Barista orbits competition circuit

From office to cafe

Watching Liu perform on the world stage, few would guess he once worked in finance prior to hospitality.

The 37-year-old Guangzhou native entered the coffee industry in 2014 after leaving a career in financial trading, where his days revolved around numbers, markets and risk analysis.

A single book changed his aspirations.

The memoir, I Just Want to Open a Small Coffee Shop, prompted him to reconsider what he wanted out of life.

"I realized I wanted to work in a place where I could meet different people and experience different cultures," Liu recalls. "A cafe suited my personality much better."

He resigned from his finance job and started from scratch. The transition was anything but easy.

Early in his career, when his monthly salary was only around 2,000 yuan ($295), he spent 700 yuan on a milk pitcher simply to practice latte art. He learned everything from espresso extraction to customer service before gradually stepping onto the competition circuit.

He began competing in 2015 and later shifted his focus to two of the World Coffee Championships' most technically demanding events — the World Barista Championship and the World Coffee in Good Spirits Championship.

Unlike traditional barista competitions, the WCIGS requires competitors to master coffee, spirits, sensory balance, stage performance, and storytelling simultaneously. "It's more of an all-around event," Liu says.

After years of competing nationally, he won the Chinese qualifying championship in December 2025, earning the honor of representing the country in Brussels.

His ambition, however, had always been clear. "If I were going to compete on the world stage," he says, "I wanted to win."

More than coffee

The WCIGS demands more than technical precision: finalists must prepare two identical Irish coffees and two signature coffee-and-spirit beverages within strict time limits while explaining the inspiration behind them.

For Liu, the greatest challenge wasn't mixing ingredients. "It isn't about making a drink," he says. "It's about telling a story people can understand in just 10 to 15 minutes."

Months before the competition, his team repeatedly refined recipes, adjusted flavor profiles, and rehearsed every movement of the presentation.

His coach, Qiu Jianming, winner of the 2021 Chinese qualifying championship, believes Liu's greatest strength was never technical ability alone.

"Our role was simply to help fine-tune the details," Qiu says. "Ultimately, the person on stage has to completely believe in what he's presenting."

He describes Liu's style with one word: composure.

"He wasn't trying to complete a task," Qiu says. "He was sharing a story."

Years of competition had transformed Liu's approach. Once technical fundamentals became second nature, he shifted his focus toward communication — pacing, body language, tone, and emotional connection.

"The audience shouldn't feel like you're reciting a script," Liu says. "They should feel like you're inviting them into your world."

For Liu, competitions are not only about rankings. They are platforms in which baristas, roasters, bartenders, and judges exchange ideas, turning individual achievement into broader industry progress.

Qiu believes Liu's success reflects the rapid evolution of China's specialty coffee scene.

China's competitors have become increasingly visible at international championships in recent years, while domestic cafes continue pushing the boundaries of creativity.

"The industry here is developing incredibly fast," Qiu says.

Liu's own work mirrors that trend. His championship drinks combined international techniques with distinctly Chinese elements — a Guangdong lychee liqueur in Saturn — reflecting a growing confidence among Chinese coffee professionals to express their culinary identity.

In his day job as an application development consultant for a dairy company, Liu develops recipes for restaurant chains, cafes and beverage brands. That work has also shaped his philosophy.

"Innovation isn't about adding more," he says. "It's about finding the most meaningful expression."

Now that he has reached the pinnacle of competition, Liu says his attention is gradually shifting toward mentoring younger professionals.

"I may compete again someday," he says. "But I think I'll spend more time helping the next generation."

On the stage in Brussels, he transformed astronomy into coffee, philosophy into flavor, and a personal journey into a world championship.

Much like Saturn's rings, which emerged from fragments torn apart by gravity, Liu's own path was shaped by bold choices, uncertainty and years of rebuilding. Each experience — finance, coffee, competition, and research — became part of the orbit that carried him forward.

In Brussels, those fragments finally caught the light.

Contact the writer at liyingxue@chinadaily.com.cn