On the evening of May 21st, 2013, Melbourne’s absolutely stunning Code Black Coffee Roasters played host to a microlot cupping put on by Your Sprudge Editors plus two esteemed delegates from the team at Cafe Imports, Noah Namowicz and Gabe Dunn. A wildly diverse international crowd of around 75 folks joined us as we cupped our way through a plethora of coffees from roasters across the United States.
As Noah Namowicz led the crowd in a brief overview of Cafe Imports’ microlot sourcing methodology, we took a moment to take stock of the scene around us. It included national champions from across Europe and Asia (including Finnish champ Kalle Freese), roasters and representatives from a wide swath of Melbourne cafes (Everyday Coffee, Top Paddock) and roasters (Sensory Lab, Proud Mary), plus long distance friends from North America like Wille Yli-Luoma (Heart Roasters) and Brent Fortune. The coffees were fabulous, of course, but the company? Top notch.
Here’s a complete list of the coffees served at our event at Code Black:
Coava Coffee Roasters, PDX – Santa Sofia Colombia, Kochere Yirga Cheffe, Honduras David Mancia
Flight Coffee Roasters, Wellington – Kenya French Mission Natural (currently unavailable, part of NZ Champion Nick Clark’s WBC routine)
Roseline Coffee, PDX – Colombia Los Naranjos, Costa Rica
Halfwit Coffee Roasters, Chicago – Colombia Santana
Sightglass Coffee, San Francisco – Colombia Finca Los Florestales, Rwanda Tomba Cocatu
Stumptown Coffee Roasters, PDX – Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Chelbessa, Costa Rica Montes De Oro
Central City Coffee, PDX – Rwanda Burmera, Velocity Blend
The Red E, PDX – Rwanda Burmera, Colombia Las Margaritas
Intelligentsia Coffee, Los Angeles – Costa Rica Flecha Roja
Cafe Imports – Costa Rica Los Lobos, Colombia Trujillo, El Salvador Plan de la Batea
Verve Coffee Roasters, Santa Cruz – Peru Benjamin Peralta
Water Avenue Coffee Company – El Salvador Buena Vista, El Salvador San Luis
Beansmith Coffee, Omaha – Colombia Primavera
Heart Coffee Roasters, PDX – Colombia Desarrollo, Guatemala Pulcal
The conviviality of the evening was greatly buttressed by beers from Fat Yak and Mountain Goat, plus a few bottles of absolutely delicious Coonawarra Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. It was our pleasure to present these coffees to our friends in Melbourne both old and new, alongside our longtime partners at Cafe Imports. A great many thanks to all who attended, our gracious hosts at Code Black, and of course to the roasters back home who generously supplied their coffees for this event.
We’ve got another cupping party scheduled for our time in Melbourne, happening on Tuesday, May 28th at Everyday Coffee. Do join us!
