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The Golden Bean Australia roasting competition is a celebration of the specialty coffee industry's roasters. The 1200+ coffees entered in this years competition were all roasted and designed especially for the 7 categories and specific brew ratios outlined by the competition organisers. These coffees were entered, then brewed by 8 baristas and judged for flavour, body, balance, acidity, aroma and aftertaste by a large panel of judges, led by 4 category judges and supervised by one head judge, Anne Cooper. Our very own Tony Macri had the priviledge of being one of these four category judges. This competition is a national event and to attend or place in these categories is a huge honour.

This year, Coffee Brothers came home holding 5xmedals!! The team are so very proud of this result and we are all super excited for our boss Tony Macri in this achievement. It is a beyond fantastic result. The medals include:

- GOLD MEDALIST WINNER for Milk Based Espresso (this was the largest category with over 350 entries. It is our proudest achievement!)

- GOLD MEDALIST WINNER for Organic Espresso (Panama Geisha)

- BRONZE MEDALIST for Decaf (second year running!)

- BRONZE MEDALIST for Milk Based Espresso (with our age old Vanuatu Gold. What else?!)

- BRONZE MEDALIST for Espresso (Panama Geisha)

This is such a wonderful achievement and we are very proud of our team and especially of Tony. Coffee Brothers also managed to place tied second for the overall Golden Beanie Award. We share it this year with the esteemed Ona Coffee Roasters and trail very closely behind the overall winners being our friends up at Di Bella Coffee Roasters.

We, the CB team, would like to say a big thank you to all the sponsors but also to all of our loyal customers! You drink our coffee every day and enjoy it every time and you are not afraid to tell us when something isn't quite right. This alows us to push harder and strive for better results and we love that. The results are clealry paying off through the achievement of these awards. So thank you for your loyalty!

A big thank you goes to all the sponsors, including Compak Grinders, Rancilio, Dairy Farmers Pura milk, CRA, Reg Barber, Pentair, Just Coffee Insurance, Cast Away, Behmor, d/Ancap, Coffee Snobs, Chux, Silver Chef and especially to Cafe Culture Magazine for running another successful event.

I will keep this one short and sweet!

This may seem like a basic topic but the way you store your coffee should NOT be underestimated! It may influence your machines and will certainly impact flavour. So without fluffing around, here are my go-to tips to preserve your coffee beans:

DO’S & DON’T’S

• DON’T leave your coffee beans in the sun – it will go stale like bread
• DO keep your coffee away from the light

• DON’T leave your coffee beans open to the air – again, like bread, they will go stale faster
• DO keep your coffee in a sealed bag or container. Your best option is a foil bag with the air vacuum often used and provided by the barista

• DON’T keep your beans in an oven! Heat kills the flavour!
• DO keep your beans somewhere cool. BUT;
• DON’T (just don’t!) put your beans in the fridge! Don’t do it! It doesn’t preserve them, it only adds moisture to the beans, which kills the flavour and ruins your grinder’s blades. Similarly, with freezing, unless you have a blast freezer that freezes the beans so fast moisture can’t get in – don’t do it.

In summary – the best way to store your coffee beans is in a

Dark, dry, cool place sealed from the air

Additionally, on preserving flavour, try to keep your coffee as whole beans and grind what you need to order. This preserves the freshness and intensity of flavour in the coffee longer. Obviously we understand that this is not possible or practical for everybody, but it is certainly something to consider if you are an avid home brewer – a grinder (even a hand grinder) may be a good investment.