Belgian Aeropress Championship 2015 : Results

A crazy crown, wonderful coffees and Jeff who won the cup; that is basically the story of the championships .... for the last 3 years.

We had a record high 25 aeropressers on the roster! Barista's, home or professional, from all over the country traveled to Antwerp last Sunday to compete for the prestigious price of becoming Belgium's best Aeropresser.
Knowing that the Belgian competitor made it to the World final each of the last 5 World championship - with 3 wins, it means a lot of top class coffee masters at work.

The coffee was the Rwanda Gakenke Muyongwe, gracefully donated by 32cup and roasted in Antwerp at the Caffenation Roastery.

The judges were imported from Amsterdam and Paris and were very pleased by what they cupped.
And the best cup was, once again, made by Jeff Verellen.
Of course he was the man everyone expected, but still a big hand for how consistent he works his way through the heats and semi final, to press his best cup in the finals.
It tasted like a perfect candy and maybe the best coffee we ever had in this competition.

Here the recipes from 3rd Place, Roeland Rypens, a non-professional who made it all the way up to the bronze aeropress!. 2nd Yf Feller, working as Barista and Roaster for Labath, Gent. And 1st Jeff Verellen, Head Roaster at Caffenation and representing Belgium at the WAC in Seattle, USA.

Roeland, 3rd :
Sort out coffee beans (discard pales, damaged beans,...)
Fill Bonavita kettle with 500gr of filtered water in from Bunn ( 93°) leave lid off), filter by Brita PPM 150
Load paper filter in cap and rinse thoroughly
Grind 24 gr Coffee ( Grind 5 on Mahlkonig EK43)
catch grinds with paper cup and transfer them into other paper cup ( fines & chaff sticks to walls)
Add 23 gr coffee beans in the Aeropress in inverted position
Pour 10 sec until 45 grams.
Let beans bloom for 28 seconds
Pour 15 seconds until 235 grams of water weight.
Stir twice
Screw cap into place
Let coffee settle for 80 seconds
Clean the Cupping bowl
Flip aeropress carefully
Press slowly 35 seconds
Stop pressing when air makes the grinds visible
Avoid pressing air & oils through
Make sure no particles have landed in the cupping bowl.
Ready to serve!

Yf, 2nd :
Grind 17,75 grams 'cupping grind' - relatively course
Bang the fines out with a Espro filter
Take a double paper filter and pre wet with very hot water and level it
Get some Spa Blue up to 78 degrees
Bloom 50 ml for 30", in a 'cold' aeropress
Pour 30", while breaking the crust, up to 250 ml total
Keep the aeropress positioned on a 'cold' glass server
Put the plunger in and pull it slightly back up to prevent dripping
Then press 30" til the 'crema' is just above the grounds
Serve in a non-heated cupping bowl

Jeff, 1st :
Preparation:
-Picking out odd beans, sours, damaged, chipped, lights.
-Charge a pvc tube of about a meter with static, wear a lot of wool or rub a scarf on it, wear rubber soles.
-After grinding I sent the grinds trough the PVC tube, see that you don't lose your static. (Removes chaff and some ultra light particles)
-Sieve, I still use a Sowden mesh. Try to only sieve the ultra fines (dust) this removes bitterness, makes the bloom a lot easier(!).

Water:
Spa water with about 50 milligram of added magnesium.

Core recipe:
Aeropress in regular mode.
A cold receptacle, a dash of cold water in it //20 grams.
18 grams grounds prepared coffee (see above)
Bloom at 84c for 30 seconds or till wet grounds just hardened up. //40 grams of water
Get water at 80c pour and re-wet slowly (about 20 seconds) all the grinds //100 grams
Top up with water at 76c, just pour in the middle, no agitation, as slow as possible (about 40 seconds) //130 grams
Plunge very slow, here is where you can calibrate your grinder, about 3,5 to 4 kg max should you press, anything above that and I would grind coarser.
Don't push too far - it may not make any 'hissing' sound

thanks wouter for the photo's

BAC Poster and Competitors

Here the 27 competitors at BAC 5 :

