In Conversation With 2026 Canadian National Brewers Cup Champion: Paprik Liu
The Canadian National Brewers Cup is the nation's highest-level manual brewing competition. Competitors prepare and present coffees to a panel of judges, who score based on flavour accuracy, balance, technical execution, and overall performance.
It’s a test of brewing precision, sensory skill, and composure under pressure. All for the chance to be called Canadian National Brewers Cup Champion.
This year, Paprik Liu stepped onto the stage not just for a title, but for a feeling.
For Paprik, competing isn’t just about presenting great coffee. It’s about the emotional shifts that come with setting a clear goal to win. He embraces the pressure, the doubt, the satisfaction, and the disappointment because that process makes him feel fully engaged in what he does.
Behind his tightly controlled brewing system – and his decision to work with Mauricio Shattah’s nitrogen-flushed anaerobic natural coffee – is a competitor who obsesses over improvement, trusts his team deeply, and continues to grow with each competition.
We asked Paprik to share what drove him, what challenged him, and what this win means now. His answers offer a closer look at the mindset behind the cup.
What motivated you to step onto the Brewer’s Cup stage this year?
"I enjoy the emotions and changes in my mind during each competition. These emotions are strongly related to my expectations for the competition results. So, I use winning as my greatest motivation. Because of this, no matter the result, I can feel my emotions and mindset changes the most. I am really obsessed with this change, it makes me feel like a living being with a soul, and that feeling is amazing."
Why did you choose this particular coffee, and what were you hoping to express through it?
"I have my own brewing system for the Brewer's Cup, where almost every variable is in a very small range. Because of this, I can only make slight adjustments, including the choice of coffee beans, otherwise, the system will not work. Normally, we choose comp coffees with the best and clearest flavor profile in cupping. My strategy is a bit different. I imagine the flavor profile of a particular coffee in a highly developed state before making my choice. Mauricio Shattah is a producer I respect and admire, and I believe his nitrogen-flushed anaerobic natural processed coffees can always work very well in my unique system. I want to win the Brewer's Cup, and I want to use Mauricio's beans to do that because we trust each other."
What part of your preparation did you obsess over the most?
"Every time I brew and taste my competition coffee during preparation, I feel different emotions. Sometimes I’m very satisfied with the coffee I make, and sometimes I’m not. These different results bring many feelings and changes in my mind. They also push me to think about what my next step should be. Overall, I really enjoy this change."
What does the moment right before walking on stage feel like for you?
"At that moment, I don't think about anything extra. I focus completely on checking my equipment, and my mind keeps reminding me of the taste descriptions I need to say—it's really important not to forget any category."
Was there a point during your presentation where you had to adjust or recalibrate? What was going through your mind?
"In the first round of the competition, I forgot to mention a small part about the mouthfeel description. About a minute later, I remembered that I hadn’t said it during my presentation. My mind was thinking: should I add it? Would that be strange? Would not saying it cost me many points? In the end, I decided not to add it."
What was the most challenging part of this experience — technically or mentally?
"Technically, this competition is always about who presents the best coffee to the judges. Everyone has their own way of understanding coffee brewing, and techniques and ideas are always getting better. This is one of the main reasons why coffee quality is always improving. I would say that the mental challenge for me is less. Even though I am always very nervous during the competition, my goal to win never changes."
Looking back now, what are you most proud of?
"My teammates. I've been lucky to have a strong team with good people who help me grow since I entered the coffee industry. This gives me a lot of motivation during competitions — I have the best teammates, and I don't want to let them down."
What did this competition teach you about yourself or your relationship with coffee?
"This is my fifth year competing. In the early years, I was too absorbed in my own world and ignored the thoughts of those around me. Now, I choose to think from others' perspectives, communicate more, and respect their views and opinions. Just like they support and affirm me, they also need my support and affirmation.
Some friends have advised me not to take winning and losing too seriously. I haven't followed their advice yet because I still believe that setting a clear goal to win allows me to fully experience the competitions. Sometimes this focus makes me feel satisfied, but most of the time it does not. But anyway, I really enjoy it because I believe that experience is the most exciting thing."
Paprik, thank you for taking the time to share your mindset and reflections with us, and congratulations again on an incredible achievement. Watching your growth over the years has been just as impressive as the title itself.
As Canada’s National Champion, Paprik will now represent the country at the World Brewers Cup Championship, a global stage where champions from around the world compete for the highest honour in manual brewing.
We are proud to see him carry that focus, intensity, and trust in his craft onto the world stage. Canada will be watching!
The 2026 World Brewers Cup will be hosted in Brussels, Belgium from June 25-27, 2026.
The Gear List
Interested in brewing like a champion? Much of the gear Paprik used during his winning competition set can be easily sourced right here in Canada with Eight Ounce Coffee. Take a look at the list below to learn about the equipment and methods that helped Paprik earn the first-place prize.
- Paprik selected the NextLevel Pulsar as his chief competition coffee brewer due to its "large surface area, which creates a flatter coffee bed".
Why is this so important? According to the Canadian Brewers Cup champion, it allows for "more even extraction" and a faster flow rate. Simply put, this brewer is best for fully developed flavours with a lower risk of stalling (a.k.a. over extracting) the brew.
- For the National Brewer's Cup compulsory round, Paprik elected to use Kinto Slow Style Jugs as preparation vessels. In this particularly inventive method, he agitated fresh coffee grounds in water before placing them in the Hario Switch Brewer (more on that coming up), using the jugs as a kind of coffee decanter to enhance aroma and flavour.
HARIO V60-02 SWITCH Immersion Dripper
- The Hario Switch Immersion Dripper is a usual favourite among coffee enthusiasts and professionals, including Paprik; the Switch was his primary brewer during the compulsory round, selected namely "for filtration". In addition to offering a "faster flow rate", the Hario Switch allowed Paprik to have total control over his immersion time (and therefore flavour extraction) while the v-shaped coffee bed offered "more complexity to the final brew".
Sibarist Cone Specialty Filters
- For the choice of paper filters (an important variable that has a tendency of being forgotten), Paprik went with Sibarist. He recalls that the coffee he used was "lightly developed" or in other words, not overwhelmingly roasty. To "push extraction" and get the most well-rounded flavours in the cup, he used the Sibarist B3 Specialty Cone Filter, designed for balance, sweetness, and clarity.
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