Press Release
1st April 2025
Another successful 2025 Golden Bean World Series – Antigua Guatemala
Over 60 Coffee roasting finalist visited the Porta Hotel in Antigua Guatemala for the World Series in February this year. The competition was open to all gold and silver medalist from the three global competitions where over 2000 coffees were judged in 2024. The Golden Bean regions competing were Australasia, East Asia and The Americas. The attending roasters judged over 60 roasters who each submitting three coffees roasted for Espresso, Filter and Milk base.
The event was a full schedule of Farm tours, cultural dinners, coffee judging with and award ceremony.
The attending roasters assisted in choosing the best coffee from each category over two days of blind cupping which narrowed the finalist coffees to the final table. The finals were cupped by the nominated head judges in a blind cupping format.
This year’s winners were
Cat 1- Espresso – Brandon Bir OH USA
Cat 2 - Milk base – Mark Spencer Hotel OR USA
Cat 3 - Filter – Lamppost Coffee TX USA
The overall winners were
Small Franchise – Toffy Café East Asia
Large Franchise – Gloria Jeans Coffee Australia
Overall Champion – Crimson Coffee United States
This year’s award ceremony was held at the Historic ruin “Iglesia San Jose el Viejo”. The event was hosted by MC Geoff Weaver who entertained the crowd with his own rendition of American Pie. The event was produced by Cristy Ana Guirola from Terra Negra coffee traders. The night saw some emotional acceptance speeches by some very deserving coffee roasters.
The over all winner Brandon Bir from Crimson Coffee from Columbus Ohio in the USA was present to accept this prestigious award. Brandon has been supporting Golden Bean over 10 years as a competitor, Head judge and a roaster trainer. It was a well-deserved win by the equally passionate coffee roaster who has taken many past medals and category trophies. This is the first world series overall trophy for Brandon and Crimson Coffee team. I know Brandon has been working hard to secure this win and at the same time he has been advising new roasters entering Golden Bean with tips on winning medals. Congratulations on being the world champion roaster for the largest peer supported competition in the world.
I would like to personal thank all the judges, finalists, sponsors, and the team behind Golden Bean for another great final event. We have picked Sydney for the 2025 world series which will be held in February 2026.