The time is drawing closer, friends, for the inaugural North American premiere of the Coffee Masters Tournament, a wildly inventive multidisciplinary coffee competition created by our friends & partners at Allegra Events. Coffee Masters debuted earlier in 2015 at the London Coffee Festival, and will be held again over several days at the 2015 New York Coffee Festival, happening September 25th-27th in Manhattan.
Coffee Masters 2015 – Highlights from Allegra Events on Vimeo.
A few weeks ago we announced the judges for this upcoming event, and today we’re excited to announce the 20 competitors who will engage in the heat of battleโ”the brutal discipline”โon the Coffee Masters stage. From around the world to Manhattan, let’s meet our 2015 NY Coffee Masters competitors:
Brandon Paul Weaver, Seattle, USA โ Slate Coffee Roasters
Brandon Tully, NYC, USA โ Underline Coffee
Cosmin Mihailov, Bucharest, Romania โ Bloom Specialty Coffee
Elle Taylor, Denver, USA โ Amethyst Coffee
Jenna Gotthelf, NYC, USA โ Everyman Espresso
John Gordon, Auckland, New Zealand โ Framework Coffee
Josh Littlefield, NYC, USA โ Irving Farm Coffee Roasters
Josh Taves, Denver, USA โ Novo Coffee
Karley Webb, San Francisco, USA โ Four Barrel Coffee
Nathan Cochran, Philadelphia, USA โ ReAnimator Coffee
Reef Bessette, San Francisco, USA โ Saint Frank Coffee
Ryan Fisher, Denver, USA โ Commonwealth Coffee Roasters
Sapphire Courchaine, Rochester, USA โ Joe Bean Coffeeย
Stacey Cullen, Bay Area, USA โ Independent
Steven Latham, NYC, USA โ Box Kite NYC
Bartosz Ciepaj, UK โ Facebook / Freelance
Brandon Giles, Brooklyn, USA โ Starbucks Reserve Williamsburgย
Buck Berk, NYC, USA โ The Coffee Mob
Jennifer Custard-Jarosz, NYC, USA โ Intelligentsia
This remarkable pool of competitors joins an equally fascinating team of judges, including Anne Lunell of Koppi [Sweden], Stephen Vick of Blue Bottle Coffee [Oakland], noted consultant and World Barista Champion Gwilym Davies [worldwide], Sam Penix of Everyman Espresso [NYC], and John Letoto of Greenway Coffee [Houston].
The 2015 Coffee Masters Tournament at the NY Coffee Festival will be MC’d by Sprudge editor & co-founder Jordan Michelman alongside Vic Frankowski, whose London-based DunneFrankowski consultancy helped design the competition format in association with Allegra Events.
We’ll see you there in one month for Coffee Masters!
Photos by Gary Handley for Coffee Masters & Allegra, used with permission.