Jurgen Desmet (independent)
Paul Chambers (independent)
Isabelle Verschraegen (Independent -Vice champ in 2014)
Joke Deconinck (Caffenation)
Emiel Rymenans (Caffenation)
Yara Hidskens (Caffenation)
Charlene De Buysere (Or - BAC champ 2011)
Jeff Verellen (Caffenation - defending champ)
Sofie Nys (32 cup - Bronze in 2014)
Tom Kuyken (Labath)
Yf Feller (Labath)
Brett Broothaers (Labath)
Elke Vandeper (independent)
Mango (Cuperus)
Valentine Wanders (De Superette)
Chloe Kremer (Verocaffé)
Kris Van Guyse (Noir)
Tim Willems (Kofica)
Tim Jensen (Viggo's)
Jens Crabbé (Mok)
Michel Stegen (Mok)
Laurent Lefevre (CDS)
Danny Calders (Kofica)
Vincent Bruyninckx (independent - BAC champ 2012)
Roeland Ruypens (independent)
Loic Installé (independent)
Francois Lafontaine (Café du sablon)

Judges :
Kim Staelman (SCAE)
Jonatan Scheeper (Head First Roasters)
Boaz Bosboom (Trabocca)

Sponsors :
Caffenation
32 Cup
Limarc
Aerobie
Coffeehit

BAC 5

Belgian Aeropress Championship is celebration it's 5th anniversary!!!

And this on March 15. That's a Sunday.

And we'll do a day full of coffee fun.

We open the joint around 10 for all competitors (27) to start training.

At 11 we have a meeting with judges and competitors about the rules and the planning of the event.

At noon we start competing :
9 legs of 3 pressers.

Then 3 semi finals of 3 pressers.

Then 1 final with 3 pressers.

The end should be around 16h.


We'll have black coffees and beers and some food.

The competitors pay a €20 entrance fee. This guarantees them of a price.

There are serious prizes for top 3 participants.
With a Seattle flight for the winner, if this person is willing to represent the country at the next World Championships in this city at the beginning of April. (in between 9 & 12).

Sponsors of this years event are Limarc Coffee Hardware, 32 Coffee Merchants, Coffee Hit online shop, Aerobee.

3 judges will come down all the way from The Netherlands.

On this moment there are still a couple of spots available for those interested....
mail me
caffenation@gmail.com

Later on we'll announce the coffee, rules and names of competitors

CU there.
Rob

2014 Winning Aeropress Recipe Video by Shuichi Sasaki

HOW TO MAKE AEAROPRESS METHOD by Shuichi Sasaki (WAC2014 Winner) from Good Coffee on Vimeo.

New Rules on the Aeropress Championships

Ensuring your national Aeropress competition runs smoothy and successfully now means fulfilling the below guidelines. It is important that you are still able to stamp your own personality on the competition by interpreting the rules as you see fit, however it is equally important that there is a level of uniformity to the national competitions.

New to 2015

1. A lead time of 6 weeks is required. 

Venue, dates, times, poster and entrance information is required to be submitted to WAC headquarters to ensure sufficient time is given to willing competitors and that enough exposure if given to the event.

2. Poster

A poster must be produced which must include the logos of the global sponsors, the official WAC circuit logo and local sponsors. A high definition version must be submitted to WAC headquarters.

3. Partnering with local distributor

Engagement with the local Aeropress distributor is required, nothing is expected from the relationship apart from allowing the opportunity for the local distributor to be involved - the level of involvement is up to the organiser. The local distributor should looked to as a possible financial supporter of the event.

4. Fulfilling global sponsor requirements

Depending on your country and the relevance of the global sponsors in your region, certain conditions need to be met. Specifics of this will be released soon. It may include ensuring the grinder sponsors grinder is available or the cup sponsors cup is used throughout the competition.

5. The winner of the national competition must be flown to the WACs

Funds must be collected to ensure the winner of the national competition is able to travel to the WACs - this year the WACs will be held in Seattle during the SCAA in April, 2015. This is the responsibility of the local organiser.

