It all comes down to this. The Finals of the 2025 US Barista Championship. After two days of top notch barista action here at Black & White Coffee HQ in Raleigh, North Carolina, the magic number is now 6. Six espresso courses, six milk drinks, six sig bevs. Six baristas. One champion. It’s maybe the most exciting year on the American coffee calendar.
We’ve got competitors of every stripe here at the Finals. We’ve got the veterans, like Frank Yeo, Kay Cheon, oh and 2023 US Barista Champion Isaiah Sheese. And we’ve got the the next generation in Noel Goodwin and Circle Chan (who is competing for her first time). Then there’s Jak Ryan, who’s a little bit of both; Ryan started competing a decade ago… in Australia and is now making his American debut. There’s intrigue galore.
And they all have one more chance to state their case for why they should be crowned the US Barista Champion. We’ll be here all day live recapping the six routines as they occur, which will update in this very article. Buckle up, it’s going to be a fun ride.
Sprudge’s coverage of the 2025 US Barista Championship in Raleigh, North Carolina is presented in by La Marzocco and Pacific Barista Series.
Circle Chan – The Coffee Movement – San Francisco, CA
Our first finalist of the 2025 US Barista Championship is Circle Chan of The Coffee Movement in San Francisco, California. Our first run, featuring a first-time Finalist, in her first time competing, that for the remainder of her routine we will refer to as the Barista Chan-pionship. Lots of firsts. Along with the firsts there’s also an only. Chan is the only competitor this entire weekend to use a coffee grown domestically.
She is using a blend of coffees today actually, “one representing myself, the other representing all those that came before me,” the most notable of those being the champagne yeast-inoculated natural processed Kona Gesha, grown at 740MASL, hand-picked and processed just one month ago, and roasted by Paradise Roasters in Hilo, Hawaii. “It’s the perfect coffee to represent me because not only is it sweet and fun, it has a low elevation.” I know we’ve heard this short joke three times now, but it still lands. Used in a 1:3 ratio, the Kona Gesha is blended with a washed Terroir Gesha from Finca Deborah in Volcan, Panama.
For the espresso, Chan pulls her Gesha blend shots at 21g in to 48g out in 28 seconds, a slight modification from yesterday’s recipe, that after a quick stir with frozen spoons, expresses notes of apricot, peach, lemon candy, and a jasmine tea finish, with a medium weight, silky texture, and mildly drying and pleasantly lingering finish. Moving on to the milk course, Chan continues the Hawaiian theme of her routine, starting off with a blend of 85% cream-top milk freeze-distilled to 50% by weight and 15% macadamia nut milk for a subtle nuttiness, finished with a coconut milk powder. When steamed to 125F and combined in a 2:1 ratio with the Gesha blend, the drink has notes of haupia (a Hawaiian coconut pudding)—specifically haupia pie, nougat candy, and rice pudding.
For her sig bev, Chan combines lactose syrup, a coconut water and vanilla concentrate, and passionfruit puree that gets served with a hyper-chilled espresso sidecar containing a “secret ingredient.” Before having the judges combine the two components of her sig bev, she present each of them with a lei. The secret ingredient was baking soda, and when the two are combined, the drink carbonates! “Just like the Hawaiian volcano, my drink erupts.” Chan’s sig bev has notes of cream soda, guava jelly, strawberry yogurt, and salted caramel. And with that, Chan calls time on the first run here at the US Barista Chan-pionship.
Kay Cheon – Dune Coffee Roasters – Santa Barbara, CA
Our next competitor at the 2025 USBC is no stranger to the Finals stage, here comes Mister-Write-My-Name-In-The-Finals-In-Ink himself Kay Cheon of Dune Coffee Roasters in Santa Barbara, California. Cheon’s theme today is about coffee as a building block to flavor, and there is no greater physical manifestation of the building block than Legos. And Cheon has a giant pink Lego on the judge’s table (that any parent and/or Lego enthusiast will recognize as being a box from the Lego Store and a great way to store all manner of knick-knack).
Cheon is competing with two different coffees today. The first is the Ombligon, an Ethiopian landrace variety, produced by Nestor Lasso at Final El Diviso in Colombia, who yeast-inoculated and thermal shocked the coffee. The second is a natural processed and yeast-inoculated (followed by a washed process) Green Tip Gesha grown at 1,900MASL on Finca Deborah in Volcan, Panama by Jamison Savage.
Cheon opts for the Ombligon for his first course, the milk course. “I call this blend of milk ‘Super Milk,’” he says of his tri-blend milk that is 60% full-cream dairy, 20% cashew milk, and 20% pistachio milk, which undergoes a roto-vac process that spins the milk at 150RPM to caramelize it, making it sweeter, creamier, and smoother. Building on the short 20g in to 30g out shots, the Super Milk has flavors of raspberry, malted chocolate, marzipan, and vanilla.
