The World AeroPress Championships: Kemal Kitapçi

Kemal Kitapçi is the Turkish AeroPress Champion and will soon be competing at the World AeroPress Championship in Sydney, supported by his dog Flopy. Follow his journey on instagram: @kemalkitapci

Why did you choose to enter the AeroPress Championship?

Firstly, everyone in this AeroPress competition uses the same coffee so the one person who knows and analyses the coffee the best will succeed. Also, the fact that the prize was a trip to Sydney was one of the reasons I entered this competition.

What’s your favourite way to make coffee (other than AeroPress of course!)?

I prefer making coffee using the cupping method. Every cup is another adventure. For the practice I used Comandante, but this time i will be using grinders provided by the competition.

What led you to using the AeroPress?

Doing AeroPress relaxes me, doing all the procedures in an order takes great concentration so while I am writing a recipe I focus and relax. Making a recipe is like writing a symphony, every note another taste.

How did you get in to the coffee industry?

I was actually producing pasta. 30 years ago, I was carrying a package to a restaurant and I realised that the guy next to me was also carrying a package but much smaller and he was making 5 times more money then me. So I asked him what he was carrying and he responded “coffee espresso italiano”

What are you most excited about in coffee?

If you know how to manage it you will find the good in it, if you don’t you will see the bad side. That’s how it is with coffee. If you try to get to know it and treat it right it will offer you the beauty inside of it  If not, you will be drinking bad coffee