Interview with Benjamin Put, Co-Founder at Monogram Coffee
For those of you who may not already be familiar, Benjamin Put is a legend in the specialty coffee community for many reasons. For starters, he is a six-time Canadian Barista Champion, and has placed among the top five baristas in the world five times! He is also the co-founder of Monogram Coffee, a specialty coffee roaster based in Calgary, Alberta, whose amazing coffees we’ve featured in the pack for a few years now! Last time we spoke to Ben, he hinted that retirement from competitions may be on the horizon for him, but is that still the case this year?
Last time we interviewed you in November of 2023, you said that this year may be your last year of competing. Is this still true?
It’s hard to know! The competitions were very close together this last year; I think they did three world events in three months. But now, Brewers Cup isn’t until May of 2025, and Worlds isn't until October! Now is just a great time of year to chill and focus on other coffee things. So, competition is not on my mind right now, and I’ve mostly just been enjoying being able to focus on other coffee related things.
Lynsey Hayes of Sorellina Coffee told us that she received some coaching from you in preparation for Brewers Cup! What is your mission as a coach, and what do you love about it?
I’ve been coaching almost as long as I’ve been competing, and it’s often something I do while competing myself. In general, I’ve found that one of the hardest parts of coffee is that accessing information is still really difficult. So, success in competing has a lot to do with figuring out the little tips and tricks for navigating that, and often competitors have to find out the hard way and end up having to compete for many years to get that feedback.
I also find that coaching can be even more stressful than competing, because if you compete and don’t do well, it’s on you, but if you help someone and they don’t do well, you feel a bit more responsible. However, coaching continues to be close to my heart because a lot of people have helped me, and I want to pay it forward through helping others as well. We helped Lynsey last year, and we also coached the Mexican and Singaporean barista champions! Any time people need help, even if it’s just a matter of providing little tips and tricks, we want to be there. Especially in coffee, if people have helped you, you should pay it forward, and you’ll find that it’s fun to help others!
Karen Duong
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