Home Coffee Roaster Competition - 2019

[Andy]

...and made the bad decision to roast a 400g batch when I'd been doing everything else as 250g batches... It behaved differently than I was expecting so result was not what I was aiming for, but you live and learn from these things I suppose.

EXACTLY! If you learnt just one little thing from entering then it was worthwhile, that single lesson will remain in your roasting "rule book" forever more.

There is no specific right or wrong in coffee, just different takes on that bean. Filter is typically lighter, but too light will make it sour so finding the literal sweetspot is really the aim. The point of the roast that the sugars are high, the sours are balanced and the flavours in the coffee can be a highlight. Any roast/toast/char can really amplify in the more delicate filter cup.

A slightly darker roast in the espresso class will often turn into cocoa / chocolate flavours in the cup so something that didn't quite work as filter might rock in milk or as an espresso.

As always, taste, taste, taste. Even without professional or industry training you have a great instant score computer in your mouth. You know what you like and what you don't as soon as you taste it, as long as you know how to roast like that again you can make small changes to your profile to improve it. Keep building on that and you will be a roast-star in no time.

[witherz]

It's really interesting seeing how all the different styles are prepared, seeing the different beans together like that, and the behind the scenes of an event like this... thanks for taking the time to share this with us Andy.

I wouldn't be surprised if those dark filter beans were mine... I have no idea what I'm aiming for with roasting for filter beside a lighter roast, and made the bad decision to roast a 400g batch when I'd been doing everything else as 250g batches... It behaved differently than I was expecting so result was not what I was aiming for, but you live and learn from these things I suppose.

[Andy]

Were these from the home roaster section or general commercial?

Those comments were about the commercial categories.

Today we have done most of the Home Roaster filter coffees and the milk/espresso soon and the results are similar.

Some stunning filters in the home roaster section, many comments on the filter tables of "this is better than a lot of the commercial ones we had yesterday"... so well done everyone.

There were a few that were roasted a big deep for filter and the notes on the score sheets will show that too.



You can see Steve sorting the score sheets and beans ready for the wall 'o Brazen to make them.
The bottom left cup is a little dark for filter and will probably have toasty notes and might be better suited to milk based but the other 4 are looking great.

Loving most of what I'm trying so far, well done everyone!

[Janus]

...I've enjoyed some amazing filter coffees and some that well... trying to be polite, maybe shouldn't have been in the filter category (or any category) but hopefully their feedback will make them a little more self-critical of what they produce.

Were these from the home roaster section or general commercial?

[Andy]

So here are some "engine room" hardware pics at Golden Bean 2019.

Espresso and milk based are done on the new Rancilio along with EK grinders. There are 2 x 3 group and 2 x 2 group machines belting out great coffee all day. No big temperature swings or "redo's" required, just shot after shot consistent.




Again we have a "wall 'o Brazen brewers". It's rare to have this much available power but having the ability to batch a whole row of brewers for each filter coffee is great for workflow. The quality and consistency of doing filter this way is excellent and is really giving each coffee it's chance to shine within the same brewing parameters.



And the surprise packet (for me at least) is the new category for "superauto". These new Rancilio superauto machines have changed my opinion of what it possible on an auto. Super-auto machines have always suffered from too small a puck size to get a decent coffee, many are set to 7 grams, these are configured for a 20g double shot (to match the comp rules) and can be configured for up to a 25g shot.



When the first competition espresso came off this machine I was blown away. You really couldn't tell it was from an auto and I tried quite a few stunners today.

More than 1600 coffees entered across all the categories, 3200 cups in total (as each coffee is judged by two judges) and about 1200 a day have been judged so far. Tomorrow the last 800 odd cups will get done leaving the finals in each category to be done late afternoon.

It's an amazing effort by the 100 odd judges here and the crew in the engine-room getting everything out. I think this still ranks as the largest coffee competition in the world.

I've enjoyed some amazing filter coffees and some that well... trying to be polite, maybe shouldn't have been in the filter category (or any category) but hopefully their feedback will make them a little more self-critical of what they produce.

