Roaster’s Guild Winner 2013

Roasters all around the country all converged over this past weekend at the Roasters Guild Retreat in West Virginia. Here, roasters get together to collaborate, train, and compete amongst each other. The competition focuses on accessing a well rounded skill level, testing on the roaster’s knowledge of origins, roasting blends, and cupping. This year’s competition added a new twist by requiring teams to come up with a brewing recipe that would highlight he characteristics of their blends using the Curtis Gold Cup Brewer. 250 roasters from around the world, including some of the world’s best, were divided into small teams to compete against each other.
Team Earth, Wind, & Triers, comprised of Stephan VonKolow from Café Virtuoso, Derek De La Paz from Peace Coffee, Adam Shaw from Deeper Roots Coffee, Lorraine Walker from Silver Bridge Coffee, Jason Burkum from Bean Smith, Kenny Davis from San Cristobal Coffee, Jared Hamilton from Dutch Bros, Michael Giudice from Costco, Lisa Grant and Todd Mackey from InterAmerican Coffee, Kurt Balogh from Coffee Lab Roasters, Kevin Brady and David Copeland from Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Caitlin McCarthy-Garcia from Equator Coffees, Mark Small from A&E Coffee Roastery, & Gloria Tillman from GE, won this past competition for 2013.
Café Virtuoso’s Roastmaster, Stephan Vonkolkow was fortunate enough to be on the winning team two years in a row. The retreat was an all around great opportunity for roasters to collaborate and get new inspiration to take back to their turf.
For more information on the retreat or on the competition experience, contact lauren@cafevirtuoso.com from Café Virtuoso.