\nToday we have this honor to be with MR. ALAN BRUCE who catch finals in coffee competition such as barista, brewing and cup taster in new Zealand since 2016- and he went to semifinal last year. Alan is from Flight Coffee that is located in New Zealand and as I remember Flight Coffee was the first specialty coffee provider in that region. if you search about them you\u2019ll see they\u2019re all professionals and they serve absolutely high quality coffee.<\/p>\n

How and When did you first move into this business?<\/h6>\n

I\u2019ve been involved in Hospitality since I was 15 working in my local hotel in the Scottish Highlands. I started to focus on coffee after moving to NZ and in 2013 became a Barista Trainer for a local chain of specialty cafes. After a few years of competing I was approached by Flight Coffee and joined the team here.<\/p>\n

What motivated you to become a competitor as long as you\u2019re so busy in your company?<\/h6>\n

I\u2019m a big believer in competitions as a force for personal and professional development. I think you learn something valuable every time you compete, so it\u2019s important to make time to grow \u2013 even when you\u2019re busy.<\/p>\n

Do you had any coffee mentors or you just roll on base on experience and self-learning ? and which one is better in your opinion?<\/h6>\n

I\u2019ve competed with and without mentors before, but the times when I\u2019ve performed the best have been with coaching. It makes any training more effective, because you have an extra set of eyes on each performance, help with setting up and cleaning up, etc. The process of improvement becomes much faster. It\u2019s also important to have constructive criticism right through your training \u2013 When I work by myself, I tend to go so far down one path before showing anyone where I\u2019m at. Then when they suggest improvements, I might have to change quite a lot of what I\u2019ve already spent a lot of time working on. When you have another person or people as a sounding board, you can get yourself to those good ideas with a lot less wasted effort.<\/p>\n

Where did you get the idea of competing in coffee ?<\/h6>\n

I entered my first competition because I had far too high an opinion of my skill set! I signed up a few weeks before the competition and had no idea what I was getting into \u2013 I didn\u2019t know the rules, I didn\u2019t know what I was being scored on. I came dead last, but it really opened my eyes to how little I actually knew about the product that I worked with every day.<\/p>\n

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what did you learn of the competition? why are you competing? It\u2019s works for what? Why you wouldn\u2019t be a judge?<\/h6>\n

I learned that I had a long way to go before I could call myself a coffee professional, and I\u2019ve continued to compete to prove to myself that I\u2019ve progressed on that path. I\u2019ve avoided judging in the past because I know how much pressure there is on judges to perform well too. I\u2019m still a little wary of considering myself an \u2018expert\u2019 after my first time competing \u2013 I’d hate for my first time judging to go the same way! But ultimately, I also enjoy the atmosphere backstage at competitions and having the time to connect with the other competitors, which you can\u2019t do so much as a judge.<\/p>\n

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As a cup taster and roaster, you can make lots of challenges for yourself to keep the consistency stable, is it possible? how the cup taster competition helped you in this business?<\/h6>\n

As a roaster, consistency is the highest goal for me. It doesn\u2019t matter how good one roast of a coffee is if I\u2019m not able to repeat it. We now have three roasters on our team, so it\u2019s more important than ever that we maintain a high degree of consistency across our roasting \u2013 We have strict protocols to ensure that the three of us are operating in the same manner and achieving the same results. Since we started more focused practice around Cup Tasters triangulations, we\u2019ve all become more adept at spotting inconsistency between batches, which makes us work even harder towards eliminating those inconsistencies.<\/p>\n

what did you do to find the difference in the those 3 cup at 8 session with a lot of different algorithm? What was your personal method? What did you focus more on it?how you controlling your stress on the stage?<\/h6>\n

I think the easiest way to control stress is being prepared. You should have practiced so much that you\u2019re almost bored of doing it by the time it comes around. For Cup Tasters we started with very easy triangluations once a week. Once we were confidently getting 7 or 8 right, we made it harder. By the week before the competiton we practiced multiple times every day with incredibly difficult triangulations (tiny variations in the cups, different roasts of the same coffee etc.) When I started tasting the coffees at the national competition, I couldn\u2019t believe how easy it was in comparison and my nerves disappeared! If you\u2019re worried about doing it in front of a crowd, get some friends in to watch you practice.<\/p>\n

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Whole sensory process and cupping is a bit different in compare to cup taster competition , what do you think and how you can connect them? (For example maybe somebody is really good in cupping and calibration but cannot be good at cup taster competition)<\/h6>\n

