It's been almost two years, what event left such a deep impression on me? That's right, it was when I participated in the hand-brewed coffee competition, unexpectedly winning first place in the group stage and entering the finals in Guangzhou. The event took place at the coffee shop "Sido Coffee," opened by my good friend and former colleague Abao, near Xiaogang Metro Station. Why did I sign up for this competition? Because after the temporary lifting of the pandemic lockdown in 2020, I registered for the Golden Tea King Hong Kong-style milk tea competition and bought tea powder samples on Taobao for the competition. Basically, every rest day, I would mix the tea powder in different proportions and start brewing a serving of Hong Kong-style milk tea. Although I was confident in the quality, during the competition at the end of 2021, I did not break through in the first round of the Guangzhou division I registered for. However, the product was satisfactory, and since I had no vested interest with the organizers, what was the harm in getting a good result? So, a couple of months later, I went back to the coffee shop run by Abao and his partner A-Jun to explore and ordered a hand-brewed coffee.

Coincidentally, it was also a chance reunion with my middle school classmate A-Hao, whom I took to "Jiu Yin Coffee" in Jiangnan West, where I introduced him to Abao, who was then the chief consultant at that shop. Later, I heard from A-Hao that his high school classmate A-Jun opened a coffee shop near Xiaogang Metro Station, and on the opening day, A-Hao was invited, coincidentally running into Abao again. I later learned that Abao was no longer working at Jiu Yin but was teaming up with A-Jun to start a new venture.

So during the National Day holiday in 2021, I invited A-Jun, who lives in Tianhe, to Abao's new shop for coffee, which I can say was my first visit. After my loss in the Golden Tea King competition, when I went back to Sido Coffee, Abao mentioned that they would be hosting the ABrC enthusiasts hand-brewed coffee competition and asked if I was interested in signing up. The registration fee was only 50 yuan, which was really much cheaper compared to the Golden Tea King. With a playful mindset, I signed up without hesitation and bought the coffee bean samples used in the competition, which were the most ordinary single-origin beans, lightly roasted Yirgacheffe. At home, I repeatedly brewed and savored its flavor in the same proportions until I felt the sweetness was prominent, the layers were rich, and the acidity was minimized as much as possible.

Brewing was also my only option. Because during the Spring Festival in 2020, when I returned to my hometown, I always brewed coffee for relatives and friends to taste. When my uncle's family came to visit, I brewed a cup for them. At that time, my cousin's husband saw that my brewing method was not very meticulous, just pouring a lot of water, and his first reaction was that it was too fast. After that, we chatted while drinking and he mentioned some friends who owned coffee shops, saying that during the brewing process of hand-brewed coffee, one should try to maintain a slow water flow and not let the water cover the coffee grounds, which would significantly enhance the sweetness. So, once I started playing with hand-brewed coffee, I tried to keep this principle in mind while brewing, and after trying it myself, I indeed found a noticeable sweetness.

However, during the first lockdown of the pandemic, I became infatuated with Hong Kong-style milk tea, so hand-brewed coffee was put aside. Whenever there was no milk tea stocked at home, I would brew a serving of hand-brewed coffee for guests, adhering to the principle of slow water flow and not letting the water cover the coffee grounds. This brewing method is commonly referred to as "one knife flow."