Today we want to introduce you to our resident gladiator, also known as Yike, super barista,
and her journey from super barista, to gladiator barista of glory. You have already journeyed
with her, you drinking Black Market coffee fuelled her rigorous barista competition training
programme, so well done you! But mostly well done Yike, she nailed it. She done us, herself,
and you, very very proud.

Let’s have a look where you’re hard earned flatties went. Yike competed in a Brewers Cup,
where you have to brew the best coffee of your life, in fifteen minutes. Sound easy? Wrong! It’s
meticulous work. You know how sometimes you make a coffee and it blows your mind, and then
the next day it’s meh? You might shrug and say “Eh. You win some you lose some.” Not Yike.
That’s not Yike’s style. She has spent weeks choosing the best coffee (from Luis Anibal
Calderon at Finca Villa Betulia, Colombia), fine tuning a roast profile and perfecting a recipe.
Then she practices on repeat so on game day she knows exactly what she’s serving up.
Flipping outstanding coffee.

Game day. Baristas and coffee enthusiasts mingle, talk grind particle size and have a laugh,
hiding it’s true blood thirsty nature of cut throat competition. Yike and her adversaries are here
for one thing: coffee glory. (Just kidding, it’s a very friendly and amiable atmosphere. But the
coffee glory is real). Now it’s crunch time and Yike steps into the arena (warehouse floor)
addresses Caesar (the judges) and calls time. She has fifteen minutes to make the best cup of
coffee ever, get the proverbial thumbs up and not be thrown to the lions (also proverbially. To
the best of our knowledge). She weighs beans to the tenth of a gram. She grinds to precision.
She pours like a machine. She times it to the second. She makes Luis’ coffee shine. She does
all this while explaining to the judges the highlights of the coffee (stewed red apple, mandarin,
apricot and vanilla), and how she’s making it (Kalita pour over, recipe included below). Yike is a
multitasker extraordinaire.

When Yike calls time again, the crowd goes wild. She’s outdone herself. Her life is safe and
more importantly, the people have shared in the experience of this incredible coffee. And Yike’s
not greedy, she saved some for you, and is passing on her recipe. Grab yourself a bag, and get
a taste of that glory. By all her hard work Yike has achieved a beautiful feat of bringing a global
community together, you included, and we couldn’t be more proud.

YIKE’S RECIPE FOR FINCA VILLA BETULIA

INGREDIENTS
15g Finca Villa Betulia, coarsley ground
250g water at 90° – just off boiling
A Kalita and filter paper

METHOD
1. Pre wet the kalita filter with hot water and rinse.
2. Pour coffee into the kalita and gently shake around till the ground are evenly dispersed.
3. The bloom: Pour 40g of hot water over the grounds in 40s
4. Pour 160g of water in 26 seconds, in a clockwise motion, starting from the centre and
moving out
5. Pour the remaining 50g of water in 5 seconds, pouring clockwise from the outside
moving in.
6. Wait for the water to filter through, about another 90 seconds.
7. Drink up