Specialty coffee is a product that facilitates a vibrant culture of coffee shops with different concepts where baristas from all walks of life work every day to pull best shots of espresso and pour the most elaborate latte art patterns. What is often left somewhat hidden from consumers eyes is the coffee roasting and people behind it.
Roast-masters, or if you preffer just roasters, are responsible for the flavor profile of the beans that the barista works with. The better the coffee the more skill, knowledge and experience needed to not only create a suitable profile for the lot but also to maintain it. And what can be better for putting your craftsmanship to the test than a friendly, yet competitive roasting competition?
Competitions in the coffee world come in many different formats. Unlike strictly regulated events by World Coffee Championships, independent competitions hosted by communities and market actors are more flexible. That allows the organizers to challenge the competitors in new and exciting ways each time.
In Slovenia, it is becoming a tradition among roasters to gather up once a year to challenge themselves by roasting and presenting one of the coffees that Coffers Direct brings to the country from the mountainous region of Caparao, Brazil.
In this article you will find out more about roasting competitions and why Coffers Best Cup Battle is an event like none other!
In 2024 Coffers Direct organized a first ever coffee roasting competition in Slovenia. With 5 roast-masters competing for fun but also for a rich selection of prizes, our first edition had a complex, jet show-making format. You can learn more about our first Coffers Best Cup Battle.
In 2025 the second edition took place. This time roasters from Slovenia, Italy, Croatia and Serbia met in Coffers Direct headquarters in Europe in a tranquil town of Crnomelj, Slovenia.
“Events that gather professionals from the specialty coffee world create a unique atmosphere. I would say that their main benefits are knowledge exchange, new friendships and partnerships. Especially in a cosy atmosphere, every professional vibrates his own different perspective, different approach.” a CEO of Coffers direct Rok Fabjan shares.
Lev Volodarsky, a ZSKS representative and Coffers Championship co-organizer continues “Networking is an important part of any growing community and a chance for busy roasters to come together is a rare and valuable opportunity. And everyone gets to cup some delicious fresh from the farm coffees!”
The program of the event consisted not only of the championship itself but also a blind cupping of fresh crop from Caparao region in Brazil, presentation of firescope and networking activities. Coffers Best Cup Battle strives to create a platform for roasters to connect with each other and this year this really showed since competitors from Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Italy came together to discuss the challenges, interesting cases and solutions.
Rules and jury
The rules have drastically changed from last year’s event. This time every competitor received the same coffee, 10kg each. That amount would allow roasters to sample-roaster multiple times and then produce several production roasts. As before, coffee came with no label so competitors were yet again in the dark regarding the nuances of the lot. The only piece of information that was available was that the lot comes from Caparao region in Brazil and scored 86 in origin.
After receiving the coffee, roast-masters had exactly a month to find their way to the best version of the flavor profile for this mystery coffee. The roasted coffee samples of 200gr then would be accompanied by the roast-masters to Coffers Direct headquarters where the best one would be chosen. Unlike last year, the jury consisted of the competitors themselves. By voting for the best cup on a cupping table roasters were able to taste and appreciate others’ styles of roasting and skills.
The coffee
Competitors did not know anything about the coffee they had to roast, except that it came from Brazil. However, behind this coffee, there is our friend and dedicated coffee producer, whom we would like to present shortly. His name is Ercilei Oliveira, and he took his first steps in the specialty coffee world in 2009. Since then, Ercilei has learned a lot and won several incredible titles. In 2022, he won the contest for The best coffee of Minas Gerais, that is the largest coffee-producing state. In 2024, his Arara won the third place at the Cup of Excellence.
His property, Sitio Pedro Varinhas, is indeed an amazing place that starts at an altitude of 1100 meters above sea level and goes way, way up. As he says, he loves producing specialty coffee for many reasons. But the main one is the challenge to produce an incredible coffee every year, offering coffee enthusiasts a completey unique experience in the cup. In that he sees a true recognition of his dedication and his work.
So t was just at our event, we revealed the details of the coffee used for the competition:
• Origin: Brazil
• Producer: Ercilei Oliveira
Farm: Sitio Pedro Varinhas
• Quality: 86 SCA PTS
• Varietal: Yellow & Red Bourbon, Yellow & Red Catuai
• Processing: Natural
• Harvested: August 2024
Grande Finale
Cup-tasting was organized in a way that roasters had no clue whose coffee they were tasting. Coffees were coded and then put on a cupping table. Each competitor had to choose his preffered one, based on his personal and professional prefferences.
The prizes, trophies and titles went to:
1st place: R&B Ljubljana Specialty Coffee Roasters & Roaster Sebastien Ivanec
After recieving the winning trophy our new coffee roasting champion Sebastien commented: Normally, I do not compete for awards but what drew me to Coffers Direct and the SCA competition was the promise to have a good time with fellow roasters and to be able to discuss the ideias around our experiences and share expertise. The blind cupping was definitely challenging and exciting at the same times as each roasters interpretation generated slightly different aroma variations. As the Head Roaster of R&B cafe, I am honored that fellow roasters recognized my expertise.
2nd place: Mala Prazarna & Roaster Sabin Alexandru Minea
3rd place: Goat Story & Roaster Dusan Maticic
Plans for the future
The Coffers Best Cup Battle 2025 was a success, realizing all the main goals that were established:
- Bring together specialty coffee roasters from the region
- Let them experience the breadth and length of Specialty coffee from Caparao region of Brazil
- Challenge them in a fun and friendly yet competitive way
The event had been created for the community and also had been kindly embraced by it. We loved it in both editions. However, just like in roasting, there is always some room for improvement.
As such, it might be that my description will sound a bit vague, but the main plan is to continue in service to the community and to remain 100% flexible. Everything spiced with different flavours of Brazilian Specialty Coffees and friendly competition vibe.”
Rok Fabjan from Coffers Direct says.
Lev Volodarsky from ZSKS adds “As we appeal to more roasters in the region the plan is to not only make it even easier and fun to accommodate different ideas but also spearhead the idea of specialty coffee of Brazilian origin. We might introduce new formats of competing as well, with experimentally processed coffees and rare varieties. And we shall see soon enough!”
Stay tuned not to miss a next edition of Coffers Best Cup Battle & Cheers from the Caparao mountains, Brazil!
