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2024 Rules
Best Coffee Roaster is a peer-reviewed, rigorous challenge that highlights the abilities and expertise of Portugal’s top coffee roasters. Beyond the competition, it serves as a celebration of the dedication and hard work required to become one of the world’s leading coffee roasters.
In October 2024, ten of the finest coffee roasters from across Portugal will compete to determine who is the Portugal Best Coffee Roaster.
In Portugal, specialty coffee roasters face a unique challenge: navigating a strong and deeply rooted coffee culture that often contrasts sharply with specialty coffee standards. Traditional Portuguese coffee, with its emphasis on dark roasts and intense flavors, has long been the norm. To stand out, today’s specialty roasters must not only master their craft but also educate and win over a public that may be unfamiliar with the nuances of lighter roasts, single-origin beans, and complex flavor profiles.
Being an exceptional coffee roaster in this context requires more than just technical knowledge and practical skills. It demands a deep understanding of both local preferences and global coffee trends, along with the ability to bridge the gap between them. A great roaster must be able to maintain the integrity of specialty coffee while respecting and subtly evolving the tastes of a coffee culture that is often resistant to change.
While the technical aspects of roasting are critical, the true test of a roaster’s ability is in the cup: the flavor, aroma, and overall experience that the coffee delivers. This competition focuses on the essential skills of sourcing and roasting, but it also acknowledges the unique challenges faced by Portuguese roasters in balancing tradition with innovation.
Our Best Coffee Roaster Champion will be someone who can skillfully navigate this cultural landscape, using their expertise to transform green coffee beans into a cup that not only meets the highest specialty standards but also resonates with the Portuguese palate, offering an exceptional and memorable drinking experience.
3.1 The competition consists of two distinct rounds: the Challenge Roast Round and the Signature Roast Round. The roaster with the highest combined score from both rounds will be crowned the Portugal Coffee Roaster ‘24.
3.2The judging panel will consist of the participating roasters themselves (one representative per company) and three industry Mystery Judges, making up a total of 13 judges. All judging will be conducted through blind cupping in two separate sessions. Detailed judging criteria are outlined in Section 8 of the Rules.
3.3 In the Challenge Roast Round, the judging panel will assess coffee samples sourced and provided by our green coffee sponsor, Belco. Competitors will have a minimum of 10 days to roast test batches and prepare their final competition batch for the Judging Session.
3.4 In the Signature Roast Round, the panel will evaluate samples of coffee sourced by the roasters themselves. The specific guidelines for the Signature Coffee are provided in Section 5 of the Rules.
3.5 Additionally, attendees of Porto Coffee Week 2024 will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite coffee profile at the event. The roaster receiving the most votes will be awarded the Fan Favorite Award, which will not influence the overall competition results.
4.1 Each roastery will receive a 12kg bag of the Challenge Coffee, generously provided by Belco. This coffee will be identical for all competitors, and no details about its origin, variety, or processing method will be disclosed until after the Judging Panel has completed their evaluation.
4.2 Roasting of the Challenge Coffee will be conducted by each roaster at their own facilities using their preferred roasting equipment. Any type of roasting machine may be used for this task.
4.3 The Challenge Coffee will be delivered to the roasters at least 15 days before the Cupping Session. Roasters are required to submit the roast profile graph (from Cropster, Artisan, or a similar tool) of their competition roast for educational purposes during the Cupping Session.
4.4 Each roaster must bring a minimum of 4kg of the roasted Challenge Coffee to the Cupping Session. The coffee must be provided as a homogenous batch; if delivered in multiple smaller bags or containers, the contents will be blended before being distributed for evaluation.
5.1 In addition to the Challenge Coffee, each roastery must provide 4kg of coffee they have sourced for the Signature Roast Round. The cost of sourcing this coffee is the sole responsibility of the competing roastery.
5.2 The Signature Coffee must meet the following criteria:
5.2.1 Region: South America or Central America
5.2.2 Processing Method: Washed
5.2.3 Maximum Price: 20 EUR per kg (inclusive of all costs incurred to deliver the coffee to your roastery, as reflected on the invoice)
5.3 Definitions:
5.3.1 Central America: Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama
5.3.2 South America: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela
5.3.3 Washed Process: Any coffee processed using the washed method is acceptable. In this process, the coffee cherries are depulped, and the mucilage is removed before drying.
5.4 Roasters may be required to provide documentation verifying the price of the coffee upon request.
5.5 Adding any substances to either the Challenge Coffee or the Signature Coffee after they have arrived at your roastery will result in disqualification.
5.6 Roasters must bring a minimum of 4kg of their roasted Signature Coffee to the Judging Session. The coffee must be presented as a homogenous batch; if delivered in multiple smaller bags or containers, the contents will be blended before being divided for evaluation.
