The dust has settled, the brews cooled, and we now know the best coffee brewer in America: Todd Goldsworthy of Klatch Coffee has won the 2016 United States Brewers Cup Championship. This is Goldsworthy’s second win at the manual brewing tournament, and the fourth national win for Klatch Coffee, whose Heather Perry won the United States Barista Championship for Klatch in 2003 and 2007.
Relive complete coverage of the 2016 US Brewers Cup Championship on SprudgeLive.
Two years removed from his first US Brewer’s Cup Championship win, Goldsworthy was back in the finals this year presenting the very same coffee he rode to victory in 2014. His routine’s theme revolved around an open-ended question: “What happens if?” Working with the Peterson family at the revered Hacienda La Esmeralda in Panama, Goldsworthy brewed a naturally processed Geisha coffee for his judges at he Brewers Cup. He visited the farm three weeks ago prior to competition, an experience that imbued his routine with an intimacy with farm processes—not many competitors are able to talk about factors like wind blockers and plant height (Goldsworthy’s Geisha grows to a healthy 2-3 meters, in case you’re wondering).
There was so much detail in this routine. We learned that his coffee was harvested on February 5th before being patio dried for three days and hand sorted; we discovered that Goldsworthy and Team Klatch attempted 12 roasts of the coffee before ultimately going with a 50/50 blend of a quick development and slower development; and we got a farm-level tour of Hacienda La Esmeralda.
Ah, but the brew method! Todd Goldsworthy’s winning brew made us of the Kalita Wave, a smart little brewer imported from Japan by Kalita USA. Goldsworthy brewed 28 grams of coffee with 350 grams of water in three minutes and fifteen seconds. His resulting cup yielded blueberry and coriander seed aroma, with flavor notes of red grapefruit, raspberry, sugar cane. Black tea and blackberry were also cited.
Todd Goldsworthy now moves on to represent the United States at the 2016 World Brewers Cup Championship in Dublin, Ireland. We’ll have much more on Goldsworthy’s big win in the coming weeks on Sprudge, leading up to the event in Dublin June 23rd-25th.
Sprudge.com’s coverage of the United States Brewers Cup Championship is made possible by support from Acaia Coffee. All of our 2016 coffee competitions coverage is presented by KitchenAid Craft Coffee Brewers and Urnex Brands.
Evan C. Jones contributed to this reporting. Sprudge Media Network’s coverage of the 2016 US Coffee Championships was produced by Zac Cadwalader. Photos by Charlie Burt and Kate Beard for Sprudge.
