u/Sharp_Ear2833

Saw the results from this year's WCRC come through and it got me thinking. Didn't watch the whole thing — just caught the news and the names — but one question's been nagging at me since. so I'm bringing it here.

https://preview.redd.it/z4h0zs1kc5ah1.png?width=1024&format=png&auto=webp&s=3272a7a0572aa1b37c2a0b39d9ed7ac7e4dc8acb

Seriously impressive stuff — the kind of thing that makes you appreciate how much goes into the beans you're buying.

But here's what I can't square. As someone who just brews and buys — I rely on roasters being consistent. When I find a roaster I like, the whole value is that they can hit that profile batch after batch. So if consistency is the core of good roasting, why does the champion change almost every year? You'd think someone who roasts consistently enough to win would at least land top 6 the next year. But repeats seem rare.

I've got a few half-baked theories and none of them fully hold up:
– the field's just stacked and someone new pops off every year
– comp roasting rewards something novel/creative that has little to do with stable café roasting
– consistency isn't actually the main thing being judged
– or it's something about the judging itself I don't fully understand

Honestly not trying to throw shade at anyone — I respect the craft too much for that. I just can't tell which of these (if any) is right, and it's been bugging me as someone who cares way more about a roaster I can rely on than a flashy one-off.

Anyone who's competed or followed this closely — what am I missing? Or am I overthinking a thing that has a boring explanation?

Feels like every season there's a new processing method making the rounds — the fermentation stuff keeps getting more extreme, and I genuinely can't keep track anymore. Which has me curious what's actually showing up on the comp tables this year vs. just internet hype.

WCC 2026

For anyone at Brussels — what are competitors actually pouring? Is it still the heavy anaerobic/co-ferment route everyone's been chasing, or is the room starting to swing back toward cleaner, more traditional processing to show off origin? Curious whether the trend on stage matches what's loud online.

New coffe brand

And for those of us who can't drop comp-lot money — anything from this year worth seeking out at a non-insane price? Always trying to taste where things are heading without selling a kidney.

Tetsu's new 10-pour calls for 1000–1200µm — 40–45 clicks on a C40, stupid coarse. Here's my problem: I'm on a Comandante C60 and the thing caps out around 1090µm. At 38 clicks I'm nowhere near his number, probably high 800s. So I ran the recipe knowing I couldn't actually hit the grind it's built around.

And it still worked? 20g, 300g at 95°C, bloom then 30g every 15s, ten pours. Both a natural and a washed came out noticeably thicker and sweeter than my usual — the body bump everyone's on about — except I never got to the grind that's supposed to cause it.

Which is what's bugging me. If I'm getting more body at ~850µm, is the coarse grind actually the magic here, or am I just over-extracting on a finer grind and calling it Tetsu? Genuinely can't tell.

Also, ten pours on a 15-second clock is a lot of babysitting for one cup. Not gonna be a daily.

So for anyone who's run this — C60/C40 owners especially: what grind did you actually use, and did going properly coarse change the body vs something finer? Trying to figure out if it's the coarse grind doing the work or just the ten pours plus heat.