Community is incredibly important for our team at Acaia. Every year, as part of our community support, we sponsor a range of local & international industry events and barista competitors. We offer barista sponsorships to support and encourage a more diverse lineup of competitors. There are many obstacles for competing baristas on both the national and international levels. We hope the program will help them on their journey and achieve their goals on a more equal world stage.
Mateo Peros ranked 3rd in the Swedish Brewer's Cup this year.
Please introduce yourself.
My name is Mateo, and I work as a barista and coffee shop manager in Sweden. I was a home barista for a few years before shifting my career from graphic arts to coffee about four years ago. When it comes to coffee, I am interested in everything from finding interesting coffees to roasting to brewing. Besides coffee, I enjoy climbing.
2. Why did you decide to enter coffee competitions?
It all started with competing for fun with my friend in the Barista League in Copenhagen. After that, I thought, why not put myself to the test in the Swedish Barista Cup, but I didn’t compete at the end of that year. So, a year later, I competed in the Brewers Cup instead. It went well, and I learned so much about myself and coffee. As soon as that competition finished, I knew I wanted to do that again and push myself forward, so I successfully competed again in the Brewers Cup this year.
3. How was your experience during the competition?
My experience was great. I was stressed before the competition, but the excellent organization of SCA Sweden and the fantastic group of competitors made it all disappear when I was there.
I did have a theme, and it was called “Journey.” I was thinking a lot about my journey in coffee in the last couple of years and where it took me. So, I applied this idea to my coffee, and it took a trip from the producer to me serving it to the judges.
4. What are your thoughts after competing?
I want to compete again in the Brewers Cup, but still have an unfulfilled desire to compete in the Barista Cup. My dream is to compete one day in my home country of Croatia, if there is a Competition Body to organize it again.
5. How did you use your sponsored Acaia products?
Acaia sponsored me with three black Acaia Pearl scales, which I used in all my training sessions and competitions in compulsory and open service. Since I roasted my competition coffee by myself, I even used them to weigh green and roasted coffee.
6. What's coming up next in your journey with coffee?
Get back to work: spring and summer are around the corner, which means busy times at the shop. Continue learning and pushing myself forward in this coffee journey. The World of Coffee is this year in Copenhagen, so I am looking forward to meeting many fantastic coffee people.
Thank you for your interview, Mateo!
You can try out Mateo's Brewguide on our Brewguide application.
You can find Mateo's Instagram here.