symbols on the side of the Aeropress. After this, I waited another five seconds and pushed again for another five seconds (at 45 seconds) for one more measurement line (between the 2 and 3). I repeated this again, waiting five seconds and started pushing at 55 seconds, all the way to the end without pushing too hard. Place to the side. For the second Aeropress recipe, I used 30g of coffee with a grind size of 850 on the Mazzer (15.5 EK). I placed the coffee in an inverted Aeropress, and filled it up with 150mL of 91 degrees hot water from the fast flow kettle. I stirred 20 times, and then placed the kettle back on to the base to reheat. Once the Aeropress was full, I added a filter cap with one rinsed paper filter at 30 seconds. Then, I flipped the Aeropress and started pushing down in increments, the same as the first recipe (pushing for 5 seconds at a time). Now, you have two concentrates from the two different Aeropress recipes. The main differences between the above methods is (a) the amount of coffee used and (b) the temperature of the water. The final and most important difference is (c ) the bypass, the water added to these concentrates: Take the brew concentrate from Aeropress recipe one, and add a bypass of 75mL of 100 degrees hot water. Then, take the second brew concentrate, and add 80mL of 91 degrees hot water. TASTING Now you should have six coffees, and if well practiced it should have taken around 15 minutes to prepare all of those. Given that the brewing practice time is 30 minutes, this means you now have another 15 minutes time for evaluation and cleaning (if needed). Pour all of the coffees into the provided serving vessels and start cupping. When tasting these coffees, make sure you know which is which. Keep in mind that the most stable coffee between all temperatures will most likely be the one that scores the best, so take note of how the coffees may change or develop in each temperature stage. At this stage, you’re probably feeling a little overwhelmed. Don’t forget to breathe and refocus, because now it is you and your cups. Trust your intuition and make a decision based on the quality of acidity, not which cup has the highest acidity. Also your cup should be pleasant to drink, not dry and definitely not dusty. Make notes, trust yourself and if you come out of this round by using different recipes and techniques you probably have a great overview of what to do with the coffee in front of you. After the 30 minutes dial in are up, you should be ready to decide for one of your cups. You then need to have clean equipment to make your preferred recipe again, three times within seven minutes. At the 2022 German Brewers Cup, Aeropress recipe number one was the winner, and at the World Brewers Cup it was Graycano brewer recipe number two. Just because one recipe made five great coffees at home, that doesn’t mean it will be the best recipe for whatever coffee you get given on the day of competition. How often should you train for Compulsory Service? There’s no right or wrong way to train for Compulsory Service, but I believe it’s important to try as many coffees and methods as possible, as often as possible. In my case, over two months I have made at least two rounds of six different brews, five days of the week (and sometimes more). To use as many coffees as possible that are as diverse as possible, I have basically asked people via Instagram if they could share coffees with me. Incredibly, lots of people sent me small, unlabeled bags of freshly roasted washed coffee that I could practice with. The fact that I have received so much coffee motivated me to practice every day and to tweak my recipes to the better. I can not emphasize how much help I have received from the community and how grateful I am to experience such support. It also showed me that if you ask, you will receive more help than you ever thought is possible. Sponsors and sponsored equipment Each year in the World Brewers Cup, there are various sponsors for the competitions that provide equipment that must be used. This includes coffee grinders and brewing water, so it’s important that you search for the means to practice with the right equipment – otherwise you might get a nasty surprise on the competition day! I was extremely lucky that so many amazing people all over Europe and other parts of the world were generous enough to send coffee to me. Apart from that, I was also lucky enough to get the sponsored grinder lent to me by La Marzocco Germany. That was by far the biggest help I got when it comes to hardware. And again, all I had to do is ask via Instagram. I received an answer within the first 15 minutes and a week later the grinder was in my kitchen. Thank you so much La Marzocco Germany for such a huge support! The drippers I used were also sponsored by Graycano and were used during compulsory and open service. Their thermo stability convinced me and I love using them to brew pour over coffees. The scales I used were Acaia Scales and luckily I have won them over the past competitions, same as the Clever Drippers and the kettles. The rest of my equipment, I either borrowed from people or bought myself. What are the most common mistakes in Compulsory Service? After all the training, research and effort that goes into the Brewers Cup, the worst thing that could happen is being disqualified or making a silly mistake that jeopardises your success in the competition. Ensure that you read the rules and know them inside out! Here are the three most common mistakes made in the Brewers Cup Compulsory Service: Underfilling the coffee. The rules are very clear about how much coffee must be served in both the Compulsory and Open Service rounds, so make sure that you fill the cup as much as possible. Talking to people during competition time. During your Compulsory Service time, you are prohibited from talking to anyone aside from the event volunteers. If you talk to anyone else, you may be disqualified. Rinsing too early. Rinsing your filter papers before your 8 minutes setup time is also strictly forbidden. If you use a timer, make sure you have it on you, because after your setup time you are not allowed to touch anything before you say time – so taking your timer from the table might also disqualify you. Knowing when to start. The rules clearly state when you’re allowed to start brewing, and before the competition time starts no coffee and water is allowed to touch. If it does, you will be disqualified Try to stay focused, relaxed and do not panic. What are inside tips? Everyone who has done Compulsory Service will have their own advice and tips on how to succeed. In my experience, these are some great tips to get started: If the 30 minutes practice time is on the same day as the Compulsory Service, meaning you get a total of 45 minutes, try to grind your coffee as soon as possible to let the ground coffee degas. Use a big container when grinding your coffee, as it will collect the chaff on the sides and you can brush or blow them out. Many people like to sort the coffee beans, to remove any odd or defective beans. I would recommend sorting roughly and not wasting too much time on it. Take a timer with you so you have an overview of your time. When using an Aeropress, stay calm and collected. Many people panic and their Aeropress explodes! Ignore everyone around you. If anyone wants to have a chat with you, now is not the time (and you can be disqualified). Have fun! Most of all, have fun. Remember why you love coffee, the great memories you have with the drink and if you don’t score super high, there is always next time! Summary I can only advise you to not underestimate the impact of your Compulsory Service round. Try to incorporate your practice into your daily routine and drink as many different coffees as you possibly can. And do not forget: the competitions are really just a game! No matter how you will get scored, in the end you will become a better coffee professional with an evolved sense of tasting and judging brewing methods that match certain coffees. It is great training to become a better cupper or even a good practice for a Q-Grader exam. If you have any questions, please message me and if you find this article helpful, feel free to share it on any social media platform. Happy brewing! All photos provided by Sinan Muslu @coffeesomething

The evergreen affogato is a dessert highlight with vanilla ice and espresso. Nothing too crazy.... and in my opinion a bit boring. To make this combination more interesting and exciting I combined aperetivo and dessert and came up with a beautiful and complex coffee variation. INGREDIENTS one scoop of (vegan) vanilla ice cream double espresso 100ml San Bitter lemonade METHOD use a quite big glas add one scoop of ice cream add double espresso add san bitter lemonade I love the combination of sweet and bitter and refreshing and this drink is definetly not boring! ENJOY!

The summer 2022 is the hottest and longest summer I have ever encountered. +30 degrees for weeks and weeks.... To cool down, I have a great mocktail recipe that is inspired by the Brasilian Caipirinha! This is how you do it: INGREDIENTS 1/2 a lime 1 teaspoon brown sugar ice cubes 150ml hard sparkling water double Espresso (Cherry Ripe from Field) METHOD cut 1/2 lime in 4 small pices add brown sugar and smash the limes and the sugar with a mortar add ice cubes fill up with sparkling water add double espresso garnish with mint or lime and don'T forget the glas straw! CHEERS!