There\u2019s definitely a difference in how you need to process the sensory information that you\u2019re receiving. When I\u2019m cupping, with each slurp, I\u2019m focusing on an individual attribute of the cup such as flavour, or acidity, or body and assigning it a score based on a mental database of every coffee I\u2019ve ever tasted. I\u2019m also trying to accurately describe the qualities of that attribute based on a personal library of sensory experiences. For Cup Tasters, with each slurp I\u2019m taking a mental snapshot of the cup and holding it in my mind then comparing it to the next cup. You\u2019re using the same data but in a different way. I think for some experienced cuppers it can be hard to turn off that part of the brain that\u2019s performing that deeper analysis which makes it difficult to make a quick decision. I think there\u2019s also something about the pressure of being timed that affects people\u2019s peformance.<\/p>\n

if somebody tells you that imagine you can do whatever you want like a dream to design a coffee competition, what do you design? Do you have any idea about it? Did you think about it before? What kind of competitions do you like to have?<\/h6>\n

I\u2019ve thought about it occasionally and we\u2019ve designed small things to run as in-house competitions for our customers. I think the ideal format for me is something that tests knowledge, service and ability on a level playing field \u2013 I love the Barista Championship format, but it definitely favours those with access to the most exclusive coffees, and who can afford the time to dedicate to training \u2013 which is not something that every barista has. I\u2019d probably design something a little more democratic, that really tests the skill that a barista uses every day. Something like Coffee Masters is pretty close to ideal in my mind.<\/p>\n

As a finalist explain your opinion about these words:<\/h6>\n

First competition:<\/h6>\n

Your first competiton is both the most important and the least important one you\u2019ll ever enter. Most important because without it you\u2019ll never compete, and least important because it\u2019s basically just a tryout for all your future entries.<\/p>\n

Team:<\/h6>\n

The most important thing. No one wins by themselves. You don\u2019t need a huge team, but you need a dedicated team. A person or people you can rely on will push you further than you can go by yourself.<\/p>\n

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How many times will you read rules and regulation before competition?<\/h6>\n

as I know most of the competitors lose a lot of points because they don\u2019t read the rules properly.I never stop reading them! I have a printed and highlighted copy of the rules on hand at all times whenever I\u2019m training or coaching \u2013 Even for competitions I\u2019m familiar with. They\u2019re they key to everything! It\u2019s like being given the questions you\u2019re going to be asked on a test ahead of time.<\/p>\n

I always believe in the competition process you must enjoy the journey like when you practice, chatting with the teams, passing the level to the final and even the announcement moment, how was it for you?<\/h6>\n

If you\u2019re only competing to win, then you are going to be disappointed with anything other than 1st place. I\u2019ve seen people get very angry with themselves or at judges when they don\u2019t do as well as they expected, and it just seems very at odds with what is supposed to be a celebration of excellent coffee. My advice is to focus on the process more than the result, because it\u2019s the process of preparing for the competition that makes you more knowledgable or more skilled, not a trophy. I was a little disappointed not to make the Finals for the World Cup Tasters Championship this year, but when I consider how much my palate has improved over the course of my training, I\u2019m incredibly proud of what I was able to achieve.<\/p>\n

After you advanced, what is your favorite part of competition?<\/h6>\n

I enjoy the buzz backstage and talking with other competitors more than the competition itself \u2013 If I\u2019m not competing, I\u2019ll often MC the event, so that I still get a chance to do that!<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

which competition is your favorite and why?<\/h6>\n

I like them all really! I like that the results for Cup Tasters are so cut-and-dried. You either get it right, or you don\u2019t. There\u2019s no subjectivity in the judging. But with that, there\u2019s no room for creative expression so the other competitions have that advantage.<\/p>\n

some Technical question:
\nHow do you analyze and describe acidity and sourness?<\/h6>\n

In terms of analysis, I focus on the physical sensations on my tongue, and how my saliva glands are responding. For descriptions, I try to rate intensity on a high-to-low scale, as well as a qualitative descriptor (sparkling, bright, etc.). Where possible, I\u2019ll try and identify the specific acidity (malic, citric, etc.) or at least assign a real world facsimile (gooseberry-like, , etc.)<\/p>\n

Light roast or medium roast, which do you prefer and why?<\/h6>\n

It\u2019s hard to say. I think often those terms mean different things to different people. What I would say is I prefer the roast that delivers the most sweetness without compromising acidity or promoting \u2018roasted\u2019 flavours. That will also depend on whether I\u2019m roasting for espresso or filter.<\/p>\n

Are you cup and score coffees separate by origin and process or you mix them and cup blind?<\/h6>\n

Usually we\u2019ll cup by origin when we receive a lot of pre purchase samples, but we\u2019ll cup blind and in a random order \u2013 So all the samples might be from Colombia, but region and process will be mixed up.<\/p>\n

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