We are so honored to meet and interview Taufan Mokoginta the 2023 World Roasting Champion! This years competition was fierce and our very own Stephanie Gonzalez had the pleasure to sit down and chat with Taufan in Taipei, Taiwan on the second day of the competition.
Taufan Mokoginta is the owner of Ultra Coffee located in Indonesia. He has also competed in the 2020 Barista competition: Indonesia and the 2022 and 2023 Roasting competition: Indonesia.
Interview with Taufan Mokoginta, the 2023 World Coffee Roasting Champion:
How many years have you been in the industry so far?- I think it is 10 years, because I started as a server and as a cashier at a coffee shop. My career started as a barista and then as a roaster. I started roasting since 2019 - 2020.
- Yeah, I am the founder of Ultra Coffee in Indonesia. Its located in Surabaya.
- The Indonesian coffee community, coffee industry is growing faster than I thought it will. It started in 2017-2018. My family, and indonesian culture drink instant coffee and now we are drinking coffee at a coffee shop nowadays which is a good indicator.
Savor Brands Interview
Do you like the barista competition or roaster competition more?
- I think I love barista competition more but roasting is the one where I can really understand as roast and cup that's it. I think I can understand roasting more than barista.
- Panama but I really love Ethiopian and Kenyan since the beginning. Rwanda and Indonesian coffee, of course, I love West Java coffee, Sumataran coffee, Bali coffee is actually good.
- I tried the Stronghold for 4-5 batches in Indonesia and Giesen for like 10 batches. I tried both but a total of below 20 batches.
- I use an Indonesian coffee roaster. For me, I always want to support and grow as the Indonesian coffee industry and Indonesian coffee professionals together so we can achieve higher and higher achievements and grow the industry together.
- I actually slept at 2am last night because I made the roast plan with my coach and my team. And it is quiet by our part because we did really well in the cupping session and we cupped various coffee and I actually forgot the notes and I lost my notes. The paper i wrote down the notes and my coach saved me. We always have to argue about the notes, its in its out.
- I'm feeling very great about the new rules. I love the new score sheet, I love the new rules. It is very fair to me because now we are eliminating I think, the hot warm and cold and we just throw all the potential of the coffee and match with the judges. So it is fairer for me as well.
- The single origin, I ditched my first batch because I put a very low heat transfer and a very low flame level and i did develop first crack. I had very tight time to roast another batch and i submitted the coffee while it was still hot. Hopefully it is still safe and it still tastes good. So I have mixed feelings as I never submit a hot coffee.
The 2023 Winners
Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us Taufan! Big congrats again on becoming the 2023 World Coffee Roasting Champion!
Other Blogs of Interest
World Coffee Roasting Championship Competition
What is the World Coffee Roaster Competition and What are they looking for in a Roasting Champion? The World Coffee Roasting Championship debuted in Nice, France in 2013. Since then, this annual international competition has been hosted in other countries such as Italy, Sweden, China, and Taiwan. ...
Taipei World Coffee Roasting Championship WINNER Announcement
1st place is INDONESIA (Taufan Mokoginta) Taufan Mokoginta is from Indonesia and is the founder of Ultra Coffee Indonesia. He has been competing for 3 years and has competed once for Barista and twice for the Roasters (2022 & 2023). 2nd place TURKEY (Talha Erdinc Bas) Talha Erdinc Bas is from Turkey...
