This episode of #CoffeeProtocolPodcast we talk about Jaseem and his journey towards winning the Title of “Indian Barista Champion -2023", but also about struggles, anxiety, pressure and stress during the coffee championship. We talk about coffee culture and the start of Jaseem's dream to win the title. We also talk about Blue Tokai Coffee, Santosh from Thirdwave, Mithilesh the preceding Champion, Suhas, Sandra, Hrishikesh, Bhavnish of Coffee Genetics, James Hoffman, Lance Handricks and of course National Barista championship, and WBC. Ninedotcoffee- A name you would have heard or come across if you follow Indian coffee championships and competitions. If not let me introduce you to this jack ass of an amazing person. Jaseem Abbas, a curious mallu who resides in Bengaluru. As the stereotypes go he does work in “tech stuff”, he owns and runs a company that makes money for him, so he can spend a large portion of it on coffee machines. Yes, he is a home brewer, who got so into coffee, that he started making machines that could be fit into his home machine. (Did I mention he is a geek), his love for coffee and brewing got him into the world of coffee competition. Started with AeroPress competition and then attempting his hand in National Barista Championship in 2021. In his first year of trial, he didn’t even qualify through his first round, because of technical reasons (he didn’t make 3 sets of drinks in 15 mins) but did an amazing job of how much ever he did. Then he came back the next year and ended up Winning the championship. A home brewer winning a Barista Championship was unheard of, but he did it, and did it how.