In late February, Wenbo “Joe” Yang won the 2026 U.S. Coffee Roasting Championship in Houston, competing against 24 roasters at Roastronix HQ. The competition covered green coffee evaluation, sample roasting, cupping, and roast curve analysis — Yang topped the field in all of it.
A caffeinated effort to find the best espresso.
Your Guide to the World’s Best Competition Coffees
Latest Competition Coverage
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Cup of Excellence Nicaragua 2026: Two Geisha Lots Lead the Field — Auction Opens June 25
Nicaragua’s 2026 Cup of Excellence results are in, and the story at the top is straightforward: Geisha varieties swept both category winners from 29 competing lots.
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World Coffee Championships 2026: Four Competitions Head to Brussels This June
Four world-level coffee competitions are heading to Brussels, Belgium this June — and if you follow the specialty coffee circuit, this is the weekend to watch.
The World Coffee Championships will be held June 25–27, 2026 at the World of Coffee Brussels trade show, bringing national champions from dozens of countries to compete on a single stage across four disciplines:
- World Coffee Roasting Championship (WCRC)
- World Brewers Cup (WBrC)
- World Latte Art Championship (WLAC)
- World Coffee in Good Spirits Championship (WCIGS)
The World Barista Championships will not be held at this event, but will occur at the Panama competition in October.
The 2026 rules for several championships have already been updated — notably, the World Barista Championship introduced new guidelines around espresso minimums, water service to judges, and standardized Ceado grinders for all competitors.
The one to watch: World Coffee Roasting Championship
Of the four Brussels competitions, the World Coffee Roasting Championship is the one most likely to produce a coffee you can actually track down and buy. Every competitor works from the same green coffee — what separates them is what they do with it. The winner will be a roaster running their own operation, and the coffee they brought to Brussels will be something worth finding after June 27.
We will post a dedicated spotlight on the WCRC winner and their coffee as soon as results are announced.
In the meantime, follow @worldcoffeechampionships for live updates from Brussels, or check the event organizer directly at wcc.coffee.
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Coffee Fest’s Second Espresso Winner of 2017
June 9th, in Chicago was the second of 3 espresso competitions Coffee Fest will hold this year. Pilcrow Coffee Roasters was the winner of the America’s Best Espresso title.
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Coffee Fest’s First Espresso Winner of 2017
Coffee Fest planned 3 Espresso competitions this year. The first was held last weekend in Nashville and the Best Espresso winner iiiiiiiss…
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Best Coffees of 2016
There are several competitions over the year, but this post highlights the winning coffees out there that you might be able to obtain and try. Please fee free to contact me if you have a link to any of these coffees and I’ll update the post with it.
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Kalibús la Sierra
Australian roaster @LnDCoffeeTrade picked up the @cupofexcellence Guatemalan winner back in June.
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Monte Llano Bonito
@MARUYAMA_COFFEE was an auction winner of this years first place Costa Rica @cupofexcellence. @sprudge wrote a good article about them http://ow.ly/wXnH305FGyh.
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2016 Cup of Excellence Results
Results for the Cup of Excellence competitions are still being posted. I will be adding them here as they appear. You can also check the Alliance for Coffee Excellence site. (more…)
Shop Champion Beans
Taste the winners. We track down the champion roasters and their beans so you don’t have to.