The World Barista Championship (WBC) is an annual

barista A barista (; ; from the Italian/Spanish for "bartender") is a person, usually a coffeehouse employee, who prepares and serves espresso-based coffee drinks. Etymology and inflection The word ''barista'' comes from Italian where it means a male ...

competition operated by World Coffee Events for the title of World Barista Champion. The competition is composed of the winners of the national barista championships, which are operated by the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) chapters, or an approved, independent, non-profit national body. First held in 2000, the event is hosted in a different city every year. The most recent edition in 2022 was in Melbourne, with the 2023 edition scheduled to be in

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History

The first competition was in

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in 2000. The WBC was dominated in its early years by Scandinavian baristas and was held in Europe or the United States from its inception until 2007 when it was hosted in

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, Japan. In 2016, significant changes were made to the competition format: Grinders were now provided by the competition's partner ( Mahlkönig), new models of espresso machines were introduced, and the cappuccino was replaced by a "milk drink" component. In 2018, Agnieszka Rojewska became the first woman to win the World Barista Championship. The 2020 championship was due to take place in Melbourne but was cancelled because of the

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Competition format

Wider side view Jong Hoon Lee competing WBC

There are three rounds of judging over two days. The first round included 55 national barista champions in 2018. The top 15 competitors advance to a second (semi-finals) round, plus the addition of a wildcard placing. The final round comprises the top scoring six baristas from the semi-finals round and takes place on the last day of the competition. In each round competitors present a 15-minute routine in which they must prepare and serve a total of 12 drinks: (4)

espresso Espresso (, ) is a coffee-brewing method of Italian origin, in which a small amount of nearly boiling water (about ) is forced under of pressure through finely-ground coffee beans. Espresso can be made with a wide variety of coffee beans a ...

, (4) milk beverages, and (4) ‘ signature beverages’ (a

non-alcoholic An alcohol-free or non-alcoholic drink, also known as a temperance drink, is a version of an alcoholic drink made without alcohol, or with the alcohol removed or reduced to almost zero. These may take the form of a non-alcoholic mixed drink (a "vi ...

espresso-based

cocktail A cocktail is an alcoholic mixed drink. Most commonly, cocktails are either a combination of spirits, or one or more spirits mixed with other ingredients such as tonic water, fruit juice, flavored syrup, or cream. Cocktails vary widely acr ...

) to each of four sensory judges. Baristas commonly perform the same routine in each of the rounds that they compete. The four judges award points on a variety of factors including the taste and balance of the barista's beverages as well as their presentation. A technical judge grades their technique and cleanliness in the national championships and preliminary rounds. The judges’ points are totalled to produce a final score for each barista in each round. The baristas with the highest scores advance from the first and second rounds, and the barista with the greatest score in the final round wins the title.

Organization

The WBC is operated by World Coffee Events (WCE), which was established by the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) and the Speciality Coffee Association of Europe (SCAE) to run a portfolio of international coffee events. Since the SCAA and SCAE have unified in 2017, WCE is a part of this global organization called the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA). The national barista competitions are each organized by their respective national coffee organizations.

Past winners

References

External links

World Barista Championship
official site {{Coffee Baristas Brewing Coffee preparation Events in Melbourne Food and drink awards Coffee