Columbus-based coffee roaster takes home gold medal at world’s largest coffee roasting competition

What do Bake Me Happy, Third Way Cafe, Cafe Overlook, and the Grandview Grind all have in common? Well, they serve some really great, local coffee. Gold medal winning coffee, in fact. 

Royal Flamingo Coffee, a micro-roaster here in Columbus, OH, roasts coffee for all of the cafes above, plus they offer retail bags. They’ve perfected their roast to the point where they took home the gold medal for espresso at this year’s Golden Bean North America competition, which is the world’s largest coffee roasting competition. 

The medal was presented to Royal Flamingo last weekend, August 12th, after their CM Red Fruits Espresso beat hundreds of other coffee roasters’ offerings from all over the United States and Canada. 

This CM Red Fruit Espresso is a red bourbon variety grown by Edwin Noreña of Finca Campo Hermoso in Colombia, and Royal Flamingo says this espresso is incredibly special. It’s processed through carbonic maceration, which means it’s fermented in a method that draws out the bean’s “fruitiness.” Their espresso is complex, processed with crushed coffee cherry pulp, red fruits, and wine yeast for 72 hours, then sun-dried for 25 days, resulting in a creamy cup of espresso with strawberry and bubblegum notes. Royal Flamingo is the first, and currently only roaster in the United States to offer this variety. You can buy it for retail here.

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The husband and wife duo behind the concept of Royal Flamingo, Bryan and Beth Brzozowski, have a mission to “make serious coffee for unserious people,” their website explains. They focus on coffee that’s carefully sourced and great for daily drinking, but also dabble into micro-lots that showcase the new and interesting ways coffees are being processed.

Their dedication and hard work paid off. Not only did they take home the gold medal for their espresso, but they also finished in the top 5 overall roasters in this competition, in addition to winning seven bronze medals for their other coffee offerings. 

Check out more info about Royal Flamingo Coffee, buy bags for retail, and see which cafes sell their products on their website.

Want to read more? Check out our print publication, (614) Magazine. Learn where you can find a free copy of our new August issue here!

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