BeanScene Magazine

While competitions for caristas and coffee enthusiasts may play a major part in the yearly program for AASCA, there is a lot more that goes on behind the scenes. One of the most important parts of the AASCA competition season is the certification of Judges. All our judges give up their time to carry out an annual accreditation. What’s the point of all this, you may well ask, surely anyone with experience can tell the difference between a good coffee and a bad coffee?

The accreditation plays an extremely important role for several reasons. It sets a point of reference for all judges. It also enables any rule changes to be explained in detail and have the judges put the changes into practice. This also includes protocol and the way judges are to interact with the competitors.

The most notable change over the last few years has seen the stern, stone faced judge showing no emotion give way to a more responsive and supporting demeanor.

The judges’ accreditations in Australia are overseen by our World Barista Championship (WBC) accredited judges at the beginning of the competition season. Australia currently has five WBC accredited judges out of a world wide pool of 52. Accreditation for WBC is by invitation and those that attend do so at their own expense. A WBC certification workshop was recently held in Wellington, New Zealand. Other than industry expertise another prerequisite is at least two years experience judging in a WBC sanctioned national competition.

The workshops are two days packed full of practical and theoretical testing. These include video observation tests, a written exam covering the current rules and regulations of the competition and their correct interpretation. Taste tests using plunger coffee and a taste triangulation to test the ability to pick a coffee based on its organic acid flavour profile.

Prospective WBC judges also have to complete the solutions test. This is a particularly gruelling taste test of sweet, sour and salt solutions in varying degrees of strength and combinations. These have to be identified and graded in order of strength of each component.

Ross Quail (Sensory Lab), Ben Bicknell (Five Senses) and Saxon Wright (Pablo and Rusty’s) all requalified with Saxon achieving one of the top entry scores in what was one of the most difficult rounds of testing seen at WBC calibrations.

Our two new WBC Judges are Penny Lowe from Queensland and Craig Dickson from Victoria.

Penny is the Creative Director behind Dandelion and Driftwood (www.dandeliondriftwood.com) in Brisbane, and is the first Queenslander to become a WBC Judge. Penny developed her passion for coffee during a gap year travelling in the United States and Canada. Back at University she worked as a barista and competed and won competitions. Having 3 degrees with a strong focus in education

Penny is passionate about training in particular exploring the palate and taste descriptors when dealing with coffee. Penny hosted the Queensland Championships for 2011 and is currently the Vice President of AASCA.

After completing his university degree in business Craig Dickson worked in hotel management before entering the coffee industry with Douwe Egberts as the Victorian state manager. A secondment in 2001 took Craig to Holland for two years. Returning to Melbourne Craig along with Peter Wolff and Rocco Veneziano set up Veneziano Coffee (www.venezianocoffee.com.au). Craig is an active judge regularly travelling interstate to help those that are short on judge numbers. Craig sees the promotion of barista skills through competition as an integral way of advancing the coffee industry in Australia and around the world.

If you are interested in judging at a regional, national or international level or just want to learn and develop a deeper understanding of coffee you can contact AASCA via the website www.aasca.com.