Guest: Tim Williams, Founder of Fieldwork Coffee and Director of the World AeroPress® Championships
Based: Melbourne, Australia
Online: https://worldaeropresschampionship.com/ • @aero.press • @timstyles • https://linkin.bio/fieldworkcoffee/
What they drink: A milk drink because it is more likely it will be reasonably enjoyable. Although, if the cafe has a good vibe, a filter coffee.
Listen/Watch on: Spotify • YouTube
World AeroPress Championships
The World AeroPress Championships kicked off in 2008. The field consisted of three competitors standing near a countertop, trying to determine which of them could brew the best cup of coffee on this quirky plunging brewer.
The event has grown. Today, there are more than 6,000 annual competitors competing in 175+ events in 65 countries—and counting. Tim wasn’t there that first day, but his path through coffee—including stops in Los Angeles, London, and Paris—put him on the right track to be there when the event needed someone to take the reigns just over a decade ago. Since then, directing the action from his office in Melbourne, Australia, has become a year-round adventure.
The World AeroPress Championship leadership team works closely with volunteers and local event hosts create experience that make the coffee community feel tighter by making it a little bit bigger. Click the link below to find a W.A.C. event near you. Can’t find one? Reach out to the W.A.C. team about hosting one!
“You win a lot if you win, there is prestige, there is a trophy…and you should definitely be wanting to win, to get involved, but it is not a winner takes all value proposition for competitors.” • Tim Williams when asked for advice for W.A.C. competitors
Fieldwork Coffee & The Journey
Part of Tim's journey involves being in the right place at the right time near the right people in coffee. I don't mean to dismiss the value of luck (or coincidence) in one's journey, but he downplayed how he put himself in the position to be lucky. Tim has been able to tilt that fortuitousness in a direction that works for him by recognizing the opportunities before him.
Being surrounded by motivated people who are doing things, who are passionate about those things, and who persevere when things are hard is an occupational gift. Those peers offer a model for achievement, but you—or, in this case, Tim—have to want it, too. In coffee, it helped Tim that his peers were also modeling quality and willing to prioritize it as a key business driver when he returned home to Melbourne to start roasting collective.
The collective would allow him to enable smaller or burgeoning roasters to pursue quality coffee, uplifting the overall community standard. They could gain an understanding of the sacrifice involved in production and the economic impact of their choices. They could build a business based on roasting quality coffee using the collective's resources. Unfortunately, that was not the primary pursuit of many of the collective's business goals.
By Tim's count, roasters were leveling up their efforts. It was disheartening but also motivating. It made him reconsider his coffee and business values. He had to decide whether or not what he was doing kept him on track to meet them. He decided to stop leading from the back and put his best effort forward to model the type of coffee business he wanted to see in the world.
Fieldwork Coffee is Tim's effort to offer Melbourne what the roasting collective aimed for—accessible-tasting (good) coffee sourced ethically and roasted with care—not to mention coffee he likes, which are one and the same.
KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THE POD
The coffee bar offers the opportunity for human proximity. It offers the opportunity to create a great energy between people, but you have to nurture the experience, you have to design your space to encourage it, you have to develop your team to care. If you get it right more often than not, your shop will transcend the transactional relationship to create deeper, more meaningful connections.
During our chat, Tim was in Australia, and I was) in Southern California. How cool is that?
Tim’s parents still think he might get a real job someday.
His epiphany came when visiting a different cafe than the more traditional Italian-style one he worked at. Besides being overwhelmed at the counter, he walked away with a coffee that awakened his senses and inspired him to revise his view of coffee as a commodity product. He realized it could be something more.
Tim mentioned the term PID controller as an add-on to the espresso machine. On a coffee or espresso machine, the PID is a device that controls temperature and, more importantly, temperature stability. Learn more here on the Seattle Coffee Gear blog.
The W.A.C. started small, a literal couple of guys nerding out on a new-ish coffee brewer. The event grew organically from a few guys to the behemoth it is today.
The events are meant to be value-ads to the competitors. Nurturing the competitor community is their guiding edict.
I use the Tim Wendelboe recipe from the Aeromatic App when I brew a cup of coffee. 14 grams of coffee to 200 grams of water in an upright brewer. I do grind my coffee a bit finer than recommended.
It took time for Tim to get to a point where he could step back and appreciate the moment-in-the-moment. Then, it took longer for him to let that moment breathe before getting right back to work. What he chooses to manage or let manage him has changed over time. It doesn’t make sense to pursue a work/life balance every day. The days that it does are increasing.
Longer work days don’t necessarily mean more productive days.
Always have a pen handy to write something down.
Fieldwork is a microroaster that has been open for three years.
Teaser Alert: Stay tuned for a 20th Anniversary Aeropress Championships event in the U.S.
I wonder if the next generation of hospitality workers is coming?
There is giving people the information they want, and then there is burying people in the information about the coffee. It is important to read the room. Not everyone wants to nerd out about every single cup of coffee. Talking to guests and taking genuine interest in their life will create a closer bond between consumer and business, and perhaps even you and another human!
Magic coffee drink = a double ristretto served with steamed milk in a 5 oz coffee cup a.k.a. a strong flat white. A ristretto is a short shot of espresso brewed using the same amount of ground coffee but less water
The entire W.A.C. is run by two people, Tim Williams and former guest Grant Gamble.
WATCH THIS PODCAST ON YOUTUBE
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