Crimson Cup Named #1 Small Franchise/Chain Coffee Roaster at the World’s Largest Roasting Competition

We took home top honors in the Small Franchise/Chain category at the 2019 Golden Bean North America roasting competition. Wayfarer Blend, Ethiopian Kossa Kebena and Natural Gesha Oxapampa Peru coffees won eight medals.

The Golden Bean is the world’s largest coffee roasting competition, drawing over 1,300 entries. The 2019 competition took place September 10 through 14 in Nashville, Tennessee. Over these four days, judges used a blind tasting format to evaluate entries in 11 different categories and brew methods .

“We’re proud to roast the best coffee of any small coffee chain in North America,” said Education and Sustainability Director Brandon Bir. “Taking part in the Golden Bean each year helps to keep us at the top of our coffee game.”

Brandon profiled Crimson Cup’s entries and served as one of eight category judges for the competition.

The Golden Bean is our second national coffee industry title. In 2016, Roast Magazine honored Crimson Cup as its Macro Roaster of the Year.

The Nashville competition also marked the second year Crimson Cup won Golden Bean medals in all categories entered. In 2018, we brought home six medals.

Crimson Cup won the Small Franchise/Chain Championship based on the best total scores in three categories:

• Chain Store/Coffee Franchise-Espresso (Category 8),
• Chain Store/Coffee Franchise-Milk Based (Category 9), and
• Chain Store/Coffee Franchise-Filter (Category 10).

Medals included:

• Five medals for Wayfarer Blend, including gold in Franchise/Chain-Milk Based, silver in Franchise/Chain-Espresso, and bronze in the Franchise/Chain-Espresso, Milk Based (Latte) and Espresso (Short Black) categories.
• A silver medal in the Franchise/Chain-Filter category for Ethiopian Kossa Kebena.
• Bronze medals in the Franchise/Chain-Filter and Filter categories for Natural Gesha Oxapampa Peru.

We sourced Ethiopian Kossa Kebena and Natural Gesha Oxapampa, Peru through our Friend2Farmer direct trade program. Brandon and other members of our coffee buying team travel more than 86,000 miles each year to source coffee directly from farmers. The roaster pays an above-market price, consults with farmers on ways improve coffee quality and invests in community improvements.

Wayfarer Blend, Ethiopian Kossa Kebena and Natural Gesha Oxapampa, Peru coffees are available online and at Crimson Cup Coffee Houses in Columbus and Tallmadge, Ohio.