The Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria (RASV) will crown the winners of the 2017 Australian International Coffee Awards (AICA) tonight at Melbourne’s Meat Market.
The awards evening will also mark the official launch event of the Melbourne International Coffee Expo, commencing on 31 March.
The AICA awards recognise excellence and consistency of quality coffee roasting. A total of 820 coffee entries were received in this year’s event, including almost 300 entries in the milk-based category, 26 soy-based coffees, and samples from the United Kingdom, United States, Indonesia and China.
From 8 – 11 March a panel of coffee experts assessed each of the entries for criteria including aroma, flavour, aftertaste and conformity to type, to award gold, silver and bronze medals.
“These awards are a great annual assessment of consumer trends, and its cemented that the milk base category remains dominant in the Australian market,” says Head Judge Melissa Caia of William Angliss Institute.
Other AICA categories include espresso – the second most popular category with almost 200 entries – filter, cold brew, and direct trade or microlot coffees. This year, in response to industry trends, innovation and consumer interests, a new immersion coffee class replaced the previous plunger and siphon classes.
Last year Bean!Roasters by Cosmorex was awarded Champion Australian Roaster, Indonesia’s Tanamera Coffee Indonesia won the Champion International Roaster award for the second year running, and the Champion Filter Coffee category. Grouch & Co in Western Australia won Champion Espresso, WA’s Grindhouse Blend won Champion Milk Based Coffee, Fix Three Origin Fairtrade Organic Coffee by Grinders Coffee won Champion Soy Based Coffee, and Bellissimo Coffee in Queensland was awarded Champion Cold Brew Coffee and Champion Direct Trade or Microlot Coffee.
All winners will be revealed at tonight’s event. To book tickets, click here.
For more information, visit rasv.com.au