Hi Zed, aren’t you a little young to be roasting coffee?
I just turned 11 but I’ve been around coffee most of my life.
I know what good coffee beans look like but I’m not allowed to drink anything but decaf yet.

What made you enter a roasting competition?
When I heard that there was a home roasting category I thought “I’ll have a go at that”.

What beans did you use?
I looked through all the beans at Dad’s work and selected a Mexican bean.  I thought about blending it but Dad said it was a pretty great by itself.

Why did you choose that one?
Later that day I was going to Taco Bills Mexican restaurant for a friend’s birthday party (Jackson), I thought it made sense to roast from the same country I was going to eat from.

How did you roast it?
I roasted two 300 gram batches in the Behmor and blended them together. It’s really easy to use and you can see the beans change colour through the glass door.

How did you know they were roasted enough?
You can hear the first crack really easily, the second crack was just starting when I hit the cool button and the colour looked right.

What did you think when you heard you had won the category?
Shock!  Then after the shock extremely happy.  I went to school the next day and told my teacher Miss P and the class.  On Wednesday I was called-up in front of the whole school assembly and was asked lots of questions about coffee roasting.

What happens next in your coffee roasting journey?
I’m really looking forward to entering my next coffee roasting competition and hopefully beating dad next time.