Cheon is my low-key pick to take it all down this year, which is equal parts safe and insane. A perennial top performer—and a seasoned one at that—it just kind of feels like it’s his time. Even still, the younger generation isn’t waiting for the vets to win before they take over (see: Circle Chan, above) and the rate at which folks pick up experience and knowledge these days is astounding. All of that is to say, this is a complete guess but it just feels like this is his year.
Sticking with the Ombligon, Cheon’s second course is the sig bev, For it, Cheon combines jasmine nectar, cold brew hibiscus tea, a bergamot, vanilla, and all spice distillation, all immersion blended and served at room temperature for flavors of blood orange and apricot with an orange blossom after-taste.
Precision [pri-sizh-uhn]: noun. The state or quality of being precise. Accuracy; exactness. Synonym: Kay Cheon.
For his last course, the espressos, Cheon layers El Diviso with Finca Deborah in a 1:1 ratio, which notes of cherry, orange, and raspberry. Medium weight, juicy texture, and a long finish. And Kay Cheon calls time on his astounding fourth time to the Finals stage.
Isaiah Sheese – Archetype Coffee – Omaha, NE
Our third competitor today is 2023 US Barista Champion Isaiah Sheese of Archetype Coffee in Omaha, Nebraska. In a weird way, Sheese is up against it in his bid for the crown. On one hand, he’s done it before and is the only one on the stage today who has, so that would seem to give him a leg up. But history isn’t entirely on his side. Throughout the entirety of the near-25 years of the USBC, only three folks have ever won more than once, and most of those were in the early days. The last one to do it was Pete Licata, who won in 2011 and then again in 2013, the year he ended up winning the World Barista Championship (the last American to do so). Can Sheese follow Licata’s skip-a-year championship trajectory all the way to ending the US drought at WBC? That’s certainly his goal.
“Connection, we need it. Without we lose the experience of belonging to something greater than ourselves,” he begins his routine. Today he’ll be making connections between two different coffees, both grown at 1,800MASL in Huila, Colombia, but different varieties grown by different producers. The first, which he’ll use in both the sig bev and milk course, is an Advanced processed Ombligon variety grown by Edinson Argote at La Quebradita. The second is a wash processed Pink Bourbon from Lucy Fernanda Galindez at the La Muralla coop.
Starting with the sig bev, Sheese recounts the story of a memorable meal at La Muralla where the pork was marinated in five-gallon buckets, which he represents on stage in miniature (the buckets not the pork) with the place setting. He pours a liquid from the buckets over a tiny brick cooking surface that contains pop rocks, mimicking the crackle of an open fire. In the drink, Sheese uses the Ombligon to mimic the flavors of the Pink Bourbon by combining freeze-distilled orange juice, demerara simple syrup, water used specifically to brew the Pink Bourbon, heavy butter fat milk, and egg white powder. They all get blended together and garnished with freeze-dried raspberries and served slightly chilled for notes of vanilla blood orange creamsicle, fruity pebbles, and chocolate covered strawberries.
For his 4oz milk beverage, Sheese’s milk blend consists of 65% Guernsey cow milk and 35% Pacific Barista Series coconut milk with finished with cryodesiccated milk. Combined with the Ombligon espresso, it notes of strawberry, milk chocolate, and creamy butterscotch.
For the espresso course, Sheese creates a 50/50 blend of Ombligon and Pink Bourbon for flavors of tart ripe raspberry, soft rose, and a 70% dark chocolate finish, with a medium weight, round, and silky. Sheese gives the judges round red balls as a “physical representation of the drink’s tactile.” That ball is then used as a weight to make the wind chime mobile on Sheese’s table setting dance and chime (there’s no wind indoors). It’s a full-on multi-sensory experience in Isaiah Sheese’s last ride at the US Barista Championship. Will we see him one more time in Milan in October?
Noel Goodwin – Hagen Coffee Roasters – Seattle, WA
Kicking off the back 9 of the 2025 US Barista Championship is Noel Goodwin of Hagen Coffee Roasters in Seattle, Washington. This is Goodwin’s first year making it to the Finals and only her second season. The new generation is really, really good y’all. “Innovation is the driving force that propels the world forward,” she states. Her coffee is an expression of that innovation at every step of the process.
She competes today with a Sidra variety coffee grown at 1,800MASL at El Vergel in Tolima, Colombia by Elias and Shady Bayter. “This exceptional coffee is the quintessence of innovation.” The coffee is anaerobically fermented with mosto, a fermentation byproduct that is rich in yeast, that helps produce a higher sugar content in the green coffee, which ends up in the cup. Goodwin gives judges two coffee beans to examine, one that has been anaerobically fermented with mosto and one anaerobically fermented without it. The mosto coffee is darker, an indication of its higher sugar content.
As an espresso, the natural processed, anaerobic mosto Sidra gets pulled at 20.5g in to 45g out in 26 seconds and served at exactly 45C. How does Goodwin know the espressos are exactly 45C? Thermometer gun. Flavors include pomegranate, green grape, blackberry, and dark chocolate with a medium body and silky mouthfeel.
In the milk course, the espresso gets pulled a little shorter and blended with a 1:2 ratio of macadamia milk and a double freeze-distilled milk reduced to just 30% by volume, creating flavors of red velvet, cookies and cream, and caramel, with a creamy mouthfeel and a lingering sweet caramel finish.