6. Reporting & documentation of the event

A thorough report of the event must be completed. This should include a review of the events itself, the top 3 recipes must be submitted, a collection of photography (and video if possible) must be submitted, the names and workplaces of all competitors must be submitted. There will be an online form created to be submitted on completion of the national competition.

7. Agreement 

Signing the agreement form must be completed before the competition organisation begins. This is now in place as multiple local organisers have simultaneously approached WAC headquarters to run the event. To ensure a successful event is carried out - the above conditions need to be agreed to being met.

The above guidelines are in place to ensure a straight-forward and cohesive operation of all national competitions, as well as ensuring the provision of appropriate support to national winners. Our aim is not to be unduly strict, but to encourage and support interested parties to put on a great event. If you feel that your country has exceptional circumstances, please get in touch to discuss the potential for tailored conditions.

Details on the other rules and regulations for the competition can be found here.

WAC and WBC 2014 : Jeff finishing 3rd.

4 times our head roaster Jeff Verellen was able to defend the colors of our country at the World Aeropress Championships and 4 times he's going home with a medal.

After bronze in London and gold in Milan and Melbourne he became 3rd again in this years finals.

A fine result after a fine day.

Report :

While Bert and I were still on our way from Bologna to our apartment in Riccione, Rimini, our 2 roasters Jeff and Simon were moving towards the fiera to see Charlene De Buysere doing her thing at the Barista World Championships.
First WBC ever for Charlene. Never easy and no semi finals for her.
Curious to know the final results I went surfing on the World Wide Web, but can't find any info, except for the finals. Unbelievable.

I have the feeling all these competitions are losing interest. A pity, but a bit understandable cause it's a bit boring to watch if you are not competing yourself or a fan of one of the champs.
The rules get more complicated by the year and there's still no chance to taste what the Barista's are prepping on stage.
If one of my Barista's want to compete next year I'll be more than happy - it's a great stage to show your skills and a lot learn - but if nobody's in, we won't be sad about it.

Luckily there's still the Aeropress Championships!! More popular every year thanks to the relaxed settings and easy rules.
This year the setting of the WAC was the best ever ; on the Rimini beach.

La Marzocco organized this event together with Tim Varney. What a splendid job. The Barista's were performing barefoot in the sand of Rimini while the sun was omni present and even showing a fantastic sun set around the finals. Brilliant!!

Simon Boone represented The Netherlands and Jeff Verellen Belgium. Both were favorites in their series. Lots of expectations on Simon's shoulders when his recipe works wonderfully at the rehearsals a couple of hours prior to the comp.
Jeff was, because of the heat in Rimini, still struggling with temperatures and the (relatively dark) coffee; a splendid Ecuador by Cafe Imports. 

Mélodie from France was another side favorite, just as Lara from Spain and Dylan from Australia.

27 competitors. That means 9 rounds of 3.
While Mélodie, Jeff and Lara advance, Simon falls off with a lightly under extracted cup. Ooooh.

The comp goes on and on and judges Tim Styles, James Hoffmann and Tim Wendelboe keep on cupping. Finally we see the Japanese Presser Shuichi Sasaki wins the finals, after uber Judge Tim Varney had to cup through all 3 cups because the judges were undecided on what the best cup was.

More info, photo's and recipes here.

Every year we see more and more country's organizing an Aeropress Championship. Mostly in a bar with the crowd side by side with the competing Barista's. Beer, coffee and friendship go hand in hand and people can taste the recipes after the judges decide on the heats' winner.
The design of the posters and T-shirts are becoming an event on itself and we expect this competition to grow every year.
Is this the future of coffee championships? Partly, yes!

Oh yes, Japan also won the Barista Title this year.
My friend Coen van Sprang 7th! Respect!

The fun of Aeropress Competitions

Belgium Aeropress Championship 2014 : Results and Recipes

Oh yes, yet again the comp was a bit hit. The 4th BAC was a lot of coffee fun.

