Sydney Roaster Takes Out the Champion Trophy

Sydney’s Danes Specialty Coffee has taken out the title of Champion Australian Roaster for the first time in the 2018 Australian International Coffee Awards (AICA), putting New South Wales in the spotlight for outstanding coffee production.

Seven trophies have been awarded, with three of them going to Danes Specialty Coffee, with other winners from Australian Capital Territory, New Zealand and Malaysia.

Opening its first specialty coffee house in 1995, Danes have been sourcing and supplying specialty coffees from the world’s finest estates, resulting in multi-award-winning blends and a total of 16 medals awarded to them in 2017.

Danes also took home Champion Cold Brew for their Ethiopia Kochere, a strong fruit tea flavour that comes along with citrus and stone fruit; and Champion Milk Based Coffee with Mocha Gold, a black blend that has a thick, juicy mouth feel with a rich complex flavour with hints of spice, cocoa and a chocolate finish.

2017’s Champion Australian Roaster, Bean Roasters was named Champion Direct Trade or Microlot for the Colombia Castillo, featuring pineapple, dark wine, high-cocoa chocolate in a full body and complex flavour mix.

Chiasso Coffee Co. from New Zealand were awarded Champion Filter Coffee with their Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Kochere.

Conducted by The Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria (RASV), the AICA is the first and only international coffee roasting competition in Australia, receiving 743 entries from 152 local and international coffee roasters in 2018, including coffees from New Zealand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, South Africa, Taiwan, Singapore, Greece, the USA and UK.

A total of 210 medals were awarded including seven gold, 61 silver and 142 bronze, over three days of judging which took place at Melbourne Showgrounds from 7-9 March, with a panel of industry experts led by Head Judge Melissa Caia assessing the entries.

“The standard of AICA entries overall have improved over the years,” said Ms Caia.

“These types of coffee awards are very important to our industry as a means of receiving industry recognition and understanding the level of coffee quality within the industry. This drives consumers to look for products that have had industry professionals (judges) critique the coffee and give their quality approval. It drives the roasting profession and entrants to keep developing their processes and look for ways to improve the products they are selling.”

For more information about the Champion Trophy winners visit https://winningtastes.com.au/the-tastes/winning-coffee/2018