A Roastar Head of Coffee-ja, Nagy-Bertók Anita érzékszervi és vizuális világbíró interjúja a Német Nemzeti Filterkávé-bajnokság győztesével, Nicole Battefeld-Montgomery-vel
Q1.Can you tell few words about yourself, what do you do within the coffee world?
Hi, my name is Nicole and I have been working for 8 years in specialty coffee. I have visited a lot of different steps on my coffee journey, worked as a barista, as a roaster, a trainer, green bean buyer and coffee competitor.
There are so many things to do with coffee, I love how versatile the industry is and right now, I work in the marketing and R&D department at Rancilio.
Q2. Was it your first time competing or have you competed before?
My first competition was 2016 and I placed 2nd in the German Barista Championship. The german Brewers Cup 2021 was my 8th competition and I am the only german competitor who ever won 3 different national titles. These are 2018 Barista Champion, 2019 CigS and this year Brewers Cup.
Q3. Which Coffee did you use for the German Brewers Cup and why?
I worked from 10/2019 to 10/2020 at ONA in Canberra, Australia and learned a lot about carbonic maceration coffees and absolutely fell in love. When I came back to Berlin I ordered 3 different CM coffees from ethiopia, as this is by far my favourite origin and one of them was called Koke PR12. It is a washed CM, super clean and very bright without being too funky. I had enough time to find the perfect roast profile because I thought the comp might be in spring, but to not waste any coffee, I decided to freeze the coffee in 20g doses to preserve the flavours and keep the coffee from aging. It helped me to maintain a clean cup profile and I would always encourage others to freeze their coffees, competition or not.
Q4. Can you tell me which brewing method you used and why?
I used a standard V60. I know this might not be the most exciting brewing device nowadays, but it is the one I know best and I felt most comfortable with. The material of my drippers was metal, as I found out that the heat transition is more accurate and it can really push the crisp flavours of my coffee.
My recipe was 20g on 300 ml 92 degrees and 5 pours with 60 g. Very very standart.
Q5. How much preparation goes into the whole journey for the Brewers Cup?
If you are mindful and organised you don’t need to train 10h per day, but unfortunately you only learn how to be organised by being very unorganised and making mistakes. It took me a couple of years to figure out a good training approach. But in any case, you need at least 4 weeks of training every day to feel comfortable and safe. Most importantly: invite random people to watch you perform. Best stress test ever.
Q6. Can you tell me your morning coffee , what and how do you enjoy your morning joe?
Best thing ever: my husband makes the coffee in the morning. I have a big freezer at home and only do the fancy brews, so my time to brew is about 10 am, after we had a moccamaster. We share that one handbrew I make because it is a real treat and I have coffees from most competitors at home, safe and frozen to preserve the best flavour.