6.1 Roasters will receive their Challenge Coffee at least 15 days before the Cupping Session and may roast it anytime between receipt and the session.
6.2 The Signature Coffee can be sourced and roasted at any time prior to the Cupping Session.
6.3 Each roaster must deliver a minimum of 4kg of both the Challenge Coffee and the Signature Coffee to the Cupping Session venue (see details in section 9.8) on October 3, 2024, at 14:00 local time.
6.4 Failure to deliver either coffee by the deadline will result in disqualification from the competition.
7.1 The submitted coffee will be used in the following manner:
7.1.1 Judging Session: Approximately 100g of each coffee will be reserved for cupping by the judging panel.
7.1.2 Fan Favorite Activation: Approximately 800g of each Challenge Coffee will be used for the Fan Favorite vote. All coffees will be brewed and available for sampling by attendees at the Fan Favorite Portugal Best Coffee Roaster table during Porto Coffee Week’s Coffee Market.
7.1.3 Tasteology Subscription Box: About 3kg of each coffee from both rounds will be included in a sample box by Tasteology after the event. These will be packaged into 50g samples and compiled into two exclusive sample boxes (Challenge Roast + Signature Roast). The boxes will be available for public purchase, offering promotion for the competing roasteries and an opportunity for consumers to taste the results of a national competition. Each competing roastery will receive one set of these boxes free of charge after the competition.
8.1 For the Fan Favorite Award, roasters will dial in their own Challenge Roast using designated batch brewers provided by our partner.
8.2 Attendees of Porto Coffee Week will vote for their favorite coffee, with the votes from each festival day combined to determine the Fan Favorite.
9.1 Each competing roastery must designate one member of their roasting team to attend the Cupping Session in person and serve as a judge. Failure to send a representative may result in disqualification.
9.2 Judging for both the Challenge Roast Round and Signature Roast Round will be conducted through double-blind cupping. Upon receipt of the coffees, an independent team will code the samples, ensuring that neither the production nor judging teams have access to the codes.
9.3 The judging panel will consist of 10 cuppers from the competing roasteries (one per roastery) and 3 Mystery Judges from non-competing companies within the coffee industry. These Mystery Judges must be Q Graders or have at least 5 years of experience in coffee evaluation.
9.3.1 The person designated as a judge by the roastery must be part of the roasting team.
9.4 The Challenge Roast and Signature Roast rounds will be judged in separate cuppings with a 15-minute interval. Each judge will rank the samples, assigning 10 points to the best and 1 point to the least preferred. A cupping score sheet will be used for reference.
9.5 Cupping will follow SCA cupping standards, and specific water quality details will be shared with competing roasteries at least one month prior to the event.
9.6 The roaster with the highest combined score from both rounds will be crowned Portugal Coffee Roaster Champion.
9.6.1 Ties will be accepted for individual rounds.
9.6.2 If there is a tie in the overall score, the roaster with the highest Challenge Roast Round score will win.
9.6.3 If a tie persists, the cumulative score of the three Mystery Judges will be used.
9.6.4 If the tie remains, the title will be shared.
9.7 Separate honorary mentions will be awarded to the winners of the Signature Roast Round and Challenge Roast Round.
9.8 The Judging Session will take place on October 3, 2024, at 14:00 local time at abcoffee · Coffee School – R. do Duque de Loulé 201, 4000-325 Porto.
10.1 To participate in the Portugal Best Coffee Roaster Competition, roasteries must purchase a competition spot via our ticketing page. The entry fee is 150€ (VAT included).
10.2 Roasteries with a booth at Porto Coffee Week 2024 are eligible for a 30% discount on the competition fee.
10.3 A minimum of 5 roasteries is required for the competition to proceed. If this minimum is not met, all registered competitors will receive a full refund of their entry fees.
10.4 A maximum of 10 roasteries will be accepted to compete in the Portugal Best Coffee Roaster 2024. Spots will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.
10.5 Registered competitors must also complete Belco’s form at https://www.belco.fr/contact-prospect.
11.1 For further details about the competition and its rules, please contact Hugo Ferraz at hugo@tasteology.pt.
11.2 The Portugal Best Coffee Roaster Competition is organized by Tasteology – Creative Studio, Lda., and based in the Nordics Best Roaster competition.
2024 Rules
Best Coffee Roaster is a peer-assessed, uncompromising challenge focused on the real-world skills and expertise of the Portuguese best coffee roasters. More than that, it is a celebration of the hard work and dedication that goes into being one of the world’s best coffee roasters.
