Last month, the roasting and sensory team here at Mill City had a chance to test their coffee tasting and identification skills with season 17 of the Leaderboard Coffee Game. The game, played in countries worldwide, challenges coffee professionals and enthusiasts to match 10 roasted coffee samples to their correct country of origin, varietal, processing method, elevation, and other details that impact coffee flavor.
If you've ever attended classes or workshops here at Mill City, you know that one of our favorite ways to teach is through friendly competition. Whether it's challenging cupping triangulations or tricky color-matching exercises at the roasters, we see that students try harder and have better outcomes when they are trying to outdo one another. We'll go all-in if bragging rights are on the table, and that's exactly what the prize is for the top scorers of Leaderboard.
Read more to learn about how to play Leaderboard and how Team Mill City scored for this season.
How it Works
When you sign up for Leaderboard, you are automatically enrolled in their subscription, which can be canceled any time. Players can choose to play Leaderboard Classic Mode, 10 coffees shipped along with an answer key and a few packets of Third Wave Water for controlled brewing, or Leaderboard Lite which is just the first 5 coffees of the full set. The coffees are provided by notable roasters from around the world; this season featured coffee companies from California, New York, Australia, and the Netherlands.
The categories that must be identified and their relative points are: area (1pt), country (2pts), process (2pts), variety (2pts), elevation (1pt), and decaf/lo-caf (1pt). For area, the options are Africa, Americas, or Asia. Elevation only needs to be above or below 1600 masl, and the answer to decaf or lo-caf can be yes or no. The whole box, answer card, website, and IG page for Leaderboard are inspired by classic 8-bit arcade games like Pac Man and Space Invaders.
The game is broken into two sets. Coffees 01-05 are a little easier to identify and the answer key offers a "bank" from which to choose possible countries, processing methods, and varietals. The second set is harder, with Coffees 06-10 coming from any coffee-producing country you can think of, any possible processing method, and a list of 20 varieties ranging from the familiar Pacas and Pink Bourbon to the unusual Chiroso, Jaadi, Kartika, and non-Arabica Liberica and Robusta options.
To play, you taste the coffees and look at the roasted beans, then fill out your answer sheet with your best guesses. Answers are submitted online and "locked in" before the season deadline, and then the coffee details are revealed one day at a time for ten days. High scorers get a shoutout from the Leaderboard account with their IG handles tagged in stories following the coffee reveals.
How We Played
Our roasting and sensory team cups multiple times each week, so we approached Leaderboard like a normal cupping exercise and followed our standard protocol. We included two cups of each coffee and poured the roasted beans into a coffee tray for visual evaluation. Using cues from the roasted coffees, sensory evaluation, and process of elimination, we were able to complete our answer key in about an hour, which is a normal amount of time for us to do a production cupping.
We decided to play as a team, share our guesses and rationales, and submit one answer sheet altogether. This method allows us to combine our roughly 40 years of professional coffee experience among our team and capitalize on everyone's knowledge and familiarity with specific coffee origins and varietals. Does this put us at a competitive advantage? We hope so! Did it help us win the game? It did not!
Feeling Confident: Set 1
Coffees 01-05 were, as expected, easier for us. Using context clues and process of elimination, we correctly identified all five coffee's areas, countries, and varietals. We also got the elevation and caffeine categories correct for the whole group. The only points we missed were the processing methods for 3 of the coffees, incorrectly calling a washed co-fermented decaf a natural process (it was so fruity!), thinking a washed thermal shock was a honey co-ferment (again, the fruit!), and labeling a natural processed Guatemala as a honey (less fruit than expected!).
Two of the most obvious coffees in this set were a natural Ethiopia Landrace varietal grown above 1600 masl and a washed Pacamara from El Salvador. These were classic examples of the origin, processing method, and very recognizable varietals (Landrace coffees are small and dense, Pacamara is a huge, thumb-sized, lightweight bean). We recognized the two Colombia coffees by scent and flavor primarily, and the Guatemala was the last option remaining from the country bank so it was easy to guess where that coffee was on the table.
The first coffee in this section ended up being a decaf, which we correctly identified based on the hallmark mottled color of the roasted coffee. Decafs can look almost zebra-striped due to the processing method and tend to have a recognizable flavor profile, especially if they are EA decafs from Colombia which Coffee 01 happened to be. For this set of coffees, we scored 39pts out of a possible 45pts. Not too shabby.
Being Humbled: Set 2
Coffees 06-10 were, to borrow the term from the Leaderboard organizers themselves, diabolical. The only coffee we guessed correctly was Coffee 06, another Ethiopia Landrace from higher elevations. This was a washed coffee and tasted complex and perfumed with easily identifiable Ethiopia notes of bergamot and jasmine. That's where the celebrations ended for us. We missed the next 4 countries and varietals.
We thought a coffee from Sumatra might be a Kenya SL-28 based on its savory characteristics and raisin-like sweetness. Many other players guessed Kenya for that coffee, which helped soothe the sting of defeat just a bit. Coffee 08 was a total Hail Mary, with spicy and tea-like flavors we couldn't pinpoint, we threw our hands up and wrote China only to later discover it was a coffee from Nepal. Once the dust settled on our low score for that coffee, we were able to appreciate the opportunity to taste our first-ever Nepali coffee and felt a little better knowing that we'd at least guessed a bordering country.
For the final two coffees, we were again bested by the countries and varietals but did get the broader areas, processing methods, and elevations correct. Coffee 09, which we thought might be from Ecuador, was in fact another Colombia (a delicious blend of Gesha and Pink Bourbon varietals). The final coffee was a natural Brazil SL-28; we guessed Colombia for that one. Our score for Set 2 was a meager 27pts out of a possible 45pts.
Bonus Points
In a show of great generosity, the game leaders offer a Section B where players can earn a few bonus points on the back of the answer key. These questions ask you to further examine the coffees as a whole and compare some samples to each other (i.e. "Compare coffees 09 and 10, which was grown at a higher elevation?"). You're also invited to name your favorite coffee on the table for a free point, which reminded us of getting credit on the SAT for writing your name on your test.
Final Scores and Lessons Learned
The winner of Season 17 scored an incredible 87 points out of a possible 100. That player, Peety Lee of Canada (@peety_lee), deserves all the bragging rights. Our team came in at a very respectable 75 points after the bonus round was tallied. We feel great about this effort considering that we made all of our selections after just one cupping and we did no extra reading or research on the unfamiliar varietals listed on the answer sheet.
If we play again, we may approach the game a bit more strategically. Cupping a second time might help us narrow down the countries better and feel more confident in our selections. Leaderboard does provide some resources, including a varietal guide and a lecture from Onyx Coffee's Dakota Graff on identifying coffee varieties, which we did not reference (sorry, Dakota). These would have been very helpful!
We had a great time playing Leaderboard and really enjoyed the way the competition was structured. We reveled in our wins and accepted our losses with tremendous grace. This is a challenging game for anyone, even people with a lot of coffee knowledge, and it was a fun way to apply our cupping and roasting experience.
Thanks to Leaderboard and this season's roasters for a great game!
