Armed with only a list of origins and tasting notes, nearly 200 attendees put their tasting skills to the test by identifying the origins of 9 different coffees. The cupping events ran in ten cities from Auckland to Dunedin and were hosted by:
Ozone Coffee Roasters in New Plymouth
Crazy Good in Napier
Strictly Coffee in Dunedin
Grey Street Kitchen in Hamilton
Coffee Lab in Auckland
Flight Coffee Roastery in Wellington
Arrosta in Palmerston North
Dry Dock Cafe in Tauranga
The Anchorage in Christchurch
New Zealand School of Coffee in Nelson
Cuppers at Coffee Lab, Auckland
The coffees were supplied by 9 different New Zealand Specialty Coffee Association members.
“I was surprised how difficult it was to guess the origin. In the events that I hosted, around 20% of coffee professionals and 40% of non-industry attendees scored 0/9 when determining the coffee’s origin,” said Nico Refiti who organized the events and hosted in New Plymouth, Hamilton and Tauranga. “We did get some great feedback on the events, I think people appreciated tasting the coffees without the full branding associated with each roastery. The crowd favourite at both Hamilton and Tauranga was a delicious Ethiopian coffee roasted by Matt Sinclair at Firsthand Coffee Roasters in Napier,” he added.
At Arrosta, Palmerston North
Many thanks again to all our hosts across the country and to the roasters who contributed their coffee for this event.
Coffee 1: Rwanda – Flight Coffee, Wellington, roasted by Nic Rapp on a Probat UG-22
Coffee 2: Peru – People’s Coffee, Wellington, roasted by Rene McCauley on a 5kg Probat
Coffee 3: Brazil – The Crafted Coffee Company, Christchurch, roasted by Alex Casserly on a 15kg Lynchbuilt
Coffee 4: Burundi – Ozone Coffee Roasters, New Plymouth, roasted by Amy Nunn on a 45kg Probat
Coffee 5: Ethiopia – Firsthand Coffee, Napier, roasted by Matt Sinclair on a 10kg Has Garanti
Coffee 6: Costa Rica – Excelso Coffee Roasters, Tauranga, roasted by Bjorn Waling on a 10kg Probat
Coffee 7: Guatemala – Rocket Coffee, Hamilton, roasted by Glenn Woodcock on a 6kg 805N
Coffee 8: Colombia – Kokako Organic Coffee Roasters, Auckland, roasted by Sam McTavish on a 25kg Probatone
Coffee 9: Kenya – Coffee Lab, Auckland, roasted by Anna McGregor on a Probat UG22
We aim to run similar events in the future, email Nico if you would like to run or host an event.