There has been another surprising development in the trend for well-made filter coffee in the modern café-bar.

There has for some time been a groundswell of opinion behind the belief that customers will come more and more to appreciate the qualities of excellent filter coffees, in which subtleties of flavour can be brought out to a far greater degree than is found in most espresso-based drinks, and which can be served with considerably less expense, although needing just as much care and attention.

To encourage interest in the concept, the Speciality Coffee Association of Europe created the Brewers’ Cup, in which contestants have to brew a coffee by any kind of filter process, and serve it to a collection of judges – part of the contest involves brewing a coffee not of their own choice, and brewing it individually for each judge, thus proving that they really can prepare to a consistently high standard.

When the Irish contest was held in May, the remarkable result was that the winner came from outside the coffee trade – he was Keith O’Sullivan, a local politics student.  And then, when the world contest was held in Maastricht in June… he did it again, this time taking first place ahead of no less than James Hoffmann, the first Briton to be a world barista champion.

The result, it has been noted, just proves that consumers do know great coffee – and also that if customers can now be seen to brew it to a high standard, that means the average café-bar has to keep its standards extremely high.

Before the Irish contest, O’Sullivan had been critical of the way filter coffee is served in many bars. He said: “Many little things could really shake up and improve the standard… grinding fresh for filter would be a very small thing that could have a major influence on quality. Taking time to train people to do the job properly would be a giant step forward.  Simple things like not over-agitating a French press before you bring it to the customer. I’d never expect the average cup on the high street to be amazing, but I think ‘good’ is something that they could strive for.”

Taking his second-place position graciously, James Hoffmann has made the telling comment, which could usefully be considered by many café owners, that ‘I like simple brewing…’