Tilly Sproule of Tim Adams Specialty Coffee on the Sunshine Coast has won the eighth Fushan Cup International Barista Championship of China.

The invitation-only event pitted 22 baristas from across the world to compete in Hainan on 6 June.

Tilly’s routine focused on terroir, the combination of environmental variables at origin that influence a coffee’s character and complexity. These factors range from the climate to soil and even the altitude.

“Throughout each course I explored different elements of terroir and how these directly influenced my coffee’s flavour,” Tilly says.

She used a Panama Geisha that was processed using whole cherry carbonic maceration, a fermentation technique usually associated with wine.

Her routine was an extension of what she presented at the 2019 Australian Specialty Coffee Association National Barista Championship in February, where she placed fifth in the final.

For her signature beverage, Tilly applied the carbonic maceration technique to cascara, sourced from the same Geisha coffee.

“I fermented these (the cascara) in a glass barrel over 36 hours to create a concentrate that was delicious, but I wanted to find more structure and depth to the drink,” she says.

Tilly, who won the 2019 Rising Star in the Eleonara Genovese Women in Coffee awards, was proud of her achievement and to represent the Australian coffee community on the world stage.

“Our entire team at Tim Adams Specialty Coffee work extremely hard for months, so to come home with the champion trophy, I feel very honoured to have not only done my team proud, but our Australian coffee community and also myself,” Tilly says.

For more information, visit www.timadams.net.au