Bb Homebrewers Cup — Ice Brewing Competition Recap

There are people who drink only hot coffee even in the middle of summer. I'm one of them. I've always felt that hot coffee lets you enjoy the aroma and flavour better, and I thought it might be easier on digestion too.

Recently, I had the chance to drink more iced coffee than I ever have in my life — because I was asked to be a judge at the "Bb Homebrewers Cup," a competition centred around the theme of "Velvet White Ice Brewing." I genuinely don't think I've ever consumed this much cold coffee in such a short, concentrated period of time

The final round took place on Saturday, September 27th at 10am, at our newly renovated Hapjeong branch.

The Homebrewers Cup is a competition Bb organised this year for people who brew coffee at home as a hobby. Vero, who planned and judged the preliminary rounds, had an even more intense iced coffee experience than I did. I watched her recreate and taste every single recipe submitted by preliminary applicants — it was quite a journey. When I asked her about it later, she told me she normally drinks her coffee hot too.

So why was "ice brewing" the theme?

I asked Vero the same question I'm sure everyone else was wondering:

"Before deciding on a theme, the first decision was actually to hold a competition for home brewers. We knew that many of our customers and home brewers were brewing iced coffee at home, so it felt natural to choose ice brewing as the theme.

Unlike hot coffee, where the concentration barely changes over time, iced coffee becomes progressively diluted as the ice melts — and that makes both brewing and judging more difficult. So it's not easy to call ice brewing ideal for a competition. But we felt it was more important to align with the context in which most home brewers actually enjoy their coffee.

What I was most looking forward to was participants taking a closer look at their own ice brewing recipes and trying something new through this competition. Just achieving that would have made holding this competition worthwhile."
— Vero

The Judging Panel

Honestly, when Rosa, Cave, and I — the three judges — first heard that ice brewing was the theme, we were all a bit worried. The participants were going to put in so much effort to prepare, and we wanted to make sure we could evaluate them fairly and rigorously.

So before the competition, Vero and the judges met in advance for a spirited (!) discussion and set the rules — including the evaluation protocol and a decision-making framework for when the three of us disagreed.

Interestingly, Vero told us later that she had actually hoped for moments of disagreement between us. At the roastery, we often have differing opinions when evaluating coffee. After years of evaluating together, we've learned how to respect each other's views while still making the best possible decision — and that approach translated naturally into judging the Homebrewers Cup.

The Competition Format

The competition ran in three stages: preliminary rounds, semi-finals, and the final. Participants competed in groups of three, with the participant receiving the most votes from the judges advancing to the next round.

Preliminary Rounds (17 participants)
The key to advancing was getting the concentration and temperature right. Some brewed too strong to compensate for ice melt, while others underestimated how quickly the ice would melt and ended up with quite a diluted cup by judging time. There were also cases where the coffee was so cold it was difficult to properly evaluate. Since Velvet White is already a great coffee, getting the concentration and temperature right was enough to produce a very solid cup — and those were the ones that moved on.

Semi-Finals (6 participants)
One thing I paid close attention to was which drippers made it to the semi-finals. Three participants used the Hario V60, and one each used the Kalita Wave, Origami, and AeroPress. It was satisfying to see a good spread — all the popular brewers among home brewers today were represented. At this stage, concentration and temperature were no longer issues. Those who best expressed the fruitiness of the Velvet White were the ones who advanced to the final.

Final Round
The final was the only round in the entire competition that ended in a unanimous decision from all three judges. The winner's coffee was flawless across aroma, flavour, and texture — and the refreshing pleasure of the cold temperature elevated it even further. It was, simply put, an exceptional Velvet White iced coffee.

The runner-up's coffee, on the other hand, wasn't cold enough — it felt unintentional, as though something had gone wrong. It was a decent cup, but it didn't fully capture the appeal of "ice brewing" as the competition's theme. What struck me was that I remembered their semi-final cup being at a different temperature, so something must have gone differently than planned in the final.

The takeaway: for iced coffee, nailing the concentration and temperature at the moment of serving is everything.

Reflections After the Competition

After the Homebrewers Cup, I had many thoughts — but above all, I wanted to sort out my own feelings about iced coffee. I remember Cave saying in passing that the spectrum of iced coffee was much wider than she had expected. I also remember Vero saying she felt proud to discover, through the preliminary judging, how customers were actually brewing at home. Vero mentioned she genuinely wished that serious home brewers would invest in a refractometer. It's not cheap, so she hesitates to recommend it freely — but she wanted people to know that nailing the concentration alone can lead to consistently great coffee.

For me personally, judging this competition felt like experiencing a Spectrum: Velvet White Ice Brewing programme firsthand. Part of this is because I used to look down on iced coffee. I remember once feeling quietly sad when we were selling the El Salvador COE 2nd place Los Morales Geisha at our Hapjeong branch in the middle of winter, and more than 70% of customers ordered it iced. Now I wonder — had I even tried that coffee iced before feeling sad about it? That's how deeply I believed coffee had to be drunk hot.

Through this experience, I'm happy to admit: iced coffee can be just as complex and enjoyable as any other way of drinking coffee.

It's been about a month since the Homebrewers Cup ended. How much iced coffee have I had since? Honestly, aside from one Velvet White iced that I shared with Vero recently, I haven't had a single glass. Preferences don't change so easily, it seems. I'll probably continue to rarely drink iced coffee — but what the Homebrewers Cup taught me, that there is no hierarchy between preferences for temperature, is something I want to hold onto.