Our experience at Indonesia Brewer's Cup 2025/2026
We’re now back in Bandung, our hearts full and minds absolutely reeling with the experience of our very first IBRC Finals. After looking at old photos to post, we realized that there were almost four months between the Otten Bandung Regionals and Indonesia Brewers Cup 2025/2026. Where has the time gone?
We decided to write this post because coffee competitions are by nature exclusive, so often bordering translucent and opaque, and we wanted to do our part in shining a bit of light on the process. At Homage, we’re always talking about making things as accessible as possible, and it doesn’t feel right to keep our experience to ourselves. Our hope is that others can read this and feel inspired or even more prepared for their own competitions.
Why compete?
For better or worse, participating in the World Coffee Championships is still one of the best ways to establish your company or cafe as a specialty brand to a regional or global audience. We’re a tiny team, and we feel our energy is best spent on competition (as opposed to running ads, creating a podcast, or sh*tposting on social media).
The other reason: we have followed the WCC for many years, and each season, the level of innovation and competition from baristas around the world is truly inspiring. We have always wanted to be part of that collective momentum, and that’s why we’re truly gratified to make it to the finals of the 2025/2026 season of Indonesia Brewers Championship.
What beans did you use?
In our open service preliminaries, we used 15 grams of Panamanian geisha from three different farms in a 2:1:1 blend.
Finca Deborah Washed
Finca Nuguo Natural
Finca Sophia Natural
In our open service finals, we used 17 grams of Panamanian geisha in a 1:1:1:1 blend. This was a one-shot-one-kill opportunity as we only had the green beans of 100 grams of Finca Nuguo Washed to begin with — enough to brew twice to taste and the rest to serve.
How much green coffee did you start with?
From the beginning, we did not have the luxury (or budget, haha) of trying many different options. We're relieved and grateful that we were able to make an impact with our limited stash!
Here is what we started with:
Finca Deborah Aril 1KG from Stefan (Two Hands Full)
Finca Nuguo Washed 100gr (purchased from NiR) roasted on Ikawa, lent to us by Everjoy Cafe.
Finca Nuguo Natural 1KG, which we bought last year. Part of this was already roasted and we entered the nationals season with just 500 grams to roast.
Finca Sofia Natural 1KG was also bought last year. Part of this was also already roasted and we entered the nationals season with just 500 grams of green beans.
Who roasted the beans?
We are proud to say Alif roasted the beans himself!
The beans for open service were roasted in about 7 minutes with just 5% DTR to maximize the enzymatic phase and minimize the sugar browning phase. Most of the beans were roasted on a Rubasse on October 11th, about 2.5 weeks before the competition, though the Nuguo Washed was roasted on an Ikawa.
What water did you use for open service?
We used 30 PPM for the first two pours and 10 PPM water for the last pour — creating it using Amidis plus Aqua Code and a tiny dash of Apax Lab minerals. All of the water we used during open service was Waved for a minimum of ten minutes at our homestay. Waved is a technology that strengthens the molecular bonds within water, allowing for a more efficient extraction even with a relatively low PPM. We found that, by using Waved water to brew, the resulting coffee had a longer and sweeter finish and lower astringency and bitterness.
What kind of help did you receive?
Fakhri (@fakhrimurad) offered incisive input on our scripts and the quality of our coffee, from regionals to nationals. Thanks to him, we were able to enjoy our first ever finals at the national stage. We cannot really overstate just how grateful we are for his presence. He is a champ through and through.
Gemi Hendry (@gemi_coffee) helped us get to and from Bandung to ICE BSD and also provided much-needed emotional support, and we are so lucky to have him on our team.
Mas Deri lent us some really nice dress shirts and also gave us so much great advice on showmanship. His support was truly precious.
Jhon Christopher (@jhonrchristhoper) gave us lots of wisdom and lent us another Timemore Duo scale.
One of our Timemore Duo scales died the morning of preliminaries. Fortunately, Ko Benny (@bennylovescoffee @timemore.id) had one in stock at his Timemore booth at the venue.
Huge thanks to Ko Budi (@ytta.curate) for early access to the Rock ‘n Dew carafes by Dragonfly Design Center. We had our hearts set on using these to compete and they arrived just in time.
Adin and Iki — the only two members of our crew, helped us prepare all the different tools on and off the stage. Thanks for staying up late and waking up early to be there for us. Things would not have gone so smoothly if you two hadn’t been there.
Ko Handy, Ko Ray, and Everjoy Cafe kindly lent us the Ikawa on which we roasted the Nuguo Washed coffee. Big shout out to Ray also for introducing us to Gabriel Glas while we were searching for various Riedel.
Ko Stefan (@stefansetiadi) helped us source some tasty Panamanian coffee.
Choo Wee Ang helped us to purchase the Gabriel-Glas wine glasses we used during open service and ensure that they arrived safely in Alif’s hands.
Gary Ong and the Waved team (@waved.tech) have created some truly innovative technology, and we are proud to be a Wavemaker.
Without the NiR coffee team (@nircoffee.id) it wouldn’t have been possible for us to use our Rubasse. Without the Near Infrared tech that the roast machine offers, these tasty coffees won’t exist. They made time to watch our preliminaries and final rounds and gave us hope and support we are so grateful for.
Our wonderful friend and mentor Adel (@sushechaguan) helped to truly change the way we enjoy coffee. Her insights and guidance helped us to formulate our tasting protocol of not swirling at any stage. We find that, by avoiding swirling, the aroma may not be as intense but the overall texture from hot to cool is far more pleasant. This discovery was only made possible because of her advice and perspective, formed over many years of tea experience and learning.
We’d also like to extend our thanks to the judges and amazing event team, for allowing us to serve you coffee that we believe in. And of course, thank you to every fellow competitor who made this season so fun and competitive. You guys inspire us to be better. Ryan, all the best of luck in Belgium next year!