Last year, Tierras Planas Roasters got the joy of participating in the Golden Bean Competition, an open coffee roasting competition where the roasters select the coffees they want to submit. To make it more delicious, the roasters are the judges; all who enter help judge the coffees using blind taste tests and a number scoring system. This event has been running for 5 years in North America. It originated in Australia over 12 years ago and it has become a huge benefit to the Australian coffee industry. I believe it will be the same for the American industry. Having a place for coffee roasters to shine is not only great for the industry, but it’s exciting for us personally to try our skills against roasters all over the country!
During last year’s competition, we submitted coffees in 3 different categories: Espresso, Milk Based (Espresso), & Filter. During the competition, each coffee roast is ranked on several aspects, including presentation, flavor, acidity, etc.. There were about 1300 entries from 450 roasters in the running.
The awards were posted: We won a bronze in all 3 categories! Later, I visited with one of the judge roasters. This particular roaster had received Bronze and Silver at the competition, and in our conversation, he said, “…if you received a Bronze, you were better than 90-95% of the coffees submitted.” That statement made me go WOW! What an amazing honor, and what an incredible experience!
This isn’t the final word for Tierras Planas Roasters by any means. We are constantly testing, experimenting, improving, and perfecting our roasts, and this year we are going to enter the competition once again! It’s my hope to be able to travel to the competition and participate as a judge as well. This competition isn’t just a fun experience for us, but it is a way to put our coffee on the map, as well as help us improve our roasts in order to give you the MOST delicious cup of coffee every day. Thank you for your support, and when the Golden Bean Competition 2020 comes around, root for our coffee! We are so excited for what is to come. Keep an eye on our blog for more tips, tricks, inspiration and information! #GoldenBean #GBNA