Besides being fun, interesting and educational what are the top 10 reasons to attend the Golden Bean Coffee Roasters Competition and Conference?
Congratulations to all who entered the 2016 competition.
The coastal city of Port Macquarie last week was blessed with the smell of roasted coffee in the air as the industry judged the countries best roasted coffee. Competition organiser Sean Edwards from Café Culture was honoured to bring this global event back to his home town where the event originated eleven years ago. The event attracted 150 industry professionals who participated in the judging process, sorting through over 1300 entries to find one overall winner.
Why do people keep coming back to attend?
TIP #10 – Read the rules and please do not be shy to ask questions of the organizers. Think outside the square, be creative, well organized and treat this competition competitively if you want to be a winner.
That’s tip number 10. Good luck in the competition and keep in mind how valuable attending the judging sessions would be for you!
TIP #9 – Open your mind to global coffee trends. The Compak Golden Bean is a global competition that automatically sifts through high quality entries in its unique judging process to find the best of the best. What is on trend in our current marketplace is quality of the complete bean to cup process, so if you cut corners you will not win awards.
Keep an eye out for the last tip still to come!
TIP #8 – Try and make a big effort to participate as a delegate at a Golden Bean event. You will reap the benefits of learning new skills, networking with fellow roasters and have better insights into industry trends. You will also improve your tasting skills by learning to judge competition coffees.
Keep an eye out for another 2 tips to come!
TIP #7 – People love winners. Make sure you enter a coffee that you can access for the next 12 months and is the perfect vehicle to market yourself. It’s definitely worth including medals with stickers on your packaging. This competition has followed the successful wine industry awards model with the industry practice being to display your success with medals on packaging helping the consumer make the right choice.
Keep an eye out for another 2 tips to come!
TIP #6 – The rules allow you to enter as many coffees in each category as you want – the more entries, the more chances of winning. Make sure you enter Category 1 (Espresso) and Category 2 (Milk Based) as these combined scores can win you the overall Golden Bean.
Keep an eye out for another 4 tips to come!
TIP #5 – For single origin categories, pick a bean origin that is on trend, as the competition has noticed that there will be a preferred flavor profile for that year. E.g. In 2014 it was Panama Beans, while in 2015 Ethiopian Yirgacheffe was preferred.
Keep an eye out for another 5 tips to come!
TIP #4 – Check what is current nationally in roast profile (colour). If the trends are for lighter roasted coffees, this is where the judge’s palate will be (all coffees are blind cupped so judges do not see beans).
Keep an eye out for another 6 tips to come!
TIP #3 – When practicing, cup the coffees to the aging process then test and taste each day for 14 days to see when the coffee is at its optimum taste levels (aged coffees have historically performed better in this competition).
Keep an eye out for another 7 tips to come!
TIP #2 – Practice roasting your beans with different roast profiles. Cup the coffee for that category’s brew method. Record each cupping and get as many palates as possible involved in helping with this process.
Keep an eye out for another 8 tips to come!
The Compak Golden Bean has become an annual highlight in Australia for more than a decade, and expanded to North America in 2015 with Portland hosting its first event. The competition is the largest of its type, last year getting more than two thousand entries across both events.
Having watched The Compak Golden Bean grow with many well-deserved winners, we’ve got some tips to share of how roasters can reach the peak of their craft.
We have just finished setting up online registrations for this year’s Compak Golden Bean Coffee Roasters Competitions. This online entry system will speed things up and make easier the whole communication process. We receive and process thousands of coffee entries between the two global events, and are understandably very excited about this innovation. The new system will let you manage your coffee entries until you submit them and then once judged Read More
Anne Cooper is a country girl who has roasted up a great career as a Master Roastress. She has established herself over 23 years in the industry, from barista to cafe owner, to competitor, trainer, roaster, judge and consultant, including a raft of accreditations to back up that experience.
International Women’s Coffee Alliance
Legal and cultural practices in many coffee growing regions around the world restrict women from the economic opportunities that would generate significant improvements for their families, their businesses and their communities. The empowerment of these women with these opportunities to make social and economic change must engage both men and women in understanding the value that can be brought to their lives. Read More
The Compak Golden Bean has now been run successfully in two countries and has given us as the organisers a very clear snap shot of the specialty coffee industry around the world, having judged almost 2000 coffees in the USA and Australia. Read More
