Kiwi invention behind World Coffee Championship win
A New Zealand-designed and manufactured benchtop coffee roasting machine has gained global recognition as part of the 2021 World Brewers Cup competition, which is part of the Milan World Coffee Championships.
The Dunedin-designed and Christchurch-manufactured Kaffelogic home roaster produced the roasted coffee beans used by World Brewers Cup winner Matt Winton, who represented Switzerland at the championships.
The Brewers Cup competition, according to John Robson, marketing director at Kaffelogic, promotes the art of manual coffee brewing – “the purest form of coffee brewing” – and honours those who excel at producing hand-brewed filter coffee on a global scale.
“We are overjoyed by Matt’s success, which further establishes Kaffelogic as a world-class product. Even more remarkable is that Kaffelogic is a small benchtop appliance – minuscule in comparison to large professional coffee roasting machines “‘He stated.
“Matt’s victory demonstrates that the Kaffelogic roaster is capable of producing the highest-quality roasted coffee beans, which enabled him to deliver his world championship-winning brew.”
Competitors prepare and serve three distinct beverages to a panel of judges during the championship, which takes place in October. They must also accompany their beverage preparation with a presentation.
Matt Winton, who collaborated with coach and friend Sam Corra to create the competition’s blend of roasted beans, explained that the Kaffelogic roaster’s versatility enabled them to quickly and easily fine-tune the roast profile of the coffees used.
“I’m blown away by Kaffelogic’s efforts to create an affordable roaster capable of producing incredibly high-quality results. It’s an incredible little roaster, and the results speak for themselves.”
Along with Matt’s victory in the World Brewers Cup, Kaffelogic-roasted coffee took fifth place in the World Barista Championship, which was held in conjunction with the World Coffee Championship in Milan.
In a 15-minute performance set to music, competitors prepared four espressos, four milk drinks, and four original signature drinks to exacting standards. Martin Shabaya of Kenya won fifth place with his’milk coffee drink’ routine, which featured coffee roasted on a Kaffelogic machine.
Kaffelogic launched in 2019 after several years of development and trials by the company’s founder, Chris Hilder, with funding from John Robson and former All Black Reuben Thorne. Units have been sold in over 20 countries.
Mr Robson described the product’s origins as a classic Kiwi ‘back shed’ story.
“Chris spent four or five years in Dunedin figuring out how to roast coffee at home using a popcorn maker. He discovered through trial and error that the perfect roast requires constant control of heat and airflow at various stages during the roasting process.”
Mr Hilder leveraged his background in software engineering to develop software that could be integrated into the roaster, allowing him to repeatedly replicate the perfect roast with the push of a button.
“Chris’ vision of coffee roasting becoming a ‘thing’ for the home coffee enthusiast is now becoming a reality. Users can simply dial in their prefered roast, ensuring consistently great coffee in their own kitchens.
