Golden Bean World Series Finals Wrap Up 2024

It was an intense week of judging the world’s best coffee! This year Golden Bean World Series finals, held in Melbourne Australia, had the mammoth task of finding the best coffee roasters, resulting from over 2500 coffees judged in the two 2023 Golden Bean Roasters Competitions in North America and Australasia. Over 70 coffee roasters from around the world merged in Melbourne to help judge and find the winning coffees in three categories: Overall Champion, Large Franchise/Retail and Small Franchise/Retail.

The Overall Winner was Haven Coffee Roasters from Florida USA. The Large Franchise/Retail went to Aldi Roasted by Black Bag Roasters, Melbourne and the Small Franchise/Retail was shared by ONA Coffee in Canberra and Big Shoulders Coffee from Chicago.

Justin Metcalf, a well-known industry educator from Aurigin Coffee shared Head Judge position with Sean Edwards, Managing Director of Golden Bean. They were assisted by around 80 industry peers to judge coffees brewed as Espresso, Milk Base and Filter.

The event ran over three days of judging, sponsored workshops, and coffee roasting tours. We also had fun industry nights with drinks and an industry forum night at Café Imports showcasing their unique space in Abbotsford. There was also a music night at Piano on Chapel sponsored by Behmor where we enjoyed a special set from Clive Jacobs from Roastar.

This year’s wild card additional category was Fully Automatic, sponsored by Tiger Oceania/Eversys. The coffees coming through the Eversys Shot Master were outstanding and it was a real eye opener to see how technology is getting very close to perfecting the espresso shot. This year’s Overall Winner was Bonlife Coffee from Nashville whose espresso was outstanding!

The highlight for the visiting roasters was the Awards Ceremony held at Axil Coffee and having the opportunity to meet current Australian Barista Champion, Jack Simpson. Founder of Axil Coffee, David Makin, gave a nice talk based on the Melbourne coffee scene and the direction of current coffee trends. This year we awarded medals for Gold, Silver and Bronze on the three categories. The scores were all extremely close so everyone who entered the finals had a tough time securing a spot in the top three.

So that’s the wrap up for 2023 Golden Bean and a big congratulations to all the Roasters who entered and attended any of the Golden Bean series. We have 2024 dates set for North America, with our competition being held 17-21 September in Houston, Texas and for Australasia it will be August in Brisbane, QLD.

Also, a big thank you to the industry sponsors who supported Golden Bean. I hope you receive plenty of forward sponsorship for your effort. It’s all about supporting each other in this industry so we can all grow and prosper.

Pictured: Espresso Rooms by ONA receiving Small Chain/Franchise Overall Champion trophy

Pictured: Haven Coffee Roasters Overall Champions

Pictured: Black Bag Roasters receiving Large Chain/Retail Overall Champion trophy

Pictured: Clive Jacobs from Major Sponsor Roastar celebrating with Jon Lane, from Haven Coffee Roasters the 2024 Overall Champion

Pictured: Eversys and Bonlife Coffee Roasters