The Triumph of Taste: Martin Wölfl's Coffee Journey to World Brewers Cup Champion

What does it feel like to be a World Brewers Cup champion? In this conversation with the 2024 World Brewers Cup champion, Martin Wolfl, Hudes explores the journey that led Martin to achieve this prestigious title.

Martin Wölfl from Austria emerged as the champion of the World Brewers Cup, showcasing his exceptional talent in the art of coffee brewing. The competition, which took place in Chicago US, featured some of the best brewers globally.

HUDES | Specialty Reading for Manual Coffee Brewers

Syam Indra Pratama
Editor-in-Chief, Hudes

Martin Wölfl, The Champion of WBrC 2024 |
photo: World of Coffee

HUDES: Martin, how did you first get into the coffee industry? What does coffee mean to you?

MARTIN: Back in 2016 I discovered my passion for coffee while I was studying Economy in Vienna. I took over a marketing job for a bigger coffee roastery in Germany.

When I was first visiting a specialty coffeeshop I wanted to try something new for me and ordered a filter-coffee. The first sip was a taste I had never experienced before. I wanted to find out more about filter coffee and bought a grinder, a brewing device and a bag of coffee and went back home.

This was the moment when everything started! After this visit, I started reading books, visited cuppings and workshops and went deeper and deeper into the science of coffee. Once my wife Anna asked me why I didn’t entertain the idea of becoming a professional barista. After this conversation, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

For me Coffee means passion, enjoyment and connecting people. Its fascinating how a fruit, that is growing on the farms around so many origins, can taste that complex and great when it goes through a lot of hands and processing steps. This passion is connecting people from all around the world although everyone is drinking coffee in a different style.

HUDES: Can you walk us through your journey to becoming the WBrC 2024 champion? What motivated you to enter the competition, and who gave you the most encouragement?

MARTIN: When I first saw a friend of mine competing at a coffee competition, I told myself that competitions are not my thing. I was sure that I would never compete.

But some hours later, when I was sitting in the train on my way back home, I remembered that all the competitors were talking about topics like the water or TDS that I literally had no idea about at this time. But I wanted to learn as much as possible and immediately signed in for the next competition.

So, I started to compete to force myself jumping out of my comfort zone and learn new things. My goal was to work closer with producers at origin and the partners of the equipment. I wanted to understand each of the variables even better. I’m quite sure that we can all learn from each other through competition and grow together.

But I also wanted to learn my lessons. When you are competing, you will automatically make a lot of mistakes. But the most important thing is not, do don’t make one; it’s about learning from the defeats and making yourself a better barista and a better person.

Martin Wölfl World Brewers Cup, photo: Michele Illuzzi 04

After a third place in 2019 and a second place in 2020 I won the Austrian Brewers Cup title in 2021, 2022 and 2023. My first World Brewers Cup in 2022 in Melbourne was a great learning process for myself and I wanted to make the most out of it at my second Word Competition in Athens 2023.

But after months and months of hard training I finally ended up with the penultimate place. This hit me very hard and I was already on the verge of not taking part in any further competitions.

But after many years of hard work, I decided that this shouldn't be the end. So, it took me quite a while to reflect everything and I thought a lot about WHY I am competing. At this time, I knew that Janine is the one who can help me with that and would be the perfect coach. She was the one who brought back my motivation, and it was so much fun working with her.

She is well structured, always organized, super focused, I can trust her to 100% and we always joking around in between – so it was the perfect mix. But there are many more people involved in this.

The most important one is my wife Anna – she is always there for me. She is my biggest supporter and always building me up after defeats.

When it comes to competition, you have to spend a lot of time for preparation and travelling so you need a partner that supports all of this. My mentor over my whole coffee journey is Hardi Wild from Wildkaffee.

I used to say that he is my coffee mentor as he is by my side since I started to work with coffee. He always played a very important part during my competition journey. And there are three more people who totally formed me over the last years. Otto Bayer, Erna Tosberg and Michael Manhardt.

Otto is the founder of the Balthasar Coffeeshop in Vienna. He teached me to brew coffees from zero on. Erna was the first coach I started to work with in 2019 and she also coached me for Melbourne 2022. Since I met her, I learned so many things and she gave me the right mindset on my way. And Michael coached me for Athens 2023 – he is a passioned brewer and great coach and we had a great learning process together. Iam so happy to call them my friends.

HUDES: Why did you choose the Orea dripper and Melodrip shower? What’s the reason behind using these two tools together?

