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Taipei · Taiwan

Simple Kaffa

Since 2011 · Berg Wu, Chee (co-founder, partner)

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Overview

Berg Wu opened Simple Kaffa in Taipei in 2011, after a decade selling coffee from a tricycle in Jingmei and Gongguan that he'd started in 2004 while still working as an electronics engineer. He'd watched the 2008 World Barista Championship in Denmark and decided he'd compete one day; he placed at the Taiwan Barista Championship from 2009 onward, made the WBC stage in 2014 and 2015, and won the title in 2016 in Dublin — the first Taiwanese ever to do so. The original cafe is famously hidden in the basement of a select shop, with a Diedrich 5kg roaster offsite and a La Marzocco GB5 plus EK43s on the bar.

Known for

  • 2016 World Barista Champion — first Taiwanese title and only second Asian winner ever
  • Founder Berg Wu — former electronics engineer (Master's, NTU) turned coffee-tricycle vendor turned WBC champion
  • Hidden basement flagship in Taipei
  • Team produces multiple Taiwan Barista Champions including 2x champion Zoe Lai
  • WBC-winning routine used a Geisha from Finca Deborah, Volcán, Panama

Why it matters

Simple Kaffa's 2016 WBC win is the moment Taiwan stopped being a curiosity in the global specialty coffee map and started being treated as a serious origin and a serious market. The cafe's hidden basement format also influenced the wave of 'destination' specialty cafes that defined East Asian third wave through the late 2010s.

Production

head roaster
Berg Wu
roaster machine
Diedrich 5kg
filter equipment
Mahlkönig EK43, La Marzocco Swift grinder
espresso equipment
La Marzocco GB5 (2-group)

Café

This roaster operates a café.

Recognitions

  • 2016 World Barista Champion (Berg Wu, Dublin)
  • First WBC title for Taiwan
  • Multiple Taiwan Barista Championship titles (Wu, Lai, Lin)

Sources

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