Chad Wang: 2017 Brewers Cup Champion Recipe

Budapest Brewers Cup Champion Chad Wang (C) Sprudge

Hailing from Taiwan and runner-up in the 2016 championship, Chad Wang brought his A-game to Budapest this year to bring home the Brewers Cup title with his ceramic V60 preparation.

Aside from using a Ninety Plus — a company known for their extremely high-quality green coffee that are all scored 90+ —Panama Gesha, perhaps the most interesting aspect of this method was Wang’s use of the ceramic V60 by Hario.  He’s chosen this over the plastic cone which is preferred by many due to temperature stability.

Protestors argue that the ceramic brewer needs to be pre-warmed in order to avoid fluctuations in the brewing temperature, but not doing this appears to be part of the secret sauce in Wang’s winning formula.  As always in coffee; never be dogmatic!

The recipe

  • 15g of coffee
  • 250ml water (16.66:1 ratio)
  • 92C (198F)

The method

  • 30s bloom
  • Continuous pour in the centre for the remaining water
  • Drain and brew completion in 2 minutes

Aside from the ceramic brewer, this is identical (eerily so) to the method I’ve been using personally for brewing my V60 in the morning so I can certainly vouch for it.  Upping to 15g from the standard 12g used elsewhere helps to increase the margin for error, in addition to filling up a full mug!

If you’re used to 12g doses, you might find that you’ll need to coarsen your grind ever so slightly to compensate.

Enjoy and get yourself brewing like a champ.

We were so close to making it out to Budapest this year for the World of Coffee but a last minute change in plans scuppered everything!  Very annoying since we even missed Dublin last year too.  2018 beckons Amsterdam as host for the biggest event in coffee, so if you missed out like us, hopefully we’ll catch you out there next year.

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