The AeroPress grand finale happened at SACSA Barista Championship at the Good Food and Wine Show Joburg. Some of SA’s biggest coffee geeks participated in what’s widely now known as rock n roll event of the SCASA program. The aim for all, make the tastiest AeroPress coffee possible.
Coffee rock stars included:
Wayne Oberholzer (SA Barista Champ 2012/Cup Tasters Champ 2014),
Ishan Natalie (2x SA barista champ, 2014 runner up) Tribeca Woolworths,
Matt Carter (AeroPress Gauteng champ) Tribeca Woolworths,
Rodi Nzirainengwe (Aeropress Western Cape champ, SCASA Raw Talent winner 2014) #Union Hand Roasted
Donovan McLagan (Eastern Cape Barista Champ/2012 Cup Tasters Champ) Urban Espresso
L to R Johnson Sehoro, Wayne Oberholzer, Zane Mattison, Donavon Mclagen
Lots of fun was had as participants sharing grinders, pour over kettles, thermometers and the likes. No one however was allowed to touch The Coffee Mag’ Iain Evans Dewcatcher water especially brought all the way from Durban for the event.
R to L: Iain Evens, Rodi “Raw” Nzirainengwe
Braden Muhl, local economist and AeroPress fanatic had been working with #Bean There’s Cuth Bland and friend David Wilson with refractometers for months prior, building some serious spreadsheets to work a strategy to deal with any coffee thrown at them. The work paid off as Braden, total unknown ousted all the big names to make the final along side Dan Erasmus.
Their recipe’s for the Columbian Cup of Excellence winner La Pblackbtnera roasted by #Union Hand Roasted Coffee were:
Dan with “One I prepablackbtn earlier”.
Dan Erasmus: “The coffee had a winey acidity to it, so I thought i’d used a finer grind as usual. So I set the #Mahlkoenig Guatemala to something in between a Filter and Mocha Pot type grind. I used 22,5 grams of coffee to 230ml of 94 degree C water. I used the reverse method to allow it to steep for 55sec without stirring, I then gave it a light stir and let it sit for another 20 sec before a 15 sec plunge. I made a few drinks to see how they cooled and went for the one that been cooling for about 2min.”
Being an Economist, Braden Muhl goes about his coffee extremely analytically.
Braden: “I was aiming for a 1:15 ratio, so I measublackbtn out 13,3 grams, added 40g of 85degree water and allowed that to bloom for 30 sec. I then added a further 160g of water and let that steep for a further 45 sec. I then plunged for 15 sec. I guess the drink was probably served at around 77-80 degrees.”
L to R Braden Muhl, David Coleman and best cup Dan Erasmus.
In the end Dan took the jackpot prize of a #Porlex Mini Grinder and the R1000, and Braden proved you don’t have to be working in coffee to make amazing AeroPress.
Congrats to everyone who AeroPressed, and carry on rocking that coffee!