How to become a Norwegian Coffee Champion

Norwegian Champion Ole is back with the grand finale of his coffee journey so far. Here you'll find many useful brewing tips and information from the Norwegian Championship. The moral of Ole's story, as he himself says, is: "You don't need years of experience to make really good coffee! You can go a long way with interest, good ingredients, and the right equipment." We couldn't have said it better ourselves. Keep it up, Ole, and everyone else brewing coffee at home on their kitchen counter. Remember, good coffee makes life a little better, every day! Read and learn:

Here are some thoughts on the preparation, equipment, and execution of this year's NM where I became the Norwegian champion in Brewers Cup.

It's strange to think that it's only been a month since we were at the SMAK fair in Lillestrøm, where this year's Norwegian Championship in coffee art was held. Just before Corona. Large parts of the coffee industry gathered for four days of competitions, celebration, and fun.

I participated in the Brewers Cup category, which involves brewing the best possible coffee by hand. The competition consists of two preliminary rounds and a final.

In the first round, all participants must use the same coffee, same water, and same grinder. The only thing we can choose ourselves is the brewing method. We know nothing about the coffee other than who supplied it.

The way this round works is that everyone gets two hours to practice. During this time, we need to figure out the brewing method, recipe, and grind size. Then we go on stage where we have eight minutes of prep time and seven minutes of competition time.

We then have to make three brews that are taken to the judges backstage, where they taste the coffee without knowing who brewed it.

The coffee we were given was relatively easy to figure out, and I quickly decided to use the usual V60 recipe I brew every single day.

20 grams of coffee to 300 grams of water at a temperature of 93 °C.

I divide it into five pours.

1. 50 grams with 40 seconds of bloom
2. 70 grams – wait until 1:30
3. 60 grams – wait until 2:10
4. 60 grams – wait until 2:50
5. 60 grams – brewing time 3:30

Feel free to watch this brewing video for inspiration:

The brewing itself went smoothly, but I could have been eliminated before it even started. The grinder was unfamiliar to most of us, and when it was my turn to go on stage, I couldn't get it to start. This could have led to me running out of time and thus being eliminated before the whole thing began.

Fortunately, I had a very kind competitor next to me who showed me how to get it started again. So a big thank you to Beate Sofie Myksvoll for coming to my rescue!

The feeling of an oral exam

In the next round, participants have more freedom. We can choose our own coffee, grinder, and water. The challenge with this round is that you have to give a presentation while brewing coffee.

There are three judges who evaluate taste and presentation, and one judge who evaluates your technical skills. In addition, there are timekeepers who keep track of the time.

You are judged on a number of different parameters. How well you can describe the flavors, what the judges find in the cup, customer service, etc. In addition, there are a number of different rules to adhere to. As you could read in my previous post, making good coffee is not enough if you don't follow the rules.

It might sound daunting to brew coffee for judges who know so much and evaluate everything you do, but it's important to remember that they only want the best for you.

For the NM, I brought both a regular glass V60, an Aeropress, and the new V60 Immersion Dripper Switch.

I brought three different coffees to the competition, all of which were good, but one stood out. An anaerobic fermented geisha from the Finca Hartmann farm in Panama, roasted by Audun Sørbotten, who won the World Coffee Roasting Championship in 2015. In other words, a VERY good coffee!

I only brought 125 grams to the competition, which is very little, but the coffee was so special that I just had to try.

With this coffee, I wanted to highlight the complexity, mouthfeel, and sweetness. Therefore, I chose to use the new Immersion dripper that I had been recommended prior to the NM.

With this brewer, you can stop the water from flowing through. This means that the extraction takes place in the brewer, allowing for even more flavor.

The recipe I used was as follows:

17 grams of coffee to 220 grams of water at a temperature of 93 °C.

1. 50 grams bloom with the brewer closed – wait 45 seconds
2. Then pour 100 grams directly in with the brewer open – wait until 1:30
3. Close the brewer and pour the last 70 grams of water in circular motions – wait until 2:30
4. Open the brewer and let the water flow through. Total brewing time was approx. 3:20

The grind size was slightly coarser than regular filter.

Oh, am I in the final?

 

As you could read in my previous post, I am just an avid home brewer who finds coffee exciting. The level of the competitors was sky-high, so I didn't expect to be in the final, but to my great surprise, I was called up as one of six to compete for the Norwegian championship title after the first two rounds were completed.

The final takes place in the same way as the second preliminary round, so I just had to go home to fine-tune my presentation. I didn't have enough coffee to practice, so I just had to trust that the brewing would be as good in the final.

I had a few small things I wanted to improve, so I focused on those and prepared my equipment for another round.

For me, who doesn't work with coffee, I had to spend a day at the office between the preliminary round and the final, but that was actually a nice way to relax.

When the final day arrived, I was confident in what I was going to do and quite relaxed about the whole thing. The challenge was perhaps not to become too relaxed. It's easy to make careless mistakes then, but the brewing went as it should, and my presentation was spot on.

I learned a lot from watching the other participants, and I was satisfied regardless of the outcome.

The NM party and award ceremony took place at Espressospesialisten downtown. There were many friendly people and a good atmosphere. Truly the coffee industry at its best!

It took some time for the results to come in, but Marit and the rest of the eminent organizers at SCA wanted to be absolutely sure before anything was announced.

When they finally started calling out from 6th place upwards, I expected to be fifth. When there were only three left, I thought it would be cool if I came in third and took a trophy home.

But then 3rd place was called, and then 2nd place. Finally, I realized that there was no one left and that I had won the whole thing. It was truly a surreal experience for me, who is used to brewing coffee for my wife.

It's also surreal to think that it's only been four weeks since we were at the NM party. The world has changed for all of us, and brewing coffee at home has really taken off. Who knows, maybe we'll see each other at the NM next year?

One thing is for sure, though. You don't need years of experience to make really good coffee! You can go a long way with interest, good ingredients, and the right equipment.

For my part, the World Championship in Melbourne now awaits, which was originally scheduled for May. It's hard to say what the world will look like in a few months, but the plan is for it to be held in November. Then I will be prepared!

Take care for now.

Ole