The Southeast Asian Barista Team competition is being held in Jakarta for the first time this year. The championship features a total of 16 teams consisting of 64 baristas from seven Southeast Asian countries including Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.

Mikael Jasin is one of the baristas competing in this year’s event. Mikael’s journey with coffee began when he was in college.

“I decided to take up a barista job in college for fun, just as a side job, but it began to evolve [into] something more serious and now it is my career,” said Jasin, who is now the coffee quality manager at Common Ground roasters in Jakarta.

His passion for coffee has led him to join other competitions as well, most recently the World Barista Championship, where he finished fourth globally. His success has given him the ability to bring Indonesian coffee to the international spotlight.

“Indonesia coffee is special because we as a nation is very big so we grow coffee in eight different big islands and each one has a different taste to it. So as a nation we have a lot to offer. Indonesia coffee has so many different rainbows of colors,” said Jasin.

The competition allows participants to show their expertise, teamwork techniques and coffee art skills along with their ability to create the perfect cup.

“A perfect cup is a well-balanced cup. It doesn’t have to be the most expensive coffee out there, the most exclusive coffee out there but as long as it has sweetness, bitterness and acidity. And all three are present in the cup. That’s a perfect cup,” said Jasin.

ASEAN regions such as Indonesia and Vietnam produce diverse and rich coffee beans. The event is also a great place for small-scale farmers to showcase their products to large corporations in hopes of tapping into the market and learning more about the industry.

“Through this championship, ASEAN countries will be exploring the coffee industry, to promote their coffee farmers and at the end of the day to promote ASEAN to get more valuable in terms of the world’s coffee industry and coffee community in the world,” said Syafrudin, chairman of the Specialty Coffee Association of Indonesia.

Singapore’s barista team SG Expendable came out as champions during the two-day competition, with Indonesia’s Hungry Bird team coming in second place.