Eleen Cai Yi Jie snitched the top prize for the Singapore National Barista Championship 2007 not long ago. As she trains and packs her bag to prepare herself for the World Basista Championships to be held later this year, we quiz her about coffee-making, insomnia and prices.

So, how good are you as a barista?
I’m not into the habit of commending myself. I’ll leave it to my customers to do the praising. Just kidding. I am only a young seedling in this industry and I’m still in the process of learning more about coffee.

Tell us about your winning drink Herbal Infusion.
It is a concoction of home-made ginger syrup with a shot of espresso. My inspiration came from the memories of my mother who passed on a few years ago. When she was still around, she would always have her ginger tea whenever she had gastric problems. She would always order her favorite “teh-alia” whenever she visited coffee shops that specialized in Malay food. I came up with Herbal Infusion in fond memory of her.

What do you do with the coffee that you make for training purposes? You can’t finish it all, can you?
Of course I can’t finish it all and it’s not right for me to turn my customers into guinea pigs. But my training is usually done after operation hours, so I will try to feed my friends with the coffee to minimize wastage.

With all that caffeine, do you find it hard to sleep at night?
Of course not! Sleeping is currently my favorite past-time!

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