In October of 2024, 10 of the best coffee roasters in Portugal will bring their best to Porto to find out who will be the inaugural Portugal Best Coffee Roaster Champion.
Coffee roasters are the fulcrum of our industry, with direct access to everyone from consumers to coffee producers. A great coffee roaster must have an incredible breadth and depth of knowledge and experience, combined with the practical skills and management to deliver quality day-in and day out.
While there are many technical elements to being a great coffee roaster, most of us judge (daily) the quality of a roaster on one thing only: the coffee that ends up in your cup. This competition is designed to strip away all of the less important elements and focus on two core skills: sourcing and roasting coffee to deliver the absolute best-tasting cup possible.
However, sourcing and roasting coffee doesn’t happen in a vacuum – sometimes conditions aren’t perfect or time is limited, and you have to do the best you can with what you have.
Our Best Coffee Roaster Champion is a coffee roaster that can leverage their expertise, skills, and experience to be able to take green coffee and roast it to bring the most interesting drinking experience to life.
3.1. Best Coffee Roaster consists of two distinct rounds: Mandatory Coffee Round and Sourced Coffee Round. The roaster with the highest combined score from both rounds will be pronounced Portugal Coffee Roaster Champion.
3.2. Both rounds will be judged by the competing roasters themselves (1 person per company) together with a panel of three industry Mystery Judges. Together these 13 people comprise the Judging Panel. The judging will be done through blind cupping in two separate sets. A more detailed description of the judging can be found in section 8 in the Rules.
3.3. In the Mandatory Coffee Round, the judging panel will evaluate samples of a coffee sourced and provided by Belco, our green coffee sponsor. The roasters will have at least 10 days to roast test batches and the final competition batch prior to the Evaluation Event.
3.4. In the Sourced Coffee Round, the judging panel will evaluate a sample of the coffee of the roaster’s own sourcing. The limiting parameters for the Sourced Coffee have been communicated in section 5 of the Rules.
3.5. In addition to these two rounds, the visitors of Porto Coffee Week 2024 will have a chance to vote for their favorite profile of each coffee at the event venue. The winner of this vote will receive the Public Choice Award. This vote will not affect the result of the main competition.
4.1. Each roastery will receive a 12kg bag of Mandatory Coffee courtesy of Belco. This coffee will be the same for all the competitors. No information about the coffee’s origin, variety or processing method will be provided until after the Judging Panel has completed their analysis.
4.2. Roasting of the Mandatory Coffee will be done by each roaster in their own facilities using their own roasting equipment. Any roast machine may be used to complete this task.
4.3. The roasters will receive the Mandatory Coffee minimum of 15 days before the Evaluation.
4.4. The roasters will need to provide the roast profile graph (Cropster, Artisan or similar) from their Competition roast for educational purposes at the Evaluation Event.
4.5. The roasters are required to bring a minimum of 4 kilos of the roasted Mandatory Coffee to the Evaluation Event.
4.6. The coffee must be delivered as a homogenous package of 4kg of coffee. If delivered in several smaller bags or containers, those bags will be blended before being divided up for the different uses.
5.1. In addition to the Mandatory Coffee, each competing roastery will need to bring 4kg of a coffee sourced by the competing roastery for the Sourced Coffee round.
5.2. The costs of sourcing this coffee are the sole responsibility of the competing roastery.
5.3. The sourced coffee must comply with the following parameters
5.3.1. Region: South America or Central America
5.3.2. Process: Washed
5.3.3. Maximum Price: 20 EUR per kg (All in cost paid to get the coffee to your door – as in the cost per kg on the invoice)
5.4. Definitions:
5.4.1. Central America: Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama
5.4.2. South America: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela
5.4.3. Washed: Any type of washed process coffee will be accepted. In the washed process, the coffee cherries are depulped and the mucilage is removed prior to the drying process.
5.4.4. If you’re having questions about the total cost of your coffee, you might need to reconsider participating.
5.5. Roasters may be required to provide documentation of the coffee’s price upon request.
5.6. Using any additives after the coffee has arrived in your roastery, in either Mandatory Coffee or Sourced Coffee, will lead to the disqualification of the roastery in question.
5.7. The roasters are required to bring a minimum of 4 kilos of the roasted Source Coffee to the Evaluation Event.
5.8. The coffee must be delivered as a homogenous package of 4kg of coffee. If delivered in several smaller bags or containers, those bags will be blended before being divided up for the different uses.
6.1. The Roasters will receive their Mandatory Coffee a minimum of 15 days before the Evaluation Event. The coffee may be roasted at any time from receiving it to the Evaluation.
6.2. The Sourced Coffee may be sourced and roasted at any point prior to the Evaluation Event.
6.3. The Roasters need to deliver a minimum of 4kg of the Mandatory Coffee to the Evaluation Event venue (details at 9.13) on October 3rd 2024 at 14:00 local time.
