This past weekend at the North Carolina State Fair, there was a state-wide coffee roaster competition that pit the best roasters in our state against each other to determine who’s the best.
It was also the first state-wide coffee competition in history on the east coast (Oregon hosted the first one ever).
Our region’s own Summit Coffee in Davidson ended up winning first prize:
Asheville’s Mountain Air Roasting placed second, and Aromatic Roasters of Pittsboro placed third.
Roasters came from Blowing Rock to Raleigh to attempt to impress the fair’s panel of 6 judges. Each roaster was given the same set of precision tools and supplies, including Chemex coffee makers (considered by most connoisseurs to be the best in the world), precise kitchen scales, Fiji water, and wooden spoons for stirring.
Once the spring water was heated to the perfect tempurature, and poured over the perfect grinds, the judges then had 5 minutes to evaluate each brew based on aroma, flavor, balance, body, sweetness, aftertaste and acidity.
Do you agree with the judges?
Who do you think makes the best coffee in North Carolina?