The 2021 World Barista Champion, World Brewers Cup Champion, and World Cup Tasters Champion Have Been Awarded During HostMilano

OCTOBER 27, 2021 — After four days of intense competition, three new World Coffee Champions have been announced in Milan, Italy: 

Diego Campos representing Colombia is the 2021 World Barista Champion; Matt Winton representing Switzerland is the 2021 World Brewers Cup Champion; and Kyoungha (Charlie) Chu representing Australia is the 2021 World Cup Tasters Champion. The Milan World Coffee Championships have taken place over the last four days as part of the HostMilano trade show in Italy. Competition has been fierce, with over 90 competitors representing their Competition Bodies across four World Coffee Championships. It’s been fantastic to see our community of judges, coaches, volunteers, coffee professionals, fans and sponsors gather again after being apart for so long. 

2021 World Barista Championship Final Ranking 

1. Diego Campos, Colombia 2. Andrea Allen, United States 3. Hugh Kelly, Australia 4. Emi Fukahori, Switzerland 5. Martin Shabaya, Kenya 6. Wojciech Tysler, Ireland 

The World Barista Championship focuses on promoting excellence in coffee, advancing the barista profession, and engaging a worldwide audience with an annual championship event that serves as the culmination of local and regional events around the globe. Each year, competitors from around the globe each prepare 4 espressos, 4 milk drinks, and 4 original signature drinks to exacting standards in a 15-minute performance set to music. WCE Certified Judges from around the world evaluate each performance on the taste of beverages served, cleanliness, creativity, technical skill, and overall presentation. The ever-popular signature beverage allows baristas to stretch their imagination and the judges’ palates to incorporate a wealth of coffee knowledge into an expression of their individual tastes and experiences. The top 15 highest-scoring competitors from the first round, plus wild-card winner from the Team Competition, advance to a semi-final round. The top 6 competitors in the semi-final round advance to the finals round, from which one winner is named World Barista Champion! 

2021 World Brewers Cup Final Ranking 

1. Matt Winton, Switzerland 2. Daiki Hatakeyama, Japan 3. Elika Liftee, United States 4. Carlos Escobar, Australia 5. Ply Pasarj, Canada 6. Tomas Taussig, Czech Republic 

The World Brewers Cup competition highlights the craft of filter coffee brewing by hand, promoting manual coffee brewing and service excellence. In this Championship, competitors prepare and serve three individual beverages for a panel of judges. During the first round competitors complete two coffee services – a compulsory service and an open service. For the compulsory service, competitors prepare three beverages utilizing whole bean coffee provided to them by the competition. For the open service, competitors may utilize any whole bean coffee of their choosing and must also accompany their beverage preparation with a presentation. The six competitors with the highest score from the first round will go on to compete in the finals round consisting exclusively of an open service. One competitor from the final round will be named the World Brewers Cup Champion. 

2021 World Cup Tasters Championship Final Rankings 

1. Kyoungha (Charlie) Chu – Australia 2. Dénes Rajmond – Germany 3. Sang Min Ju - South Korea 4. José María Gómez Mora - Costa Rica 

Coffees of the world have many distinct taste characteristics and in this competition format, the objective is for the cupper to discriminate between the different coffees. Three cups are placed in a triangle, with 2 cups being identical coffees and one cup being a different coffee. Using skills of smell, taste, attention, and experience, the cupper will identify the odd cup in the triangle as quickly as they can. A total of 8 triangles are placed in each round. The top 8 competitors with the most correct answers and the fastest time proceed to the next Semi Finals round. Then the top 4 will compete again in the Finals round to determine the next World Cup Tasters Champion. Full competition routines are being uploaded to the World Coffee Championship YouTube channel, with full rankings available soon. Download a selection of official stage photography at the link in the notes section.

About the World Coffee Championships and World Coffee Events 

The World Coffee Championships are produced by World Coffee Events (WCE) — the event management organization of the Specialty Coffee Association, and the premier producer of events for the coffee community worldwide. WCE’s mission is to develop events that engage the specialty coffee community and promote coffee excellence. The current WCE portfolio involves the World Coffee Championships; the World Barista Championship, World Latte Art.

About HostMilano HostMilano is the international exhibition dedicated to the world of food service and hospitality. Taking place every two years, it offers everything needed to build a successful business, from raw materials to semi-finished products, from machinery to equipment, from furnishings to tableware, with one eye firmly focused on trends, technologies and innovation. 2021 will mark the 42nd edition.