Pushing to be coffee champions
A pool of 12 South Australian coffee enthusiasts will battle it out to make the best brew using a popular coffee-making device in the inaugural South Australian AeroPress Championships next week.
AeroPress coffee. Photo: mojocoffee/flickr
Invented in 2005 by US physicist and toy maker Alan Adler, the AeroPress is a small, portable, plastic filter-coffee plunger that is said to produce a result similar to an espresso-strength coffee, but many people use it to make filter-brew-strength coffee.
AeroPress brewing competitions now take place in 47 countries around the world, with South Australia and Western Australia about to join Victoria and New South Wales in Australia’s national competition.
The South Australian competition is being held at Exchange Specialty Coffee in Adelaide’s East End on Friday, February 26, with nine entrants already registered for the round-robin, knockout-style competition.
“The AeroPress Championships are open to anyone,” says competition host Tom Roden. “The reason its informal and appealing to anyone is that you don’t need to be a professional to use the AeroPress.
“It attracts many home brewers, as it’s delightfully simple to use and you can brew with them in an infinite amount of different ways – it’s probable that everyone entering the competition will have vastly different methods.”
The device consists of two nesting cylinders in which the coffee is steeped for up to 6o seconds and then forced through a filter by pressing the plunger through the tube.
“The South Australian AeroPress Championships are a collaboration between us and local coffee roasters Dawn Patrol,” says Roden.
“We have a panel of three judges, all coffee professionals – Dom Ossa from Dawn Patrol and SAD Café; Eileen Kenny, green bean consultant for Small Batch coffee roaster, and Adam Metelmann, from Pullman Espresso Accessories.
“The judges won’t be looking for technique; all the coffees are judged on blind tastings. The judges will choose winners based on the coffee that they most want to drink.”
The winner will receive free flights to the national championships, and the top three coffee makers will also be awarded prizes.
Spectators are welcome to attend the event, which starts at 7pm. Competition entries are $20 and close on Monday, February 22. Entries can be made by emailing [email protected]. More information is available here.
