I'd like to post why I enter home roasting contests and would guess that about 50 % of other contestants are not that different. My wife doesn't drink coffee and I mainly roast for myself. I have a few friends that only drink espresso at my house and I am their only possible exposure as we live in the boonies. Occasionally I travel and can taste from shops like Gimme or Stumptown and Counter Culture and buy roasted beans there. The only real feedback I get is these contests and I'm not looking for $200 critique but being told that all the entries are professional quality is what I'm happy with. A one or two sentence more would be the icing on the cake. Rating my roasts with a number etc. would have no meaning to me. I almost never buy more than 5 lbs of anything and have a stock in a deep freezer in my basement, along with local meats I buy from farmers and salmon caught locally. My blends therefore frequently change but my basic parameters are 60% brasil and 40% central and s.o for brewed in the a.m. There are no pretensions to be an expert and way back when I started it was to save $. That didn't exactly pan out, just like my new hobby of fishing, which does cost more than the financial worth of my catch. I greatly appreciate the time Jim, Tom, the judges etc. spend in these contests.

Marvin

another_jim wrote:My last post on this was too preachy; I apologize. Paul and Marvin have a point; but I really don't want to waste the opportunity here:

No need for the apology. I realize now that I did have a short sided view, and the wrong mind set. The opportunity here is epic. Kenneth's Home Coffee Roasting book was my introduction into roasting. I'm glad to have a chance to receive feedback from someone so respected in the field. Thanks.

Yes, thanks Henry and Jim for putting this together. For the big picture of advancing homeroasting this is a great opportunity. I like to think of these events as a team effort showing the progress and results we all work so hard together to achieve to the pro community as well as getting good feedback. Coffee Review to me is about a roaster identifying an exceptional coffee and roasting it well. As we have seen and experienced, it doesn't take a very expensive lot to get a high score or an exceptional lot. The Costa Jim discovered is a good example.

I don't see any reason to limited how or where the beans are sourced. It's a good thing the more we build relationships with roasters. Rather the same as the amazing efforts to discover and bring in new roasting machines, along with improving the usability of roasters of all types.

I don't roast professionally but have been a member of the Guild for the past couple years so technically a pro roaster and won't submit an entry.

farmroast wrote: I don't roast professionally but have been a member of the Guild for the past couple years so technically a pro roaster and won't submit an entry.

I'm guessing the delineation for the sake of this competition is if you would stand to profit from the results or not. It doesn't sound that way in your case?

My two cents on the competition: I'm comfortable with whatever Jim and Henry come up with.

On another note; my local green coffee distributer has #10 of a Colombian Geisha: Granja La Esperanza Margarita micro lot from RoyalNY. It's pretty pricey @ $23 lb. but if someone wants a pound or two we can use a padded flat rate envelope. Let me know if your interested.

rama wrote:I'm guessing the delineation for the sake of this competition is if you would stand to profit from the results or not. It doesn't sound that way in your case?

That's my feel too; but I'll see if I can get it clarified. As I understand it; the ban is based on Coffee Review conflicts; that is, it is for roasters who have or can get their roasts reviewed on Coffee Review.

I'm in. 5# of El Centro on the way. Not sure what I'll do for the brew batch.

Same here 5# El Centro. If I cant come up with a brew roast, I might submit the same roast for both.

3 questions:

What constitutes "packaging ready for freezer" for the espresso entries?

Can brew entries be blends?

I have never read, followed or even heard of Coffee Review until this competition so I guess that qualifies my amateur status. I'm unclear as to this requirement: "Brew entries must include complete information on the coffee and roast. See Coffee Review write ups for the level of detailed Ken expects".

I've just read a few write ups. I'm not sure what the "detail" is that we need to include. The write ups just look like flowery words to me and have little meaning.

The blend question is a good one. It does specify SO for the espresso entry. My guess would be "no", but it may be allowed if you actually know of provenance of each constituent in the blend. Jim and/or Ken would be the arbiter.

As far as the requested detail, they would simply like to know the country, farm, processing, region or mill (if known), varietal and time of harvest. Add to that your presumed roast level. Similar to this format:

Brazil - Fazenda Furnas - Pulp Natural - Carmo de Minas - Yellow Bourbon - Feb. 2014. City+