Twenty-eight national barista champions kicked off Round One Day One of the 2014 World Barista Championship today in Rimini, Italy. Tomorrow, a whole second set of baristas will compete to complete Round One. 18 will advance to the semi-finals on Wednesday, and six will be chosen for finals on Thursday. This is the World Cup of Coffee. We have a team on hand in Rimini to provide wall-to-wall coverage—nonstop Twitter commentary from the editors of Sprudge via @SprudgeLive, with regular photo dumps on Facebook and Instagram from Eileen P. Kenny.

Here, in all its glory, is the best of the best of Day One Round One Hash Tag WBC 2014.

Sprudge.com’s coverage of the 2014 World Barista Championship is made possible by direct support from Nuova Simonelli, whose Aurelia T3 espresso machine anchors the action at WBC.

1. 8:35 Soren Stiller MarkussenGreat Coffee, Denmark @sorenstiller

Mr. Stiller is a 3-time Danish Barista Champion—he owns his own roastery and school called “Great Coffee”

Mr. Stiller starts the judges off with multiple infusions, using a variety of Honduran coffees and coffee cherry skins.

Danish Barista Champion Søren Stiller Markussen

Natural processed coffee from Honduras here in ‘s routine—”sweet chocolate, marzipan, and a citric note”.

“Strawberry flavors coming forward” in ‘s cappuccinos. Instructs judges to give his capps a whiff before tasting.

Multiple infusions for ‘s sig drink—three different halogen syphons on stage, filled with multiple processes of coffee skin. Layers of infusions, distributed by plastic plunger syringe, guiding his judges through a complex sig drink. It’s a pure coffee signature drink—no additional ingredients, just cascara and different processing methods.

2. 8:55 Kapo ChiuThe Cupping Room, Hong Kong @TheCuppingRoom

Kapo Chiu is a returning champion–he represented Hong Kong in the 2013 WBC . We’ve featured multiple times on Sprudge—as a build-out and in our HK guide 

“Fines have become one of the biggest challenges we face in extraction”—”raisin and jasmine tea” in Kapo Chiu’s espressos—he’s pulling shots via the EK43 belle of the ball grinder.

Barista Champion of Hong Kong Kapo Chiu

Kapo Chiu competes with a gesha variety Cerro Azul coffee from the Cauca department of SW Colombia. Kapo Chiu’s coffee was roasted by Andy Sprenger of near Denver, Colorado. Denver -> HK -> Rimini!

Kapo Chiu is the first (of surely many) competitors at with carefully weighed shots. his scales are by Kapo Chiu is dosing 21 grams, extracting 48 grams for his espresso—flavors of “grape and earl grey tea”.

Sig drink for Kapo Chiu: chilled shots, sparkling water, 3 grams of tonic syrup, pineapple and mandarin juice spray.

3. 9:15 Dmitry KoryukinOmni Coffee, Russia @dmkoryukin

Dmitry Koryukin competes using coffee from Finca San Jose in Guatemala—it’s a red bourbon variety.

Russian Barista Champion Dmitriy Koryukin

 

“The best part of espresso is not on the surface.” Mr. Koryukin serves conventional shots, lets judges evaluate crema—then uses a syringe to pull out the liquor below. “Sweet lemon, brown sugar, and cherry sweetness” in Dmitry Koryukin’s espressos.

Mr. Doryukin’s sig drink: strawberry & brown sugar, espresso, AeroPressed together and served in a brandy snifter. Calls time at 14:29.

4. 9:35 Sonja ZweidickLa Cabra, Austria @Lacabracoffee

“For the next 15 minutes I will try and give you a taste of my everyday life with coffee.”—Sonja Zweidick “I have three rules for the barista: keep it simple, do it for a reason, and make it well.”

Austrian Barista Champion Sonja Zweidick

“Rum aftertaste, light body…notes of lemon, black currant, red grape” in Sonja Zweidick’s espressos.

5. 9:55 Yoshua Tanu, Common Grounds Coffee Roastery, Indonesia @ystanu

Mr. Tanu competes using an Indonesian coffee—”I’m very proud to bring you coffee from my home country.” “Lime juice, passionfruit acidity, brown sugar sweetness, dark cocoa aftertaste.”

