Independent Wins BC AeroPress Competition

The coffee community in Vancouver were in for a treat on Saturday, March 28th, 2015 as the BC AeroPress Competition was held at Elysian Coffee. 

The BC AeroPress trophy is a beauty! It is made entirely out of LEGO. George Giannakos, partner and general manager of Revolver Coffee, built the trophy in twelve hours using just under 1000 pieces!

Some competitors were busy practicing their recipes in another room prior the competition.


While others were just chilling on sacks of coffee beans.

Here's a cute guide to what aeropressing is! Basically,  the AeroPress is a device for making coffee. Coffee is made by steeping the grinds then forcing it through a filter by pressing the plunger through the tube of the aeropress.

Starting off, head judge Mike Stumpf, from Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Company, said a few words about the competition.

Judges consisted of Lauren Thu from Bump n Grind, Aaron Braun from Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Company, and George Giannakos from Revolver Coffee.

Some competitors picked out the best beans to use.

Judges slurp the coffee ensuring it spread over the tongue and hits all the receptors to get all the flavours of the coffee. Some of the things they judge on are: sweetness, clarity, body, and flavour.

It was quite a turn out! The room was packed at the end of the competition!

Here were the two last cups!

Third place winner was Josh Linklater, an independent.

Second place winner was Erik Parkin of Culprit Coffee.

And the first place winner was Michael Ratcliffe an independent from the very first round!
 

He will go on to compete in the World AeroPress Championship in Seattle.

Congrats to all the winners!