Halifax barista hopes to brew up success at regional championship

Baristas from across the Maritimes are getting ready to steam things up at the Aeropress Championship.

When Jay Bustin brews up a fresh cup of coffee, he hopes to surprise his customer.

“I love when someone sips it and they just love it,” said Bustin, who works at Bramble Café in Halifax. “When there’s no complaints, where someone goes, ‘Wow, I didn’t expect that,’ or you can kind of exceed expectations of what is expected from a coffee.

“I love when that happens for somebody.”

Bustin is taking his brewing skills to the East Coast regional Aeropress Championships in Moncton this year. If he’s successful, he will move onto nationals in Calgary.

“When I’m making a recipe for a competition, I’m keeping track of everything I do,” Bustin said. “How many times I stir the coffee, how much water is going in, how much beans I’m using, the size of the grinds, the temperature of the water, how long it sits.

“We just try to keep everything as consistent as possible.”

Bustin first got into the industry in 2018.

“Kinda just grabbed it as a job because I was interested in coffee but didn’t really know what else to do with it,” he said. “It just kind of snowballed and kind of became more of a career.

“I want to promote the East Coast coffee, like, especially coffee community. I think it’s growing and there’s a lot to showcase here.”

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