Celebrating our Champion
Sunday the 7th of June, Bank competed in the 2026 PCA Australian Cup Tasters and now that the dust has settled, we want to tell you more about it!
Bank mid set at the PCA Australian Cup Tasters
You may recognise Bank as the super knowledgeable guy you’ve had epic coffee chats with at the roastery door. Or maybe you see him once a week when you get your coffee delivery. As soon as you speak to Bank, it’s clear he has expertise for days and is very passionate about coffee. What you may not know, is that Bank is really really good at tasting coffee!
Okay so what is a Cup Tasters Competition?
Put simply, competitors are required to use their wicked mad sensory skills to evaluate which coffee from a set of three cups is the odd one out. Sounds easy? They make this evaluation on 6-8 sets, needing to get the most correct in the shortest amount of time.
Put less simply, each set sees 2 cups which contain the same sample of coffee, and 1 cup which is different. There can be coffees from different origins, some from the same origin but different roast profile, some with the same roast profile but different extractions or maybe past and current crops. To top it off, backstage these coffees were poured at different times during the assembly of sets, so temperature differences and how that impacts taste, is another thing to consider when deciding which cup to eliminate. After a few sips, your brain begins to normalise the flavours making it very difficult to notice those subtle differences. Still sound easy?
Once you move your cup into the answer zone, you cannot go back on your decision, so you have to be sure. The timer is going, the pressure is high, and did I mention that there is a big crowd watching?
This event is not assessing the coffees to decide if they are good or bad, but picking up on the subtle differences in the samples which can taste remarkably similar. One cup may have a cooked peach flavour and the others more of a fresh peach, this delicate difference could be the only clue.
Judge Harry (2015 Australia National Cup Tasters Champion/2016 Australia National cup Tasters Champion/ 2022 Australia Brewers cup Champion/ 2022 world Brewers Cup 8th place/ Q grader) showing the crowd Banks last set to be scored during round 2.
And how did Bank go?
Bank was amongst 42 competitors who took to the stage to start the comp. Only the top 16 make it through to round two and Bank qualified with the 9th fastest time and 5 out of 6 sets correct. We were holding our breath as Hany read the results, with Bank being the 16th name read out!
With a lot of cuppers getting all 6 sets correct in round 2, time became very important. Bank smashed it and got all 6 correct, qualifying as the 4th fastest heading into the deciding round.
After literally drawing sticks to determine the order everyone would compete in, Bank was first up on the table. He got 7 of the 8 correct in the final round and set a very speedy time for following competitors. So speedy that he remained the fastest of the day and was crowned 2026 PCA Australian Cup Tasters Champion!!
Epic news! What did he win?
Besides eternal glory, Bank has earned the honor of representing Australia at the PCA Global Championship in Shanghai, competing with the top cuppers from around the world . We are so so so so proud of him!!
Your 2026 PCA Australian Cup Tasters Champion needing help to hold all of his prizes. Thank you PCA fof all of the awesome photos and such a great event!
Why is this skill so important in the industry?
Obviously this is a very impressive skill, but triangulation and sensory evaluation is super valuable within the industry. Being able to pick the subtleties between coffees that taste very similar is the difference between a consumer palette and a QC palette. Noticing how a small changes to process, roast, coffee prep or extraction as well as how consistent a coffee is or if it has any defects makes Bank very good at what he does and such a valuable member of our team.