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Yesterday I joined a coffee brewing competition here in Sakata at Peter’s Coffee (pronounced ペーター, peh-tah because the owner is a goat farmer like the Peter character in Heidi). 

Peter was one of the judges alongside Honma-san from Coffee Island, and Izumi-san from Nigoshitsu, the building / shop Peter Coffee is in. 

Honma-san was the reason I got interested in the coffee culture of Japan. He actually won a Japanese roasting competition a few years back, and I bought my first Hario V60 in his shop more than 10 years ago now (12 by my count, but I could be wrong). I still have it, it’s been a real workhorse and I even used it in this competition, albeit with a ceramic pot? to pour into.

You can watch a video of how I brew my coffee here, or read about it here.

The competition worked like this:

The coffee could be brewed in any way, shape, or form. Espresso and espresso-based drinks were allowed, however this is Japan, pretty much everyone who enjoys good coffee enjoys their coffee black made with some sort of hand-drip.

Don’t judge me!

Leave that up to the judges. I own an espresso machine and enjoy both! Anyone able to explain why cafes in Japan / rural Japan open so late? By 10am I prefer to be well and truly caffeinated. 

Anyway,

there were nine competitors overall, there were meant to be eight but we had a late entry apparently. The competitors were a mixture of amateurs and professionals, some run cafes, some roast beans, and others like myself are simply curious about what it means to make good coffee. 

The Competitors

One dude, Junichi-san, came all the way from Fukushima. This guy was a real dark horse, extremely quiet and focused. To add to that, he was wearing all black too. 

Kaede-san from Kaede coffee was the exact opposite. A very bright and bubbly personality, and quite possibly the coolest Star Wars t-shirt I have ever seen. 

And then there were my two friends Kaito and Mimori who I have actually written about before in this newsletter who are currently crowdfunding a brand new cafe, one with a glorious view of Mt. Gassan! 

There was also Hiroko-san who brought her soft toys in for a little added encouragement, and also Ryota who had the strangest contraption for brewing coffee I had ever seen called a Paragon. Lastly was a dude called Kyuta who works at a local cafe as well and really knows his stuff! 

The Competition

We all faced off against each other to make three cups of coffee for each of the three judges to judge with only the winner going through to the next round. Since there were nine competitors, one person would have to win four times as opposed to only three to win. 

Our slots were chosen by picking a numbered stick out of a can. 

I was lucky #3

Round one was 15 minutes using one of three beans that Peter had selected, two from Colombia and one from Peru. Remember, one person had to win twice here.

Round two was 10 minutes using the same beans as earlier.

And the final, round three, was 20 minutes using beans specially chosen for the occasion. We didn’t know what beans they were until then. They were from Brazil. 

A competition of contraptions

The competition was also competition of contraptions of sorts. Mainly thanks to Ryota-san’s Paragon, but there were also a number of other contraptions being used, like Kaede-san’s Suisen (daffodil) brewer (I thought they were saying Suiden! No wonder I didn’t understand! Whoops!). 

The Results

I lost in the first round to Ryota-san’s Paragon. I didn’t feel so bad because that thing costs like $400, whereas a Hario V60 runs closer to $10 (at least in Japan). 

But for what it’s worth, 

here are my excuses:

1. I chose the wrong beans. I should have gone for a darker roast more suited to my brewing method.
2. Timing. I had too much time, so much so, I could have gotten a practice brew in.
3. I used less coffee than I’m used to, 20g as opposed to 40g due to the amount we had to make (three cups of 60ml).
4. Finally, Ryota-san finished brewing when the timer went off, and started cupping after that. Technically that’s against the rules, so I should have won then and there, but I dunno, they seemed to overlook that fact.

The Ultimate Uketamo. 

(Maybe I should have complained more, but I got a blog post and YouTube video out of it, so really can’t complain).

The Winner

The final was between Kaede-san and the dark horse Junichi, with Kaede-san’s Suisen brewing coming out on top in a well-deserved effort. Kaede-san was in the unfortunate spot of having to win four times to take out the competition.

Which she did. 

Beating Mimori-san along the way too! (Which she was not happy about).

Oh, I also won an award.

The Izumi award, given to the person who Izumi-san thought was the best of the losers. With it I got a whole lot of high-quality soy sauce, mirin, tomato sauce, mayonnaise, and even a really cool cup supposedly for drinking coffee out of. 

Thanks Izumi-san!

In the end I learned a hell of a lot. Japanese people take their hobbies very seriously, and none more serious than when it comes to drinking coffee. Simply by being in that room I was able to learn heaps, like that I should be getting rid of the chaff to avoid certain unwanted tastes and how to do that, as well as the importance of checking your beans for undesirables. 

Plus, I had a lot of fun in the process!

This article from the Kiwi Yamabushi newsletter got more than 1,000 reads, so I decided to put it here for everyone. Get articles just like this in your inbox by signing up here. Paid subscribers get priority access and access to the full archive of over 100 articles.