Alpine Roasting Championship 2026: Mariya Manerkina Wins the First Edition

Twelve roasteries, one green coffee, three identical machines — and one name on the board that stays there.

The Winner of ARC 2026

Mariya Manerkina of Codos Coffee has won the first Alpine Roasting Championship, held at Alrighty Coffee Roastery in Munich from 9 to 11 October 2026. The result was announced at 14:00 on 11 October, immediately after the final blind cupping.

Her prize is a trip to origin in Burundi, where she will visit the farm behind the competition coffee.

Codos Coffee is a German roastery based in Hamburg, with its own cafés and a wholesale business. Manerkina's coffee came out on top of a field of twelve — one competitor drawn from each of the roasteries taking part, from across Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, France and Slovenia. As the event itself puts it, Edition I is decided once: the first name on the board stays on it.

How the Championship Was Decided

Twelve roasteries from across the Alpine region — Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, France and Slovenia — each sent one competitor to Munich. Every competitor roasted the same green lot on three identically configured Giesen15-E machines, calibrated daily and assigned by draw.

The design removed everything except the roaster's own judgement. No samples of the competition coffee were issued in advance, so nobody arrived with a rehearsed answer. Three rounds ran across three days: a calibration roast on day one to read the coffee and set a plan, a single 45-minute competition roast window on day two, and a blind cupping on day three in front of a jury of five who did not know whose bowl was whose. Jury sheets were signed at the end of every round.

One detail of the format deserves attention. The organiser's stated design is that every competitor's roast log and readings are published once the competition closes — all twelve, not only the winner's. That turns three days of competition into a genuinely useful reference: twelve experienced roasters approaching the same coffee on the same machine and arriving somewhere different.

YPAK took part as the championship's packaging partner, supplying the bags used across the three competition days and on the cupping table. Giesen Roasting Solutions is a presenting partner of the event.

See the official championship website · More on YPAK and ARC 2026

The Bags on the Cupping Table

Every bag used during the championship was designed, printed and converted by YPAK. For a packaging supplier, a competition like this is an unusually honest test: twelve professional roasteries handling the same packaging under real conditions — filling it, sealing it, and presenting it to a jury.

The YPAK × GIESEN co-branded bag is not a one-off event item. The format has moved into production and is supplied as packaging for Giesen machines. A bag carrying two names has to satisfy two sets of standards at once: the roaster's need to protect the product, and the equipment maker's need to stand behind what ships alongside the machine.

The structure behind it is a working specification rather than a concept: a mono-material recyclable option, 3D UV spot gloss and matte finishes, and a one-way degassing valve configured to suit the bag and its intended use.

What YPAK supplied was the packaging for the championship itself — the bags on the three competition stations and on the cupping table. The packaging each of the twelve roasteries uses in its own business is a separate decision, and one YPAK is glad to discuss.

Explore the YPAK × GIESEN packaging programme

What This Means for Your Roastery

A championship result is a single data point. The transferable part is the method: define the conditions, isolate the variables, then hold your own decisions to a measurable standard.

Packaging works the same way. Most packaging problems do not come from a bad bag — they come from a specification that was never deliberately chosen: a structure inherited from a previous supplier, a valve selected by default, a finish added because it looked good on a screen. The result is a package that works in the first week and creates friction by the third.

The practical alternative is to specify from your own operating conditions outward — filling method, storage, distribution, shelf life, and the impression your brand needs to make. YPAK develops packaging against those conditions, from bag format and material structure through to artwork, sampling and production.

Recyclable coffee bags · Coffee packaging solutions

Your Next Packaging Project, Created for Your Brand

You focus on coffee. YPAK manages your packaging.

Twelve roasteries arrived in Munich with the same machine, the same green coffee and the same clock. What separated them was the set of decisions each one made — the same discipline that separates a packaging specification that holds up from one that does not.

Preparing a new release, upgrading your coffee bags, or planning a co-branded range? 

Contact YPAK to share your packaging project. Mention "ARC" in your inquiry and include your capacity, estimated quantity per design and target arrival date, along with photos of your existing packaging or design references.

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