“It’s a tricky subject to comment on succinctly. When I competed in 2007 I used the sponsored grinder, which seemed to shock a lot of people. I didn’t really have a job at that time, and I simply couldn’t afford to ship a grinder across the world. As such, I actually like the idea of a level playing field.

Barista competition isn’t about replicating the cafe, or the real world. It is a game, sport if you will, based on making coffee. The competition has a positive impact on many aspects of speciality coffee, and if this decision helps make the competition more sustainable then I am for it.

I understand that people will be frustrated, that they feel that this will deprive them of the ability to serve what they want – but that could be said about everything from the machine to the water. I hope this doesn’t put people off competing – it would be a shame for them to miss out on all of the benefits of competition.”

 

James 在2007年的比賽用磨其實就是舉辦方的磨豆機，談到WBC他更加傾向於把它看作是一場體育競技項目，比賽現場所要展現的就是咖啡師日常工作的技能，參賽者的注意力理所應當的要放在技術層面上，對於機器的過分探求可能是偏離比賽初衷的。

  

當然，James也提到了搬一臺專業的磨豆機到比賽現場真的是一件很麻煩的事情。所以，到2016屆WBC時，Mahlkonig公司會在比賽場放置30臺K30 Vario 供選手們使用，選手們可能就無需費心要運輸設備到比賽地了。而且，Matt也指出對於專業的咖啡師來說，適應K30並不是難事。

 

相較而言，"Milk Course"的變動是影響更加深遠的，某種程度上講，它可能會影響到未來精品咖啡的發展。

 

 

  

WBC的比賽內容主要是由三個部分組成的：Espresso，Cappuccino 和 Signaturecoffee 即濃縮咖啡、卡布奇諾和創意咖啡。以往對於卡布奇諾的要求是相當嚴格的，單份的濃縮咖啡和打發牛奶混合，奶泡的厚度不低於一釐米，容器的大小也被限定在150～180ml之間。怎樣在如此嚴格的要求之下做出美味而又凸顯出咖啡風味的飲品一直以來都是參賽者的巨大挑戰。新的變動把"cappuccino course"替換成了"milk coffee course"，對於奶泡的厚度不再做硬性的要求，而且容器的大小也放寬到了30～240ml。

關於milkcoffee course的變動，WCE上的解釋是：

  

After fifteen years of focusing on a single definition of a milk drink on the WBC stage, we think it’s time to open up the milk beverage course to something that better represents where we are today as an industry: open-minded to anything new and delicious.

 

在整個咖啡產業當中，牛奶跟咖啡的混合無疑是最被大衆接受和喜愛的。但是在WBC的舞臺上，對牛奶咖啡的限定已經有十五年了。所以，從下屆開始WBC的比賽將接受各國選手們在奶咖上的自主想法。

 

"I’m also looking forward to seeing new combinations of milk and coffee being explored."Matt 談到牛奶咖啡上的變動時，也表達了對未來咖啡師們創造力的期待，但是更多的可能也是對咖啡行業的一些隱憂。

 

"The freedom to choose the volume of the drink will promote laziness and could result in the stagnation of Roasting and Barista technique."

 

對咖啡和牛奶比例的放鬆很有可能會讓咖啡師和烘焙師懈怠下來。目前，很多的咖啡烘焙都會存在風味發展不夠的問題，許多人會把淺度烘焙和風味發展弄混淆。以往對於固定比例的卡布奇諾，若是咖啡豆的風味發展不夠就會導致飲品寡淡，平衡感弱的問題，從而促使烘焙師向完整發展風味的方向來改善，而現在只需要在混合時減少牛奶的比例就能掩蓋掉咖啡豆的發展不完全。顯然，這一點對於廣大咖啡師和烘焙師技藝的提升是沒有好處