We don't grow coffee for awards. We grow it here in North Queensland to share. Still, sending our coffees off to be judged blind gives us a useful measure of where we stand — and it's a good deal of fun.
This season we entered two of Australia's most recognised coffee competitions: the Sydney Royal Fine Food Show and the Golden Bean competition. Here's what happened.
Sydney Royal Fine Food Show
At the Sydney Royal, entries are tasted blind across espresso, latte, and filter. Judges score on aroma, flavour, body, and balance without knowing the producer. We entered coffees taken directly from our regular production — the same lots we roast each week, bag up for customers, and brew at Jack's North Bondi. Nothing set aside for judges. Just our usual farm-to-cup coffees.
Results
• Silver — Espresso (Jack's Blend & Batch 27)
• Silver — Milk-based / latte (Espresso No.1)
• Silver — Pour-over / filter (Batch 28)
Those scores placed us at the top of two of the three categories we entered. In the third — latte — our friends at Coffee Mentality, who had also roasted and entered our beans independently, won gold with our coffee. That means Jack Murat beans topped all three categories, in two different roasters' hands.
It shows that Australian-grown coffee can hold its place among the best, and that the same bean can express itself well in different hands.
Golden Bean
The Golden Bean competition evaluates roasters across a range of categories. Our entry results:
What stood out across both competitions: we submitted the same coffees we sell every week. There was no special preparation, no reserve lot held back for judges. The coffee you order is the coffee that won.
What this means
Being both a coffee producer and roaster in Australia is still rare. For us, it's the only approach that makes sense — farming in North Queensland, processing on-site, and roasting for wholesale and for Jack's North Bondi.
Shows like the Sydney Royal and Golden Bean don't change the work. But they do tell us this: the coffee we grow here can stand alongside the best in Australia. We'll keep farming carefully, processing cleanly, and roasting with respect for the bean.
When you drink Jack Murat, you're drinking the coffee that won those medals — grown on our farm, straight from the soil to your cup.
Read more about how we grow and process our coffee.
