And the winner is…

Press Release – September 21st

Compak Golden Bean North America Conclusion!
Coffee vapours drifted over Portland last week as year two of the North American Compak Golden Bean Competition took place. Over 700 coffees were entered and judged from 244 North American Roasters. The Compak Golden Bean is now the largest global coffee roasting competition with over 2000 entries in the Australian market and will be entering the UK marketplace in 2017.

This year’s overall winner was Scott and Amy Angelo from Oceana Coffee in Florida. Scott has won Gold two years in a row for his milk based coffee. This year’s gold medal for milk base helped bump his points up to be the overall champion. The overall champion is decided by the combination of the highest score in Espresso and Milk base which showcases the roasters skill in changing profiles for different brew methods. The winning milk blend was a Natural Ethiopian and farm direct Columbian.

Scott has an amazing palate and he fully understands matching coffee roasts profiles to different brew methods. His two cafes in Tequesta are a testament to his business acumen being busy all the time. Scott and Amy also won Business of the Year for North Palm Beach County after last years Compak Golden Bean medal win which helped in their submission at the local chamber business awards.

(We profiled Scott after his Milk Based Gold in 2015, check it out here)

1st Place overall Champion – Oceana Coffee, Florida
2nd Place overall winner – Crimson Cup Coffee, Ohio
3rd Place overall winner – Klatch Coffee, California

This years Franchise/Coffee Chain winner went to Klatch Coffee in California. Owner of the business Mike Perry was at the awards to collect the prize and the coveted Reg Barber crafted trophy. This section of the competition is for coffee roasters who roast for multiple store businesses. The Compak Golden Bean added this award so small and large coffee chains can showcase their winning blends to the consumer market. Mike was the Compak Golden Bean Champion from last year and this win shows he is still working hard in his business to produce winning coffees for the marketplace. Klatch Coffee is a well known brand and his LAX café is a favourite stop over for coffee lovers that are looking for a caffeinated treat whilst passing through Los Angeles.

(We profiled Mike after his Overall Champion win in 2015, check it out here)

The Compak Golden Bean this year saw many winners in the nine categories that were judged. Head Judges Peter Licata and Anne Cooper had a mammoth task of organising the large amount of entries through the 3 days of judging but, they had plenty of help with over 120 people attending and as delegate/judges.

The goal of the event is to find the positives of the entered coffee through blind coffee cupping and through different brew methods. The Engine room was well equipped this year with a quiver of Conical Compak grinders, Class 11 Rancilio Xcelsius espresso machines and the filters were run through Behmor Brazen brewers.

It was a great year for the event doubling numbers all round so it’s time to set dates for 2017 which will probably be late September away from other coffee events.

A big thanks goes out to all the North American coffee industry for believing in this competition and making it a reality.

Sean Edwards
Head Bean – The Compak Golden Bean North America

Full list of winners is available here (downloadable pdf)