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B arista Championship 2017 in Seoul
COMPETITIONS had many memorable and emotional
moments. One of them was when the
winners of WBC 2017 were an-
2009 JBC* – 9th Place
2010 JBC – 1st Place nounced. As they announced the third place, it
2011 JBC – 1st Place became obvious that there were only two people
2010 WBC** – 5th Place left: Miki Suzuki and Dale Harris. Everyone hold
2011 WBC – 4th Place their breath as there was a big possibility for
2017 WBC – 2nd Place 2017 to become the year of female barista cham-
2016 JBC – 1st Place pion. Although, Miki got the second place, she
set the new example for future contestants and
*Japan Barista Championship
surprised everyone with freezing coffee beans
**World Barista Championship
and using “double grind” method.
Where did you grow up and what was the
coffee culture there like?

I grew up in Yokohama, it is next to Tokyo.
In Japan people traditionally like to drink coffee
and I feel that Japanese coffee culture is very
diverse: we have western style coffee places,
traditional Kissatens (a tea-drinking shop where
customers can also buy coffee) and Italian bars.
There are many different styles of drinking
coffee and we respect them all.

Does your family drink coffee and how was
your first coffee drinking experience?

My parents love to drink coffee. I do not
remember exactly, but first time when I tried
coffee I was about 3 or 5 years old and I did not
like it back then. But after I turned 20, I started
to like it a lot.

What did you do before entering coffee
industry? What did you learn from your
previous jobs?

After I graduated from high school, I went
to a bakery school and learned how to do pastry
because I wanted to be a patisserie. So after
studying there for 2 years, I worked in a pastry
shop for 3 years. I chose to be a chef, because I
love making people smile. In Japan eating cakes

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