The 16 semifinalists moving on to the next round of the 2017 World Barista Championship in Seoul, South Korea!
BY ASHLEY RODRIGUEZ
BARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE
After two days of competition and routines from 58 national champions, the top 15 finishers of the World Barista Championship in Seoul, South Korea, were announced, with a spot left for a wild-card position—competitors were placed on one of eight teams, and the team with the highest average score after the first round would win a spot for the team member who scored the highest but didn’t earn one of the top 15 spots.
Martin Shabaya of Kenya won the coveted wild-card spot, being on the winning team (Team Tamper). Every member on Team Tamper earned a spot in the semifinals, joining a group that included competitors from countries that had never advanced to the semifinal round, competitors that were crowned national champions over a year ago, and competitors that were crowned national champions less than three weeks ago.
The below list is the rankings of the semifinalists after the first two days of the WBC. Competitors’ scores are wiped out after the first round, and all competitors start on the same footing in the semifinal round. Scroll below for the semifinal schedule.
ROUND 1 RANKINGS
WILD CARD—Martin Shabaya, Artcaffe Coffee and Bakery, Kenya
15—Jeremy Zhang, M2M Coffee, China
14—Melody Lu, Single Origin Espresso and Roast, Taiwan
13—Yoshua Tanu, Common Grounds/St. Ali, Indonesia
12—Lavinia Toma, Origio, Romania
11—Jason Loo, Yellow Brick Road Café, Malaysia
10—Konstantinos Iatridis, Taf, Greece
9—Kyle Ramage, Black & White Coffee Roasters, USA
8—Francesco Masciullo, ditta Artigianale, Italy
7—Miki Suzuki, Maruyama Coffee, Japan
6—Dale Harris, Hasbean Coffee, United Kingdom
5—Kapo Chiu, Cupping Room Coffee Roasters, Hong Kong
4—Jun-Bae Bang, Andrea Plus, South Korea
3—Ben Put, Monogram Coffee, Canada
2—André Eiermann, UCC Coffee Switzerland, Switzerland
1—Hugh Kelly, ONA Coffee, Australia
SCHEDULE
All times are GMT +9 Seoul local time on Saturday, November 11th
9:52 a.m.: Dale Harris, United Kingdom
10:16 a.m.: André Eiermann, Switzerland
10:40 a.m.: Melody Lu, Taiwan
11:04 a.m.: Lavinia Toma, Romania
11:28 a.m.: Kapo Chiu, Hong Kong
11:52 a.m.: Miki Suzuki, Japan
12:19 p.m.: Jason Loo, Malaysia
12:43 p.m.: Hugh Kelly, Australia
1:07 p.m.: Jeremy Zhang, China
1:31 p.m.: Jun-Bae Bang, South Korea
1:55 p.m.: Francesco Masciullo, Italy
2:19 p.m.: Ben Put, Canada
2:43 p.m.: Yoshua Tanu, Indonesia
3:07 p.m.: Konstantinos Iatridis, Greece
3:31 p.m.: Martin Shabaya, Kenya
3:55 p.m.: Kyle Ramage, USA
Please read our statement here about the recent decision by the Specialty Coffee Association regarding the decision about the 2018 competitions in Dubai. We will continue to report live from Seoul with a focus on competitors and their progress, so please check here for results and standings. We also turn to the global coffee community for their feelings and thoughts regarding this decision, so please email, leave comments, or find us on social media to share your concerns.