18 Aeropressers at the starting line. A great coffee. And lots of spectators.

The judges from a country North of Belgium were a the top of their toes and picked these 6 semi finalists :
Sofie from 32 cup : Vice champ last year : she went for a strong full bodied cup with nice acidity. For sure the most extreme drill of the year.
Alex from Caffenation : Light cup, sweet, well balanced. And the only one using the company's competition water. Most contestants prefered Spa blauw or (Sofie) Lidl water.
Charlene from Or : Improved version of Alex her recipe and close by her world championship recipe of 2012 in Portland.
Jeff from Caffenation : Very compact flavors. Sweet. Perfect mouthfeel. The first time you drink this your mouth falls open.
Bert from Caffenation : Comparable cup, but a tad stronger. Clean mean, but just not good enough for the finals.
Isabelle from Coffeelabs : Stellar cup! For me the sexiest cup of the day. Sweet, clean, but with an extra twang - spices, sours. She was also the only one analyzing her first brew and then redialing it the second round. Still waiting for her recipe though.

TOP 3 :
1. Jeff Verellen. Multiple and Reigning World & Belgian Champ : The king is still on his throne
2. Isabelle Verschraegen. Reigning UK Champ and ready to take over next year.
3. Sofie Nijs. Second podium in a row. What a gifted girl.

With 4 out of 6, the women were omni present this year.
No amateurs in the semis this year.
Price for bad luck goes to the 2012 champ Vincent. 2 years in a row it felt to me that he had the best coffee of all losing first rounders. Keep it up 'boyke'; you still got it.

Jeff's recipe (in his own words) :

Aeropress in regular mode

Cooled almost iced container to brew on.

Rinse the filter with boiling water to open up the paper and clean it. 

Water: 

Spa blue

Grind: 

Picking out lights, quakers, ears anything weird.

Setting 7.6 on EK-43 grinder running.

Don't "twack" the grinder.

Sieving with sowden filter: only very small fines removed. Also using static on the filter to remove chaff and nerves. 

Use 17.3 grams of the sieved coffee.

Water at 83-82c to bloom, nicely wet everything, 40 grams or so.

Wait about 30 seconds.

Use a dash of cool water to get the kettle water to 76c

Very slowly pour in the middle of the aeropress to get to about 285 grams total on the scale, take about a minute for this.

30 second plunge.

Leave 1/5 of the brew in the press and discard. 

Are you salivating yet?

This recipe sounds easy, but actually it is (to use WAC host TC Varneys words) : a fiddly one to nail.

Isabelle's Recipe :

• pick out about 20g of beans of a similar (small) size - discard quakers and defects

• rinse the paper filter thoroughly with very hot water

• grind your coffee, medium coarse (I started with 7.2 on the EK but switched to 6.8 after to get a slightly stronger cup) and discard whatever's left in the grinder's chute (these are fines and chaff we do not want)

• transfer the grinds into different cups/tins so as to use static to discard more fines. you can also slightly shake and blow over the grounds to let the chaff fly (thanks to Simon for the trick)

• press into a cold server

• weigh 17.5g of coffee into your aeropress

• use soft water… I used Spa Blue. It has a TDS of about 30ppm and pH of 6.

• heat the water till 84°C, and take the lid off the kettle immediately. Leave open

• slowly pour about 265g of water, making sure to evenly wet all the coffee

• stir once in the NSEW direction

• leave dripping for about 20sec

• press very gently for about 1minute , until the slurry reaches number 1 on your aeropress (so you leave quite a lot of liquid in your device)

• pour slowly into cup

• stir with spoon until coffee reaches temperature of 55ºC

Sofie's recipe :
16,5 gr - fines out - medium to coarse grind
inverted
240 ml water at 84°
pour, stir for 10 seconds
steep for 40 seconds
flip
plunge for 30 seconds

For next year maybe already a good new idea.
If we would have 27 competitors in the first round, 9 in the second and 3 in the finals.... Possible.

BAC 2014

Listen up Boys and Girls.

The 4th BAC is a booked!

Easter Monday at Caffenation we have a sizzling line up of 18 beautiful competitors/pressers, 1 stunning coffee (TBA), 3 international judges and a lot of fans. 

