Competition in Coffee
Have you ever considered the competitive side of the coffee industry? Probably not. In fact, most of the time when I describe it, people look at me like I’m crazy. “Seriously, that’s really is a thing?” You’d be surprised. Nearly every industry has an associated professional competition. Just this last fall my family and I attended the 2019 MW-ISA Tree Climbing Championship in Central Riverside Park, Wichita, KS. Go check it out! It’s super cool.
In 2018, our now lead roaster, then assistance roaster, Oscar Pineda, traveled to Seattle in 2018 to attend the Specialty Coffee Association annual expo. While exploring the expo floor and attending education sessions, he stumbled upon the competitive side of the industry: the US Coffee Championships. Disciplines include barista, brewers cup, cup tasting, coffee in good spirits, and roasting.
Oscar Pineda, Reverie’s lead roaster, making a pour over of his competition coffee for the US Roaster Championships preliminaries in Denver, CO.
You could say that Oscar was surprised by how much the competition inspired him. “I’m already in the roasting game, so I asked myself, ‘do I quit to find another job, or keep moving forward’?” Competing seemed to be the answer, even though he doesn’t consider himself very competitive.
The following year Oscar attended the regional championship semi-finals in Kansas City. He was able to study the competition first hand and decided needed to become as confident as a competitor. “KC inspired me to compete because I wanted to test my level of knowledge,” explained Oscar. So along with a little encouragement from a roaster peer, he signed up to compete in the 2020 Roaster Championship preliminaries in Denver, CO.
The 12 spots filled up fast. Within a few weeks, Oscar received 20 pounds of an unknown competition coffee. His task was to roast this coffee to the best of his ability and then present his findings to a panel of professional judges. Competitors graded the green coffee and evaluated it for defects and quality. Oscar sample roasted his coffee to determine the possibilities for the final product. He then created a detailed roast plan, and after a few small batches of test roasts, created the final roast profile that was sent to the competition for evaluation.
Evaluating green coffee to be roasted in the 2020 US Roaster Championship preliminaries.
His next task was to present his results to the judge’s panel in person. Standing in the middle of the Allegro Coffee on Tennyson Ave. in Denver, CO, Oscar and the other 11 competitors shared their plans and results in a quick 5-minute presentation. He was a bit nervous having never presented in a situation similar to this. He missed several important points he knew he needed to deliver. And he may not have provided the best accumulation of evidence to support the coffee he roasted. Oscar took the last place in this event.
Oscar sample roasting competition coffee for the 2020 US Roaster Championship preliminaries.
Here’s the deal, I don’t want you to feel bad for Oscar. He doesn’t. A quick Google search reveals there are approximately 2,000 coffee roaster companies in the United States. There can only be 72 who will compete in the preliminaries for the final 6 or 12 slots. It’s exclusive and difficult to place, especially as a first time competitor.
And the thing that really mattered was that Oscar decided in advance that he would be a winner no matter what just by doing it. By showing up, he proved to himself that he can do this. There are so many reasons why one may not choose to compete. I’m not ready, I’m not good enough, I can’t afford it, I don’t know what I’m doing. All are just excuses. Oscar showed up. He did his best and he won.
Out of the 12 competitors, there were only 2 women. “I was really surprised how few Hispanic roasters compete,” Oscar said. He was the only person of color in the competition, a point he made as we talked about how few Latino roasters are represented in our industry. Oscar often asks himself, “how can I inspire them to compete?”
Oscar holding the visual aide he created to demonstrate to the judges his roast plan.
Oh, and his coffee was really great. I sampled every coffee in the competition, and Oscar’s coffee was beautifully nuanced and full of discernible flavors. All the coffees were similar, but most were not too memorable. He really did a great job with the coffee and the judges agreed.
Where he (and most of the competitors) got caught up and docked points were all things he understood and was prepared to display. He spent 45 minutes after the competition talking with each judge about how he could improve. Those 45 minutes will probably be the most important 45 minutes in his roasting career. He went from being upset with a poor score and a loss to knowing he already has what it takes to be great. He remembered he had already won, and now Oscar has the knowledge to do better the next time.
Oscar Pineda, Reverie’s lead roaster, preparing to compete in the 2020 US Roaster Championship preliminaries.
And there will be a next time. Oscar has already started rebuilding the roasting lab into a more technical center for coffee quality and education. And he couldn’t be more excited to share his new knowledge with our roasting team and customers. “Competing isn’t really my thing,” said Oscar. “But getting better is my thing.”
I guess this is a neat story about a local Wichitan competing for a place at the top of a professional field. But it’s so much more than that. I often think about what may be or what could be. And I’ve been known to do this, sometimes forever. Oscar taught me that you just have to do it, whatever it may be. You’re not going to win or learn anything by standing on the sideline wondering. And by jumping into this competition head first, even after a “loss”, he gained so much it’s hard to even think he lost anything at all. “Everyday struggles are part of what inspires me to keep moving forward and do what I love,” said Oscar. “I correct my failures and become better.”
Jason Hendry (left), Oscar Pineda (center) and Andrew Gough (right) after the competition.
So if you happen to see Oscar in the café or roastery, be sure to pat him on the back. If you are interested in learning more about coffee and coffee competitions, reach out to us and we can make that happen. We are now conducting monthly coffee classes and roastery tours, led by Oscar and our wholesale manager, Jason Hendry. And we secretly offer weekly coffee cuppings for coffee professionals and guests. Just ask one of our teammates for more information. We’d love to welcome you into our world.