I think using Sweet Maria for the competition rules out many international entries, due to new policy limiting their shipping to a few countries compared to old shopping cart. Are there alternatives?

We could have a partner in the States who would be willing to ship to Saudi Arabia or wherever. I for one would be glad to be paired up with an international partner to whom I would ship her/his greens.

PS. Beans can't be shipped to Brazil or Philippines. Might be other countries as well but those are two I have checked on when distributing greens.

Boldjava wrote:We could have a partner in the States who would be willing to ship to Saudi Arabia or wherever. I for one would be glad to be paired up with an international partner to whom I would ship her/his greens.

PS. Beans can't be shipped to Brazil or Philippines. Might be other countries as well but those are two I have checked on when distributing greens.

This is so cool Dave! Much appreciated. I've never had any customs/shipping problems (to Saudi Arabia) and have received shipments from SM, CBC, GCBC, HR, Invalsa, TCP and maybe a few more I can't remember.

Like the possibility of this being a world wide event. Also like limiting the coffees. Less interesting for those judging but still should be interesting enough. Like Tom found when several folks sent the same coffee a couple years ago and the one roast still stood out over the others.

I enjoyed the previous years' blending challenge, and while the logistics could be intimidating, found it to be a rewarding and educational experience I wouldn't normally undertake without the encouragement from the competition.

If the judges and organizers are game, my vote would be do both a designated single bean contest (as detailed already) as well as a blending challenge from 1 or more designated beans. Contestants can choose to do one or both.

farmroast wrote:... Also like limiting the coffees. Less interesting for those judging but still should be interesting enough. Like Tom found when several folks sent the same coffee a couple years ago and the one roast still stood out over the others.

Four of us did this with a Guat last year from Cafe Imports. We each roasted it on our own set-ups:
* RK Drum
* SC/TO
* Gene Cafe and
* Self-designed shop roaster

All were good but each cup had its own distinctiveness.

I like everything about the brewing portion this year. The espresso portion, still leaves a lot of intangibles that make judging difficult that don't entirely reflect the roast i.e. shot temp, brew ratios, pressure profiles etc. It's not insurmountable, but it would be accurate to assume that profiling a shot to its best ability on one home unit will not translate equivocally to another.

I got to be present at the last brewing judging, which was done obviously blindly, and Henry and I remained completely silent until after the initial scores were already down (it was an open selection, so his Gedeo Worka and my Gesha weren't hard to find in the bunch, even blindly). But the point I'm making is, they judged the coffees using only one brew method, it's not like they profiled the brew, they cupped them. It's more of a objective metric. I can blunder any espresso roast, by not optimizing the extraction parameters quite easily. Unless we just assume and accept that it's part of the process and accept it?

* I'll add, just for clarity sake, neither Henry or I actually scored any, we were just graciously allowed to help set up and taste all the coffees. After they had their decisions made, we discussed the coffees and what we liked and what we didn't. Having a single coffee to choose from, will really make it a roasting competition (which I like) not just a "who sourced the most amazing coffee" competition.

I love the idea of a single option for all entrants. I find it difficult to play favorites when there is a great Ethiopia, Kenya, or Colombia each on the table. Several roasts of the same coffee can be an illuminating experience for the judges, as well as a nice field leveler for the competitors.