Vincent (BAC champ 2012)

Jeffrey

Jurgen

Bert

Alex

Isabelle (UK AC champ 2013)

Jeff (to many titles to fit on this line)

Sofie (runner up last year)

Charlene (BAC champ 2011 and WAC champ 2012)

Magali

Jesica

Tom

Kris

Valentine

Yves

Patrick

Tim

Emiel

Judges :

Martijn (The Village, Utrecht)

Maaike (True Barista, Arnhem)

Ray (30ml, Utrecht)

We start at 11 (till 14h) and serve only black filter during the tournament. €1 a cup!

Cu all the 21st of April.

Rob

BAC 2013 : Results&Techniques

Another year, another champ. Jazzy Jeff Verellen was 2 against 1 at Unibet and kept high to his reputation with another victorious performance.

The 3rd (already) Belgian Aeropress Championships were a big hit. More participants, more fans, better coffee! Couldn't believe my eyes. This thing is really getting huge!

18 Belgian Aeropress experts were pressing the best possible coffee out of their Aeropress.
A trio of judges for The Netherlands flew to Antwerp to taste (blind) the best coffee from our funky Papua New Guinea Kimel peaberry bean.

These 3 persons made it to the finals :
(from left to right) :
Sofie Nys : part time Barista at Viggo's
Simon Boone : a man with two nationalities and current Dutch Aeropress Champ, he's Barista, Barista trainer & Roaster for Caffenation.
Jeff Verellen : head roaster at Caffenation and former Vice and World Champion.

Simon used very unusual elements and a technique hard to explain. In the finals he slipped on his grinding though and had to content with a 3rd spot.

Sofie was 3 rounds in a row very precise. A clean, bright cup with great acidity and sweetness!
her recipe :
15,60 grams of medium to coarsely grind coffee, with fines filtered out
And with the inverted techique (yes, it still exists!) 210 grams of water 78 degrees.
Stir for 10 seconds.
Steep for 40 seconds.
Flip;
Plunge for 30 seconds.
Simple and fast. Very well done. And an easy technique for you at home.

Jeff his technique was similar to the one used in Milan at the WAC 2011. This original recipe didn't do the trick though, so he added ' small details that give the cup a cleaner and more balanced taste.
1) bean picking : out the lightest beans and inn the smallest and heaviest.
2) relative coarse grind. 6,75 on the Mahlkonig Tanzania Uber Grinder.
3) most important extra : blooming on 83 degrees. 45". Then pour on at 76 degrees, very slowly. and also a very slow press. Total brewing and pressing 2'10"
4) making the coffee fast and not too many, so it's served a the right (low) temperature.

Good luck everybody with the recipes and see you next year at the 4th BAC on Easter Monday!!
Rob

BAC 2013 : Coffee and Rules&Regulations

Rules & Regulations :

The rules are fairly straight forward, 3 International judges will evaluate (blind), purely based on taste, the best filter style brew from the Aeropress. We want the competition to be as transparent as possible, with the intention of fine tuning the hugely varied technique used to brew on the Aeropress.

General Rules : everyone will use the same coffee, graciously donated by Caffenation Specialty Coffee Roasters.
The coffee will be preroasted one month before the championship. One 210 grams bag of this coffee will be send to all competitors.
At the championships we will have the same coffee, 7 day old.

The required volume of the drink is 2dl, which has to be served in the supplied cupping cup. It is up to the competitor what kind of water is used, no added ingredients are allowed. All competitors will have a 8 minutes comp time. Failure to serve the drink in that time will mean disqualification. The technique used by the competitor must be in writing and given to the judges this will not be considered in judging.

Equipment : The supplied equipment will be all grinders and boilers at Caffenation. Competitors are welcome to bring their own grinder.
We will have 1 Big Ditting and 1 Mahlkonig Tanzania grinder.
You can bring your own, but there are Aeropresses available for those interested.
Any modifications to the actual Aeropress will need to be authorised by the Head Judge and if need by the organisation.

Water - Everpure filtered Antwerp tap water will be used via the Bravilor boiler, set at 93°c. You are allowed to use your own water, and your own water boiler of choice.

