What a wild three days it’s been here at the Black & White Coffee roasting HQ for the 2025 US Barista Championship. 25 competitors descended upon Raleigh, North Carolina for a chance to be crowned the USBC champion and earn the right to represent America at the World Barista Championship later this year in Italy. But by the time we made it to today’s Finals round, there were only six competitors remaining.
It’s impossible to overstate the level of competition at this year’s event. It feels like something we say every year, but every years it feels truer than the last. This one is certainly no exception. It’s hard not to be impressed by rookie competitor Circle Chan working her way through Round One and the Semis to make it to Finals. Or by Isaiah Sheese’s determination that has brought him to three straight Finals (minus the year he took off) after nearly a decade of competing. The compelling stories at Finals this year were as many as there were competitors.
Thus it feels cosmically unfair that not everyone will win. But there can be only one 2025 US Barista Champion, and we know just who that is. There’s much to discuss, much to pontificate upon from the weekend in Raleigh, and we’ll no doubt that have for you in the coming days. But now is a time of celebration, not just for the winner but everyone who competed this weekend. So with that in mind we present to you the results from the 2025 US Barista Championship.
Champion: Kay Cheon – Dune Coffee Roasters – Santa Barbara, CA
Runner-Up: Isaiah Sheese – Archetype Coffee – Omaha, NE
Third Place: Jason Yeo – Saint Frank Coffee – San Francisco, CA
4th: Noel Goodwin – Hagen Coffee Roasters – Seattle, WA
5th: Circle Chan – The Coffee Movement – San Francisco, CA
6th: Jak Ryan – Proud Mary Coffee – Austin, TX
Sprudge’s coverage of the 2025 US Barista Championship in Raleigh, North Carolina is presented in by La Marzocco and Pacific Barista Series.
