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When many of the finest specialty coffee roasters in the world put their best beans on the line, a Kelowna roastery found itself on the podium.
Craft 42 can be found by the corner of Gordon and Clement, just steps from Railside Brewing.
It's a tiny place.
It's a hole in the wall, you might say.
But if you want attention to detail in your coffee, it looms large.
The roastery won third place at the Forward Lottery competition featuring about 80 of the world's best.
"Kelowna's coffee scene is really coming up in the world," said Craft 42's Aaron Moore.
Photo Credit: NowMedia Aaron Moore, Craft 42 Roasters
"And hopefully we're getting a little recognition. There's some great roasters here."
The blind competition involves each entry receiving a batch of unmarked green coffee, so none of the roasters know what it is.
Each competitor is assigned a number, so the judges can't identify the roastery when they pick the winners.
"You have six to eight weeks to play with that coffee and send back your best interpretation," explained Moore.
Photo Credit: NowMedia
Before the roasted coffee was sent in, Moore said there were a bunch of micro roasts and tweaks to get it just right.
"You can do different things in roasting to maybe highlight, accent all the hard work that the farmers put in," he said.
Like in wine, there is a lot of complexity and nuance to coffee.
"In wine, there's over 200 notes detectable to the human pallette and in coffee, there's over 800," said Moore.
Photo Credit: NowMedia
This little roastery is tucked away, on an orphaned section of High Road so it's easy to miss.
But it's gaining a following that brings people in.
"We like to think of it as a hidden gem," said Moore.
"People come on in and they can do three coffees in several different ways and we just have some fun with coffee."
Photo Credit: NowMedia
And now, they can do so knowing it's some of the finest in the world.
Moore's favourite way to enjoy a good roast is the cortado.
"Equal parts steamed milk and espresso," he said.
"I always say the better the coffee, the shorter the drink."
You can find Craft 42 Roasters at 1178 High Road.
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