2023: Tay Wipvasutt — The Alchemist Who Added Coffee Mid-Brew

“At 0:45, he added another two grams of coffee. The room went quiet. Nobody does that.” — A spectator’s account of Tay Wipvasutt’s 2023 final round

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The Champion

Ekameth Wipvasutti — known universally as Tay — is Thai, and he brought something to the Aeropress Championship that nobody had seen before. He did not invent staged extraction. Coffee professionals had experimented with adding coffee partway through a brew for years. But nobody had done it on the World Aeropress stage. Nobody had made it work under the lights, with three judges waiting, while the clock ran down.

Tay did. And in doing so, he expanded the vocabulary of what the Aeropress could do.

He was not a mystery. He had competed before. He was known in the Southeast Asian coffee circuit. But his 2023 recipe was genuinely new — the kind of innovation that makes other competitors lean forward in their seats and start taking notes.

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The Stage

The 2023 championship was held in a venue that reflected how far the competition had come: professional lighting, a packed audience, and a production value that would have been unthinkable in Tim Wendelboe’s barn fifteen years earlier. The Aeropress Championship was no longer an underground event. It was a legitimate world championship, and the competitors treated it accordingly.

The field was deep. Carlo Graf Bülow of Germany would take second. Leon Zhang of China would take third. But Tay’s performance in the final round was the kind of thing that makes judges put down their pens and just watch.

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The Coffee

Tay brewed a coffee from Thailand — a choice that carried symbolic weight. Thailand is not one of the world’s famous coffee origins. It does not have the prestige of Ethiopia or the scale of Brazil or the cachet of Panama. But Thai coffee has been improving rapidly, and Tay’s decision to compete with a coffee from his own country was a statement: this is good enough to win.

The coffee was a washed Arabica from northern Thailand, roasted light to preserve its delicate florals and clean acidity. It was not a crowd-pleaser. It was not designed to be big and bold and obviously impressive. It was designed to be precise, and precise coffees reward precise brewing — which is exactly what Tay delivered.

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The Method

Tay’s 2023 recipe is the most technically complex of any champion in this series:

• Dose: 16 grams initially, plus 2 grams added at 0:45 (total: 18 grams)
• Grind: Medium-fine
• Water: 93°C (199°F)
• Position: Hybrid — began standard, flipped to inverted at 1:35
• Filters: 3 standard Aeropress paper filters
• Brew water: Approximately 155 grams total yield
• Bypass: Room temperature water to 115 grams, then hot water to 155 grams

The procedure:

1. Place three paper filters in the cap. Screw onto the chamber. Place the chamber on a server.
2. Add 16 grams of coffee. Pour approximately 150 grams of water.
3. At 0:30, stir with one side of a chopstick for 5 seconds.
4. At 0:45, add the remaining 2 grams of coffee. Do not stir.
5. At 0:55, stir again for 5 seconds.
6. Press down slightly to bring the plunger up and remove excess air. Close the cap.
7. Flip the Aeropress carefully (now inverted).
8. At 1:35, press down for approximately 30 seconds. Yield should be around 75 grams.
9. Bypass with room temperature water to 115 grams total.
10. Bypass with hot water to 155 grams total.
11. Taste. Serve. Win.

The mid-brew addition of coffee was the innovation. By adding fresh grounds at 0:45, Tay introduced coffee that had only 50 seconds of contact time — significantly less than the initial 16 grams. The result was a layered extraction: the first dose contributed body and depth, while the second dose contributed brightness and aromatic complexity that would have been lost with full contact time.

The three filters were deliberate. They removed more oils and sediment than a single filter, producing a cleaner cup that showcased the coffee’s clarity. The dual bypass — room temperature water first, then hot — was a temperature control technique that let him fine-tune the drinking experience.

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What the Judges Tasted

The judges’ notes described “extraordinary clarity,” “distinct floral notes — jasmine, specifically,” and “a sweetness that seemed to come from nowhere.” The mid-brew addition had done its job: the aromatics were vivid, the body was present but not heavy, and the finish was clean enough that you immediately wanted another sip.

One judge wrote: “I don’t know how he did that. I just know I want to drink it again.”

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The Contour Pairing: Costa Rica Dota Peaberry

Tay’s method — staged extraction, triple filters, precise bypass — rewards coffees with delicate aromatics and clean structure. Our Costa Rica Dota Peaberry (washed, brown sugar sweetness, lemon zest brightness) is an ideal canvas.

The triple-filter setup strips the oils that can muddy Costa Rican coffees, leaving the citrus and sugar notes crystalline and distinct. The staged extraction — adding fresh grounds mid-brew — would amplify the peaberry’s natural brightness while the initial dose builds the caramel backbone. The dual bypass lets you dial in the strength without losing the aromatics.

Shop Costa Rica Dota Peaberry →

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Brew It Yourself: The Wipvasutt Method with Costa Rica Dota Peaberry

1. Heat water to 93°C. Have room-temperature water ready for bypass.
2. Place three paper filters in the cap. Rinse with hot water. Assemble standard position.
3. Weigh 16 grams of Costa Rica Dota Peaberry. Grind medium-fine. Add to Aeropress.
4. Weigh an additional 2 grams. Set aside.
5. Pour approximately 150 grams of water over the 16 grams of coffee.
6. At 0:30, stir for 5 seconds with a chopstick.
7. At 0:45, add the 2 grams of reserved coffee. Do not stir.
8. At 0:55, stir again for 5 seconds.
9. Press slightly to bring up the plunger. Close the cap. Flip the Aeropress.
10. At 1:35, press gently for 30 seconds. Yield: approximately 75 grams of concentrate.
11. Add room-temperature water to reach 115 grams. Add hot water to reach 155 grams.
12. Taste. Notice how the lemon brightness floats above the brown sugar sweetness. This is what a world championship cup tastes like.

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Next in the series: George Stanica, the Romanian whose recipe was so simple it looked obvious — until you tried to replicate it.