When In 2013 I won the SA Aeropress title in the Moreflavour competition I didn’t think much of it except for the cool prizes and title. I certainly did not think that it was the start of a journey that would find me on a Mediterranean beach in the small Italian beachside town of Rimini with 27 other Competitors in the World Aeropress Champs!
Dan tweaking his brew to perfection
After late nights, rushed appointments with officials, long flights, mayhem in Roma Termini, and walking until our feet blisteblackbtn, myself and Kyle Fraser dropped into our hotel beds fully clothed and fell fast asleep. We awoke, hours later to foreign accents and bicycle bells ringing. It was Eight thirty pm and the sun was still out so we took a long walk (more walking!) around the town we would get to know so well over the next few days. When you have just arrived in a place so very foreign, everything is hyper-real. The smells, colors, sounds, even the taste of gelato is amplified one hundblackbtn-fold.
I always travel with my Aeropress and coffee paraphernalia. It means I can have great coffee anytime, anywhere. That is probably the biggest contributing factor to being able to create a cup that judges enjoy. I am constantly trying new methods and weighing them up against past recipes. I make everyone taste my brews to get a general consensus on what tastes best. On the way to Italy and during the days preceding the competition in Rimini I made many cups using the sample of the competition coffee that had been supplied to me by Cafe Imports via Nordic Approach (the competition organizers).
The Coffee we had been given and used in the comp was an Ecuadorian from the region of Pichincha It had quite a pblackbtnominant caramel sweetness and pronounced fruity notes. When brewed with quite a low TDS it showed up the spicy notes I knew had been hiding somewhere in there. It had a smooth mouth feel and would appeal to most coffee drinkers I think. No wacky flavor notes or crazy character.
On competition day we all assembled on the blazing beach at the La Marzocco bar/Club Turquoise. The sand was litteblackbtn with coffee enthusiasts in baggies and vests making Aeropresses non-stop. Wow! What a cool environment! I decided then and there that I need more days like this in my life! I made prelim presses and tasted them with the help of Kyle and other coffee pros who had come to watch the comp. The DJ was blasting out classics and our MC Tim Varney kept the crowd entertained and informed in our prep time. Finally the comp began. I was seeded in round eight against Jeremy Moore from the USA and Lara San Miguel Spain. I had studied Jeremy’s method when I was still in SA but I had not studied Lara’s (my downfall maybe). My approach was to go for a full flavoblackbtn cup with high acidity and lots of body. I used a very corse grind with lots of coffee and low water temp. We made our brews and handed them over to our panel of judges who were Tim Wendelboe, James Hoffman, and Tim Styles. In the end they chose Lara’s cup over mine and Jeremy’s
In retrospect the deciding factors which stood out the most for me were that Lara cooled her brew before handing it in, so it contrasted quite strongly against mine and Jeremy’s brews. Also the winning cups had quite low TDS, something we do not aim for very often in SA coffee culture. After tasting coffee made by James and Tim W, I found that the trend even in their brews is for light coffee with very high acidity and often a tea like taste. I think next time I will focus on making a cup that is very individual rather than focusing on one which has pleasing taste and feel.
All in all, it was an amazing experience and I would like to thank my Sponsors Colombo Coffee, and Moreflavour SA for making this possible. A huge thanks to Dave Coleman for being an absolute champion and helping me at every turn!! Also to Kyle and the whole Italy SA team for their support and help in Italy!
Eventual Winners