Chenchen (Chace) Tlan graduated from the University of Waikato with a degree in Financial Analysis and Hospitality management, but he found a passion for managing cafes and coffee instead.
Starting his own small cafe business in 2015, which he later sold, and now Tlan owns two local in Hamilton, Mavis & Co cafes, with a third to be opened early next year. Chase’s attraction to the world of coffee is rooted in New Zealand’s strong demand and love for coffee culture.
Chace’s cafes are focused on providing high-quality coffee and bistro-style food, with Mavis & Co having homemade, handcrafted food. Both cafes have a wide selection of handcrafted items, a plentiful menu and cabinet options, and an excellent selection of sweets.
Customer satisfaction is most important to Tlan and what he finds the most rewarding, as well as customer appreciation for coffee and his cafe’s homemade food.
For Tlan, great coffee comes down to every aspect of service, from friendly staff, good quality food and delicious coffee.
For himself, he orders a small flat white paired with either a sweet pastry or scrambled eggs on toast, with avocado added during summer months.
Outside of working in his cafe Tlan likes to spend his time in Crossfit lifting or cooking at home and walking his corgi.
Tlan also had the opportunity to be part of team New Zealand for the 2023 Barista World Championships, where 2022 New Zealand Champion Hanna Teramoto joined him. Chace said the team lived together in Athens for two weeks, where they all shopped, ate and had fun.
“We met all the champions worldwide and chatted with Boram, the 2023 champion. They all have done it through hard work. Which is inspiring,” said Tlan.
He continued that every year, the competition was different.
“Due to the rule change and location change, you will only be able to see the difference and make changes when you get there.”
Team New Zealand 2023 experienced water problems as European water is high in TDS. This led to a different taste of the competition coffee Teramoto was going to work on, which meant that the team had to come up with solutions on different extraction ratios and kept tasting the espresso to get the best result.
Tlan added that during the years, NZSCA (New Zealand Specialty Coffee Association) had done a great job supporting baristas in New Zealand to compete and keep rules up to standard.
“This helps Hanna to get familiar with the rule changes and focus on anything else.”
