Female “dominance” in the Aeropress Championship
This great coffee celebration welcomed for the first time the most innovative flavor and aroma competition, supporting creativity in the coffee industry.
On the last day of the 4th Athens Coffee Festival, the 4th Aeropress National Championship took place, which is organized by the renowned coffee company under the trade name Kudu Coffee Roasters. From 12 noon to 8 pm, 72 baristas fought the battle of aroma and flavor. Vaso Kalafati, who will also be the representative of Greece in the respective international competition to be held in London on November 24, was the winner. Spyros Piliafas and Thanasis Klouvatos came in second and third place respectively.
In Greece this was its 4th year while it was the first time it was included as part of the Athens Coffee Festival. Competition judges were top names and experts in the coffee industry. Specifically: Thanasis Nikolis (Head Roaster at KUDU Coffee Company), Stefanos Domatiotis (World Brewers Cup Champion (2014), Gem Series Founder, Brand Global Ambassador of Brewista, Taf Head Barista Trainer, Jass Caffee Coffee Quality China), Kostas Kalafatas (Owner of the coffee company, “Samba Café”), Christos Kavrakos (Co-owner of Mind the Cup and Peek a Bloom), Antzaras Nikos (Head Roaster in the coffee company “Samba Café”), Konstantopoulos Dimitris (Barista Trainer Kawacom, Hellenic CiGS Champion 2013), Lambrinidis Stavros (Area Manager at Vivartia Development department).
What is AeroPress?
It is a manually-operated and portable coffee maker that offers the highest possible taste with the least acidity, while minimizing the natural, bitter taste of coffee. Microfiltration guarantees residue-free coffee while the pressure-exertion process lasts only 20 seconds and takes only one minute from the beginning of the process until… we enjoy the final result in our glass.
A few words about the AeroPress contest
• The AeroPress World Championship was created in 2008 by Tim Wendelboe and Tim Varney and has since become one of the most exciting and unique competition platforms in the coffee industry. Three baristas competed in the maiden competition, claiming a symbolic prize. Eleven years later, the competition has grown with entries from 51 countries and a total of one thousand contestants.
• Regarding its rules, they are simple. The judges (7 in total) evaluate blindly, based solely on taste and the best brewing method using AeroPress. Through this open and transparent competition, it is intended to highlight and optimize the different techniques offered by the use of AeroPress. You can read more about the competition on the official AeroPress webpage.
• The competition is open to professionals as well as amateurs who know how to use and have practiced on the techniques of using Aeropress.
