In 2025, Hui-Ling “Kelly” Wang, founder and instructor of Green Stone Coffee Academy, participated in the Yunnan Coffee Roasting Competition after discovering that the event would hold a preliminary round in Taiwan.
Her decision to enter the competition was also inspired by her previous travels in Yunnan, where the distinctive character of locally grown coffee had left a lasting impression on her.
In October 2025, Kelly competed in the Taiwan preliminary round, roasting a honey-processed single-origin coffee from Yunnan with a very light roast approach.
Her coffee earned third place, qualifying her to advance to the Grand Final.
The following month, she traveled to Guangxi to compete against top-performing roasters who had advanced from the regional preliminary rounds.
The Grand Final presented a very different challenge.
Competitors were required to work with three Yunnan coffees featuring different processing methods, developing a blend and roasting it on a Santoker 700RXM competition roaster.
The format required competitors to quickly understand unfamiliar coffees, evaluate their characteristics, develop a roasting strategy, and bring multiple coffees together into a balanced final product—making it an intensive test of both technical roasting skills and sensory judgment.
At the Grand Final, Kelly received the competition’s special “Roasting Goddess Award” (烘焙女神獎).
The award was presented by the organizer as a special distinction recognizing a high-scoring female roaster and was listed alongside the competition’s other major awards.
For Kelly, receiving the award was especially meaningful after progressing from the Taiwan preliminary round to the Grand Final and representing Taiwan on a larger competitive stage.
The experience also offered another opportunity to explore Yunnan coffee from a roaster’s perspective—working directly with different processing methods, adapting to unfamiliar competition equipment, and developing a blend under demanding competition conditions.
At Green Stone Coffee Academy, participating in roasting competitions is not only about winning an award.
Competition provides an opportunity to test sensory judgment, roasting strategy, adaptability, profile development, and decision-making under pressure.
These experiences can then be brought back into professional coffee education, giving students a better understanding of how roasting knowledge is applied beyond the classroom.
From Taiwan to Yunnan and Guangxi, the 2025 competition became another important chapter in Kelly’s continuing journey through coffee roasting, education, competition, and international exchange.
