The finalists for the 2019 World Brewers Cup Championships were announced moments ago. 

The competition, which is currently being held in Boston, USA has participants from more than 30 countries around the world. Over the course of several days, competitors must undertake a pre-prepared Open Service routine and a Compulsory Service routine in which they must brew an unspecified coffee.

Project Origin’s Yanina Ferreyra competed in the competition, having won the Australian Brewers Cup Championships in February.

In Yanina’s Open Service performance, she used a geisha coffee produced by Jamison Savage of Finca Deborah. In her routine, Yanina spoke about the complexity of the coffee she was using, which she named ‘Opal’ after the Australian gemstone.

The comparison to the gemstone was intended to show the array of colours present in the flavour profile, which varied from blue, to yellow, green and red notes.

Yanina spoke of how the ‘Opal’ was intentionally crafted using experimental processing for the purpose of being served to the judges.

“With Jamison and the Finca Deborah team, we created this complex coffee to serve on this stage today,” she said shortly after her performance.

When serving her v60 filter coffees to the judges, Yanina used custom built temperature gauges to help the judges evaluate the coffee as it cooled.

She also provided custom made tasting cards, complete with a colour-based guide to the Opal coffee.

“I wanted to serve something with a complex flavour profile but that was easy and approachable for the judges,” she said.

“The expression of colour was the perfection way for me to connect the judges to what was going on in the cup.”

Although Yanina did not advance to the finals, she says that she is excited to try again in future competitions. 

“The World Championships will be in Australia next year and I think it’s a great opportunity to show the world how we can brew,” she said.

“I’ll be back on stage and ready to brew. See you in 2020!”

For the complete list of finalists, visit worldcoffeeevents.org