Coffee is a universal language – and a brew shared by an incredibly wide array of people. Nowhere is this more evident than in the judging line up of The Battle of the Beans – the re-incarnation of a popular coffee competition that saw some of the province’s greatest coffee lovers on a quest to discover KZN’s best brews for over 17 years.
A lot has changed since those judges put down their coffee cups. For starters, people know a lot more about coffee and where to find it. The Battle of the Beans has also embraced social media and is asking the coffee drinking public to nominate their favourite coffee spots on Facebook and Instagram with the promise of a giveaway hamper filled with coffee goodies and sugar from sponsor Selati.
The Battle of the Beans has morphed into a celebration of the café culture that brings people together, according to competition founder Ingrid Shevlin who has set up a judging panel of 29 that includes a doctor, a forensic scientist, a barista, a hair dresser, a lawyer, a pastor, a physic, a photographer and an artist.
Their shared love of coffee has made the Battle of the Beans a competition for the people by the people, says judge Dennis Ngxongo who adds that Durban’s coffee shops definitely double up as offices and meeting rooms for his catering and eventing business.
Worldwide, many high profile coffee competitions have lost their followings as new generations of coffee lovers shrug off coffee snobbery and elitism and focus on the quality of the cappuccino – which is why Shevlin has kept her judges firmly focussed on just what makes a good espresso and cappuccino rather than the coffee hype.
Her selection of judges was based on their passion for and knowledge about coffee and the process of coffee making.
“As a psychic medium and energy healer, I spend countless hours attuning myself to the vibrational frequencies of the universe. But, let’s be honest, nothing quite grounds me like a cup of exceptional coffee. It’s a ritual, a science, and an art form of which I never tire. My family’s apparent genetic predisposition for caffeine has resulted in an enduring love affair with this aromatic brew – or, as my family would put it, my DNA is half witch and half coffee bean. The battle of the beans is right down my alley,” smiles judge Heike Sym.
Durban coffee guru and owner of the Coffee Tree café, Judd Campbell, has spent about 30 years behind a coffee machine and has enjoyed the judging process along the North Coast where he has discovered many new venues.
As a judge, he, too, has been pleasantly surprised by the high standard of the coffee in KZN.
“I’ve just got back from Bali and I can say that our coffee is leaps and bounds above theirs. That’s a big tourism mecca so I am really impressed with what we have here,” he comments.
Although Campbell says appreciating coffee can be a very personal thing, it is also important to stick to the basics. “The first thing that I do is when I do when I walk into the coffee shop is check if the steam wand is caked in milk. If it is, I know that there’s bacteria and they haven’t cleaned the coffee machine the night before. I know a million things just by that. There is not a trick in this industry that I do not know,” he says.