Rounds : There will be 6 round with 3 participants. The winner advances to the semi finals.
In de Semi Finals we have knock out round one against one.
So we end up with 3 competitors in the Finals.

After each round, competitors must use the judging time to clear their station ready for the next round of competitors.

Competitors must have the Belgian nationality or must live in Belgium since 1 year.

BAC 2013 Koffie : Papua New Guinea Kimel Estate (Dutch)

Heel lang geleden dat we nog eens een koffie uit Papua New Guinea vinden die ons aanstaat. En dan nog een Peaberry, of zo'n rond boontje. De meeste koffiebessen bevatten 2 boontjes die tegen mekaar aan gedrukt zijn en daarom een platte kant hebben. De Peaberry of Caricoli daarentegen zit alleen in de bes en heeft dus geen platte kant.
Meestal vindt dit natuurkundig fenomeen plaats in de besjes op het einde van de tak. Hier is er minder waterdoorvoer en daardoor zijn de boontjes meestal klein. Deze Peaberry echter is van gemiddelde grootte, screen size 15-17.

De Kimel Estate is een redelijk grote plantage, oorspronkelijk opgestart door Australiërs, maar nu in bezit en uitgebaat door lokale inboorlingen die de traditionele eigendommen van de streek opeisen.
Het is gelegen in de Wahgi vallei, nabij Mount Hagen in de Western Highlands Province.

Opvallende aciditeit voor een koffie uit dit werelddeel. Doet me denken aan aciditeit van een Riesling wijn, inclusief het florale aspect.
Verder medium body en naar het einde toe veel chocolade en zelfs Meditteraanse kruiden. Een zeer complexe en levendige kop dus.
Hier kan je veel verschillende profielen uithalen.

Waar gaan we mee spelen?
Temperatuur water. Meestal betekent hoger, meer aciditeit en lager, meer sweetness.
Maling : Probeer eens wat groffer te malen om minder bitters in je kop te krijgen.
Ratio : Basisratio is 60 gram koffie op 1000 gram water, maar meer of minder kan altijd.
Extractietijd : Deze lichte brandingen kunnen soms wat extra body krijgen dankzij langere extracties….
Turbulentie : Reversed techniek of extra roeren kan extra smaak en kortere extractietijd betekenen…

Veel succes met alle research en breng je recept mee de 1ste april. Publicatie volgt later.
Rob

BAC 3 : Aeropress Championships on April 1 2013

Here we go again : 3rd year in a row Caffenation is organizing the Belgian Aeropress Championships.

And we have a very very solid reputation here in Belgium.
After a second place and two consecutive world titles in this discipline we have the eyes of the whole world peering at us.

Later on I get you the coffee - we don't know yet - and the rules.

Today we give the date and the tournament rules.

We have, just like at the WAC, 18 participants.
In the first round we have 6 groups of 3.
The winner advances to the semi finals.
Here we go 1 against 1 and the winner of this knock out advances to the finals.

In the finals the 3 'survivors' from previous rounds prep their best possible drink and see who the judges pick for 3rd, 2nd and 1st place.

Is young Jedi Vincent Bruyninckx going to regain his title?
Will Charlene De Buysere show her world title class again?
Or is golden oldie Jeff Verellen coming back for a new trophee?

Soon the names of the 3 Dutch Judges and 18 Belgian 'warriors' (the list is almost full already).
Adress : Caffenation, Mechelsesteenweg 16 (Nationale Bank), Antwerp.
We start at 11, till 14h. Then the bar stays open till 18h, with the Lounge reserved for all participants and fans and beers.

Aeropress Recept Jonas (Dutch)

Jonas :

"Mijn techniek is vrij simpel :

Eerst verwarm ik de aeropress en filter.
daarna giet ik 70° warm water op de 18 gram op 5.4 gemalen koffie tot ik iets onder de helft zit met genoeg turbulentie.