Indonesia Barista Champion Yoshua Tanu

Espresso, passion fruit reduction (chilled with honey), and frozen cascara in ‘s signature drink.

Yoshua Tanu calls time at 14:37 to much cheering from the Indonesian contingent here at impressive stuff.

6. 10:15 Charlene De BuysereOR Coffee Roasters, Belgium @DeBuysereC

Ms. De Buysere competes here at with an Ethiopian washed Sidamo coffee, comprised of just 2 varieties of heirloom.

“Fresh, cold milk” brought straight from Belgium by “delicate acidity, very sweet aftertaste” in her capps. subtle and focused routine here from  —playing a bunch of famous sample sources for music. Fun to watch.

Belgian Barista Champion Charle De Buysere

Sig drink is themed around “smokiness”, similar to what you might find in scotch whisky or mezcal. To achieve that smokiness, is using pu-erh tea—an uncommon and chancy sig drink ingredient. Sweet washed coffee, smoky tea. Pu-erh tea, espresso, and sage—an absolutely fascinating signature drink from and deceptively simple to boot.

7. 10:35 Krisztian NagyExpresso Cafe Hungary, Hungary

Krisztian starts off by having judges smell the fresh sage going into his sig drink, along with fresh raspberries & coconut sugar. Big cheering section for the high-energy routine from Krisztian Nagy of Hungary here at as he serves his “butterscotch” cappuccinos. The sage infusion for Mr. Nagy’s sig drink has been chilling in an ice bath all routine, w/the Tanzanian espresso setting with raspberries.

Hungarian Barista Champion Krisztian Nagy

8. 10:55 Tse-Lin (Berg) WuSimple Kaffa, Taiwan @simplekaffa

#Taiwan is fresh off its first international competition win—Pang-Yu Liu at the World Cup Tasters.

“Grapefruit, apricot, and toffee” notes in Tse-Lin Wu’s espressos—he’s serving Panama Elida Estate natural process coffee.

Taiwanese Barista Champion Tse-Lin (Berg) Wu

This routine from Tse-Lin Wu is about choices made by producers, the roaster, & the barista. “I am just a bridge…”

“Delicious coffee does not just happen. So many people devote themselves to this industry, and I thank them” Tse-Lin Wu.

9. 11:15 Dailess NalwambaBlue Moon Cafe, Zambia

“I’m introducing to you a juicy Zambian peaberry coffee, Bourbon variety SL-28, roasted medium.”—Dailess Nalwamba, Zambia.

Zambian Barista Champion Dailess Nalwamba

Read more about Blue Moon Cafe in Zambia (home of Dailess Nalwamba) here, courtesy of

Ms. Nalwamba’s sig drink: chilled espresso (via Chemex in an ice bath), Zambian brown sugar (from where the coffee is grown). Ms. Nalwamba’s serving her judges some delicious looking macadamia nut milk out of a Chemex—adds it to espressos for sig bev.

10. 11:35 Tobias PalmJohan & Nystrom, Sweden @JN_Oy

I have been told by Scandinavians in the audience that Mr. Palm’s nickname is “The Hunky Viking”. Mr. Palm was the 2013 Cup Tasters Champion of Sweden, and quoth, “Sweden has two things I’m really proud of: Zlatan Ibrahimović, and our milk.”—Tobias Palm.

Swedish Barista Champion Tobias Palm

“Raisin acidity, smooth round body and hints of stone fruit” in Tobias Palm’s espressos. Mr. Palm competes here at with an Ethiopian coffee, from the Welena plantation Learn more about Tobias Palm’s Ethiopia Welena coffee, sourced & roasted by  .

11. 11:55 Giacomo VannelliPasticceria Vannelli, Italy @GiacomoVannelli

Next up here at , with a predictably huge cheering section, it’s Giacomo Vannelli of Italy. Two distinct coffees in ‘s routine—he can’t get through a step of script here without the crowd going bonkers.

Long a leader in espresso technology, Italy is experiencing a renaissance of sorts in progressive coffee roasting and cafes.

Italian Barista Champion Giacomo Vannelli
This is xylophone.

