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The National Thailand Barista Championship (NTBC) against yourself,” said Kritsada. And before we concluded the
2016 had drawn to an end of the search for the best barista in interview, Kritsada commented on Thailand’s coffee industry
Thailand and the representative of Thailand for the famous that, “The coffee industry in Thailand is getting more interesting
World Barista Championship (WBC). The champion title went because the coffee culture is heading in the right direction and
to Mr. Kritsada Ngarmpong (S), a young roaster from Sensory everyone in the industry is working hard at their jobs I order
Lab Coffee Roaster, Australia, and we are here to find out how to improve the industry. All these will advance the industry
this young roaster, who could not tell the difference between a forward towards a bright future.”
Latte and a Cappuccino before, become the champion!

The Beginning
Kritsada isn’t just passionate about the flavours of cof-
fee, but the fact that coffee bring people together is fascinating.
“Coffee bring together different people to talk and share their
experience,” Kritsada said and this is the charm that keeps him
hooked on to coffee. S was an ordinary programmer before he
decided to take off to Sydney, Australia, to improve his English
and find new life experience. Indeed he did find new experi-
ence, and it’s a life-changing one too!
“My life in Australia is like many other oversea stu-
dents. I did every job I could. I was an Account Manager and
used to own a café before ending up here as a roaster.”
The decision to compete in NTBC 2016 was not a dif-
ficult one since Kritsada is familiar with coffee and understands
where he is in term of readiness. “I decided to go for NTBC be-
cause I’m working at Sensory Lab and I know they would have
my back. I started by learning from Youtube videos, plan my
approach, and practice for almost 2 months. Then it’s all about
technique after that. As for the coffee beans, we decided on the
beans around 2 weeks before the competition.”

Teamwork
Even though Kritsada works at Sensory Lab, St Ali
provided a team to help prepare for the competition. “We had
a green buyer supplying us with varieties of green beans to
select and cup. We had our head roaster adjusting the roast.
Tsu and Ross Quail helped overseeing the whole picture, and
we had a technical judge to help with routine and movement.
However, everyone was open to suggestions and I was the main
voice since I was the one competing.” The incredible teamwork
at Sensory Lab means everyone is willing to find time to help
while handling their usual jobs at the same time.
Standing on the stage, Kritsada admitted that he was
nervous and excited, but instead of getting overwhelmed by the Special Thanks
feelings, he focused on the tasks at hand. “My heart was racing Kritsada Ngarmpongpan: Sensory Lab Coffee Roaster
on the stage, but took a deep breath and concentrated on what’s
in front of me. When the result was announced I was extremely
delighted. It was the happiness of seeing all the effort paid off.”
With the success at NTBC 2016, WBC is surely the next target.
“I learnt my mistakes from the judges and other’s point of view
at NTBC, and I’ll use this experience at WBC.”
Compete to Improve
Surely many people in the coffee industry want to
experience how it feels to be competing at national champion-
ship and represent the country at the world championship.
“Competitions allow you to grow and meet new friends who
love the same thing. The important thing to keep in mind is,
you aren’t competing against others, but you are competing
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