Ik start de timer zodra het water de koffie raakt en tel zo met opgieten en bloom zo een 20 seconden.
Na deze 20 seconden Bloomen giet ik de aeropress vol en zet hem vacuum en wacht even tot ik 50 seconden ver zit.
Daarna duw ik 30 seconden lang et voila."

En 2de plaats was een feit.
Good luck voor degenen die het thuis (of op de werkvloer) proberen willen.

BAC #2 Results and Recipes

The recipe drawn by Mister Bruyninckx himself :


Explained (in Dutch) :

- 14 gram afwegen

- Filterpapier spoelen met heet water, terwijl deze in de aeropress steekt.

(zo wordt de aeropress wat voorverwarmd door de damp en niet echt door het water om een snellere afkoeling te hebben achteraf)

Zet de aeropress inverted

- Giet 40 ml water (82°C), kap hierop de 14 gram coffee (gemalen op stand 4 op de Malkhonig) en giet meteen weer water op tot de weegschaal 100gr aangeeft (14gr coffee+86ml water). Giet steeds in het midden en zie dat de grounds steeds in contact blijven met de wand van de aeropress.

Start de timer en wacht 30 sec.

- Op 30sec giet je de aeropress verderop tot de weegschaal 234gr aangeeft (=220ml water). Giet steeds in het midden in cirkelvormige beweging (diameter+-2cm) en zie ook hier dat de grounds aan de zijkant van de wand blijven hangen.

Het opgieten gebeurd over 30sec.

- Laat zo 30 seconden staan tot de timer 1.30 aangeeft.

Tijdens deze 30 sec. schroef je de dop erop, verwarm je de tas snel.

- Shake de aeropress even om de grounds van de bodem los te krijgen en press de aeropress rustig over 40 sec.

Zeker stoppen eens je de grounds ziet, anders krijg je sneller een vuil bitter nasmaakske als hij wat afkoelt.

BAC 2012 Competitors

Coffee is ready to test.

2nd Belgian Aeropress Championship

Hello everybody.
I'm happy to announce the second edition of the Belgian Aeropress Championship (#BAC) to be held at our Roastery, Braziliëstraat 10, Eilandje, Antwerp, Easter monday April 9 at 14h.

3 (professional) judges will taste (blind) to see which competitor prepares the tastiest cup of coffee, brewed by the AP.

Caffenation will send all competitors a bag of the same coffee 2 week upfront.

We are looking to 12 or 16 (max) persons to compete. You don't have to be a professional. I think it's very good to have some amateurs on stage as well.

It's free entrance and every competitor will win a price.

Limarc will provide a mobile brew and espresso bar.
Now we only need sunny weather.

First come, first pressed : email me to step in.

Rules & Regulations :

The rules are fairly straight forward, 3 International judges will evaluate (blind), purely based on taste, the best filter style brew from the Aeropress. We want the competition to be as transparent as possible, with the intention of fine tuning the hugely varied technique used to brew on the Aeropress.

General Rules : everyone will use the same coffee, graciously donated by Caffenation Specialty Coffee Roasters.

The coffee will be preroasted one month before the championship. One 300 grams bag of this coffee will be send to all competitors.

At the championships we will have the same coffee, 7 day old.

The required volume of the drink is 2dl, which has to be served in the supplied cupping cup. It is up to the competitor what kind of water is used, no added ingredients are allowed. All competitors will have a 8 minutes comp time. Failure to serve the drink in that time will mean disqualification. The technique used by the competitor must be in writing and given to the judges this will not be considered in judging.

Equipment : The supplied equipment will be all grinders and boilers at Caffenation. Competitors are welcome to bring their own grinder.

We will have 1 Big Mahlkonig Lab Grinder. You may test this grinder up front.

You can bring your own, but there are Aeropresses available for those interested.

Any modifications to the actual Aeropress will need to be authorised by the Head Judge and if need by the organisation.

Water - Is not decided on yet.

Rounds : There will be qualifying rounds. Probably we go with a one against one knock out system. More info later on.

After each round, competitors must use the judging time to clear their station ready for the next round of competitors.

Competitors must have the Belgian nationality or must live in Belgium since 1 year.

