Scenes From The 2015 Italian AeroPress Championship

The second edition of the Italian AeroPress Championship took place in Milan on March 1st, and saw Davide Berti of La Chichera Cafe win the title. This is the second consecutive year we’ve covered this event on Sprudge, following the inaugural launch of the Italian AeroPress Championship in 2014.

The three judges of the competition were Cinzia Linardi, former Italian Cup Tasters Champion; Matt Slater, Q grader at Falcon Speciality Green Coffee Importers; and Callum Hale Thompson, a barista, former UKBC competitor, and longtime Sprudge staff favorite.

The 18 contestants, who travelled from all over Italy to attend the competition, used a Kenya Ther’i AB coffee (washed— 2014 crop) roasted by Simone Meriggi for Terrone Coffee Roasters.

The overall standard was high, as the judges often seemed to struggle to reach a verdict. Callum Hale Thompson told me, “Everyone managed to bring out a different element of the competition coffee, and it was often a very close call. I think I was most surprised at the experimentation in dosages in the final; I didn’t expect there to be such a variance at all!”

The contest was held at Bioesserì, an organic and vegetarian restaurant in the centre of Milan. Like the first edition, the event was organised by IMS Filtri and Terrone Coffee, who have also partnered to produce metal filters for AeroPress. There was a huge turnout of people watching the competition or tasting coffees at the brew bar, and the venue was packed for the entire afternoon.

I spoke further with another one of the judges, Matt Slater of Falcon, who said of the event: “For me it was like going to see a great indie band just starting out when the audience is small but everybody there knows the words! There was loads of support even for the opposition,” Slater continued. “It was a pleasure to be a part of this year’s championships, and each of the finalists were unique in their own style, recipes and approach—just how it should be!”

Prizes for the three winners included the official gold, silver or bronze AeroPress brewers, Aerobie flying rings, custom kits from Metallurgica Motta, Puly Caff cleaning kits, La Marzocco t-shirts and IMS golden filters.

Davide Berti, whose other titles are Italian Coffee in Good Spirits Champion and Cezve/Ibrik World Champion, will represent Italy at the World AeroPress Championship in Seattle next month.

Recipes from the three winners of the Italian AeroPress Championship: