Kay Cheon of Dune Espresso Roasters in Santa Barbara, California is the 2025 United States Barista Champion. That is his sixth yr competing and fourth look within the USBC Finals.
Cheon successful high honors at some level was inevitable, and everybody knew it. Or a minimum of everybody not named Kay Cheon. Coming oh-so-close thrice prior could have felt extra curse than assure of future success to the person himself. You may see it on his face in Rancho Cucamonga, California in the course of the winners bulletins ultimately yr’s Barista Championship, the place he positioned fourth behind 2024 champion Frank La. You may see disappointment and hearth on the face of the in any other case stoic Kay Cheon. You may inform how a lot all of it meant to him.
Quick ahead one yr to Finals Sunday in Raleigh, however this time, it’s Cheon’s identify that was the final to be referred to as, and also you see it on his face once more. First with a deep exhale, then a smile, then a hoist of the enduring Reg Barber trophy.
The theme of Cheon’s routine this yr was constructing blocks, and the way espresso can mix with different elements to create one thing higher. There may be maybe no extra recognizable constructing block on the planet than Legos, a collection of which served because the visible factor all through this routine. A Lego place mat, a Lego-inspired info card for the judges, even an enormous pink Lego as the focus of his desk. As a result of even a technician like Cheon can have slightly whimsy.
His coffees, although, have been all enterprise. Cheon competed with two coffees this yr. The primary was an Ethiopian landrace selection often called Ombligon, which had been yeast-inoculated and thermal shocked by producer Nestor Lasso of Finca El Diviso in Huila, Colombia (this simply so occurs to be the identical espresso Frank La used final yr in his successful run). His second espresso was additionally yeast-inoculated, this time a Inexperienced Tip Gesha grown at 1,900MASL by Jamison Savage at Finca Deborah in Volcan, Panama. This espresso underwent an preliminary pure processing earlier than going via a second washed processing.
Like many different opponents this yr, Cheon opted to guide of his routine with the milk course. Older USBC followers may discover this shocking; the normal order at comp is espresso-milk-sig drink, however that’s all in flux in at present’s trendy competitors scene. “I name this mix of milk ‘Tremendous Milk,’” Cheon informed the judges. 60% full-cream dairy, 20% cashew milk, and 20% pistachio milk, the mix underwent a roto-vac course of whereby the milk is vacuum sealed after which spun at 150RPM to caramelize the sugars, leading to enhanced sweetness and creaminess. When added to Ombligon espressos pulled at a really quick 20g in to 30g out, it created notes of raspberry, malted chocolate, marzipan, and vanilla.
(One other massive pattern on this yr’s milk course was the return of the ristretto photographs, to assist the espresso’s taste punch via the extra fats content material of the trendy competitors milk.)
For his second course, Cheon caught with the Ombligon espresso, this time including jasmine nectar, chilly brew hibiscus tea, and a bergamot, vanilla, and all spice distillation. These parts then obtained a fast shake-up by way of an immersion blender earlier than being served collectively at room temperature for brand spanking new notes of blood orange and apricot with an orange blossom after-taste.
For his final course—the espressos—Cheon layers El Diviso with Finca Deborah in a 1:1 ratio. And at this level can we simply, I don’t know if respect is the precise proper phrase, however perhaps acknowledge how utterly bananas it’s that an experimentally processed Panama Gesha—a espresso that has beforehand received World Barista Championships—was utilized in just one drink prep on this yr’s successful routine, and and as simply half the espresso for it? That is wild, proper? That’s simply the place the caliber of competitors proper now. Cheon’s layered espressos have notes of cherry, orange, and raspberry, with a medium weight, juicy texture, and a protracted end.
It’s been our pleasure to cowl Kay Cheon’s work as a barista competitor during the last decade, and so I really feel assured in calling this a quintessential Kay Cheon routine. It wasn’t flashy nor was it significantly emotive, and Cheon appeared utterly in management all through. As an alternative we have been handled to a refined grasp class in technical prowess. Cheon was paced and assured, the benefit and financial system of his motion belying their very own issue. On the basis of all of it, although, are barista expertise of the very best order. You needn’t look a lot additional than the minor tweaks to taste calls he made out of the Semis to the Finals—a notice of cherry that turns into raspberry or orange that presents the subsequent day extra particularly as tangerine—to see the kind of stage Cheon is working at. Because of this we—and plenty of others within the competitions scene—felt prefer it was solely a matter of time earlier than Kay Chen received a USBC.
And now, he has. Waiting for the World Barista Championship, Cheon figures as an early favourite for the sector, which is able to proceed to be dialed in between now and October. Cheon’s talent set and elegance of routine are very a lot of the kind that performs nicely on the WBC. Count on him to refill the rating sheet in Milan. We joked over the weekend that Cheon was a espresso robotic and the dictionary definition of precision, nevertheless it’s this stage of consistency and technical prowess that’s foundational for a deep run. And now BaristaBot5000 is heading to Milan, Italy in October in hopes of returning the World Barista Championship title to America, the place it hasn’t been in over a decade. I for one wouldn’t guess in opposition to him.
Resistance is futile. Kay Cheon is inevitable.
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Community and a workers author primarily based in Dallas. Learn extra Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
