The Golden Bean North America Debuts in Portland

Established as Australia’s most important roaster competition, the Compak Golden Bean  is putting down roots in North America, and will debut the festivities and competition next week in Portland, Oregon.

We couldn’t be more excited about Australia’s respected and popular roasted coffee competition the Golden Bean’s arrival  stateside: The uniquely formatted event includes lectures from industry powerhouses, social events for local cafe owners and baristas, a competition to feature more than 500 coffees submitted from all across North America, and much more.

The Compak Golden Bean North America Roasters Competition & Conference will take place September 16 through 19 at Flex Space, 1307 NW Overton, Portland, with daytime educational sessions and evening social activities.

Here’s a link to the full event program. So many things going on! What’s on the 4-day event agenda that we at Barista Magazine are especially excited about? Let’s see…

Wednesday, September 16

9 a.m.: Welcome speech from managing director Sean Edwards of Cafe Culture International, and Bellissimo’s Bruce Milletto

9:30 a.m.: Informative session about how the Compak Golden Bean North America works, concept, and judging calibration with Anne Cooper, international roasting consultant and head roaster

4 p.m.: The session, “Grinding Technology Today” with Josh Fields, managing director of Compak America

5 p.m.: The 2013 World Barista Champion Pete Licata will lead a session about his “Roast Ratings” program

7 p.m.: PING PONG CHAMPIONSHIP sponsored by Pacific Natural Foods, and Compak’s Grind-Off

Thursday, September 17

4 p.m.: A session with Roy Parker of Pentair on the topic,  Statistics of World Coffee Trends and Water Quality

6 p.m.: Progressive dinner and brewery tour (bus leaves from Flex Space)

Friday, September 18

11 a.m.: “Women in Coffee” session led by  Mery Santos, Vice President, International Women’s Coffee Alliance

4 p.m.: David Griswold of Sustainable Harvest will speak on the topic, “Innovation and collaboration in the coffee supply chain”

4:30 p.m.: Matt Milletto of Bellissimo and Sean Edwards will speak on “Future trends in global coffee business”

Saturday, September 19  will be packed with green and roasted coffee evaluation through an exploration of Sustainable Harvest’s Tastify app, and the Green Bean Zone. Activities on this day will take place at the American Barista & Coffee School

And Saturday evening will be the big Compak Golden Bean Awards Dinner, taking place at the Jupiter Hotel, and beginning at 7:30

Awards will be presented in a variety of categories including:

1. Espresso
2. Milk Based
3. Emersion / Filter Coffee (Espro)
4. Organic Espresso
5. Single Origin Espresso
6. Decaffeinated (Milk Based)
7. Chain Espresso
8. Chain Milk Based

Roasters interested in entering coffees may still do so until September 15. Go HERE for details.

Want to register to attend? Go HERE.

See you next week at the Compak Golden Bean North America!