It’s upon us! The 2012 World Barista Championship begins June 12th, drawing in competitors from more than 50 nations for an incredible week of competition, held in conjunction with the Specialty Coffee Association of Europe’s World of Coffee event. Sprudge.com will be broadcasting live all week long from the Messe Wien Congress Center, bringing you up-to-the-second coverage on Twitter and daily recaps with photos, videos, curated tweets, and a fantasia of .gif delights. We are proud to be your one-stop-shop for exclusive content all week long from Vienna, with coverage graciously sponsored by Nuova Simonelli.
The official WBC home page is here, and we’ve got quick reference schedules with Twitter handles for Round One, Day One, and Round One, Day Two. We’ll be live-tweeting all four days of competition, and you can follow along with us via the #WBC2012 hashtag. For those watching along at home, the 2012 WBC happens in Central European Summer Time, which is 9 hours ahead of San Francisco, 6 hours ahead of New York. This means that USBC winner Katie Carguilo will compete on Tuesday, June 12th at 9:51 AM EST, and for viewers in Edmonton, Canadian champ Josh Hockin will compete on Tuesday, June 12th at 10:50 AM Mountain Time.
We’ve also got some fantastic content on offer from Sprudge contributor Alex Bernson – check out this primer on Viennese cafe culture and a street-ready guide to the cafes of Vienna, both exclusive to Sprudge.com. Lord knows the week will be chockablock with unofficial get-togethers and network-to-get-work post-event bar time, but these three officially sanctioned events will anchor the evening festivities throughout the week:
Tuesday, June 12th – Welcome Reception for SCAE World of Coffee Exhibition, 7:00 PM at Le Meridien Hotel (Opernring 13)
Thursday, June 14th – Coffee Kids Event, 7:00 PM at Anfrage (more info coming soon)
Friday, June 15th – Sweet Fantasy Party presented by Natvia, 8:00 pm Ottakringer Brewery (Ottakringer Straße 91)
Stay tuned to Sprudge all week long for the latest and greatest from Vienna, and check the #WBC2012 hashtag throughout the day for live coverage of the 2012 World Barista Championship.