To connect coffee lovers and professionals from all around the world, to inspire others, to make new friends.
Today we feature the story of :
DANIEL HORBAT
Please tell us about yourself.
My name is Daniel Horbat and I am the current World Cup Taster Champion.
I am originally from Romania, but I’ve been living in Dublin, Ireland since 2012.
My lifelong passion started as a job in college, 15 years ago. During my time competing I managed to place first for nearly three years in a row at Irish Cup Tasters Championship – 2016, 2018 and 2019, taken third place at London Coffee Masters in 2019 and been in the finals twice for Ireland’s Latte Art Championship.
My latest competition was Ireland National Tea Masters Cup organized by European Tea Society where I managed to place third.
I think my role is to share my knowledge and passion with others, to educate and inspire them to be able to make a better coffee industry.
What is your vision and goal?
I would like to build up a company that’s entirely transparent, no bullshit involved, to be a leader in innovation, service and quality from bean to cup, a company that will help farmers, that will try to make their life easier, but which on the same time will focus on offering a luxurious experience to its customers.
How did you get started in coffee, what made you fallen in love with it?
During my 15 year career, I worked as a barista in Romania, Greece and Ireland for different companies, from small independent cafes to some of the very large players on the market. But it was only few years ago, when I moved to Ireland, that I've been introduced to the speciality coffee, when I found out about origins and how every bean is different in taste and aroma from one another, depending on numerous factors.
From that moment on, I’ve fallen in love with it, I've became fascinated by coffee and its delicious complexity.
If you weren't a coffee lover or professional what would you have done instead?
I would probably be working as a bartender. I was always attracted by mixology, by playing with the flavours and how you can put few ingredients together in order to make an interesting beverage. Since I start working in the industry I was always fascinated abut sensory, any sensory, so theoretically speaking I see myself being I bartender.
What is your favourite coffee beverage ?
I love preparing the coffee using a v60. My recent “addiction” is the gem series brewer. It gives a very consistent brew, with clean and bright flavours. But I am not going to lie, I am quite lazy so most of the days I end up using one of the batch brews I own ; Moccamaster or the Behmor.
What do you see as the major challenges facing the coffee industry?
I think that the biggest issue now is the global warming. It directly affects the coffee farms, the agriculture, which results to a drop into the amount of coffee harvested.
In addition, the warmer climate makes a perfect environment for pest and coffee diseases to grow, like the leaf rust which can kill a coffee tree. Coffee rust is a serios epidemic, very difficult to control and which has spread to all coffee growing regions and has a massive impact on the Arabica bean production.
Also, the higher temperatures cause coffee berries to ripen faster, which hurts the quality of the beans.
One tip to improve the coffee industry ?
Seeing the industry from this side, from behind the coffee machine, I think nowadays it is also important to focus on educating the consumers. Creating an experience for them, using knowledge and hospitality. Focusing more on the direct trading, which helps us to tell them the story behind the beans. Sustainability. Better quality coffees, lighter roast profiles, innovative brew methods are all small steps that will eventually result in creating a better industry.
What is your favourite quote ?
A quote that helped me to challenge myself to get better and better, to compete more and more is “Discipline plus effort equal success”.
I applied this quote in my professional and personal life for the last 3 years and it got me where I am today, a world champion.
“No story lives unless someone wants to listen ”