Just Launched: Series 01 of the World Coffee Championships Podcast

We are excited to release the first episode of a new podcast dedicated to the World Coffee Championships.

Across six weekly episodes, the series will offer a glimpse behind the scenes of the different World Coffee Championships, bringing to light some of the hidden stories woven in and around these annual skill-based competitions that serve as the culmination of local and regional events around the globe.

Special Thanks to Our Series Sponsor, Victoria Arduino

This series of the WCC Podcast is brought to you by Victoria Arduino. Born in the early twentieth century amid social and cultural transformation, Victoria Arduino broke with tradition and focused on progress, a mission it carries forward today. Victoria Arduino advances coffee knowledge and innovates across design, technology, and performance to produce machines that nurture coffee professionals' passion for espresso excellence. For more information, visit victoriaarduino.com. Victoria Arduino: Inspired by your passion.

This first series of episodes is the culmination of a year’s work exploring the history, impact, and evolution of the competitions through interviews with members of the large network of volunteers who make the annual events possible. The release of the series marks the first time the SCA has produced a narrative, story-driven podcast, anchored by voices of the specialty coffee community.

Each new episode of the WCC Podcast will publish weekly across November and into early December on the SCA Podcast channel and SCA News. This series of the WCC Podcast is made possible with support from our series sponsor, Victoria Arduino, and our episode sponsors: DaVinci Gourmet, URNEX, Scotsman, Loumidis Papagalos, and Licor43.

Credits

This series of the WCC Podcast was made possible with the support and help of so much of our community! We’d like to thank our co-hosts—Sara Al-Ali, Rie Moustakis, Anna Oleksak, Roukiat Delrue, Kimberly Yer, Sonja Bjork Grant, and Gloria Pedroza—for sharing their time, expertise, and stories as they led each episode.

We’d also like to thank our interviewees, representing various roles and perspectives across all seven of the World Coffee Championships: Sergey Blinnicov, David Acosta-Busch, Paul Basset, Simi Benzadon, Federico Bolanos, Nick Cho, Sylvia Gutierrez, Chloe King, Alf Kramer, Kristina Jackson, Dave Jameson, Yuan Jingyi, Cheryl Lee Su Yin, Tone Liavaag, María Esther López-Thome, Emma Markland-Webster, Innocent Niyongabo, Annet Nyakaisiki, José Joaquín Ordoñez, Um Paul, Heather Perry, Trish Rothgeb, Carl Sara, Kim Staalman, Chad Wang, Turgay Yildizli, and Lee Yiming.

Many others helped us with story-finding sessions, answered questions, or sent audio samples, including: Dajo Aertssen, Martin Aguilar, Amy Ball, Alex Bernson, Ariel Bravo, Laura Caliwan, Jonathan Chao, Mansi Choksi, Connor Clarke, Carllee Curran, Sebastian Diácono, T. Ben Grimm, Chad Goddard, Jake Hsu, Aysen Uccan Kekinkilic, Laura Lee, Cindy Ludviksen, Jessica MacDonald, Jackie Malone, Valentina Moksunova, Stephen Morrissey, Daniel Munari, Doren Musah, Kaapo Paavolainen, David Rozali, Jenn Rugolo, Martin Shabaya, Kyonghee Shin, Annemarie Tiemes, Deniz Tombull, and Rossie Zen.

And last, but certainly not least, we’d like to thank those who extended permission to use audio files of historic competition footage, reference photographs, or background music for use in the series: Specialty Coffee Project, Igloo Media, French Coffee Production, Specialty Turkish Coffee, Lobotryasi, Madbirder, Henk Langemper, and Um Paul.

Series 01 of the World Coffee Championships Podcast was produced by James Harper of Filter Productions for the Specialty Coffee Association.

Listen to the Latest Episodes

SCA News

Dec 3, 2020

Ep 06: "Worlds Apart" | World Coffee Championships Podcast

Dec 3, 2020

“Worlds Apart” tells the stories of the World Coffee in Good Spirits Championship and the World Brewers Cup, two competitions that take vastly different approaches to growing the specialty coffee community. Along the way, co-host Kimberly Yer leads us through stories of unlikely inspiration, the value of setting expectations, the push and pull of subjectivity and objectivity, and the shape of things to come through interviews with Dave Jameson, Cheryl Lee Su Yin, Nick Cho, Chad Wang, and Kristina Jackson.

Dec 3, 2020

Nov 26, 2020

Ep 05: "Turn It On" | World Coffee Championships Podcast

Nov 26, 2020

“Turn It On” tells the stories of the World Coffee Roasting Championship and the Cezve/Ibrik Championships, two competitions with incredibly close-knit communities at their heart. Along the way, co-hosts Anna Oleksak and Sara Al-Ali lead us through stories about navigating subjectivity, all kinds of development, and the lengths we go to for coffee (and love) through interviews with Trish Rothgeb, Sylvia Gutierrez, Lee Yiming, Yuan Jingyi, Sergey Blinnikov, and Turgay Yildizli.

Nov 26, 2020

Nov 19, 2020

Ep 04: "But I Need It!" | World Coffee Championships Podcast

Nov 19, 2020

“But I Need It!” continues the story of the World Barista Championships from where we left off in Episode 03, nearly halfway through the competition’s journey, to today. Along the way, co-host Rouki Delrue leads us through stories of evolutionary meetings, competitors who played in the grey areas of the rules, wildcards, and the drive to “bring the trophy” through interviews with Carl Sara, Federico Bolanos, María Esther López-Thome, Martin Shabaya, Innocent Niyongabo, and Annet Nyakaisiki.

Nov 19, 2020

Nov 12, 2020

Ep 03: "We Were the Punks" | World Coffee Championships Podcast

Nov 12, 2020

“We Were the Punks” traces the early days of the World Barista Championships from a rag-tag group of volunteers looking to raise specialty coffee awareness to a powerful, monetizable stage grappling with questions of scale and professionalism. Along the way, co-host Sonja Bjork Grant leads us through stories of spit buckets, snakeskin boots, backstage woes, intensifying competition preparation, and devastating debriefs through interviews with Tone Elian Liavaag, Emma Markland-Webster, Simi Benzadon, Paul Basset, and Heather Perry.

Nov 12, 2020

Nov 5, 2020

Ep 02: "Paint a Picture" | WCC Podcast

Nov 5, 2020

“Paint a Picture” traces the history and evolution of the World Latte Art Championship through the medium itself, from early etchings to the innovative realistic pours that grace the competition’s stage today. Along the way, co-host Rie Moustakis leads us through stories about the role of the rules, the value of art, and family dynamics through interviews with Carl Sara, Daniel Acosta Busch, and Um Paul.

Nov 5, 2020

Oct 29, 2020

Ep 01: "It's a YES!!" | WCC Podcast

Oct 29, 2020

“It’s a YES!!” traces the history and evolution of the World Cup Tasters Championship through stories about rule-breakers, phone calls home mid-competition, and backstage ballet. Co-hosted by Gloria Pedroza, this episode features interviews with Alf Kramer, Kim Staalman, José Joaquín Ordoñez, and Chloe King.

Oct 29, 2020