Every year we look to evaluate and improve the integrity of the events, competitions and platforms that we have, and this year’s A Shot in the Dark is no exception!
In the early days, 6 years ago - it was just about getting the Coffee Roasters to all roast the same coffee and have it judged. Simple.
Then the next year, we were challenged to ensure all roasters received the same competition spec water - and so BWT came to the party with a perfect solution.
And so it went on... the roasters continued to challenge us to improve, and we challenged the Industry to assist us in running the best coffee roasting competition in the world. This has gone on year after year - and we took the competition to the Middle East - where it’s run very successfully for the past 2 years already!
Last year - we were faced with another challenge - a trickier challenge and at the crux of where the main product - the green coffee - met the logistics of getting it re-bagged and transported, with full integrity, to the roasters. And then, while in Dubai, we met a gentleman called Hanuman Jain and his daughter, based in India, who had the perfect solution - Ecotact. Hanuman and his family are one of the pioneers of multi-layered hermetic packaging solutions in India.
For the first time in early 2024, running the Middle East ASITD, we used Ecotact bags to re-pack all the competition coffees (all competitors do both Cupping & Blending challenges off the bat) into Ecotact bags, and sent them all over the Middle East. Wow! What an incredible, professional product! We know this made the roasters happy, and their feedback was so positive. Coffee people care about their green coffee!
Left image: A Shot in the Dark Middle East 2024 competition boxes, ready to ship from DMCC all over the Middle east! Right image: Ecotact allowed us to re-pack the green competition coffee, ensuring integrity and protection of the product.
For the first time in early 2024, running the Middle East ASITD, we used Ecotact bags to re-pack all the competition coffees (all competitors do both Cupping & Blending challenges off the bat) into Ecotact bags, and sent them all over the Middle East. Wow! What an incredible, professional product! We know this made the roasters happy, and their feedback was so positive. Coffee people care about their green coffee!
We then asked Mr. Jain if we could use them for the South Africa competition and we were thrilled to learn that I&M Smith (famous, for among other things like supplying amazing green coffee & tea, do the daily Coffee Market Report!) stocks and supplies Ecotact product right here in Johannesburg!
And thus, Roasters…. We are extremely excited to share with you, that YOUR coffee will be sent to you in the next 2 weeks, re-packed with love and care, and utmost respect, into the various sized Ecotact bags and shipped to you. But, not only that, each Roaster will receive an Ecotact Roaster Pack in your A Shot in the Dark competition box, which consists of….
Now, we were lucky enough to receive an advance sample pack and, during Creative Coffee Week, when we took a bunch of coffee people out to the coffee farms in northern KZN, we were able to see the Ecotact bags in action! The quality of the products is really incredible and we are so excited for you to get yours very very soon!
On a coffee farm tour in KZN earlier this year as part of CCW 2024 - we got to put the Ecotact bags to use!
These are tamper-proof hermetically sealed bags designed especially for green coffee & other coffee beans. The flexibility of the bag makes it a perfect match for small roasters!
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