Mr. Vannelli competes here with coffees from Rwanda & Honduras— his routine is about the interplay between them. “Toffee and apricot” occur in ‘s cappuccinos. Truly, this is cappuccino.

Pretty unusual grinder being used here at by —it’s a Quamar. Two hoppers, one portafilter. Then,  is playing a xylophone? The Italians are going molto bonkers. Lord help us all if this guy advances.

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12. 12:15 Marian Plajdicko, Slovakia @plajdo  @THEBARNBERLIN

Up now, it’s Marian Plajdicko, representing Slovakia as and making coffee in Berlin with . Mr. Plajdicko competes using an Ethiopia Suke Kuto, comprised of just two heirloom varieties.

Slovakian Barista Champion Marian Plajdicko

Welp  has made the judges put on nose clips. first taste of espresso with the clip on, next sip with the clip off. Espresso, cold brew jasmine tea spray in ‘s sig drinks—”a refreshing, fruity coffee sensation.”

13. 12:35 Erna TosbergRoestbar, Germany @kommisar_ern 

Dark chocolate followed by ripe, sweet bananas” in ‘s cappuccinos. Coffee of choice for is an Ethiopia Suke Quoto. She has the judges swirl & sip espresso from wine glasses for aroma.

There is a beautiful old-school seltzer bottle, woven sleeve and all, sitting on ‘s station. We can’t wait to see what it’s for. (See video to see what it’s for.)

German Barista Champion Erna Tosberg

To close her routine, gies each of the judges a small bag of her green coffee in pergamino (parchment) to take home.

14. 12:55 Kevin Israel FortuEDSA Beverage Design Group, Philippines

Kevin Israel Fortu competes for the Philippines at , using a Typica variety coffee from Hawaii.

“First sip: ripe mango, second sip: sweetness of chocolate, third sip: vanilla aftertaste” for Mr. Fortu’s espresso’s at

Kevin Israel Fortu, Barista Champion of The Philippines

Espresso gets strained through an AeroPress with paper filter, added to mango syrup & vanilla, carbonated for Mr. Fortu’s sig drink.

Beautiful foamy head on the “Espresso Soda” drink. Mr. Fortu calls time at 14:59.

15. 1:15 Godfrey BatteAfrica Coffee Academy, Uganda @AfricaCoffeeACA

Next it’s Godfrey Batte, representing Africa Coffee Academy and the nation of Uganda! 

Ugandan Barista Champ Godfrey Batte

Malic acidity and lots of sweetness in Godfrey Batte’s espressos. Then, “vanilla, white chocolate” cappuccinos with “mild sweetness.”

“Sharp bitterness, mild cocoa aftertaste” for Batte’s second set of capps—two distinct profiles here at .

A beautiful foam with notes of coriander tops Godfery Batte’s signature drink .

Godfrey Batte calls time at 14:45.

16. 1:35 Pete Williams3fe, Ireland @3fe

Hey, it’s Pete “Petesy” Williams, the barista champion of Ireland representing!

Mr. Williams instructs the judges to write down tasting notes for his Nicaraguan coffee—the first is “toasted almond”.

Petesy’s (we’re just gonna call him Petesy) coffee grown at just 800m—”we don’t expect this kind of quality at that elevation”.

Irish Barista Champion Pete Williams

Some uh, some serious house fantasy jams here on Petesy’s soundtrack. Let’s go to the coffee discotheque.

“Tangerine acidity that ends with a zest of bitterness” in Petesy’s espressos.

Two 24-hour infusions for Petesy’s sig drink: thyme infusion (10ml) for sweetness and sumac (5ml) for acidity. Petesy’s sig drink “has more clarity, more definition than the espresso” while playing up the Nicaraguan coffee’s inherent notes.

You best believe ‘s using the new Mythos grinder at developed by battle tested on bar at !

calls time at 15 flat—competing with a Nicaraguan coffee from the famed Fincas Mierisch.

17. 1:55 Nicolas RicoAmor Perfecto, Colombia @nicolaswbc27 @amorperfectocaf

Up now at it’s Nicolas Rico, Amor Perfecto, Colombia  .