MARTIN: In general I was aiming for a clean, sweet, transparent, well balanced and medium intense cup. And during my testings I found out that I could find this characteristic with the OREA V4 and the Sibarist paper filter.

But I wanted to have an even more balanced and structured cup of coffee and played around with the Melodrip. Orea and me already started to work on the holder for Athens 2023.

The Melodrip makes the coffee even more balanced and clean, highlights the sweetness and integrates the acidity quite well. So the combination of the OREA V4 fast, the fast paper filter from Sibarist and the Melodrip was the perfect mix. As I already brewed with this combination for a long time, I was also quite familiar to the brewer.

HUDES: About the water you use—what kind of mineral mix do you think is best for brewing coffee? Can home brewers replicate your water recipe?

MARTIN: Water is one of the most important topics when it comes to brewing coffee. Especially when you´re travelling across different places in the world like Melbourne, Athens, and Chicago for the competition and you want to get the maximum out of your coffees.

I was using APAX Lab water for my competition as it presented a straightforward solution effectively eliminating the complexities of managing this variable.

By starting with a base water and incorporating the mineral concentrates, I crafted a water blend that transformed the flavour dynamics of my coffee.

Martin Wölfl World Brewers Cup, Photo Michele Illuzzi 04

The water I came up with was so sweet, round, and balanced, that it allowed me to elevate the overall flavour profile of my coffee effortlessly. And every home brewer can replicate this water easily.

The recipe I used for my competition was:

Water - 1L

TONIK [1] – 1g

JAMM [2] – 1.5g

LYLAC [3] – 1.5g

Every coffee needs a different water mix to highlight the best characteristic of the coffee. Playing around with the water is so much fun.

HUDES: What’s special about the coffee you used in the competition?

The coffee come from Finca Maya, Panama and has been processed from Lost Origin. I first heard about Lost Origin and Franz when Sam Corra, visited me in Vienna in the middle of 2023

At Finca Maya the Geisha cherries are just picked at the ripest stage and are well sorted. Mario and Margot Guillen are working on organic fertilizers for coffee since years.

They started to run the farm in Boquete, Panama and tested the organic fertilizers. After the picking the cherries went with a truck over night to the Lost Origin facility in Panama City.

At the facility the cherries get washed and disinfected before starting the two way fermentation. First the cherries are fermented with the yeast Pichia Kluyveri and secondly with lactobacterials. Afterwards the cherries remain at the drying room for 33 days to stabilize the moisture content. In each step every variable like the air, pressure, temperature is controlled and optimized.

This complex and unique processing methods leads to the sweetest, most transparent, clean, balanced and complexed cup of coffee I have ever had. When I first tried the coffee, I was blown away – I was sure that I wanted to take this coffee to the World stage.

HUDES: Can you tell us about the two-toned glass you use, with one side pink and the other white? What’s the idea behind this, and how does it affect the coffee’s flavor?

MARTIN: The idea of the 2WayCups is to enjoy one coffee out of one cup and experience the coffee in two different ways. So the same coffee will taste different from each side. So each side is effecting the way how we are perceiving the coffee.

The white side accentuates the floral characteristic out of your coffees and promote the acidity with a tealike aftertaste. Through the pink side the coffee will taste a way more sweeter with a stronger mouthfeel.

It was so interesting to see that with my competition coffee, you could find the characteristic of the Geisha variety of my coffee through the white side and the characteristic of the fermentation through the pink side.

Furthermore I wanted to play with visual appearance through the colours I used on stage. There are so many interesting studies that colours actually influence the taste and the experience of the coffee we are drinking.

HUDES: How do you think the WBrC could influence the future of the coffee industry?

MARTIN: Competitions are not only an excellent opportunity for baristas to work on their skills and abilities, but they also offer a great platform to develop one's own career and get to know many people from all over the world to build up a good network.

Competitions give baristas a perspective to work on themselves and grow. Through this learning you also strengthen the quality in the roastery or coffee shop where you work in the long term.

I also see competitions as a platform to develop the coffee market with research and developments. Especially if you cooperate closely with producers in the origins in preparation for world championships or develop new tools with product developers. This can only have a positive impact on the future of the industry.

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As a conclusion to Hudes' discussion with Martin, we can draw lessons and inspiration from his journey to becoming the WBrC 2024 champion. Consistency, perseverance, and a commitment to continuous learning are key to staying on the path to success. May this serve as an inspiration for you.