WACs 2011 : Milan

It gives me sloppy joy to announce the 2012 WACs will be held during the USBC in Portland.

Details like venue, rule adjustments, bronze pistons, etc are still being tackled and finalised. Announcements soon!

In the meantime, it is important to secure a guaranteed place in the WACs by hosting your own regional and national competitions.

For more information on hosting your own national competitions please contact WAC Headquarters.

Sloppy Danger for the N-WAC off...

Look out peoples, the NorthWest Aeropress Competition is happening…

N-WAC OFF at Milstead & Co.

Sponsored by Milstead & Co. & BrewMethods.com

Friday, 27 January @ 7:30 PM

One of the simplest and easiest competitions around. Brew an Aeropress in 8 minutes and serve to three judges. Use any coffee you like. The tastiest cup wins it all.

Prize cavalcade includes: your winning recipes as a featured method on BrewMethods.com, Jennings CJ4000 scale, a line-up of coffees froM Heart Roasters, a line-up of coffees from Coava Coffee, an Able Disk stainless steel filter, and the title of N-WAC Champ.
To register as a competitor, go here: http://nwaeropress.tumblr.com/registration

For rules and details, go here: http://nwaeropress.tumblr.com/rules

Just remember :

The criteria is simple: Tastiest is the Winningest.

Two competitors will compete at once and present their cups to the judges.

In each round of the competition, the judges will point to the cup they think is the tastiest based on clarity, tastiness and excellence in extraction.

The winner of that round moves on.

The loser doesn’t have to go home, but they might be removed from the premises.

Judges & Top 3 WACers (Photo : Coconut Lunell)

Well, what a cracking event the 2011 WACs were. Unlike the other cumbersome World championship events, the WACs were fast, fun and politics free. The atmosphere this year was as good as in London, even without the foot traffic of the World Barista Championships. A great line-up of competitors from all over the World this year, including far away places like Japan, Australia, Russia, USA, Sweden, Poland, Ireland and a local from Italy. Well done competitors and thank you for making such a great effort!

Jeff Verellen is this year’s World Aeropress Champion. He is now a seasoned competitor having placing 3rd in last year’s WACs and wisely used Team Sausage and the Belgium Aeropress Champion Charline Debuysere and Rob Bergmans for assistance and inspiration in devising a method for success. Congratulations Jeff!

Big thanks to Alan Adler and Alex Tennant of Aerobie – once again you have supported this great event with Aeropress’ and blessings. Thanks again!

This year we also had graphic design on our side in the form of Brian W. Jones, who orchestrated the awesome WAC t-shirts. Thanks for your skills and time Brian.

We had some talent in the judging panel this year in the form of the wonderful David Walsh and the charming Lynsey Harley. Tim Varney helped out a bit too.

Finally, without David Walsh and Paul Stack’s foresight and enthusiasm for the WACS they never would have taken place. A massive thank you to Marco & Uber and their staff for helping with organisation and allowing their space at HOST to be highjacked by the WACs. I see a future relationship forming here.

See you in 2012…

Jeff Verellen (centre) & Team Sausage

Here is Jeff Verellen’s World Champion quality Aeropress method & coffee.

The Kenyan used by Jeff was Thunguri, a wet mill located in Nyeri. Very round complete mouthfeel packed with red currants, red grapes, and Gentse neuzen (a Belgian orange blossom candy).

The Technique, or rather a compilation of the best of:

Credit goes to the Belgian Aeropress Champion Charline Debuysere and Rob Bergmans for inspiration. He noticed this coffee preformed very well on pour-over, kalita metal filter and V60 so he based the technique on that principle.

-Put the paper filter in the filterholder, wet it with hot water, let it expand and refit it.

-Screw it very tightly into a clean preferably pre-heated Aeropress

-Measure out 17 grams of coffee (well, specifically this Kenya…) and grind coarsely, bit courser than paper filter at the very last moment.

-Put the Aeropress non-inverted on the recipient.

-Measure 270 grams of soft mineral water or filtered water and bring it to 80c.

-Splash a bit of the water on the filter and directly after throw in the freshly ground coffee, as to allow the bottom to wet and expand a bit.

-Directly after wet the coffee by dripping or pouring very slowly all the grounds, about 40 grams

-After the coffee has absorbed the water, after about 30 seconds, start very slowly pouring the rest of the water, try to re-wet the coffee fully again, see that the grounds do not separate from the water, this can be done using a good kettle with small nozzle.

-Let the Aeropress steep and drip for about 1/4 way through or 1 minute.

-Press about 1/2 of the rest of the water through with the piston very gently.

-Remove the press and the what is left – about 50 grams of water and throw away.

World Aeropress Champion, Jeff Verellen pictured far left

1. Jeff Verellen, Caffenation – Antwerp, Belgium using Caffenation

2. Joshua Wismans, Alterra Coffee Roasters – Milwaukee, USA using Koppi

3. Alex Artemov, Cafemania - Moscow, Russia, using Tim Wendelboe

More details and stories to come… for now you can check out photos here