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ANDREW TAKES 3RD PLACE IN THE WORLD COFFEE ROASTING CHAMPIONSHIPS!

This past weekend at the World Coffee Roasting Championships in Taipei, Taiwan, Head roaster Andrew earned a 3rd place finish!

20 Coffee Roasters from all over the world gathered to compete for the title of “World Champion.”

The competition involved roasting 4 separate compulsory coffees (provided by competition sponsors) to present to the judges as two separate entries: Single origin and a blended coffee.

The single origin was an El Salvador natural process bourbon, and the blend was made up of a Costa Rica honey process F1, an Ethiopia natural process Sidama, and a Taiwan washed typica from Alishan.

Roasters evaluated the green coffee, did a sample roast, and created a roast plan describing how the roast would go as well as describe the fragrance/aroma, flavor, aftertaste, acidity, sweetness, and mouthfeel of the resulting roast. The plan sheet had to be submitted prior to roasting the final submitted coffees to the judges.

Judging was based on both the quality of roast as well as roasting plan accuracy. Andrew scored very high marks for his blend coffee.

“The hardest part of the competition is how little time you get to evaluate each coffee” Andrew explained, “We roasted samples then cupped 4 hours later, and had to come up with a plan to submit by the following morning when production roasting began for the first competitors. Given this timeframe, I roasted using a very basic profile that I knew I could execute.”

One of the highlights of the show was having his family there and also connecting with the Taiwan coffee community. (Andrew is half-Taiwanese)

“My family was able to travel with me and we all spent a week touring my dad’s hometown before the competition started. My coach, Alex Huang, is based in Taiwan and introduced me to so many people. They were so enthusiastic and supportive. I’m also very grateful for my Elevator Coffee team who have encouraged and supported me from the very beginning of my roasting career.”