The U.S. competitor from Onyx Coffee Lab talks to us about his third-place finish at the global competition last month.
BY CHRIS RYAN
BARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE
Photos courtesy of World Coffee Events
Almost two years ago, Elika Liftee won the 2020 U.S. Brewers Cup in Costa Mesa, Calif. And while two years is a significant amount of time, it feels like even longer ago that he notched his victory, as the global pandemic has changed everything for us in the time between.
While Elika’s national title qualified him for the World Brewers Cup (WBrC), it wasn’t clear when that competition would actually take place after the 2020 event was shuttered. Finally, in July 2021, World Coffee Events announced the 2021 World Brewers Cup would happen in October in Milan, Italy, as part of HOST Milano.
While Elika could have deferred for 2021 to take part in a future World Brewers Cup with a longer lead-up time in which to prepare, he decided to seize the opportunity to compete in Milan. The move paid off, as Elika’s routine—featuring a theme of discipline, a brewing method of Kalita Wave, and a Gesha from Café Granja La Esperanza’s Las Margaritas farm in Colombia—earned him third place at the 2021 World Brewers Cup.
We talked to Elika, who serves as director of education at Onyx Coffee Lab in Arkansas, about the long wait to compete, the feeling of the big stage, and more.
Chris Ryan: You ended up having to wait 20 months between your U.S. Brewers Cup victory and competing in the World Brewers Cup. Can you describe some of your thought process during that time in terms of anticipating the competition?
Elika Liftee: It was definitely a long time! It felt like it was never going to happen. It honestly was put on the back burner: Priority was given to work, social issues, and the pandemic rather than competition prep that had no deadline. It had gotten to the point that I almost felt blindsided by the three-month notice of the competition. As I started preparing I definitely felt anxious. I thought about deferring, but I felt like this year was hard on everyone and I would try my best to represent the U.S. industry. I still practiced compulsory service regularly, but was not doing run-throughs of open service at the time.
In Costa Mesa, you used a Colombia coffee from La Palma y El Tucan, and your routine’s theme was discipline and innovation. On the world stage, you used a different coffee but kept discipline as a theme, but not innovation as much. Can you describe some of the changes you made to the routine from U.S. to worlds?
I certainly had to make a lot of adjustments for Worlds. You’re absolutely right about changing farms, coffees, and adjusting my theme. When Worlds was first deferred, we tried to freeze roasted coffee as well as green coffee. Unfortunately, my vac packs busted at some point during the first year, and when we thawed and roasted the coffee, it was not at all up to the standard I wanted to serve. Same thing with my frozen roasted beans; they simply lacked some of the vibrancy experienced during the U.S. circuit. Thankfully, we have a great relationship with several farms, and I was able to find a great coffee from Granja la Esperanza to take to Milan. This coffee didn’t affect me the same way my last Gesha did; instead it was more nostalgic, and that excited me to share it.
I learned a lot early on from our U.S. judges, as well as from past U.S. champs Dylan (Siemens) and Kaley (Gann). They were especially helpful in adjusting to the environment and approaching compulsory and script writing (for the WBrC). If you remember my script from the U.S. it was very thematic, and I wanted it to be more focused for Worlds. That’s why I focused on “discipline” and spent more time focused on how that relates to sustainability and my brewing techniques. There were things I learned from U.S. competition that led me to those decisions, and ultimately I hope Brewers Cup can begin to have some of the emotional and thematic elements we experience on the Barista stage.
Check back tomorrow for the conclusion of our conversation with Elika.
