It’s game time, bay-beeee! After two weeks of wild coffee action, the 2025 Sprudge Ultimate Coffee Bracket Challenge comes down to one last contest. On this side, we’ve got the champion from the coffee drinks bracket, the V60. And on this side, the winner of the coffee influencers, the top seed, none other than James Hoffmann. There’s just one vote left to rule them all.
In true one-seed fashion, Hoffmann more or less cake walked his way to the Finals; the closest contest came in a 12-point differential against fellow YouTuber Lance Hedrick in the Elite 8. He then went on to triple up Morgan Eckroth in the Final Four, which was frankly shocking. I had this one pegged as a nail-biter, but Hoffmann built an early lead and steadily added to it.
Meanwhile, the V60 had to do the dirty work to make it this far. As a four-seed, the V60 had to grind it out against the one and two seeds—Espresso and Cappuccino, respectively—which it did with aplomb. And now the battle-tested V60 takes on its greatest challenge yet.
And already Hoffmann is playing head games. It wasn’t but two days ago, while the Final Four was going on no less, that an obviously haughty Hoffmann saw the writing on the wall and posted an Instagram for “The Ultimate V60 Technique.”
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What’s his angle? Is this a little gamesmanship trying to rattle the V60? One thing’s for certain, with all those swirls and stirs, he’s certainly going for agitation. Meanwhile Hario, the makers of the V60, are out here on Instagram reminding folks they’ve been in this game for 20 years now. Which is a pretty clear message that they aren’t sweating the matchup either.
So who do you got? Jim Seven or V60? A coffee maker or a coffeemaker? A World Barista Champion or a World Brewers Cup Champion? Head over to Sprudge’s Instagram Stories to cast your vote for the Finals of the 2025 Sprudge Ultimate Coffee Bracket Challenge.
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
