48 coffee experts competed against each other in this nerve-racking battle. The opponents are all given the same beans and must use the same type of machine (the AeroPress) to brew their coffee. Contestants face a three person jury who judge them based on their coffee’s acidity, body, balance, and flavour notes. “This type of competition is great because so many different flavours can be made with just one type of coffee and an Aeropress.”—Bonne Postma, judge.

After 17 rounds, 12 heats, 4 semifinals, Wendelien van Bunnik Verver of Single Estate Coffee Roasters took home the win. Van Bunnik Verver also won Dutch Barista Champion earlier this year. Next, she’ll travel to the World Aeropress Championship in London to represent the Netherlands.

“This is such a kick! AeroPress Championship is such a nice atmosphere and I actually came for fun, never thought that I would go home with the win. I came up with the recipe this summer with a good friend on holiday in Switzerland. When I started practicing last Thursday, I looked up the recipe in my notebook. And with this recipe, the coffee just became super sweet!”—Wendelien van Bunnik Verver

Final results:

1. Wendelien van Bunnik Verver, Single Estate Coffee
2. Erik Oosterhuis, Treat Coffee, Tea, Chocolate
3. Frans van den Berg, Barista Brothers
4. Sander Groenink, Espressobar Maling

Want to try Wendelien’s recipe at home? Find her recipe here. 

All the finalists of DAC2019

AeroPress

AeroPress is a manual coffee brewing method, highly regarded among coffee connoisseurs and baristas. AeroPress is a flexible brew method, which makes it possible to experiment and get a huge variety of flavours out the coffee being brewed. This variety comes from adjusting variables like quantity, grind, water temperature, length of extraction, ajitation, filter type, and a  million other little tweeks.

The AeroPress is a round tube with a plastic holder at the base where you can place a paper filter. A rubber ring ensures that the coffee can be “pressed” through the filter.

Kenya Ndaroini

This year’s event was organized by Keen Coffee (handed over by Coffeecompany, who organized the previous 7 editions.) “This competition fits Keen Coffee well because we always strive for improvement and we love competition. Learning and sharing knowledge is part of our mission at Keen, and how cool is it that we can do this in a relaxed atmosphere with a beer in hand?!”—Rob Kerkhoff, Founder, Keen Coffee

The event was made possible in part by Brita (water filters) and Oatly (oat milk). These sponsors invest heavily in the development of the Specialty Coffee market. The competition coffee was Ndaroini from Kenya, made available by Trabocca and roasted by Keen Coffee. Ndaroini is a special coffee because it’s one of the first direct trade coffees out of Kenya. Thanks also go to sponsors La Marzocco, Dutch Coffee Pack, and Kinu. This year, the competition branding and design was created by illustrator Joost Stokhof