Mr. Rico is competing in Spanish; he’s the first competitor here at to compete with a translator. 

It’s firmly our bad that we don’t speak Spanish well enough to translate this performance from  ourselves! Judges are instructed to evaluate their espresso crema, then stir. 

Colombian Barista Champion Nicolas Rico

In Spanish, the word “cappuccino” is pronounced “cappuccino”. 

18. 2:15 Nina RimplHenauer Kaffee, Switzerland @HenauerKaffee

Up next it’s Nina Rimpl, representing Henauer Kaffee and the nation of Switzerland !

Lots of non-espresso brewing happening here at Nina Rimpl is using an AeroPress for her sig drink, and a  2014 fresh crop natural processed Ethiopian coffee.

Swiss Barista Champion Nina Rimpl

“Elderflower smell, fresh pineapple acidity, rich chocolate, sweet aftertaste” in Nina Rimpl’s Ethiopian espressos.

19. 2:35 Vinicio Bastidas, Cafe Logia, Ecuador

Next up, it’s the first-ever barista champion of Ecuador—Vinicio Bastidas, Cafe Logia, Ecuador!

Mr. Bastidas is competing with an Ecuadorian coffee, grown at a very high elevation near Quito, Ecuador’s capitol city.

“This coffee is light roasted for sweetness, and to highlight the delicate citrus flavors”—hell yeah, Vinicio Bastidas!

Ecuadorian Barista Champion Vinicio Bastidas

Mr. Bastidas’ sig drink utilizes a C02 charge, with espresso and foam placed into individual bottles

“I love coffee—I love the flavor, and I like to share it.”

20. 2:55 Luca Casadei, Independent, France @lucacasadei7

The next competitor is Luca Casade from France .

The Costa Rica Finca Bellavista coffee is using at is a honey-processed Caturra grown at 1900m.

Clappers and other noisemakers out in full force for theMr. Casadei!

French Barista Champion Luca Casadei

Mr. Casadei talks about the importance of the super “clean, organized” mill that processed the coffee he is using today.

Sweet and fruity focused sig drink from , featuring honey, peach, dried apricot, lemon.

21. 3:15 GeunHa ParkFritz Coffee Corp., Korea @geunha

And now to an enormous roar from the crowd, it’s GeunHa Park, representing Fritz Coffee Corp. and Korea !

Significant amount of script up front from GeunHa Park – a solid 3 minutes of scripting before any coffee served. 

An all-U2 soundtrack so far from reaching back to less popular nineties U2 stuff like “Numb” and “Discotheque”.

Korean Barista Champion GeunHa Park

Mr. Park’s coffee is a caturra and maragogype variety combo “orange acidity, sweet brown sugar, lemony aftertaste.”

As always, big huge energy in the room for the competitor from Korea! We’re getting a lot of confidence out of this routine— dude is up there slanging, basically

Whoa, beautiful built-into-the-table-top signature drink instructions—ultra sonic wave energy, conduction, convection.

Mr. Park just took this to the next level with an elaborate table-top trap door illustration set.

He’s used some kind of rapid wine chiller (or something?) to immediately cool down the mixture in his sig drink!

All theatrics here from in the sig drink phase. Semi-difficult to hear details but enormously impressive to watch.

22. 3:35 Agustina Roman, Coffee Town, Argentina @baristazen

Can’t stop won’t stop—next it’s Agustina Roman, representing Coffee Town and the nation of Argentina  

“As you know, Argentina is not a coffee-growing country. You might not know it is very difficult for us to get it.”

“Notes of chocolate and almond” in ‘s cappuccinos.

Argentinian Barista Champion Agustina Román

“Nuts—especially almond—butter, maple syrup, and chocolate…with a little bit of honey” in ‘s espressos.

So many syringes today—infusions getting plunged, dilutions getting pushed.

Sig drink for adds argentinian grape juice to her espresso, to amplify sweetness.

Agustina Roman calls time at 15 sharp!

23. 3:55 Christos LoukakisTAF, Greece @chrisbarista @tafcoffee

Now competing for Greece, it’s Christos Loukakis, , from  !

Gorgeous crystal stemware stands at the ready for ‘s sig drink, plus an extra hopper for a mid-routine bean switch.

