We have written before about how good the Prague coffee scene is. There’s a few reasons why, but we did mention one specific contributing factor: the power duo of Petra Vesela and her UK-born husband, Gwilym Davies, who happens to be the 2009 World Barista Champion.

They may have met under some interesting circumstances: we will just mention a death threat during a coffee competition, judges locked in the judges room… and a bottle of whiskey in the very same room, a leftover from an Irish coffee preparation before. For the rest of the story, you will just have to listen to the podcast. Anyway, Gwilym came over to see Petra in Jílové, a village near Prague, and the rest is history.

Gwilym is an incredibly interesting guest to interview because…

• He is in a unique position to compare Prague and London coffee scenes (which we do a lot of in the podcast), since he owns a stake in Prufrock coffee in London but lives in Prague

• He was one of the pioneers of the Third Wave Coffee revolution, having learnt the craft in New Zealand and brining it to Europe. He was right there with James Hoffmann and Scott Rao, the people who have helped define what a specialty coffee operation looks like.

• He and Petra own a barista training centre that will train anybody from the general public to baristas who are about to compete in the World Barista Championships. You always see Gwilym and Petra in a Prague coffee shop with a barista from Korea, Japan or Australia who flew over just to have their presentation fine tuned by Gwilym and Petra, who are both certified judges for high-profile barista championships and events.

• He is now also a roaster under The Naughty Dog label, taking on a different role in his never-ending quest and thirst for knowledge.

As a result, Gwilym has helped cultivate and improve the coffee scene in Prague through his trainings and sheer presence, and has been a connecting link between Prague’s coffee culture and the rest of the coffee world. But as you will hear in the podcast, he has learnt a thing or two from Czech baristas, and brought some of that knowledge with him back to London and Prufrock Coffee.

Finally, Gwilym is a super nice guy that is just a pleasure to talk to. We sat for about 40 minutes in Kafe Pragovka during the Czech Barista Championships, and despite the noise in the coffee shop and at the event (sorry about that!), we had an absolute blast talking to Gwilym.

This is some of the things we discussed with Gwilym during the interview:

• What does he like about the Prague coffee scene.

• How does it compare to the London coffee scene.

• Does he feel a part of the Prague coffee scene, or London coffee scene? In terms of the clientele, the drinks, the quality of coffee, or the living standards of baristas?

• Is there anything specific about the Prague coffee scene?

• How long will he continue to judge barista competitions? Has he ever faced any threats as a judge?

• When was the last time he saw a presentation as a judge that was, well… different or surprising in any way?

• Does he ever plan to open a coffee shop in Prague or the Czech Republic?

• What does he miss from the UK?

• What are the things he would miss from the Czech Republic if he were to move back to the UK?

There you have it. Hope it Enjoy the podcast!

To quote David Letterman, my next guest needs no introduction. That is, if you’ve been living in Prague for the past decade or so and have had a keen interest in food. The one, the only, Czech Please, aka Brewsta, aka the Masked Food Critic. Okay, I made that last one up - got carried away a bit here.

Anyway, Brewsta started his Prague-centric English-writted food blog back in 2007, as the first… ehhh… Prague-centric English-writted food blog back then. There literally was nothing else - either the horribly metaphoric (and secretly distorted by hidden friendships and behind-the-back deals) Czech restaurant reviews in the mainstream media, or Brewsta. We followed him religiously, and if I am ever diagnosed with diabetes, I will blame all the chocolate fondants I ate because of Brewsta in between, let’s say 2009 and 2012. Amazingly, the blog is still live, and I think this is the only reason why blogspot as a platform should never be unplugged from the interwebs.

What has ready made Brewsta famous around Prague have been his Prague burger rankings, a tradition of 13 years now. Ranking anywhere between the city’s best 20 to 30 burgers, Brewsta is putting his body on the line so that you don’t have to. And people listen. I am always amazed how even Czechs who normally do not follow English-speaking food-related outlets can list the top five burgers out of Brewsta’s list every single year.

Another thing that you should know about Brewsta is his strong desire to stay anonymous through his entire blogging career and a strong separation of his private life from his blogging life. So we avoid questions that might in any way reveal his real identity. 

Which was a bummer for us - we wanted to conduct the interview in a burger joint, seeing Brewsta do what he does best: eat and rate a burger. But he does not want to draw attention to himself and let people in the food industry know what he looks like. Luckily, the good people at Mr. HotDog made a special delivery to the door of our Taste of Prague apartment where we held the interview, so you will hear Brewsta munching away at their delicious beef sliders and listen to his burger ranking process. 

We also discuss his 2020 Prague burger rankings that came out on the day of the interview, his experience as an expat living in Prague for 20+ years, the sustainability and the environmental footprint of the beef industry, and whether he will ever rate vegetarian or vegan burgers. Listen away, Brewsta is a great guy to meet and interview.