Karl Lee is preparing to head to Bangkok to compete in the World Cup Tasters Championship, but how did the renowned Brewer’s Cup judge get there?
What does it mean to win the ASCA Cup Tasters Championship, and how did you prepare for the competition?
Cupping and tasting have now become part of the routine of my life, I first started to compete in the Cup Tasters Championship in 2019, and now I’ve got the trophy, so it’s all paid off. Australia is so into coffee, especially specialty, and that motivated me to keep on doing things in this community – I’m also a certified judge and I work in my own coffee lab in Brisbane to help develop other people in the industry.
I didn’t do much differently this time, but I worked more intensely. For the past three years the coffee for the competition has been supplied by Minas Hill Coffee, and they only deal with Brazilian coffee. It’s not easy, because the sets for triangulation used to be from different regions, but for the past few years it’s only been Brazilian coffee which makes it harder for competitors. I tried to get all the Brazilian filter coffee I could to practise with and make me more sensitive to the different attributes. It meant I could get deeper into it to find those narrower differences.
Because of this, Australia’s competition is more difficult than a lot of other countries, but we get trained by this and it’s made me more confident going onto the world stage.
How do you prepare to compete and judge in sensory competitions?
I try to stay aware of what I eat, I don’t have things that are too spicy, too sweet, or too salty because that could dull my sensitivity. Since I became a judge and have done more coaching and consulting, I’ve kept my eating habits the same. I keep all those things low to not dull my palate. If you’re a judge or sensory competitor in coffee, wine, or whiskey, you don’t go too crazy with what you eat – it’s just common sense. I’ve heard of people cutting out all salt months before a competition to help bring up their sensory level, but some people also just keep these more minimal habits all the time. It’s about finding what works for you.
When you start judging you can’t be subjective to your own tastes. You know your preferences, but if you keep yourself stuck there, you’re going to have a very narrow sensory spectrum when it should be more objectively wide and calibrated. I like smoky flavours, but in coffee that’s not necessarily a good thing, but if you taste things like peach or jasmine that could be more valuable, in tea and wine as well.
How will you prepare for the World Championships in Bangkok, and what would it mean to win?
I had a break of about a week where I wasn’t doing any tasting after the Australian Championship and have slowly been increasing how much I practise since. It started with a weekly session, increasing to twice a week. From late January I’ve increased it to every second day, in the two months before Bangkok I’ll practice nearly every day, sometimes twice a day. I just need to keep practising to sharpen my skills and not let them rust. Mentally you must be strong since it’s a mental game, and I also exercise to sustain myself. Bangkok is going to be super hot, so I need the trinity of mental, physical, and sensory training to sustain myself.
If I win, I think my career in competitions will stop and I’ll move even more into educating, consulting, and training. I’ve been judging on the world stage since 2022, so having world titles as a judge and world titles as a champion, that’s enough. Then I want to focus on helping people improve their own skills. I can help other judges from Australian Speciality Coffee Association, or the Speciality Coffee Association, or people who just want to learn for fun.
This article appears in the February 2025 edition of BeanScene. Subscribe HERE.
