Late nights in the training lab at Colectivo, where she started working in 2013, prepared her for coffee drink competitions, including February’s U.S. Barista Championship, where she placed 17th in the first round. Participants had 15 minutes to prepare three drinks for each judge. Wacker made an Americano, poured it over an ice chip with rosehip-hibiscus tea and clover honey. To this creation, she added hand-separated grapefruit pulp.
For another competition, she made a version of espresso con panna (espresso with cream), pouring the espresso over handmade blackberry preserves, topping the drink with fresh whipped cream infused with orange oil and a sprinkle of Himalayan sea salt. “Salt blocks bitter taste receptors and effectually makes other flavors ‘pop,’” she says.
There have been failures, such as the cold juniper berries and bitter beer hops she rejected after a sip. Wacker hopes to one day open her own cafe and trek to coffee-producing regions, but first, grad school for architecture, fueled by pots of coffee, of course.
