Congratulations to the 2024 World Cup Tasters Champion: Dionatan Almeida of Brazil! Almeida took home top honors at the competitive World Cup Tasters Championship event in Chicago, besting dozens of competitors from around the world in a winner-take-all format.
“I was born and raised on a coffee producing farm in the city of Três Pontas, south of Minas Gerais,” Almeida says. He got his start when he was sixteen years old, working on the Caxambu and Aracaçu farms. “At first, I worked on the farm taking care of the plantation and drying the coffees at harvest time, after 4 years I started taking courses and learned how to taste coffees.”
The World Cup Tasters Championship “awards the professional coffee cupper who demonstrates speed, skill, and accuracy in distinguishing the taste differences in specialty coffees.”
Here’s more information on the World Cup Tasters Championship:
“Coffees of the world have many distinct taste characteristics and in this competition format the objective is for the cupper to discriminate between the different coffees. Three cups are placed in a triangle, with 2 cups being identical coffees and one cup being a different coffee. Using smell, taste, attention, and experience skills, the cupper will identify the odd cup in the triangle as quickly as possible. A total of 8 triangles are placed in each round. The top 8 competitors with the most correct answers and the fastest time proceed to the next semi-final round. Then the top 4 will compete again in the Finals round to determine the next World Cup Tasters Champion.” [World Cup Tasters Website]
The 2024 World Cup Tasters in ranking order:
1. Dionatan Almeida, Brazil
2. Aurore Ceretta, Germany
3. Han Jong Lee, New Zealand
4. Jonathan Rangel, Guatemala
Watch all the action on video over at the World Coffee Championships YouTube channel.
Full rankings are available at chicago.wcc.coffee.
Photos courtesy World Coffee Events.
