Barista and Latte Art championships have become established and are familiar to many today. The coffee roasting championship, however, is still a small niche. Yet it is the championship where only craftsmanship counts and no show is required. Taste is at the center and the learning factor is high.
It smells, it crackles, and then Sofia opens the flap door on the Giesen roaster and lets the beans fall into the cooling sieve. The roaster of the Kaffeemacher:innen roastery team has just roasted her last batch for the 2024 championships. The coffee she selected is packaged and two days later tasted by a professional jury.
Sofia roasts her blend at the Swiss Roasting Championships
Sofia achieves the highest score and becomes Swiss Roasting Champion 2024, closely followed by Raúl, who finishes second with just one point behind and also roasts on our team.
The Swiss Roasting Championships took place for only the second time since 2019. 14 participants competed in the championship. Experienced roasters from primarily micro and mini roasteries participated.
The first World Roasting Championship took place in Nice in 2013. The 2025 World Championship will take place in Houston, where Sofia will represent Switzerland.
The Real Challenge
When someone roasts coffee, they normally do so on a familiar machine. After a few years, you know its quirks and know exactly how to handle them. This way you develop a relationship with your own roasting machine and are reluctant to switch to a new system.
At the Roasting Championship, however, this was the case until recently: All participants roast on an unfamiliar machine. At the 2024 Roasting Championship, this was an electrically powered Giesen 6kg roaster located at Blossom Coffee in Zug.
Raúl inspects the roasted beans on the Giesen 6kg roaster
Those who had previous experience with Giesen coffee roasters may have been able to get up to speed faster than someone roasting on a Giesen machine for the first time.
However, the setting was new for everyone, and that made it interesting. Although you as a participant – I as the author participated myself – master your craft, the setting influences you and creates some adrenaline. You have to keep track of time, every movement is monitored, every gram is weighed by the observers.
The Process
The championship is divided into three parts:
- Green Coffee Analysis
- Production Roasting
- Cupping
The Green Coffee Analysis
In assessing green coffee quality, all participants receive a bag with 350 g of green coffee. This must be tested using the provided materials for density, size, moisture, smell and color. Participants must then examine the coffee for defects and categorize them.
Primary defects are serious flaws that can have a direct impact on sensory characteristics. For example, a black, infected, or completely fermented bean can give the coffee a metallic or medicinal taste.
Green coffee hand sorted, Cuauhtémoc, Finca la Capella, Mexico
Defects in the second category, known as secondary defects, do not necessarily taste different from intact beans, but in large numbers can negatively affect the taste. Similarly, half beans, a secondary defect, roast differently and may therefore taste different than intended.
Within one hour, participants sort and analyze the green coffee. The correct measurement and classification of defects is evaluated here. I repeatedly hear from jurors that coffees are sometimes sorted too carefully, meaning every cosmetic flaw is considered a defect.
It can be helpful to remember that coffee is a natural product. Or you remember a motto from green coffee analysis:
"Ugly is not a defect."
Single Origin and Blend
Participants receive four Arabica coffees to choose from. They are to roast one of them as a single origin. They are to mix three of them into a blend, with each coffee making up at least 10%.
At the 2024 Swiss Championships, it was exclusively about putting together a blend. We received three green coffees in advance. The origin and processing method were also communicated.
It was a pulped natural from Brazil, a yellow honey from Costa Rica, and a washed coffee from Tanzania. We had to create a blend from these three coffees.
"Number 2 it is" - when selecting the blend
It is generally inadvisable to mix coffees with different densities or different post-harvest processes. But that was exactly the task here, and that made it exciting. All participants faced the same challenge.
We roasted the coffee on a sample roaster, cupped it and described it as follows:
- Brazil: Hazelnut, medium body, some cups slightly icy, citric
- Costa Rica: Yellow fruits, apple, lots of body and silky texture, many quakers
- Tanzania: Blackberries, citric, high acidity, medium body, silky texture
Normally we would not mix these three coffees, but that was the task. We all decided to reduce the Brazilian portion to the minimum of 10%. Sofia and Raúl chose the same blend: 60% Tanzania, 30% Costa Rica, 10% Brazil. Juan and I chose: 50% Costa Rica, 40% Tanzania, 10% Brazil.
We worked together as a team and gave each other feedback
The Evaluation
An expert jury tastes the coffees in a blind cupping, without knowing who roasted them. Various attributes of the coffee are evaluated:
- How intense and multifaceted are the aroma and flavor notes?
- How intense is the body and how pleasant the texture?
- Are acidity and sweetness in balance, and does the acidity structure the cup?
- Is the coffee long-lasting and does it leave a sweet impression?
The jury's evaluation and comparison with the roasting profile determine the final score. Without tasting the production coffee themselves, participants must anticipate based on sample roasts on a sample roaster how the coffee will taste in the end.
That was a tricky task, as we had to base assumptions on vague conjecture. We knew how the coffees tasted on the sample roaster, but whether the result would turn out exactly as desired on the unfamiliar machine was the challenge.
If the roasting profile and the description of the sensory characteristics match the observations of the jurors, there is a high score. Both Sofia and Raúl achieved this.
The Giesen Roasting Machine
Roasting was done on a Giesen roasting machine. From 2013 to 2023, Giesen sponsored the world championships, which was logistically demanding as multiple small roasting machines had to be transported worldwide. Since 2024, Stronghold electric roasters are being used. These machines represent a change of era: they are fully electric, filter exhaust air, and are therefore a popular alternative in coffee shops where live roasting takes place.
Me Against Myself
What I particularly appreciated about the championships were two things:
First, the exchange with the other participants. Since everyone had the same starting position, there were no secrets or advantages. Everyone roasted according to their philosophy and created blends according to their own taste. The atmosphere at the championships was open and collegial – ideal for exchange and learning.
Second: The Roasting Championship is only about taste and predicting how the coffee will taste. There is no jury judging the show. You only compete against yourself. If the coffee was not roasted well, you are responsible for it.
This character-building competition is emphasized by all participants having the chance to taste the other coffees in a blind cupping after the championships. It was a beautiful moment when I stood at the cupping table with other participants and we tasted the cups, which were marked with codes, together.
We agreed on which cups we particularly liked and which less. I had two favorites in this blind cupping: those from Sofia and those from Raúl.
l. to r., Dario Stoop from Coffee Architects, Sofia Heuri, Raúl Rivero
