For this year’s Allpress x HARIO V60 Championship, our Head Roaster in Melbourne, Arch, faced a unique challenge: to take one of the world’s most celebrated varietals — a limited-edition Gesha from Finca Patio Bonito in Colombia — and roast it for the region’s top brewers.

Known for producing coffees with exceptional clarity, florals, and sweetness, this lot from Carlos and Paola Trujillo was an absolute standout. For Arch, the goal wasn’t just to make it taste great — it was to unlock its full potential in the hands of different brewing styles, all competing for the chance to represent Australia and New Zealand on the world stage in Tokyo.

We sat down with Arch to find out how he approached roasting for competition, the decisions that shaped the final profile, and what it’s like to watch a coffee you’ve roasted take centre stage in a competitive, trans-Tasman championship.

Where do you begin searching for a Championship coffee?

Arch: We went to all of our green bean suppliers with a clear request — an extraordinary coffee for what we knew would be an extraordinary community coffee event! With all the samples on the cupping table, our first introduction to the Patio Bonito Gesha was unforgettable. It shone by far against some already incredible coffees. Unanimously, we knew it was the best cup on the table.

This was the one — the coffee we wanted to share with our team, our partners, the wider public, and of course, a coffee with the exceptional qualities we wanted for HARIO V60 competitors.

Gesha is one of the world’s most celebrated varietals — what makes this particular lot so special?

Arch: The Colombia Patio Bonito Gesha carries qualities drawn from its Ethiopian origins — incredible natural sweetness and a distinct balance of fruit, florals, and rounded sweetness.

For this lot, you’ll find nectarine and strawberry leading the fruit notes, jasmine and honeysuckle in the florals, and caramel, toffee, and brown sugar giving it a warm, rounded sweetness. These characteristics are enhanced by the unique Colombian terroir and microclimate.

How do you go about roasting a rare coffee for competition?

Arch: Our A.R.T. Roaster is a bespoke system, there are only two others in the world; in Dunedin (Aotearoa) and London (England) roasteries.

They run like a dream but they’re loud, which makes it tricky to hear important roasting milestones like first crack. We have a sight glass to spot yellowing, but without a trier, we rely on other methods to nail the timing for first crack. 

We start by finding a coffee in our roastery with similar screen size, moisture, and density. Once we’ve matched those values, we sample roast it to see if yellowing and first crack line up in both timing and temperature.

We roast multiple samples to identify the profile that best highlights body, sweetness, acidity, and flavour accuracy. From there, we take the matching coffee into production, aiming for milestone percentages as close as possible to our preferred roast curve.

We’ll then roast three different profiles on the production system to ensure we haven’t missed any crossover variables between sample roasting and production roasting.

So how do you lock in the final roast?

Arch: The matching coffee is QC’d with roast colour and colour spread measurements, moisture loss calculations, and of course, cupping for taste. From there, we pick the best-tasting profile of the three and go into full production with that.

How did you feel knowing this coffee would be brewed by the region’s best brewers in a competition setting?

Arch: When you’re given a coffee of this quality, you’ve got an immense head start. The unique terroir of Carlos and Paola Trujillo’s farm, their meticulous processing methods, and the Gesha varietal itself make the build-up to production well worth the effort. 

What can people expect in the cup? 

You’ll enjoy rich stone fruit notes of nectarine, a sophisticated strawberry acidity, and a balanced toffee sweetness. It’s a cup full of flavour, yet perfectly balanced — exactly what we hoped to deliver for the region’s best brewers.