In the sig bev, Goodwin uses espressos that have been stirred via magnetic vortex, emulsifying and adding texture. To them she adds a pomegranate reduction, blackberry oleo saccharum, dehydrated pineapple-infused water, and torched lemon juice, served over a chilled metal cube (to chill without diluting) for notes of molasses, rainier cherry, Riesling wine, and sweet orange. “As coffee professionals… it’s our responsibility to push these boundaries forward.”
Jason Yeo – Saint Frank Coffee – San Francisco, CA
Our penultimate competitor at the 2025 US Barista Championship is Jason Yeo of Saint Frank Coffee in San Francisco, California. “There’s this wisdom I cherish, and that is that to be a master is to always be a student,” Yeo begins his routine. This theme is present even in the crowd, with Yeo’s very large cheering section wearing Karate Kid-inspired Miyagi-Yeo bonsai tree t-shirts.
And speaking of trees, the Saint Frank family tree is well-represented today at Finals (and really, it wouldn’t be a USBC without a strong Saint Frank contingent). Circle Chan, our first competitor, is here on behalf of The Coffee Movement, started by her coach Reef Bessette, who began his comp career with Saint Frank. It is a rich and deeply cool competition lineage at Saint Frank and it would be fitting for them to be the ones to bring a title to the Bay Area. Is Yeo going to be the one to finally deliver it for Kevin Bohlin and team?
Yeo competes today with two coffees by two-time Honduran Cup of Excellence winner Benjamin Paz, continuing the deep relationship Saint Frank has with the esteemed producer. First up is a Green Tip Gesha grown on Paz’s original Santa Barbara farm La Salsa, that’s been anaerobically fermented in the coffee’s mucilage and fully washed. Pulled at 19.5g in to 45g out in 25 seconds over chilled spheres (and stirred five times in a front to back motion), it has notes of rainier cherry, tangerine, and dark chocolate, with a light-medium weight and a long and drying finish.
For the milk course, Yeo switches to the second coffee, a natural processed Red Bourbon from Benjamin Paz’s last production of the variety. His milk today is a blend of freeze-distilled and Thermomix-evaporated lactose-free milk and cryodesiccated high butter fat milk sourced from Hokkaido, Japan. Together, they create notes of milk chocolate, caramel, and butter cookie. “Just like Twix candy, my favorite.”
A telltale sign of a veteran competitor is the soundtrack. It’s not just vibes, it’s actual songs. And Yeo’s soundtrack Has. Songs. Journey’s Only The Young, Mumm-Ra’s She’s Got You High, The Temper Trap’s Sweet Disposition. You love to hear it.
Moving to his final course, Yeo combines hyperchilled Red Bourbon with “Gesha-like ingredients.” Panela oleo saccharum, watermelon and amarillo hop milk punch, and a cacao, mango, and peach juice all get mixed with the espresso and nitro charges, for notes of jasmine, muscat green grape, orange juice, pineapple gummy candy like white gummy bears.
Jak Ryan – Proud Mary Coffee – Austin, TX
The distinct aroma of cedar fills the air, and that can mean only one thing. It’s time for Jak Ryan of Proud Mary Coffee in Austin, Texas, our final competitor here at the 2025 US Barista Championship. Ryan is looking to make a little magic today at Finals. Not magic in the sense that something happens without its underlying causes being understood, but the magic that is the alchemy of creativity and precision.
Ryan competes an aerobic fermented natural processed Gesha variety coffee known as Toña, grown at 1,750MASL by the Garrido family at Mama Cata in Boquete, Panama. It’s undergone a slow, controlled drying process over the course of 27 days to mitigate the funk that can be present in coffees that have undergone this processing method. In the milk course, Ryan adds Mama Cata Gesha to a milk freeze-distilled to 50% of its original volume, creating flavors of malt cookie, raw cashew, and panela sugar.
On its own as an espresso, as an espresso, Mama Cata has notes of strawberry, bergamot, and blackberry, with a medium weight, a slippery texture, and a long lingering finish reminiscent of malt chocolate.
A former professional dancer, Ryan explains how he used to choreograph his movements to what the song sounds like. And it is this same sort of synergistic choreography that he looks to bring to his signature beverage by importing many of the experiences of the Mama Cata farm. Cedar steeped freeze-distilled milk,a steam-distilled blueberry reduction-but-not-a-reduction, and Mama Cata Gesha gets aerated and served over a cedar plank spritzed with hydrol for aromatics, creating an experience of banana cream, candied ginger, and boysenberry. And that’s it! Jak Ryan, our last competitor at the 2025 US Barista Championship, calls time on the final Finals routine!
Thanks for tuning in for Sprudge’s live coverage of the Finals of the 2025 US Barista Championship! It’s been a heck of a weekend!
Sprudge’s coverage of the 2025 US Barista Championship in Raleigh, North Carolina is presented in by La Marzocco and Pacific Barista Series.
