The Golden Bean 2013 - Coffee Roaster Competition

[Andy]

For sure, it might have done you a favour... I know from past years judging that many coffees are over fresh and while the crema is bountiful during extraction it has dissipated by the time the espresso gets to the judges table. A well settled blend should be fine with an additional week rest.

Keep a few shots for yourself so you can try it on the same day the judges are... gives you a good idea of how finicky it was to dial-in and how it performed in the cup given the same rest time.

Good luck!

[malliemcg]

Just wondering if feedback will be provided on the judges thoughts/comments on blends submitted to this years comp, especially the reduced price of entry? I was to put it bluntly, a little disappointed that no feedback was able to be supplied from last years comp. (I understand that they're massively busy and I'm just a home roaster, but the desire to get produce better and better is part of my drive).

[sidewayss]

A number of us last year got judges feedback, which indeed was useful.

Not sure why you didn't get yours. Perhaps just overlooked. Hopefully you get yours this year.

[lemoo]

Hmm i wonder if its too late to submit an entry form now..how long does it take for the bags to get to WA?

[Kev_Chilvers]

Still time for Home Roaster Entries... I think Andy has some news to share about how these entries will be appraised and more importantly who will be judging them...

[sidewayss]

Tried calling them and left a message.

Has anyone got their coffee bags?

Received mine with the Cafe Culture magazine, but no notification of what code to put on the bags so they can identify where it came from.

I remembered last year we were given ID to stick on the bags. None was received thus far.

[kwantfm]

I have the same issue

[sidewayss]

Ok. Well,

If anyone has received their bags and don't have any notes for instructions nor any stickers to put on bags, then best to roast, pack the bags with the coffee beans, then send them by post with a compliment slip with your name, address, email address as well as phone number you used to fill in the entry form at the beginning, put it inside the shipping parcel or box so that they know where and whom it came from so that they can put on the code on the coffee bags for judging.

Judging is on the 9-12 October. Best to get cracking and send as soon as possible so that it gets there with time to spare and the beans will have stabilized.

[Andy]

For the Golden Bean competition 2013 the head judge will be Anne Cooper who will oversee the calibration and all judging and on the machine side, Habib Maarbani will be the Captain of Baristas making all the competition coffees.

Exciting news is that the head judges of each of the commercial Golden Bean categories will judge the home roasting section with the head judge being site sponsor and AASCA president Craig Dickson.

Judges of the home roasting section will be:
Mel Caia, Sasha Jade, Andy Freeman, Pat Connolly, Shae Macnamara, Brent Williams, Craig Simon.
There is a great mix of people from different parts of the industry and a LOT of professional experience.

Time is nearly out, download your entry and get the beans in your home roaster ASAP!

[kwantfm]

I've just packaged up my two bags and sent them in the post. So now I feel like I can tell my disastrous story (it often feels like my roasting experiences are tinged with disaster).

I had decided a little while ago to roast Wednesday night 25th as this timing would represent a reasonable trade off between coffee freshness and ensuring that the post got the beans there on time. I got back from work about 8:30 pm, a little flustered, not having had enough sleep over the past few nights and knowing that I had to roast 1 kg of beans (for my set up that's seven separate roasts) in one evening.

My plan was to send in two samples: a single origin melange and a classic Italian espresso blend. I roasted the single origin (Uganda Bugisu) just fine. Three different roast levels, a good stir, straight in the bag.

The espresso blend proved more problematic. Did a couple of Brazil roast bases. Whacked them in a steel mixing bowl. Then proceeded to roast my Java and Ethiopian. Ended up whacking them all in the mixing bowl. Now my individual roasts end up with about 150 g of brown beans... so the four roasts that I had devoted to the blend (two for the base, one each for the Java and Ethiopian) produce 600 g in total with 500 g going to the competition bag. This means that I had 100 g left to have at home and try in a few days. I put the remainder in a Mason jar. Just as I'm finishing up, I open up the Mason jar only to get wafts of unmistakable smokiness... I'm feeling devastated. My devastation mainly arises from the fact that I've been whacking all of the beans straight into a mixing bowl and not keeping them separate. I do distinctly remember that after roasting the Brazilians that they did look darker than usual... but in my sleep deprivation haze I just ignored it. I close up the Mason jar and open again in 5 minutes... more hints of smoke. Mixing bowl straight into the bin.

I ended up pouring four day old roast blend into the bag and sending.

Moral for me... for pre-roast blends I'll always keep the components separate until right at the end and make sure that I'm satisfied with component quality before mixing.

In the immortal words of a long ago professional golfer "What a stupid I am!".

[commanda]

Judges of the home roasting section will be:
(trim) Andy Freeman, (trim)

Does this mean, to avoid any potential conflict of interest, that last years winner will not be entering?

Amanda

[TC]

Does this mean, to avoid any potential conflict of interest, that last years winner will not be entering?

Amanda

As far as I understand, the judges don't know whose coffee they're judging. Given a team of seven, I reckon Zed should be defending his title

[Andy]

Oops, sorry for the lag Amanda.

Talk Coffee is right, Zed is most definitely defending his title but not so much defending from you guys, he's determined to beat his older sister again and this year has even more pressure as Tiana (his younger sister) has entered too.

All the coffees in all the sections are 100% anonymous, as judges we don't even get to see the beans as the Barista area is separate to the judging tables. All we get to see are identical pours in the cup we score per the rules. All the highest scorers are then judged for a second time with different judges to ensure there is no chance of error.

Last year I didn't get to judge any of the home roasted entries as they were done by a selected group. This year all the head judges are judging the home roast section which is awesome and I can't wait to taste what the CS'rs have put together.

Good luck to all home roasters and pro roasters in the other categories.

[commanda]

Andy,

Yes I know the judging is blind.

Try explaining to Joe Public that it is being run for the first time (last year I'm talking about), sponsored by Coffeesnobs, and the gold was won by the son of the sponsor. There were a few raised eyebrows.
I'm not being serious here by the way about your kids entering.

If I can't beat a mere child with a push-button off the shelf roaster and a single origin bean, then I can't be that good.

But it sounds like you're launching a dynasty there.

Amanda

[fatboy_1999]

Wheras if I get beaten by Zed or Tiana, I will simply think they produced better coffee than me regardless of their age or apparatus.