Greek Barista Champion Christos Loukakis

‘s sig drink features a Panamanian coffee, a natural processed geisha #30 from .

For his sig drink, uses a series of chemexes to filter a mixture of blackberries, Vahlrona cocoa and 180 ppm water .

24. 4:15 Leo MocoCafé do Moço, Brazil

Mr Moco talks about the need for ingenuity and collaboration between Brazilian baristas and producers to create new flavor styles in the country.

Two coffees w/different fermentation styles: one 72 hr low temp ferment, one 24 hr anaerobic ferment to highlight lactic acid.

Leo Moco has a microbiology degree, and discusses the different organisms in his fermentations with ease.

Brazilian Barista Champion Leo Moco

For his sig drink, Mr Moco has been chilling a combo of a 14 hr cold brew, a temp controlled french press, and espresso on stage—“banana, cashew fruit” in the nose of Mr Moco’s natural processed Red Bourbon espressos.

25. 4:35 William HernandezViva Espresso, El Salvador @williamhve @VivaEspresso1

Now up at is William Hernandez, , of in El Salvador. Viva Espresso is home of 2011 WBC champ !

Starting off fancy,  serves his espresso in a brandy snifter, using an ultrasonic vaporizer to add aromatic vapor on top.

Natural processed Yellow Bourbon, semi-washed Orange Bourbon and washed Red Bourbon, roasted separately in ‘s blend.

Smooth routine packed full of routine from . Now we’re raising extraction % for the espresso course

Barista Champion of El Salvador, William Hernandez

just painted a coffee tree on a chemex filter, used paint made from blackberry & kiwi, used the filter to make an infusion .

Wow that routine from was the kind that sneaks up on you. Tons of things happened so smoothly and casually, it all just flows.

26. 4:40 Ben PutPhil & Sebastian Coffee Roasters, Canada @philandseb @putankhamun

Getting down to the end of day #1, it’s Ben Put representing Canada at the   !

Complex multi-portafilter shenanigans from to prep his sig drink. He has a technique trick he’ll reveal later.

To accompany his espresso course, serves a warm distilled water followed by a cool sparkling, to be consumed at diff sips.

Canandian Barista Champion Ben Put

Warm, distilled water to highlight high notes, cold sparkling to highlight low notes.

2 different sig drinks for , one focused on high notes, one focused on low notes. He has let his shots sit & separate for 8 mins.

He uses a syringe to separate the bottom, low note part of the shots from the top part. Both drinks have peach, strawberry, Assam tea, sugar.

Attention to detail is the name of the game w/, down to the heavy iron cups for low-note focused drink, delicate china for high.

27. 5:15 Harrysson Neira, El Café de Harry, Peru @harryneira 

Next up at is Peruvian Barista Champ Harrysson Neira, represeting El Café de Harry !

“In Peru, we have all washed coffees, but I’m interested in Naturals..for one, Cusco has very little water” — 

Mr. Neira has an upbeat, high-energy presentation going on here, which is very appreciated as the long first day winds into evening in Rimini.

This natural-processed Peru has a very high sweetness according to , just what his customers are looking for.

Peruvian Barista Champion Harrysson Neira

Syringe & soda syphon being used in prep for ‘s Cocoa Lemonade signature drink.

28. 8:15 Craig Simon, Think Tank Coffee, Australia @craig_simon @ThinkTankCoffee

And now we’re into the re-schedule portion of , with Craig Simon representing Australia &  .

The coffee is using is “his own drying method” developed in collaboration with at their Gesha Estates in Panama.

The beans stay in cherry for 16 hours, are washed and fermented for 12 hours, and then go out on raised drying beds at .

“Cheesecake, subtle apricot and carmel in ‘s cappuccinos.

Developing the processing approach was a trial & error process, with careful attention to pH & moisture, according to .

Australian Barista Champion Craig Simon

For his sig drink, uses grapefruit juice, honey syrup, cold brewed Earl Grey tea, mineral water.

An impressively polished routine from , with time called at 13:47

See you tomorrow!

Live Twitter commentary by Jordan Michelman and Alex Bernson. Photography by Eileen P. Kenny.

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