This year for the first time, we entered the Golden Bean North America roasting competition. The Golden Bean competition was born in Australia and recently made its way to North America. It boasts the title of “the largest roasting competition in world” and with 450 roasters submitting nearly 1,300 coffees, who are we to say otherwise?! The competition consists of a panel of judges blindly tasting and assigning a score to each and every coffee. Roasters submit their coffees to be evaluated in up to 11 different coffee categories that range from a standard brewed coffee to best short black espresso. We chose to enter our three coffees into three different categories; straight espresso, espresso with milk, and brewed coffee, and are proud to announce that all three coffees medaled!
For the category of “straight espresso” we entered our long time favorite Worka, a naturally processed Ethiopian heirloom from the Yirgacheffe region. Though we do not typically roast this coffee for espresso we thought that its incredible sweetness and intricate floral characteristics would shine as espresso. By slightly elongating the end of the roast we were able to tone down some of the coffee’s bright acidity which allowed it’s subtleties to shine as a beautiful espresso. In fact, we loved this roast so much that you can now find it on our menus as a rotating single origin espresso.
For the “espresso with milk” category we decided to revamp one of our oldies, ‘are you gold.’ espresso blend. This proprietary blend of 3 of our favorite micro lots was designed to not only be able to stand up to a high fat milk, but pair harmoniously with it.
And finally for the “brewed coffee” category we submitted our YirgZ, a washed Ethiopian. YirgZ stands for the region Yirgacheffe (like the Worka!) and zero defect. During the processing of the cherries and seeds at the farm level, the coffee undergoes rigorous quality control and sorting efforts, then undergoes them again. This produces green coffee with “zero green bean defects” and thus the Z for zero. This coffee is another one of our longtime favorites and we love its floral and fruity notes and exceptional clarity!
Catch the Worka and YirgZ in our stores and online now! The are you gold. is available exclusively at our online store!
Award Winning Specialty Coffee
