NICOLE BATTEFELD-MONTGOMERY, SIBARIST CHAMPION tips & tricks!
And here is Nicole! We were excited once we knew that Nicole had chosen our filter to compete and win the German Brewers Cup in 2022. She used the CONE S in combination with the Graycano dripper and she also used the interesting combo in the Worlds Brewers Cup Champion in Melbourne 2022.
We are super happy to share this Champion interview with you where you can know more about Nicole, why and how she use the Sibarist filters and some amazing tips. We hope you enjoy the lecture and finding.
Thank you Nicole for your trust in our products and to share your tips and tricks to our community, you’ll be always a Sibarist Champion!
Nicole personal description:
My name is Nicole Battefeld-Montgomery, I live in Berlin, work as a Brand Ambassador and head of education for Rancilio Germany and I love to make coffee.
At work I am trying to be the creative and motivating part of the company that connects all aspects of coffee. From customerservice to roasting, profiling, teaching and also selling equipment and coffee machines.
I am also a 4 times German Coffee Champion and World Coffee Finalist Coach.
Right now I am opening the Rancilio BER Station Showroom in Berlin where you can visit me and drink some fancy beans with me!
I can’t really put a date on the exact moment when coffee took over my life, I guess it is just something that I was naturally good and comfortable with and over the years I realised how much this job changed my life.
I would say that I am obsessed with knowing as much as possible about the field of coffee for maybe 5-6 years and over the years I constantly pushed my boundaries. It’s like a really intense hobby. First you buy an espresso machine, then heaps of filter machines, then all the equipment that you can get your hands on until now when I just bought a home roaster. And this is just my free time! At work I am obviously involved in the topic all the time.
It basically became my life and I am still not even close to knowing anything about coffee. I feel like it is a never ending search and so much information on it all the time and coffee evolves so quickly that it will not get boring.
I started my journey directly after I graduated from school and since then the topic fascinated me. I am a qualified chef, worked in very fancy restaurants but nothing ever gave me as much joy as working with coffee. In 2014 I started working as a full time barista again and in 2016 I competed for the first time. Since then I just dove deeper and deeper in the nerdiness of the coffee universe.
Why did you choose the Sibarist filters for the brewers cup championship?
For the 2022 Competition I wanted to present a cup that was clean but also had a full body. That is why I used the Graycano Dripper, a dripper that combines an aluminium base, coated in a heat transferring, ceramic layer which is excellent for temperature stability. This helps me to gain a clean cup with precise acidity. The lava rib structure inside the dripper cone creates a natural agitation which helps me to push the body of this coffee. When I experimented with me quite dense beans I realised that normal filter paper choked the coffee so I started using the SIBARIST filters. I gained a faster flow which helped me adjust the grind size to a finer setting, resulting in a rounder and smoother body.
For me, the possibility to grind finer has opened a new dimension for brewing delicate coffees. I am currently experimenting with no ribbed filter cones and the paper and am getting excellent results.
Could you describe the recipe and coffee used? And what’s the reason of the set up?
Competition has a lot to do with trust and gut instinct for me. When I used a coffee from primrose, sourced by Project Origin, in 2021 on the world stage I fell in love with its profile and performance. After this great experience I wanted to find a coffee with a similar profile and cleanliness. In May 2022 I contacted Sam Cporra from ONA as he isn’t just a coffee wizard but also knows the coffee I used pretty well. He had a very good overview of the new year’s available crops and helped me narrow down the samples I ordered.
I ended up with 8 different choices and I settled on the 2022 Konga from Primrose. After a couple of testroasts we realized the coffee is beautiful but a bit shy and Sam offered a blend option from Panama, Abu coffees. It was a beautiful natural geisha that really complimented the mixed heirloom and created a flavour profile of strawberries, champagne and mild tropical fruits.
The recipe I used is the following:
Beans: 20g about 27 clicks on Comandante
Water: 300ml/ 92℃
Time: 3 minutes 20 seconds
Action Time Amount of water How To/ Technique
5 pours a 60g
Constant temperature
40 second intervals
Total brew 300 g
Total brew time 3:20
TDS: 1.32
I found this recipe enhanced all the structural highlights of the blend I used.
Any comment or thip about how to use the Sibarist filters?
I find rinsing the papers with cold water works the best for me. It tightens the structure of the paper in the first pour, resulting in a slightly longer bloom and then a faster flow towards the other pours. This way I usually get a bit more of a smooth texture.
What the Sibarist filters can add to your brew?
The possibilities to go finer. That means more body but still a light and clean brew with intense acidity. For me, thats exactly what I am looking for in a world class coffee.
Any other comment that you could consider useful for coffee lovers, fans, people with the aim to improve recipes and reach for the best extraction?
I would really challenge everyone to just get a bag of the filters and compare it to standard paper filters. You will immediately see how your taste will change and how many more options you will gain, just by choosing a different filter paper!
Nicole Battefeld-Montgomery
German Barista Champion 2018
German Coffee in Good Spirits Champion 2019
German Brewers Cup Champion 2021
German Brewers Cup Champion 2022
Rolling Pin Barista of the Year 2021
Podcast – ‘She’s The Barista’
Website – nicolebattefeld.com
Instagram – @nbattefeld
Watch Nicole during the 2022 World Brewers Cup Championship:
