The Indian leg moves from five cities to 13, and is coming to Chennai for the first time. The target is to select India’s representative for the 2022 World Aeropress Championships to be held in Australia
Many people have spent half the lockdown sitting at home playing barista. Some have even tested their slowly growing skills with different roasts, pitting themselves against a variety of equipment and playing with experimental brewing styles. But have you ever wondered how good you are outside the kitchen and friend circle of your home?
As the Indian Aeropress Championship kicks off in Chennai, non-professional coffee brewers finally have a chance to put their skills against others in the city and country – and the world, if they are good enough.
Originally a brand known for sports equipment, in 2005 the name AeroPress became synonymous with the coffee maker, AeroPress, developed in the US and introduced to the market by the same firm. Today, the AeroPress is one of the popular home-brewing methods for coffee lovers around the world.
In December, Chennai will be one of 13 cities and regions to select three talented amateur brewers for a final, national level performance, from which the Indian representative will be selected for the 2022 World Aeropress Championships in Australia.
The Indian leg of the competition has been put together by the country’s growing fraternity of independent coffee roasters, planters and experts.
A participant in the Bengaluru round of the Indian Aeropress Championships earlier this month. photo Credit: Foreigner
In Chennai, the raw material is being provided by Divya Jaishankar, founder of Beachville Coffee Roasters and Akshay Vaidyanathan, founder of Kapi Kottai. The judges are Auroville-based independent coffee pioneers Mark Tormo and Vignesh V who document the country’s growing coffee industry on their Instagram page Roast Brew & You.
Divya says, “Chennai round will be held on December 5 at 11 am. The idea is that those who drink wine with an AeroPress will be given a coffee, uniforms for all the contestants, and they will have to use it to create a concoction of their own choice. They will be given 10 days to test and brew them at home with the same coffee, and to find out what works best in their opinion – what their brew ratio is, what water temperature they prefer. We do.
Registration closes around November 25, after which the organizers will send the participants coffee – 250 grams of whole bean. “Usually, most of the contestants have a grinder at home and can fine-tune the grind as per their preference. Participants can also come on the day of the event, and make some effort to grind on our in-shop grinder,” said Divya.
The team behind the Indian leg of the competition is Bengaluru-based Benky Brewing Tools., Whose founder Suhas Dwarkanath has been organizing regional rounds since 2017 in coordination with roasters, planters and others in the fraternity.
“We started very small with a total of 38 contestants in the Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore rounds. When we last did this in 2019, before the pandemic, we were the second largest competition in the world with 221 participants across five cities. Spain was the biggest,” Suhas says over a phone call, with each round between flights from one city to another.
The scope of competition in India has grown as fast as in the fraternity. Most major cities now have a community eager to experiment with Bean to Bar coffee.
Each city chapter is supported by a different roastery sponsoring the venue and the startup sponsoring the coffee, whether it’s the Roastery Coffee House that hosts the Hyderabad and Kolkata competitions, or the original Bean to Bar brand Blue Tokai, which provides the beans for Delhi. “There is no minimum requirement for the number of participants in a city,” says Suhas, “as long as a roaster can provide 650 square feet of space, adequate tables and electricity, and basic equipment including grinders, they can host a round. can. ,
For details and registration, Visit www.indianaeropressChampionship.com
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