One Year Trifecta

Yes, it's already one year we bought this remarkable Bunn brewer.

First tests with this machine were very convincing. 1) The taste was good. 2) We were able to offer plenty of beans on the Slow Menu. And 3) I saw a good business opportunity to install such a device in first class restaurants.

We start back wise with 3)
It's still a good idea to offer a real coffee menu in Michelin Star Restaurants. And the Trifecta would be an ideal help. A monkey can use it, it's fast, brews very stable and doesn't take a lot of space. The disadavantages could be taste wise (later more) and price wise - Count quickly €6000 for the brewer+grinder - but mostly they couldn't see any business in it. Why? Simply because these type of restaurants do not believe in filter coffee. It's very sad, but that's the truth.

I'm a hundred procent sure that they are wrong, but probably it will need some more time before they start realise this by themselves.

2) From day 1 we offer people 4 different coffee's. 2 of them are (light) filter roasts ; a weekly one and the Afro Man in which we have 1 or more premium African coffees.
Then we offer 2 coffees roasted for espresso, but on the light side. One is the LGB blend. This Trifecta brew is called the House Coffee and our most popular one. The second is the Mokka Man, mostly a medium roasted Mokka Harrar from Ethiopia.
Most coffee professionals prefer lighter roasts for filter brewing, but half of our clients think these coffees taste a bit too thin or tea-like and go for something stronger. I understand this and do not mind to keep on playing that ball.

1) The taste. Yes it was good, but even the best Trifecta brew of the year wasn't more than a 7/10. And while playing with the idea of filtering the Trifecta's or maybe even swith the machine with a Bunn ICB brewer, I had a mind blowing Aeropress at Broer Bretel last Sunday that gave me the last push.
During the night I couldn't sleep and by the morning I found the solution.

Isabelle and I were already filtering some brews with V60 material, but that was way too slow and the Kalita Flat Bed filter way too brown, but that early Monday morning I remembered having some more Belgian filters somewhere hidden in our kitchen.
Read this article from 3 years ago and you know what I'm saying.

First brews didn't go well at all.
The problem we discover in our Trifecta brews is the sediment that comes with this type of brews. When using Medium Roasted coffees it's less irritant, but on lighter roasts it costs you guaranteed 3 points on that scale of 10.
But these metal filters didn't stop the residue.
Then I noticed the form of the filters were exactly the size of our small Aeropress filters.


From the first Aeropress/Belgian Filter filtered brew we saw a great improvement in cleanliness and it didn't need a lot of extra experimenting and fine tuning to implement this in our way of working.
+ 2 points for every brew is significant isn't it?

Swing by one of the days and ask for a filtered Trifecta. I hope you enjoy it.


This photo shows the residue 'catched' by our filter.

Jeff is Worlds best Aeropresser 2011

TEAM SAUSAGE! with from L to R : Valentine, (newest member) Simon S, Simon B, Charlene, Thomas, Jeff, Isabelle, Bert and me. (Roeland and others were absent)
What started as a joke, became an unbeatable force (day and night).

The coffee : Kenya Thunguri (roasted by the master himself, with the help of Roeland and Bird)

The recipe : Take 17 grams of coarse grind. The Kenya was a 6 day old roast.
Grind directly into the Aeropress (of course with rinsed paper filter).
Add a bit of 78 degrees warm water for the blooming (yes that's not hot at all).
After 20" pour very slowly the rest of your water.
Keep it gently dripping for 40".
Then gently press until cup has 18cl of filtered coffee (yes, a lot of water stays in the press).
We also press in a non heated cup for extra cooling and a little extra acidity.

The general idea of this method is to enhance sweetness and balance acidity.
The cup got extra mouthfeel because of the semi hot filtered water and the gentle handling. Certainly avoid pushing through all the water cause this will give you a lot of bitterness in the cup. This coffee is very subtle because of its nature and the way of roasting, so it needs to be treated the same way.

Watch out, every coffee may react different on this technique ; we only thought this recipe was great for the Thunguri, and so did the judges.

Good luck,
Rob
(thanks to thuisbarista for the great photo)