World Barista Championship facts for kids

The World Barista Championship (WBC) is a big yearly contest where the best baristas compete. They want to win the title of World Barista Champion! Only winners from national barista contests can join. These national contests are run by groups like the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA).

The contest happens in a new city each year.

History of the Championship

The first World Barista Championship was held in Monte Carlo in the year 2000. In the early years, many winners came from countries in Scandinavia (like Norway and Denmark). The contest usually took place in Europe or the United States.

In 2007, the championship went to Tokyo, Japan, for the first time outside of Europe or the USA.

Big changes happened in 2016 to make the competition even better. New espresso machines were used, and a "milk drink" category replaced the old cappuccino part.

In 2018, something special happened: Agnieszka Rojewska became the first woman to win the World Barista Championship!

How the Competition Works

The World Barista Championship has three rounds of judging over two days. In 2018, 55 national barista champions started in the first round.

The top 15 baristas move on to the second round, called the semi-finals. One extra "wildcard" competitor also gets to join them. The final round has the top six baristas from the semi-finals. This exciting final round happens on the last day of the contest.

In each round, competitors have 15 minutes to show off their skills. They must make and serve 12 drinks in total:

• 4 espressos
• 4 milk drinks
• 4 ‘signature beverages’

A signature beverage is a special, non-alcoholic drink made with espresso, like a unique coffee cocktail. Baristas often perform the same routine in every round they compete in.

Four judges taste the drinks and give points for things like flavor and balance. They also look at how the barista presents their drinks. A technical judge watches their technique and how clean they keep their workspace. All the judges' points are added up to get a total score for each barista. The baristas with the highest scores move forward, and the one with the best score in the final round wins the championship!

Who Organizes the Event

The World Barista Championship (WBC) is run by World Coffee Events (WCE). This group was created by two big coffee organizations: the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) and the Speciality Coffee Association of Europe (SCAE).

In 2017, the SCAA and SCAE joined together to form one global group called the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA). Now, WCE is part of this larger SCA organization.

The national barista competitions, which decide who goes to the WBC, are organized by coffee groups in each country.

Past Champions

Gwilym Davies preparing signature drinks at the World Barista Championship, Atlanta, 2009

Year	Location	Winner (Country)	Source
2000	Monte Carlo,  Monaco	Robert Thoresen ( Norway)
2001	Miami,  United States	Martin Hildebrandt ( Denmark)
2002	Oslo,  Norway	Fritz Storm ( Denmark)
2003	Boston,  United States	Paul Bassett ( Australia)
2004	Trieste,  Italy	Tim Wendelboe ( Norway)
2005	Seattle,  United States	Trouls Overdahl Poulsen ( Denmark)
2006	Bern,  Switzerland	Klaus Thomsen ( Denmark)
2007	Tokyo,  Japan	James Hoffmann ( United Kingdom)
2008	Copenhagen,  Denmark	Stephen Morrissey ( Ireland)
2009	Atlanta,  United States	Gwilym Davies ( United Kingdom)
2010	London,  England	Michael Phillips ( United States)
2011	Bogota,  Colombia	Alejandro Mendez ( El Salvador)
2012	Vienna,  Austria	Raúl Rodas ( Guatemala)
2013	Melbourne,  Australia	Pete Licata ( United States)
2014	Rimini,  Italy	Hidenori Izaki ( Japan)
2015	Seattle,  United States	Sasa Sestic ( Australia)	(Score: 618 out of 814)
2016	Dublin,  Ireland	Berg Wu ( Taiwan)	(Score: 583.0 out of 719)
2017	Seoul,  South Korea	Dale Harris ( United Kingdom)
2018	Amsterdam,  Netherlands	Agnieszka Rojewska ( Poland)
2019	Boston,  United States	Jooyeon Jeon ( South Korea)