It's a crazy busy insane caffeine overloaded week but everyone is having fun in the anticipation of finding the gems.

[Janus]

Thanks again for organising this every year Andy, it's really cool for us home roasters to have the opportunity to have our roasts judged by professionals.

[Andy]

For me just going through the process of roasting back-to-back and tasting and comparing the same bean has given me a much better understanding of how I can improve my regular roasting. So regardless of competition results it was already worth it for me, any additional feedback from judging is a bonus.

Exactly! I'm just the same and use competition to step back and be more critical on what I'm doing and I've found the tweaks that I make to my roasts carry through the year ahead so all my roasted customers benefit from the process. However good you think your roasts are now, they can nearly always be improved and I've also found my targets and tastes change over a period of time too.

Okay, the bit you have been waiting for...

(Insert drumroll)

Ethiopia Shakisso Estate

Was the secret control bean for the Home Roaster Comp this year.

So yeah, as guessed by many it was an Ethiopian and a stunner at that. Lighter roasts are full of lime like citrus and bright berry flavours and as the roast progresses the dark cocoa flavours really pop. I don't think there is a right or wrong roast of these, just different roaster takes on what you are aiming for.

It's a special bean and a lot of fun to roast once you get over the problems that some roasters will have handling the smaller beans in there.

We landed a fair amount of this one to let people play after the comp and it's available in BeanBay now.

Judging is next week and we hope to have at least some of the results published here during the presentation dinner on the Saturday night.

[witherz]

Thanks for organising the competition again this year Andy. For me just going through the process of roasting back-to-back and tasting and comparing the same bean has given me a much better understanding of how I can improve my regular roasting. So regardless of competition results it was already worth it for me, any additional feedback from judging is a bonus.

But now the suspense is killing me Andy... which bean was it?

[fatboy_1999]

Posted mine the other day. All that practice with Tetris during my younger years certainly paid off when filling the satchel
I found these little suckers a bit of a challenge for my roaster.
Smaller beans seem to run away quicker than others for me (from experience) so the first roast went a little darker than I wanted to. Second roast used less heat and still progressed a bit too fast for my liking.
Anyway, all done now and I'm going to sample some this weekend and then progressively until judging date.

Thanks again to Andy for all the work organising this.

Brett.

[Janus]

Posted off my entry this morning, massive effort last night with 9 batches roasted.

[trickydicky2]

Tried a test roast yesterday. First impressions were Ethiopia. Quite a mixed bag of beans in terms of size, colour, condition. Roasted as filter coffee, I get the classic red fruit notes, Turkish delight, moderate acidity, fleshy body, nice lingering blackcurrant aftertaste.

Not dissimilar to the Ardi bean offered here at various times in the past!

I'm sticking with my guess of Ethiopia, but if that was wrong my second guess would be Peru

Whatever it is, it's a great coffee and has the potential to be a stunner in all three brew types

Just finished the last of my aeropress brew... Always a good sign when the last mouthful in the cup tastes best of all

[Andy]

Yep, new post rules... if it fits in the satchel it's okay.

[justacuppa]

hi Andy

Was it correct that I received a 500g express post satchel for the return of the 3*300g bags of roasted coffee? ..(I also did notice I received the beans in a 1kg satchel instead of the normal 3kg)

cheers

[noonar]

My guess too, on grinding, the African/espEthiopian characteristics are very familiar. in the cup, Cocoa and berry and plum, lingering fruity aftertaste, the Latte profile I used is a stand-out in milk - as a Latte. Tried one roast just to second crack (at 219C) and decided the fruit was diminishing (to me anyway), out of time and beans so did not go any higher/longer with competition entries. Wish I had more time to experiment and taste. I could be completely wrong.

[DaveD]

My thoughts are that this is dry processed coffee. Roasted to a couple of degrees before second crack - I'm getting some cocoa and berry flavours. My prediction is that this is an Ethiopian, possibly Ghimbi.