We look back at Roast Masters 2023 with Max Weldam from The Village Coffee & Music, who walked away with the win.
How do you look back on the Roast Masters competition?
"It was a nice challenge. We actually went into the competition without any preparation and didn't really know what to expect. It became an intense weekend with many different rounds. Looking back feels like a daze, but I still remember the semi-final and final well.
We spent some time preparing ourselves that Saturday morning, so at the moment suprême, let's say, we really felt like we showed our potential. It was great to be able to demonstrate our knowledge and coffee philosophy during this competition and to get appreciated for it.”
What was the highlight for you?
“I liked it the second time roasting with the
Stronghold S7 Pro. At such a moment, as a coffee roaster, you really rely on experience to make the right choices with the limited given time. There was no time for doubts and you have to fully trust upon your own abilities.”
So the live roasting on the Stronghold was a success?
"It was my favourite part of the competition. The S7 Pro roaster itself was completely new to me. During the first round, I mainly reviewed all the options and tried a few different profiles and heat sources. This gave us a lot of insights for the second day of roasting, which is how I got to finetune our approach and optimise the coffee itself. It was also fun to highspeed cup all the coffees, anticipating how each one would develop.”
What did you think of the mystery coffees and what did you think they were?
“We had a strong sense of mystery coffees during the competition, but now I don't feel so strongly anymore. If I had to guess, one coffee was a washed Colombia, probably a bourbon.”
ALSO CHECK OUT: ROAST MASTERS MYSTERY COFFEE REVEALED
You were also asked to brew a filter coffee for the jury in 15 minutes using one of your own coffees. What recipe did you follow?
“We chose the
Hario Switch as a method, because we are fans of the control that an immersion brewer offers, but also the high extraction and flavour profile of a pourover. We followed a classic recipe of 300 millilitres of water and 20 grams of coffee. We started with a big bloom of 60 millilitres and followed up with pulses of 90, 50, 50 and 50. Splitting these pours into four, we managed to achieve a high extraction. During the blooming stage the switch closed and afterwards open.”
What was your signature drink?
“We put a twist on a classic Negroni adding an espresso. With notes of raspberry and orange, our espresso was extremely fresh, fruity and blended very well the Negroni flavour profile. The espresso added a surprising sweet taste taking the cocktail to a new level. We didn’t use any ice either, cooleing the mixture in the mixing vessels, which kept the cocktail from becoming watery.”
Ingredients
50 ml – Martini Rosso
50 ml – Campari
50 ml – Bombay Gin
50ml – Espresso, Rwanda yeast inoculated washed
Orange peel over the glass rim for fragrance and as a garnish in the glass.