13/05/2024
The level at the World Barista Championships was unreal this year. Judges were taken on a wild ride of mindfulness, electromagnetic waves, origami, emotion - not to mention the best coffees in the world, exclusively from Colombia and Panama in the Finals round (interesting, but unsurprising!). Congratulations to longtime competitor and excellent human, Michael Jasin!
In an unusual and enthralling World Barista Championships Finals day in Busan on May 4th 2024, competition veteran Mikael Jasin of Indonesia claimed top spot by just ONE POINT over Jack Simpson of Australia (Springboks at the Rugby World Cup style!). To give you some context, there are upwards of 700 points to play for and half points are also a thing, so to be separated by only one point in the end is absolutely wild!
Not only that, Ian Kissick of Ireland smashed his surprise semi-final performance (placing second in that round!) after being left out of original semi-final line-up due to a clerical error and found himself in the Finals, making it a World first, with seven finalists in the last round.
Wow!
Mikael has been competing for a decade and this culmination of his competitive pursuits was emotional and must also be a huge relief after all he and his Team have invested over the years to achieve this pinnacle of coffee competition.
We were lucky enough to interview him in 2021 just after his performance in Milan, where we were inspired by his passion for Indonesian coffee. We look forward to catching up with him again soon! Link to that interview in our bio.
Huge shout out to Jack Simpson who had an incredible set using amazing technology with low frequency electromagnetic waves (you can read more about this in our latest magazine!). He achieved his goal of being better than he was the year before. 3rd last year, 2nd this year, who knows what the future holds!
Congratulations to all the Finalists, you were all so impressive!
And well done to everyone who made the Championships possible!
Finalists pic: World Coffee Championships
