A Shot in the Dark – Top 10 Announced
(Information acknowledgement: Coffee Magazine)
Coffee lovers in Ermelo no longer have to travel to the cities or larger centres to find that special coffee that sets the taste buds abuzz and gets the psyche into “now I can face anything” mode.
André Vermeulen, one of the top ten coffee roasters in the country is right here in Ermelo and boasts a success story second to none.
André is the owner of Bottomless Blessings Coffee Roastery in the De Zandsteen Building on the corner of Fourie and Robertson Street.
After only a few months in the business, André decided to enter Coffee Magazine’s “A Shot in the Dark” competition that was sponsored by Genio Roasters.
A total of 43 South African coffee roasters entered the competition and only the top 10 entrants qualified for the final round. Out of scores of 100, there was only an 8,4 points difference between everyone in the competition. André’s entry scored the second highest number of points and he will now compete in the final round at the Creative Coffee Week in Durban.
“I truly was not expecting this at all as I have not been in the business for long,” said André modestly and added, “I suppose I must be doing something right to get this far.”
He explained that his passion lay in the roasting of the coffee and that in the roasting process, if the coffee beans are roasted for even a few seconds too long or removed too soon it makes a huge difference in the final outcome.
The skill of roasting coffee has a massive outcome on the final flavour in the cup and more than this, the clarity, the body, the sweetness, the aftertaste are all components that make a great coffee great!
For the competition, the roasters all roasted and entered the exact same Tanzanian coffee bean and had it cupped simultaneously on the same day by qualified Q-graders.
Qualified Q-Graders judged the competition and they cupped the 43 coffees blind. At no point in the judging did the judges know whose coffee they tasted.
The cupping lab at Sevenoaks is internationally certified as an SCA approved cupping lab. 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 coffees were scored on Fragrance and Aroma, Flavour, Aftertaste, Acidity, Body, Balance and Overall. The judges made it incredibly difficult for someone to score high points – as the roast itself was judged and not the coffee.
The coffee beans were also inspected during the cupping to take note of colour variations. All coffees were noted down as numbers and were completely randomized. All cupping was done according to SCA specifications.
The final round of the “A Shot in the Dark” competition will be held during the 2019 Creative Coffee Week in Durban from 27 to 29 June.
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