Innovative Minds: Meet Pierre de Chanterac, the 2023 World Ibrik Champion.

Innovation never ends, and when combined with a passion for coffee, it can lead to remarkable achievements. One such example is Pierre de Chanterac, a talented barista who recently won the 2023 World Ibrik Championships. Pierre’s experience with espresso and filter coffee plus his relentless pursuit of innovation has taken the art of Ibrik brewing to new heights. Amongst Pierre’s beautiful setup were two Paragons, sparking our curiosity on how to implement this tool within Ibrik preparation, something we at Nucleus have never seen before. In this article, we will explore how Pierre’s innovative mindset created a revolutionary set of Ibrik beverages, and we highly recommend you watch his inspiring performance on YouTube.

Pierre is no stranger to the world stage, and since 2019, has represented France in World Brewers twice, the World Aeropress Championships and this year winning Ibrik.

This path of exploration led them to construct a blend for his Worlds performance. The first, an Ethiopian from Bombe Village in Sidama.

“A fruit bomb, with a lot of complexity, vibrancy and depth”.

To really create the Ibrik expression he desired, he blended this with a Geisha from Finca Mikava, Colombia.

“I was able to add more definition into the cup. The beauty behind this process is that the sensory synergy between the two coffees became an epiphany.”

Some of us picture Ibrik as brewing method with limitations. Whereas Pierre tested every fundamental variable within his control. These fundamentals include not just blend construction, roast and age approach, water composition and grind size, but continuing his focus all the way through to a commonly overlooked variable of human interaction with his judges/customers.

“Yet, sometimes its attributes could fluctuate in intensity and different tasters could find different flavors, especially when the tasting was done in different environments or noise levels.

We kept in mind that judges in competition taste the cups on stage, under a lot of pressure, surrounded by noise, heat and a big responsibility to feel an translate accurately their sensory perception into precise numbers and notes. For that reason, the coffees needed to shine very clearly, I would even say, undoubtedly.”

Speaking to Pierre, it’s clear he loves pushing himself to be a better barista, constantly gaining a deeper understanding in all aspects of coffee.

My water minerality was very high, with a lot of bicarbonate to buffer the acidity, which contributed to this smooth and silky body. Again, vibrant acidic coffees, lightly roasted: a low minerality would have resulted in an unbalanced and aggressive acidity. Ibrik ratio is twice shorter than filter coffee, so finding the balance may be viewed as an equilibrium between espresso and pour over.

First, it should be said that Ibrik coffee is one of the most popular coffee brewing methods in the world. It bears different names, but you can find it the homes of countries that once were part of the old ottoman empire, and Middle East. Then, for people who may not know it, or had bad experience with it (probably due to the poor quality of the coffee used), it is truly a sensory discovery, as the beverage quality is very high, and unique to its method. I used the Paragon to cool down faster my filtrated Ibriks for the signature course.

Jordan, one of my co-workers and Head Barista of Terres de Café, participated in the Brewers cup in France in 2023. He presented the Bombe, and used the Paragon for his set. We noticed a great improve on sweetness and tactile quality with this coffee in pour-over.

Regardless of which competition you may wish to participate, we can all learn from Pierre’s approach of testing every parameter within his ability. This path of discovery builds knowledge adding value to the individual regardless of the competition result. In saying this, it’s no surprise that Pierre’s desire to learn, question every variable and innovate lead him to becoming the 2023 Ibrik World Champion.

To follow Pierre, checkout his Instagram @pierredechanterac.

Photo Credit: @yourcoffeeshot Paul Perret & @terresdecafe.