Estimated studying time: 6 minutes
Key takeaways
- Baristas are designing {custom} brewers to face out in competitions.
- Some prototypes attain customers; others stay competition-only brewers.
- Cup high quality and method nonetheless matter greater than tools selection.
- Customized brewing requires 3D printing entry and manufacturing know-how.
Guide brewers just like the Hario V60, Kalita Wave, Origami, and Orea are sometimes the selection of World Brewers Cup rivals. However lately, a small variety of baristas have designed their very own.
The obvious current instance is the Binocular Dripper, developed by Mariam Erin, a multi-time UAE Espresso Champion and the 2023 World Cezve/Ibrik Championship bronze medallist. The machine makes use of two tall, slim cones, every set at a 30° angle, permitting both sides to be brewed independently with completely different coffees, doses, grind sizes, and pour patterns.
Mariam calls the strategy “moist mixing”. Throughout her routine, she used the Binocular Dripper to mix a Panama Gesha with a Colombian Gesha, which she stated helped stability the florality and crimson berry notes.
“That’s the fantastic thing about brewing, particularly in competitions. It pushes everybody to discover, innovate, and be inventive to attain one of the best model of the cup,” she says. “On the identical time, this doesn’t imply current drippers don’t work; every one is exclusive and designed with a particular intention for the cup or a selected espresso.”
As extra rivals more and more gravitate in the direction of comparable high-end coffees and extraction instruments, custom-designing brewers is a brand new option to differentiate. These gadgets additionally feed into the competitors’s storytelling side, giving baristas a option to construct a recognisable model past the stage.
You may additionally like our article on the evolution of paper espresso filters.
From competitors stage to espresso store cabinets
The Binocular Dripper wasn’t the one {custom} brewer on the 2025 World Brewers Cup. UK Barista Champion Luca Croce mixed an Origami dripper with a Hario Swap valve to create a custom-designed hybrid brewer. Throughout his routine, he stated this allowed him to attain one of the best outcomes with each flat-bottom brews and full-immersion blooms.
Jackie Tran, the 2024 Czech Republic Brewers Cup Champion, designed the Solo Dripper after competing on the 2024 World Brewers Cup in Chicago. The flat-bottom dripper incorporates a 40° inner angle, a curved base, and precision ribs meant to advertise even extraction.
Its influence on competitions and past was swift. The next yr, George Jinyang Peng used the Solo Dripper to win the 2025 World Brewers Cup in Jakarta, and it’s rapidly changing into a fixture in residence brewing setups and occasional store brew bars.
Equally, the Binocular Dripper can also be obtainable on Brewing Devices, and launched at World of Espresso Dubai earlier this yr. However not each prototype brewer makes it to market.
“The purpose isn’t at all times to deliver it to the house client. In lots of instances, the prototype is a proof of idea, serving to push boundaries and discover new methods of extraction in a contest setting,” Mariam explains. “However generally, if the concept proves useful and accessible, it could possibly evolve right into a product for a broader market.”
Designing a competition-ready brewer, nevertheless, requires entry to 3D printing, manufacturing companions, or product growth expertise.
“Transferring from a contest prototype to a commercially obtainable product takes time, testing, and refinement,” Mariam explains. “A prototype is commonly designed to attain a really particular purpose within the cup, however turning it right into a product means making it extra constant, user-friendly, and sensible for a wider viewers.”
The influence of {custom} brewers on espresso competitions
For now, large-scale commercially obtainable brewers dominate competitions just like the World Brewers Cup. However because it turns into normal for rivals to make use of cutting-edge extraction instruments and unique varieties, designing a custom-built brewer may very well be the brand new option to stand out on stage and construct a extra curated private model.
Customized brewers give rivals a bodily, recognisable product tied on to their identify, and sign intentionality, technical data, and a perspective on extraction. If a prototype makes it to market, the brewer additionally turns into a business product that carries the barista’s model into espresso outlets and residential brewing setups all over the world.
Nonetheless, this additionally raises questions on a stage enjoying area. May baristas who’ve entry to extra sources to design their very own brewers have an unfair benefit?
Mariam asserts this isn’t the case. “WBrC guidelines and rules already present a transparent framework to make sure equity. The emphasis stays on sensory high quality, consistency, and method, quite than tools alone,” she explains. “Whereas innovation is inspired, the foundations be sure that all baristas, no matter entry to {custom} {hardware}, are judged totally on expertise, brewing and occasional data, presentation, customer support, and the general high quality of their cup.”
Ability is extra essential
Mariam emphasises that tools shouldn’t be the main focus of a competitor’s routine. “Creativity comes from how baristas use variables like grind measurement, pouring method, water, and recipe to specific the espresso. Even with comparable brewers, the result within the cup can range broadly.”
Whether or not a competitor opts for a commercially obtainable brewer or designs their very own, probably the most essential issue is knowing the way it influences extraction and flavour.
“Customized brewers are just one small a part of the scoring system, and so they solely matter in the event that they positively influence the sensory expertise,” she provides. “The brewer does matter, but it surely’s solely efficient if the competitor can clearly clarify its goal and the way it improves the cup. Ultimately, all the pieces has to translate into cup high quality, flavour, stability, and total expertise.”
Customized brewers supply one other option to expertise espresso. For baristas with the sources and inclination to pursue it, designing a brewer is a option to sign experience, construct a model, and clear up extraction issues that current gadgets can’t.
However Mariam places it straight: judges rating ability, method, and cup high quality. A well-designed brewer {that a} competitor can’t clearly clarify or translate into flavour isn’t any assure of victory.
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Photograph credit: Mariam Erin, Brewing Devices, Specialty Espresso Affiliation
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