Good news for coffee lovers is that Bottomless Blessings Coffe Roastery in Ermelo is again open for business. However lockdown regulations under Level 3 of the national Coronavirus/Covid-19 pandemic only allow for takeaways and no sit-down coffee enjoyment is allowed.

Even greater news is that André Vermeulen, owner of Bottomless Blessings Coffee Roastery has proven that as overall winnner of last year’s Coffee Magazine and Genio Roasters, “Shot in the Dark” coffee-roasting competition his success was not merely a shot in the dark!

For the second consecutive year André has taken second place in the preliminary round of the competition and will once again be competing in the final round in Durban in a few weeks’ time when the top ten national and international coffee roasters will vie for top honours. 50 entries were received for this year’s competition but due to lockdown challenges a total of 40 roasts were received.

“This is great honour for me and Bottomless Blessings as I did not expect to do so well after winning the final last year and also considering that the competition has attracted international entries.”

André Vermeulen

Only ten points separated the top ten places.

For the competition, the roasters all roasted and entered the exact same Guatemala coffee bean. The coffee beans are sent to the entrants and after roasting and packaging them they are sent back for cupping and judging at Sevenoaks Trading in Johannesburg. Sevenoaks is internationally certified as an SCA approved cupping lab.

Judging is done “blind” by qualified Q-Graded judges who cupped all the entries and awarded points for Fragrance and Aroma, Flavour, Aftertaste, Acidity, Body, Balance and Overall. At no point in the judging did the judges know whose coffee they tasted. The water used was the same water specified on the entry forms. In short, every possible measure was taken to ensure that the coffees were judged objectively, consistently and without bias.

The skill of roasting coffee has a critical outcome on the final flavour in the cup and the clarity, the body, the sweetness, the aftertaste are all of components that make a great coffee great!

“Timing is one of the single most important factors when it comes to roasting. A few seconds either way can mean the beans are either overdone or underdone which has a significant outcome in the quality of the end product. To Jesus all the glory. After all, He knows how to separate the chaff from the coffee bean!” explained André.

André Vermeulen

iNEWS will be following André’s progress in the final competition with keen interest and we wish him all the best.

Bottomless Blessings Coffee Roastery is situated in the De Zandsteen Building on the corner of Fourie and Robertson Street.

Opening Hours:
Monday to Thursday: 07:00 – 17:00
Fridays: 07:00 – 16:00
Saturdays: 08:00 – 13:00