JK wrote:Where was the roasting competition?

I wrote the SCAA twice asking and last time all I got was a survey....
On Facebook I keep seeing a post from them about Customer Service..
They need to read take their own recommendations to heart..

I can only guess people that answer the emails haven't a clue either where the roasting was..

There was no roasting on-site. Rather, all 40 competitors had submitted their roast of a predetermined "compulsory" coffee, as well as a "signature" coffee of their choice. The 40 compulsory submissions were whittled down by official tasters to 12, which were put out to be tasted and voted on by the public. The voting was weighted 80/20 toward official judges, and out of 12, 6 were chosen.
Then the 6 finalists' signature coffees were presented and voted on, with again an 80/20 weight toward the judges, in order to pick the winners.
All voting and judging was blind to all involved. On the last day (after the winners had been decided), the 6 finalists were revealed and given the opportunity to present their coffee in the same public tasting format.

day wrote: I would bet money you got his competition roast profile but who is to say he had any input on how it was brewed?

For consistency (and continuing anonymity), all the coffees were brewed identically, with the same grind setting and brew cycle.

Stereo Heathen wrote: For what it's worth, I quite enjoyed the coffee from Cup to Cup, and think it ought to have won.

I personally liked the Cup to Cup's signature coffee the least. The flavors seemed very flat and muted both days I had it.

The Roasting Championship was not even mentioned in the SCAA app. I found the information on the roasters guild website.

I got to try the coffees on sunday. Spyhouse and Augies were my favorites. they both seemed a bit brighter and more lively than the others. also both coincidentally had delicate red berry notes that might have swayed my decision. My wife also liked spyhouse and the one the furthest on the right side on sunday, I don't remember all the coffees there and can't find a list anywhere. I did not detect underdevelopment in any of the coffees, the only defect I fount was the one in the center, I believe to the right of spyhouse. It had a slight baked/cardboard taste, which may not have been detectable during cupping.

For what it's worth, I visited Spyhouse a couple of weeks ago and ordered what turned out to be a very impressive Honduran. My initial impression was underdevelopment, but as the coffee cooled I was totally blown away by the sweetness, beautiful sweet berry acidity, mouthfeel, complexity, and aftertaste. The reason this was so impressive was because it was very evident that Tony had roasted this coffee with a high degree of intention. The coffee left no doubt whatsoever that it was roasted precisely to enhance these specific characteristics.

What I can tell you for sure is that Tony is an enormously talented roastmaster and, in my opinion, very much deserves the recognition of his peers.