Page 40 - #87 eng

T C

Rebel With a Cause a lot of disadvantages to new competitors. By publicly show-
casing her preparation process for the USBC, Morgan hopes
From a family with no avid coffee drinkers, Morgan’s it can help more baristas who want to compete in major
way to rebel when she was 16 was driving to a coffee shop championships get an idea of how to go about it...
first thing after she got her driving license. Now 23, she Moreover, she also noticed that most of the coffee
showed her rebellion by releasing her signature recipe right served in competitions are rare, delicious drinks that are
before the USBC competition. “I decided to publicly pub- often highly inaccessible. “It is a pity that some of the most
lish my USBC process, including my signature drink, very precious and wonderful coffee experiences are not able to
intentionally,” she told us. be celebrated by the general public. I wanted to challenge
For competitors, keeping recipes and ideas only to myself to see if I could find a way to allow people to enjoy
themselves is the norm, especially during major barista a taste of what the judges were,” Morgan told us. When
championships. It usually takes baristas months or even Morgan released her signature recipe, she recommended to
years of effort to develop a strong idea to compete. There- the audience what sort of coffee would provide a similar
fore, it is natural that they are not willing to leak their taste experience to what she was serving the judges in the
recipes to let others get inspired. It is genuinely risky for final. Thus, the audience could also sip while listening to
Morgan to publicize her signature drink and her USBC her presentation.
routine during the competitions, and probably no one has The result was stunning. “It was incredibly emotional
actually done that before. Morgan confessed that she did to see that happen in real-time. When I got off the stage at
get anxious before she posted her recipe online. She said: USBC and looked at my phone a few hours later, it was ab-
“It was nerve-wracking, of course. It felt like a lot of vul- solutely amazing to see that there were many folks who had
nerability for something that I cared deeply about.” been able to recreate my drink and enjoy it themselves at
Why did she insist on doing it anyway, even if it might home,” Morgan recalled the feeling.
lead to a failure in this important competition? This would It is unknown how much Morgan’s action would change
trace back to her first USBC competition experience. At the dynamic of the barista championship. However, her pi-
that time, Morgan realized it was difficult to access pro- oneering work will encourage and help other baristas to
fessional training and preparation processes if you were compete and improve for sure. Also, there is no denying that
not part of the “coffee competition community”. It gives the coffee industry still has a lot of issues, such as unsus-

Morgan Eckroth tainable wages, and the lack of knowledge of customer
service skills, as Morgan reckons. However, as part of the
2022 U.S. Barista Champion new generation in the coffee industry, Morgan certainly
and runner up in 2022
tries to take responsibility and contributes to the industry
World Barista Championship
in her way, no matter if it is through her barista practice
or her creative content creation. She stated: “The coffee
industry has brought so much joy to my life and the lives
of others, but to continue doing so, we have to keep asking
how we can do things in a way that benefits all.”
“When I started as a barista, I think I viewed the
coffee industry through very rose-colored glasses. I’m
able to look a lot more critically at what’s happening
around me while still holding a lot of love for the indus- I just want to create
try now.” Morgan concluded. The next season of the
barista competition has already started and even though a spark that they
Morgan has not yet decided how she will be involved, she can then continue
is determined to challenge herself in one way or another
and, of course, keep on trying whatever she can to help to kindle if they wish.
the industry grow and improve.

40 41