6.4. The Roasters need to deliver a minimum of 4kg of the Sourced Coffee to the Evaluation Event venue (details at 9.13) on October 3rd 2024 at 14:00 local time.
6.5. Failing to deliver either of the coffees in time will result in disqualification from the whole competition.
7.1. Approximately 100g of each coffee will be reserved for cupping by the judging panel.
7.2. Approximately 800g of each Mandatory Coffee will be reserved for use in the Public Choice AwardActivation.
7.3. All coffees will be brewed and available for sampling by attendees and visitors during the festival at the Public Choice Portuguese Best Roaster table.
7.4. Approximately 3kg of each coffee from each round will be used by the subscription box Tasteology after the event.
7.4.1. This coffee will be packed down into 50g samples and compiled into two very exclusive sample boxes (Mandatory Coffee + Sourced Coffee). These boxes will be available to the public for purchase and will be a great source of promotion for the competing roasteries as well as a unique opportunity for people to taste the results of a national competition.
7.4.2. One of each set of boxes will be sent to each of the competing roasters after the competition, free of charge.
8.1. In the Public Choice Award, the Roasters will get to dial in their own Mandatory Coffees by themselves using the designated batch brewers provided by our equipment partner.
8.2. The public of Porto Coffee Week will get to vote for their favorite coffee during the festival.
8.2.1. The votes for each of the days of the festival will be added together to receive the final score for the public’s choice.
9.1. Each competing roastery will need to designate one (1) person from their roasting team to attend the Evaluation Event in person and act as the judge during the evaluation.
9.1.1. Failure to send a member of the roasting team to represent the company can result in disqualification from the competition.
9.2. The Evaluation of both Mandatory and Sourced Coffees will be conducted through double-blind cupping.
9.2.1. Upon receiving the coffee, a special independent team will codify the coffee and deliver the coded samples to the production team. From this point onwards, no one involved in the production or judging of the competition will have any access to the codes.
9.3. The judging panel will be made up of 10 cuppers from the competing roasteries (one person per competing roastery) plus 3 Mystery judges selected from non-competing companies in the coffee industry. These Mystery judges must be qualified Q graders or have at least 5 years of experience in evaluating coffee.
9.4. The person that the competing roastery nominates as part of the judging panel must be a member of the roasting team.
9.5. Each round (Mandatory Coffee + Sourced Coffee) will be judged in separate cuppings, separated by at least 30 minutes and a snack break.
9.6. Each judge will rank all the samples in a way that the best sample will get 10 points and the worst sample will get 1 point. The judges will use a cupping score sheet for their own reference in putting the samples in order.
9.7. Cupping will be prepared and completed according to the SCA cupping standard.
9.8. The specific details of the water quality will be specified and presented to the competing roasteries at least 1 month prior to the event.
9.9. The Roaster that receives the highest combined score from Mandatory and Sourced Rounds will win the title of Portugal Coffee Roaster Champion.
9.10. A tie will be accepted for each of the individual rounds.
9.11. In the case of a tie in the overall score:
9.11.1. The roaster with the highest score in the Mandatory Coffee Round will win.
9.11.2. In the further case of a tie, the cumulative score of just the three Mystery Judges will be used to determine the winner of the competition.
9.11.3. In the case of a further tie, then the prize will be shared by the two winning roasters.
9.12. The winners from both Sourced and Mandatory Rounds will be awarded with a separate honorary mention.
9.13. The Evaluation event will take place on the 3rd of October at 14:00, local time, at abcoffee · Coffee School – R. do Duque de Loulé 201, 4000-325 Porto.
10.1. To register for the Portugal Best Coffee Roaster Competition, a roastery will purchase a spot in the competition via our ticketing page.
10.2. The competition fee is 150€.
10.3. Roasters with a booth at Porto Coffee Week 2024 get a 30% discount on the competition fee.
10.4. A minimum of 5 roasters is required for the Portugal Best Coffee Roaster’s competition to take place. If this minimum participation is not met, all registered competitors will receive a full reimbursement of their entry fees.
10.5. A maximum of 10 roasters in total will be accepted to compete in Portugal Best Coffee Roaster 2024. The spots will be filled in a first come, first served manner.
10.6. Registered roasters for the competition are required to fill out Belco’s form at https://www.belco.fr/contact-prospect
11.1. For more information about the competition and rules, please contact Hugo Ferraz at hugo@tasteology.pt
12. Portugal Best Coffee Roaster Competition is a competition owned by Tasteology – creative studio, lda. All rights reserved.
Mais do que um festival, uma celebração da cultura do café.