The Golden Bean 2012 - Coffee Roaster Competition

[Andy]

I have seen and been a part of judging all over the world at lots of different levels from company competitions to WBC and this topic of "feedback" is always a hot one.

Some judges will only scribble a score, others will write a couple of words, some a sentence and unless you know the judge it's hard to calibrate what value to put on the feedback you get. A few years ago the WBC judges were all told to improve their feedback or leave, it helped somewhat but still isnt perfect. Until a computer can score an espresso from an agreed baseline there will always be whacky human variables in any results including time of day they tried it.

Over the years that I've been at the Golden Bean I've seen a great improvement over the way coffees are made, delivered to the tables and judged. The Cafe Biz crew take all the feedback each year and tweak the process the following year to try and improve it. Judging the top scoring coffees with a set group of judges was the biggest single change in the history of the Golden Bean and has resulted in the top ones shuffling in order.

One change I would like to see this year (I've not mentioned it to them yet) is to deliver the drinks to different judging tables. Something I've noticed moving around a room of judges is that tables start to align their scores so you end up with a table of people who score light roasted coffees high and another table that score them low etc. Sometimes half the table is from the same company and they would all have similar tastes / scoring bias.

Even with judge calibration we all carry some bias towards what sort of coffee we rate highly. I remember having one espresso that was full of anise flavours... stunning and amazing coffee. My co judge screwed-up his face and scored it low. We debated the reasons for our scores for a while but in the end the scores stood and on average that entry scored "average" at best. For me, that coffee was one of the few that I wanted to buy a kilo to drink and one of the most memorable coffees in my life.

There are always other judging biases too. My example of that fat-anise coffee was it was a wonderful "journey coffee" but if I was opening a cafe with it I know it would freak-out most of the people that expected a "standard coffee" experience. We all expect different things from a coffee at different times.

At the Golden Bean I think it would be pretty hard for a really nasty coffee to score a medal and I think it would be unlucky for a great coffee to missout. On average they seem to get it pretty right which is why I was happy to trust their process in judging CS'rs home roasts.

[lemoo]

Hi Kev

if what you say is true and that ALL entrants will receive feedback post even that would be amazing! Would you happen to know what level of feedback we're talking about here?

[Kev_Chilvers]

This new category has been added to recognise and provide an award for home roasters. We have Australia's best barista's preparing the coffees and all are judged by industry peers. We also felt it was important add this category as many home roasters make the step to become cafe owners or commercial operators

In terms of scoring it will be much more automated then previous years. Via a new system feedback will be provided to all entrants post event.

If any Coffee Snobs members are interesting in attending the event there are a number of workshops / seminars and functions which you can attend / participate.

Key note speaker for Golden Bean 2012 is Dr Chuck Hahn, Director & Brew Master of Malt Shovel Brewery.

[tasadam]

The Golden Bean 2012 - Coffee Roaster Competition

This does sound exciting.
I'm also a little unsure about the age of the beans by the time they are sampled. More reading to do. But, as Andy says, it's fantastic to see a competition like this supporting and encouraging home roasting.

[dbd]

Pretty big news for CS.
Nice one Andy

[Andy]

Yeah, entry is high but so are their costs and at the end of the day they need to make a dollar too.
Sydney Show and other comps can be $200 per entry and you compete against fat wallet pros.

This is the first time in the country that a professional comp has created a category for home roasters, I think it's a good thing and could be a great stepping stone for a budding home roaster (or even Barista) to add something cool to their CV.

[texx]

With a CoffeeSnobs membership in excess of 20,000 we could easily swamp this.

at $75 per entry i dont think there is much danger of it getting swamped . plus 500gr of beans plus postage , it's going to run close to $100 so i aint going to swamp it that's for sure .

[lemoo]

Hmm, its definitely a tempting proposition
but it would be nice to get feedback as well instead of just the "no you did not make it to the next round" etc.

[Coffee2Di4]

The Golden Bean 2012 - Coffee Roaster Competition

I'm tempted to send in some of the Hawaii Kona that I finally got up the nerve to roast today - the most beautifully even and attractive roasted bean that I've ever seen! Alas, it will be a bit too far gone to send (and, besides, I want to drink this nectar myself - I'm so selfish!!!)

[Andy]

I home roast. But also roast coffee for my boss (crawler, ain't I). At the same rate (qty=250g/wk) as I roast for myself. And yes he pays me for it. Does that disqualify me?

Hi Amanda,
that certainly won't disqualify you.
It's all about home roasting and selling $10-$50 of beans to friends, family (and bosses) to help fund your bean habit isn't a problem.

Cafe Culture and myself really wanted to keep the rules short and "fair use", the last thing we want is 20 pages of legal crud to wade through and plug holes in. If you home roast and you don't have a roaster over $5k in value you can enter.

[commanda]

Out of interest and if my memory serves me correctly, last year there were approx. 300 entries each for the espresso and milk-based categories while there were circa 80 entries in the syphon category. So it is harder to win a medal in the general espresso and milk-based categories because these are more contested.

With a CoffeeSnobs membership in excess of 20,000 we could easily swamp this.

[Dennis]

Not to disparage the Golden Bean competition but hopefully to shed a little light and reality on how the process has worked up until now. I think the process improves every year.

Each coffee is judged by 2 people. They may be sales reps in the coffee industry who don't normally drink espresso or could be accredited judges. The level of experience in tasting and judging can be at very different levels. This means that a coffee that wins a medal will always be a good coffee. It also means that some good coffees that might actually be better than the ultimate medal winners will be eliminated through no fault of their own.

Out of interest and if my memory serves me correctly, last year there were approx. 300 entries each for the espresso and milk-based categories while there were circa 80 entries in the syphon category. So it is harder to win a medal in the general espresso and milk-based categories because these are more contested.

Every year we've been told that the judges comments will be forwarded to the competitors upon request. I've asked for feedback more than once and it hasn't been provided.

I can't answer the question about eligibility Amanda but hope what I've said helps.

[commanda]

I have a question. Well 2 really.
Does one receive any feedback from the judges? For a $75 entry fee I'd like to think so.

I home roast. But also roast coffee for my boss (crawler, ain't I). At the same rate (qty=250g/wk) as I roast for myself. And yes he pays me for it. Does that disqualify me?

Amanda

[Steve82]

Interesting to note that depending on how you time your roast date and allow X amount of days for post to get there by the 3rd at the latest, coffee will be 2.5 to 3 weeks old by the time it is judged.

[Andy]

This is exciting.

I'll give this a shot, only for the camaraderie, not to win!

I'm going to feel sorry for the judges having to wade through hundreds of under-done and charred roasts submitted by Coffeesnobbers.

It is exciting but I suspect the judges will be very surprised by the quality of the roasts.