The road from Peru to first place in Nordics Best Roaster
Nordics Best Roaster is perhaps one of the most prestigious championships we have for coffee roasters in the Nordic region. 10 skilled finalists compete for the title of the Nordic's best roaster. And we won!
In the competition, roasters from all over the Nordic countries gather to compete in the art of extracting the full potential of coffee as a raw material. In the "sourced coffee" category, each participating roastery is free to choose the coffee they believe is the best they have available, before it is judged through strict blind tastings by a panel of judges. For us, this is an exciting arena to showcase both the close collaboration we have with producers and the craftsmanship behind every single roast here at our facility.
Thorough plans and strategies often lie behind a competition roast. For our part, the path to this year's championship was laid some time ago. The choice had fallen on a fantastic Geisha from Benjamin Paz and the La Salsa farm. We were so confident in this choice that Trude even sacrificed five kilos of shrimp from her freezer at home to ensure perfect storage of the green coffee! But in our world, we are primarily guided by taste, and sometimes a raw material appears that changes everything.
Cupping between Oslo and Peru
In January, John Ivar was on a coffee trip to origin in Peru, together with Kolonihagen, to visit our partners at Origin Coffee Lab. During the visit, they cupped samples of coffee that were soon on their way. At the same time, Trude and Lise were at home in Oslo, tasting exactly the same samples. Trude had roasted the samples at Roest, and the expectation was a normal working day with quality control.
Sometimes, however, something special happens at the cupping table, and two coffees stood out so much that they gave Trude goosebumps! A natural SL9 and a washed Geisha from the La Palestina farm. Almost simultaneously, we realized at both ends of the cupping that this Geisha coffee was something extraordinary; it was simply an optimal competition coffee.
The decision was made within minutes via eager messages between Oslo and Peru: we simply had to have this coffee! Watch the video where John Ivar got help choosing the coffee from our partners in Peru, which he sent straight to Trude when she was choosing between SL9 and Geisha. Voila, the choice was made!
Thanks to quick handling from John Ivar and our partners in Peru, we got 20 kilos of La Palestina Geisha through the roastery doors in time. This was just enough for one test roast and two rounds of competition batches.
The process required full focus and precision. The test roast turned out to be a shade darker than what we wanted to present. Trude therefore adjusted the next two batches by lowering the exit temperature and shortening the roasting time by a few seconds to hit the perfect profile. The following weekend was spent on intensive cupping, sorting out defects, and packing to get the coffee off to Gothenburg in time.
A victory that means a lot
In the "sourced coffee" category at Nordics Best Roaster, it became clear that gut feeling and quick decisions paid off. It was an incredible feeling to finish in first place this year, especially with a margin of a full 22 points down to second place in this category.
This victory is a reminder of why we love what we do. Being present in the moment, trusting our own professional judgments, and daring to change course when encountering a raw material that truly shines.
We are incredibly proud of our team and of the result, and grateful for the exceptional craftsmanship put in at the La Palestina farm.
The rest, as they say, is history!
