The 2021 Brewer’s Cup Championship may have been Matt Winton’s first international win, but he is certainly no stranger to the global stage. The Australian barista has previously competed three times on an international level, using Acaia scales during each routine. The first two times he represented his previous residence of Sweden and most recently represented his current home of Switzerland. We spoke with Matt soon after he had arrived back from the championships in Milan, Italy. Below, we asked him a few questions covering his first brush with competing, favorite brew methods, recipe creation, and important causes he feels we should pay attention to within our community.
We have also included a Brewguide for a specially made recipe by Matt! You can access it through the official Acaia Brewguide App.
Photo by @specialty_pal for the SCA
What first made you interested in competing and would you recommend others to compete?
I first heard about competition through listening to podcasts! I heard the people talking about competition a lot, and always featuring talks with champions. It was super interesting, and I figured it's a good way to push myself, share coffee, and a decent path to credibility in the industry.
What has been the most surprising aspect of your time competing?
Learning as much, if not more, about myself than the competition. I really had to find time to balance my life, cope with stress and fatigue, and manage my own energy and motivation levels, whilst preparing for a competition - and then delivering on stage. There's also a beautiful community of people who are very knowledgeable, skilled, and open to sharing and helping you within the competition scene - I love it!
What is your favorite type of brew method and why? Is it different to the method you first tried?
I think I still like a classic cone brewer with a paper filter! Whether that's a V60, Origami or Kono, I don't mind as much, and each gives me a slightly different type of brew! I think a metal V60 was actually the first brewer I ever brewed on though! I guess I stick to what I know... I also love brewing on the April brewer, as I find it a bit easier in terms of pouring and quality out... I also love french presses, batch brewing, cupping, and (of course) espresso :)
Photo by @specialty_pal for the SCA
What is the most exciting coffee or coffee experience you recently had (winning the World Brewer's Cup aside of course)?
It'd be a shame not to mention how great the blend turned out on the finals day - it was truly exceptional and such a long way from where we started to develop the idea for the worlds.
Apart from that - I LOVED Martin Shabaya's (the Kenyan Barista Champion) espresso, and milk course. They were both ridiculously good!
What is your usual starting off point when creating a new recipe and how do you look into developing it?
I usually base my recipes off a bit of previous experience, and intuition in what I think the coffee could offer. I played a lot with brewing and recipes in the past few years, and now I've sort of taken the approach of "just brew it and make it tasty" - and not caring so much about the numbers and times. But I think this comes from a lot of experience and understanding of what's important and not important in brewing.
I tend to start with around 93 degree water, quite a coarse setting (around 30clix Comandante), and 5 equal pours on a cone brewer, each as the bed runs dry. For a flat bed I tend to do more like Patrik Rolf's 2 pour method for his April brewer.
Photo by @specialty_pal for the SCA
What cause or issue are you passionate about bringing more attention to within the industry and how can other people actively support it?
I think there's a lot of things that could be improved - and for me it's hard to isolate one that's more important than another. I think people can see what affects them locally best - and know how to support change, or speak up about it - I'm not a revolutionary.
Something that I'm passionate about is helping people find their worth. Especially in businesses that don't support them or make them feel valued. People shouldn't stick around in jobs that they're not valued in, or feel uncomfortable at - and they should leave knowing that everything will turn out better than the situation they're in now.
I also fully support paying more for coffee - you just need to speak to a farmer to see how much work goes into producing a coffee - especially the high standard of quality we expect at competitions.
Photo by @specialty_pal for the SCA
Header photo by @coffeeshots.it for Urnex.