Last week at the African Fine Coffee Expo in Tanzania, the African Barista Championships were held and our South African representative, Mr Stevo Kühn emerged victorious!
It's always a pleasure to catch up with Stevo and what better time to do it than in celebration of a win and all the potential that Africa has to offer.
The opportunity arose for Stevo to compete and he embraced it!
"I knew that although I would have to personally cover some costs, it was a worthwhile investment and I was was proven right: the passion from my fellow competitors was inspiring and made me fall in love with coffee all over again."
Stevo especially enjoyed the two day Barista Bootcamp held before the competition where he got to know his competitors and see the enormous potential that coffee culture has on our amazing continent.
"These incredible humans from Ghana, Togo, Cameroon, they are so hungry for knowledge and they are also so proud of what coffee their nation is producing. Most competed with coffee grown in their country. The Ethiopian competitor's coffee was one of the fruitiest coffees I've ever tasted, you could mention any fruit and it would be in there! And he was also explaining that espresso culture is finally taking hold in Addis Ababa, which is very exciting!"
Stevo used the competition as training for the upcoming SCASA Regionals in Joburg. That's right folks, he's back for another bite at the apple! And said it was extremely beneficial to put his ideas in front of the judges (including one of our favourites, Erika Koss!)
Being crowned African Barista Champion at the end of the week was just a cherry on top of the experience. All round being part of the AFCA event made him proud to be in coffee and proud to be South African.
"You know you’re South African when a random person at a coffee expo in Tanzania runs up to you and says "Hulle weet nie wat ons weet nie!” "
Stevo would like to thank the following people and companies for their assistance in making this possible:
- SCASA for the opportunity to take part & covering flights
- Hoedspruit Coffee Company for signature glasses
- Father Coffee for roasting the Nestor Lasso Mosto Washed Coffee I used in the comp
- Ni-wares cups & Hany Ezzat for the Toto espresso cups
- I & M Smith for all their support in Dar es Salaam on competition days
- Thank you to everyone for all the messages of support
