Congratulations to Hans Kristian Andersen of CPH Coffee Lab, your 2015 Danish AeroPress Champion! On February 22nd, Andersen competed with fifteen others at the Coffee Collective, the host sponsor of the nation’s event. Andersen now moves on to compete in April at the World AeroPress Championship (WAC), taking place during the SCAA Event in Seattle, Washington.
The top three, reported first by the Coffee Collective blog:
2. Jonas Christensen — Odense
3. Rasmus Wibæk Christensen — København
We reached out to Coffee Collective’s Klaus Thomsen to find out more details.
Is this the first time you guys have held a National AeroPress Competition?
It’s the first time we hosted it, but there was a Danish AeroPress Championship in 2010 where Marie Louise Hagemeister went on to win the WAC in London.
What about the judges? What are their backgrounds?
Were there any outrageous brew methods?
No naked brewing, so nothing really outrageous. A lot of experimentation with lower temperatures and adding magnesium to the brewing water. Most competitors hand-sorted their coffee and a lot of them sifted it too, to get rid of boulders and fines. The judges said it was a tough competition [with] a lot of really excellent brews, making it difficult to find the winner in each round.
Can you tell us more about the sponsors?
It was us, The Coffee Collective, hosting and planning the entire event and the Danish AeroPress importer Øristeriet, co-sponsoring the event, helping to foot the bill and fly the winner to Seattle. Mikkeller came on board sponsoring three kegs of beer, so no one would go thirsty.
Whoa, Mikkeller. Tell us about the beer!
The beer…was goooood. Mikkeller sponsored three different kegs. Peter, Pale and Mary—a nicely hoppy American Pale Ale. Henry Jagger—a lower alchohol 2.2% APA. And the Amass IPA—a West Coast IPA brewed for the restaurant. As we can’t sell beers without a liquor license, we decided that beers were free, but asked for a donation of DKK20 for a cup. [Ed. note: That’s around $3 USD.] The money went to the winner so he has a bit to spend in Seattle.
The Recipes
Hans Kristian Andersen
16 grams coffee
Pretty coarse grind on the Mahlkönig EK43
1 filter
220 grams straight RO water at ~30 parts per million, 93 degrees Celsius
2 minutes steep time. Stir after 1:35
Push in at approximately 30 seconds
Do something so things don’t get awkward
Pour very slow from a Kalita server
Take a trip to Seattle.
Jonas Christensen, Odense
17.2 grams coffee
Filter/medium grind on EK43
Filter rinsed with water
50 grams water at 85 degrees Celsius
30 seconds bloom
Stir 3 times
200 grams water at 82 degrees Celsius
30 seconds steep
Stir quickly 3 times
Press for 60 seconds
Ramus Wibæk Christensen, København
Sort and select the best beans by removing ears, quakers, damaged and very small beans
Heat up the AeroPress and pouring kettle
Grind 18 grams coffee on the EK43 grinder step 13, anticipating 2 grams of fines
Use a Bodum gold filter or similar to remove the fines
Shake and blow to remove chaff
Pour out the water from the kettle and AeroPress
Fill the kettle with 93 degree Celsius 30ppm reverse osmosis filtered water
Add 16 grams coffee to the AeroPress
Start timer and pour 230 grams of 90 degree water over the beans
Take a moment to enjoy the smell and the Copenhagen hipsters around you
Break the crust formation by 2-3 gentle stirs
Put the S-filter from Kaffeologie in filter holder
After 1 minute, screw the cap on the Aeropress, turn the AeroPress around and onto a server.
After 1 minute and 20 seconds, press the plunger gently down until 2 minutes.
Leave a little coffee in the AeroPress
Cool down the coffee in the server under running cold water to about 55 degrees and serve to the judges, or even better, to yourself.
Danish AeroPress Championship 2015 from The Coffee Collective on Vimeo.
Film and photos by Phillip Jørgensen.
