I did a blend for both the brewing and the espresso sections. Unlike the competitors, my goal was not to produce the coffees I would most want to drink, but to create "calibration blends" which I could compare to the rest of the field. I will be pairing each competitor's espresso shot with a shot of my blend, so I have the same "ruler" as I taste entries over several days. I'll have my brew blend on every cupping flight for the same reason.

For this purpose, I created blends that used all four coffees for both categories. The espresso blend is all first pops roasts, mixed at 3/8 Brazil, 1/4 Maravilla, 1/4 Haile, and 1/8 Aceh. The brew blend is 3/8 Maravilla, 1/4 Haile, 1/4 FVA, 1/8 Aceh, with the FVA being a 1st pops sweetener, and the rest being cupping roasts, just out of the first crack. The taste on both blends is generic classic cup flavor with a winey acidity.

These aren't pushover blends, and they will give everyone a good fight. I'll be scoring my brewing roast at 88 in each flight, and my espresso will get 3s across the board (crema, flavor, body). You'll have to bring your A game to beat them

More seriously, I don't know how Abe will judge the espresso entries, or how the others will judge the brew entries; but I'm accustomed to using calibration coffees when I do reviews, so this way of doing the tasting will let me be as fair as I can get.

There are already more entries than can be judged at one sitting. Abe only has one day, so I'll score all entries over the next few days, than he will be the judge the top eight to ten. Tom and his crew, as well as Bob will get back to me on whether they would prefer all the entries or just a finals group.

In the preliminary rounds, over the next week, I'll taste each entry carefully and make notes which I will pass on privately. For the guest judges, who only have limited time, it's clearly best for them to taste the top entries, so they can judge them properly, without getting overloaded and not being able to taste anything at all.

I apologize for not spelling this all out to start with. I didn't know what to expect when I made the announcements. Now I have about twenty entries in each division, plus whatever is coming in tomorrow. That's too many for the guest judges to score in one flight, but not too many to handle in several groups over a week, provided the judging is calibrated.

20 entries in each category is great to hear!!! Let us know the total in each category at the end of tomorrow.

22 Competitors; 20 Espresso entries; 14 Brewing entries.

A big thank you to all the entrants. Looks like there definitely will be a 2nd Annual HB Homeroast Competition.

Phew. Entry submitted and fingers crossed. While roasting for espresso was an early decision, I had a heck of a time getting organized and deciding between an SO or a blend. Ultimately, I submitted a 2:1:1 ratio of Sumatra Aceh at FC+ (20sec into 2C) : Brazil FVA at FC (1st pops of 2C) : Guatemala La Maravilla at C++/FC (about 10sec before 2C). An early test session with another local HBer lent an edge to a 2:2:1 of Aceh : La Maravilla : Ethiopia, but I didn't produce an acceptable roast of the Haile Selasse. I may have to try this blend again.

This has definitely forced me to re-evaluate my approach to instrumentation. While HG/BM can produce acceptable results to me, being able to get within 10sec of 1C repeatably has been somewhat of a challenge. Not impossible, but demanding, especially for the Brazil, which seemed to be less willing to announce start of 1C.

Good luck, everyone!

-s.

Follow-on discussion split to HB Home Roasting Competition Results - Brewed Coffee and HB Home Roasting Competition Results - Espresso.

I just saw this in my subscription queue: