We communicate to the brand new U.S. Espresso in Excellent Spirits Champion about tropical cocktails, espresso competitions, and extra.
Pictures courtesy of Olympia Espresso
Reyna Callejo isn’t any stranger to the U.S. Espresso Championships level—for the reason that 2018-2019 season she has competed in Barista competitions, incomes a semifinal berth within the U.S. Barista Championship (USBC) 3 times.
Reyna, who works because the director of coaching and innovation at Olympia Espresso, determined to modify issues up for pageant this 12 months, collaborating in each the USBC and the U.S. Espresso in Excellent Spirits Championship, through which competition make and serve espresso cocktails.
The latter pageant is one she has been smartly acutely aware of: Sam Schroeder, co-owner of Olympia Espresso, gained the U.S. Espresso in Excellent Spirits Championship in 2023, and Reyna traveled to Taiwan with Sam in November 2023 to function his trainer on the International Espresso in Excellent Spirits Championship.
This 12 months Reyna stepped into the Espresso in Excellent Spirits pageant herself, and it used to be a a hit undertaking. Making 5 beverages over 3 rounds of pageant, she bested the sphere to turn out to be the 2024 U.S. Espresso in Excellent Spirits Champion, incomes a place on the International Espresso in Excellent Spirits Championship in Copenhagen, Denmark, in June.
She earned the victory through serving beverages honoring her house state of Hawaii, growing tropical cocktails that includes espresso from her pals at Maunawili Espresso and telling a sustainability-minded tale in regards to the island country.
We talked to Reyna about crafting her drinks, channeling Hawaii, and extra.
This interview has been edited for period and readability.
You’ve taken section in Barista competitions since 2018; what do you favor about competing?
The article that drives me to compete is the non-public building, in most cases talking. I believe espresso competitions are a very good manner for folks to discover innovation and new generation, and to get at the level and communicate in regards to the factor they’re actually occupied with. However greater than the rest, I believe pageant drives excellence in folks.
As an established Barista competitor, why did you make a decision to additionally compete in Espresso in Excellent Spirits this 12 months?
Sam gained closing 12 months, and he competed in Barista for a variety of years additionally. After my 2023 season, he informed me, “Whats up, I believe you must compete at Espresso in Excellent Spirits, and I believe I must be your trainer. And I believe you’ll win.” (Laughs.) That used to be a dialog we had.
In truth, it used to be a difficult promote for me. I actually sought after to proceed competing in Barista. And juggling each competitions on the similar time used to be a nightmare. I believe Espresso in Excellent Spirits is an absolutely other mindset than Barista pageant. I believe like with Barista pageant, I needed to installed much more of myself in relation to time, effort, and emotion, while Espresso in Excellent Spirits, for no matter explanation why, got here extra simply.
Are you able to inform me about hanging in combination your Espresso in Excellent Spirits regimen, which used to be impressed through the place you grew up in Hawaii?
This regimen for me has been within the works since I got to work in espresso.
After I first got to work in espresso, I had a novel alternative to volunteer at the Hawaii Agriculture Analysis Heart’s espresso farm. My pal Juli (Burden), who’s the manufacturer of my espresso, had got to work for Hawaii Agriculture Analysis Heart, most commonly aiding one of the researchers doing selection trials on the farm. In order an excessively contemporary child barista, I were given to spend time on a espresso farm; it used to be actually a laugh.
So construction the regimen for Espresso in Excellent Spirits in 2024, excited about the coffees that I had won from Juli this 12 months, we would have liked to transport within the course of that includes the tropical traits of this espresso—and what higher strategy to do it than with tropical-based beverages?
While you recall to mind Hawaii, I believe in most cases the general public thinks of the super-touristy spaces, the gorgeous panorama, and most significantly, ingesting a ravishing cocktail at the seashore. Sure, that’s what Hawaii is to numerous folks. That’s now not what Hawaii is to me, regardless that. Hawaii is my house, and Hawaii has a wealthy historical past that I believe is frequently brushed apart.
So when I used to be mulling over concepts with Juli, we began speaking about sugarcane. Hawaii Agriculture Analysis Heart used to be key in rebuilding and restoring heirloom sugarcane manufacturing at the island—the similar group that is helping to do espresso analysis at the island nowadays used to be chargeable for bringing again I believe 34 types of heirloom sugarcane.
So once we had mentioned what I may do with sugarcane, she used to be like, whats up, do you need to fulfill my pals? They make rum from this. And all of it more or less fell in combination. It’s so loopy in an effort to serve substances sourced from Maunawili, sourced from Hawaii Agriculture Analysis Heart, grown actually 20 mins from my early life area, ya know? It’s wild.
I perceive you have been coached this 12 months through Sam Schroeder and your spouse, Alan Jones. Are you able to speak about that collaboration?
My coaches are truthfully such fantastic exhausting staff. Sam is a wealth of data who is in a position to supply actually cast comments, without reference to whether or not it’s certain or damaging. Alan, my spouse, is the one who looks after the main points—like managing the agenda and ensuring all our pieces are packed.
To a point regardless that, I don’t have simply those two coaches; the entire crew at Olympia Espresso helps me, and helped me with my taste calls. It’s an enormous crew effort. Sam and Alan are my coaches on paper, however everyone at Olympia Espresso who has the time will come through and lend a hand me prep for my competitions. I really like all of them such a lot.
In the end, now you get to visit Worlds in June. What are you operating on for that pageant?
On the International stage, you need to be extra assured in each unmarried taste name that you are making. That’s one of the crucial issues we’re going to paintings closely on once we get to Copenhagen—we’re going to spend numerous time making and tasting the cocktails there with the water, with the ice, to ensure that once we give a taste name, it’s completely that, and confidently interesting to the Worlds palate.
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