Jacky Lam had a simple reason for returning to the Hong Kong AeroPress Championship in 2026: he wanted to bring home a golden AeroPress for his daughter.
He had sat out the previous year after she was born, but returned with around a week to get to know the competition coffees and develop his recipes.
Working with two Ethiopian coffees, Jacky pursued a cup with uplifting acidity, sweetness and body, using APAX LAB's TONIK as part of a simple competition water recipe.
But once the championship began, the coffees behaved differently from what he and his team had experienced in practice. Adapting quickly became just as important as preparation.
We spoke with Jacky about his approach, his winning water recipe, and what carried him through to the title of 2026 Hong Kong AeroPress Champion.
1. Tell us about your journey with the AeroPress. How long have you been practicing, and what made you decide to compete in the Hong Kong AeroPress Championship this year?
The AeroPress has always been one of my favourite brewing tools because it allows you to make coffee in so many different ways, from immersion to pour-over style. By applying different levels of pressure, you can bring out completely different flavour profiles. It’s a fascinating device.
This time, we spent about a week getting to know the two coffees and finding the right brewing recipes for each of them.
I didn’t compete last year because my daughter was born. This year, I want to bring home a golden Aeropress for her.
2. What was your approach going into the competition? Was there a particular flavour profile or cup experience you were trying to achieve?
This year, I took inspiration from a method used by Hong Kong Brewers Cup Champion Bavis Kwong, who later placed third at the World Championships. Her approach focuses on achieving a more even coffee bed distribution. I found that by using a natural swirling motion, the coffee particles sort themselves out—the coarser particles float to the top while the finer ones settle at the bottom. It's incredibly tidy. This technique makes the extraction much smoother and cleaner.
3. What coffee did you work with at the championship, and what did you learn about it while developing your recipe?
The competition featured two coffees from Ethiopia. What's amazing is that even though they looked very light, they had incredible flavour inside! The host roaster did a fantastic job with these beans!
4. How did APAX LAB help you shape the final cup? Were there specific qualities, such as sweetness, acidity, texture, or clarity, that you were trying to bring forward?
What I wanted to highlight most in the coffee was its uplifting acidity, sweetness and body, and APAX LAB helped me achieve exactly that.
5. What was your winning APAX LAB water recipe?
Our final APAX LAB water recipe was:
- 1L of water
- 25 drops of TONIK
- Target: 45ppm TDS
6. AeroPress competitions involve a lot of experimentation and quick decision-making. Was there anything you changed or discovered close to competition day that ended up making a difference?
Right, AeroPress competition do require a lot of experimentation and quick decision-making.
In the first round, we noticed that the resting environment, ambient temperature and humidity were different from practice, and the beans behaved differently from what we expected.
We adjusted the water temperature and brewing ratios in every round, which helped us produce cups we were really happy with in the final two rounds.
7. Now that you’ll be representing Hong Kong at the World AeroPress Championship, what are you most excited about, and how are you approaching the next stage?
Representing Hong Kong at the World Championships is incredibly exciting! It's not just about representing myself—it's about representing Hong Kong. I hope to serve a delicious cup of coffee on the world stage. We've already started preparing different recipes to adapt to different beans and environments.
8. For someone looking to compete in Aeropress for the first time, what advice would you give them?
For first-time AeroPress competitors, my advice is: enjoy the competition and relax!
Final Thoughts
Jacky’s reason for returning to the Hong Kong AeroPress Championship was simple: after sitting out the previous year when his daughter was born, he wanted to bring home a golden AeroPress for her.
One year later, he did exactly that.
The route there still required careful preparation and the willingness to adapt when competition-day conditions changed. Jacky and his team adjusted their brewing round by round, responding to what they were tasting rather than holding tightly to the recipe they had arrived with.
Now, he takes that same mindset towards the World AeroPress Championship — preparing for different coffees and environments while keeping one goal in focus: representing Hong Kong with a delicious cup.
Congratulations to Jacky Lam, the 2026 Hong Kong AeroPress Champion. We are proud to have APAX LAB play a supporting role in his journey, and we look forward to seeing where that golden AeroPress takes him next.
