Since 2010, Sprudge Media Network has brought you coverage of the annual World Barista Championship event, in locations around the world from London to Bogota, Melbourne to Vienna, Seattle to Rimini. This year’s event is happening next month in Dublin, Ireland, and we’ll be bringing you a moveable feast of daily coverage over at our dedicated hub for barista competitions, SprudgeLive.com.
For the past two years that coverage has been supported by our longtime friends & partners at Urnex Brands, the industry leaders in coffee cleaning supplies. Our partnership with Urnex has allowed us to grow our coverage of these events around the world, and it’s part of an ongoing commitment that Urnex has to supporting barista culture worldwide.
Enter the Ambassador Program. Now in its second year, the Urnex Ambassador Program is an endorsement and promotional opportunity for national barista champions—a progressive way of thinking about how competitors can recoup expenses and even take home a little something from these expensive and time-consuming events. In the face of rising costs and slim prize purses, individual competitor sponsorships may well be the future of this sport, and Urnex’s support is a huge boon to the individuals who partner with them. It’s also a way for Urnex to directly support these remarkable baristas, who were announced today via press release.
Let’s meet the 2016 Urnex Ambassador champions from around the world!
Leonardo Moço Ribeiro — Barista Champion of Brazil
Ben Put – Barista Champion of Canada
Charlotte Malaval — Barista Champion of France
Yoshikazu Iwase — Barista Champion of Japan
Julieta Vazquez — Barista Champion of Mexico
Lemuel Butler — Barista Champion of the United States of America
Lex Wenneker — Barista Champion of The Netherlands
Agnieszka Rojewska — Barista Champion of Poland
Steven Moloney — Barista Champion of Sweden
Mathieu Theis — Barista Champion of Switzerland
Berg Wu — Barista Champion of Taiwan
Nisan Agca — Barista Champion of Turkey
From the press release:
“After an amazing first year, we are thrilled to expand our partnership with baristas selected for their charisma, energy, and dedication. Working with these special people provides Urnex a chance to show our support for the community and learn from their passion and commitment,” said Debbie Rebell, VP of Marketing. “We continue to be inspired by how the baristas consistently raise the bar for coffee excellence. We hope that our relationship with these skilled and proven champions will provide them with valuable support and help them to share their knowledge of coffee excellence with the world.”
You’ll be hearing more about these competitors across Sprudge Media Network in the coming weeks, but for now—gaze upon this glorious roster, and start getting excited for Dublin!
