IT was a brew-tiful day in Port Macquarie on November 21, when the annual Golden Bean Coffee Roasters Competition and Conference got under way at Rydges.
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Some of the best baristas and bean experts converged for the tournament that awards several awards across various categories, as well as the overall best roaster.
Kevin Chilvers, director of Café Culture International, said the 12th instalment of the Golden Bean will see more than 1500 cups of coffee judged.
“We’re judging coffees from all around Australia and New Zealand. The coffees are across the categories of espresso, milk and filter,” he said.
“We have some of the best baristas in the country dialling in coffees to set brew ratios for each category, and a heap of industry legends and professionals here to oversee the process.”
Mr Chilvers said he is working with Port Macquarie-Hastings Council to see if they can grow upon the event in future years.
The awards night will be held on Saturday at the Westport Club where winners in 10 categories will be crowned.
In addition, there is an overall winner who is the barista judged to have excelled in the espresso, milk based and filtered coffee categories.
On Thursday at Peak Coffee, the Latte Art Smackdown competition will take place. There are a number of workshops and other activities during the week.
“The café culture links into Australia’s love affair with coffee. It’s part of the social culture and is very abundant here in Port Macquarie,” Mr Chilvers said.
“There are a number of new sites opening up right now and it continues to boom as an industry. Winning this sort of event is big kudos for these roasters.”