A complete list of the baristas, brewers, roasters, coffee-spirit drink creators, and coffee tasters you’ll see in Kansas City, Mo., in March.
BY ASHLEY RODRIGUEZ
BARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE
Photos by Paige Hicks
We’re smack dab in the middle of competition season—and the best is yet to come! Now that all the qualifying events and regional coffee competitions are over, we have our final list of competitors who will vie for a place as one of the 2019 United States Coffee Champions.
There are five different competitions encompassing the U.S. Coffee Championships: Brewers Cup, Roasting, Cup Tasters, the newly added Coffee in Good Spirits, and the Barista competition. The top finishers of both CoffeeChamps qualifiers—one in Denver this past December and one in Nashville that just wrapped up this weekend—will go on to compete in Kansas City, Mo., March 15-17. In Kansas City, folks will compete in the national championships for the respective contests. From there, the winner of each competition will go on to represent the United States at the various World Coffee Championships happening across the globe.
Below is a complete list of the coffee professionals you’ll see competing in March. Tell us who your favorite competitor is, and we’ll see you in Kansas City!
BARISTA COMPETITION
Dylan Siemens, Onyx Coffee Lab
Samantha Spillman, Dillanos Coffee Roasters
T. Benjamin Fischer, Elixr Coffee Roasters
Jenna Gotthelf, Counter Culture Coffee
Rodrigo Vargas, Rival Bros. Coffee Roasters
Isaiah Sheese, Archetype Coffee
Elisabeth Johnson, Venture Coffee Co.
Gisel Alvarez, Monarch Coffee
Ryan Wojton, Madcap Coffee Co.
Anthony Ragler, Counter Culture Coffee
Kay Cheon, Dune Coffee Roasters
Cris Mendoza, Saint Frank Coffee
Samuel Schaefer, Stovetop Roasters
Juan Diaz, Deeply Coffee Co.
Ali Abderrahman, State Street Coffee/La Reunion
Shane Hess, Jubala Coffee
Ben Vollmar, Flatlands Coffee
Rachel Diaz, Flatlands Coffee
Sam Neely, Switchback Coffee Roasters
Andrea Allen, Onyx Coffee Lab
Emily Orendorff, Boxcar Coffee Roasters
Cassie Ash, Small Planes Coffee
Hugo Cano, Independent
Naida Lindberg, Verve Coffee
Reef Bessette, The Coffee Movement
Joel Bigelow, Messenger Coffee
Hana Kaneshige, Counter Culture Coffee
Raechel Hurd, Epoch Coffee
Milo DeGoosh, Bard Coffee
Matthew Barahura, Intelligentsia Coffee
Austin Amento, Augie’s Coffee
Kristi Persinger, Stumptown Coffee
Meg Skop, Equator Coffees & Teas
Douglas Park, Independent
Maxwell Mooney, Narrative Coffee
Morgan Eckroth, Tried & True Coffee Co.
BREWERS CUP
Grace McCutchan, Red Rooster Coffee Roaster
Jennifer Hwang, Klatch Coffee
Tyler Duncan, Topeca Coffee Roasters
John Kruegler, Blanchard’s Coffee Roasting
Ben Martin, Madcap Coffee Co.
Kenneth Selby, Vashon Coffee Co.
Cody Barnhart, Vienna Coffee Co.
Gunnar Langenhuizen, Dune Coffee Roasters
Chelsey Walker-Watson, Atlas Coffee
Elika Liftee, Onyx Coffee Lab
Skyler Richter, LAMILL
Felix Felix, Dune Coffee Roasters
Jacob White, Bird Rock Coffee Roasters
Kaley Gann, Messenger Coffee
Justin McCormick-Goodhart
Lance Hedrick, Onyx Coffee Lab
Joshua Modisette, Narrative Coffee
Madeleine Longoria-Garcia, Independent
Augustine Toscano, Windmill Coffee
Avery Leith, Elixr Coffee Roasters
Blair Smith, Augie’s Coffee
Stephen White, Joe Coffee Co.,
Nicholai Elkins, Switchback Coffee Roasters
Kelly Hill, Temple Coffee Roasters
COFFEE IN GOOD SPIRITS
Kris Wood, Black Fox Coffee Co.
Nathanael Mehrens, Stay Golden
Matt Foster, Kaldi’s Coffee Roasting Co.
Leo-Charles Salerno, Greater Goods Coffee Roasters
Brodie Lewis, Madcap Coffee Co.
Rachel Huffman, Dose Nashville
John Martin, LAMILL
Jen McElroy, Klatch Coffee
Brian Beyke, Quills Coffee
Koji Daremo, The Ruin Daily
Dan Hilburn, Backyard Beans Coffee Co.
Joel Cronenberg, Provision Coffee
Lindy Schubring, Greyhouse Coffee & Supply Co.
Sam Schroeder, Olympia Coffee
Kimhak Em, Peixoto Coffee Roasters
Joshua Smith, West Oak Coffee Roasters
Michael Slomzenski, Huckleberry Roasters
Kasey Headley, Trinity Street Coffee Bar
CUP TASTERS
Matthew McDaniel, Summit Coffee
Summer Zhang, Onyx Coffee Lab
Aaron Lerner, SkyTop Coffee
Sarah Lambeth, Congregation Coffee Roasters
Brandon Hutchingson, Mission Coffee
Rachel Stanich, Red Fox Coffee Merchants
Bear Soliven, Onyx Coffee Lab
Samuel Demisse, Keffa Coffee Importers
Elisabeth Johnson, Venture Coffee Co.
Hyoung Wuk Jung, Loit Coffee
Jeff Mooney, Folly Coffee Roasters
Jarrett Johnson, Lineage Roasting
Cameron Metzinger, Backyard Beans Coffee Co.
Joshua Edens, Onyx Coffee Lab
Helen Choi, Luce Ave Coffee Roasters
Sebastian Leggier, Copper Door Coffee Roasters
Chris Kornman, Royal Coffee
Jen Apodaca, Royal Coffee
Chloe O’Connor, Everyman Espresso
Scott MacBride, InterAmerican Coffee
Roman Deshong, Amethyst Coffee Co.
Kevin Nealon, Huckleberry Roasters
Andy Sprenger, Sweet Bloom Coffee
Jin Chiew, Sweet Bloom Coffee
Austin Amento, Augie’s Coffee
Michael Schroeder, Oddly Correct
Noah Goodman, Faema
Khristian Yurchak, Sisters Coffee Co.
Brandon Despain, Caffe Ibis
Jie Jiang, Andante Coffee Roasters
ROASTING COMPETITION
Amanda Hagenbuch, Rival Bros. Coffee Roasters
Jeremy Moore, Bonlife Coffee Roasters
Steve Cuevas, Black Oak Coffee Roasters
Eduardo Choza, Mayorga Organics
José René Martinez, J. Rene Coffee Roasters
Kenneth Thomas, Umble Coffee Co.
Anthony Greatorex, Red Rooster Coffee
Jason Burkum, Archetype Coffee
Matthew Delarosa, Ironsmith Coffee Roasters
Evan Pollitt, Summit Coffee
Aaron MacDougall, Broadsheet Coffee Roasters
Eric Stone, Mudhouse Coffee Roasters
Andrew Oberholzer, Joe Coffee Co.
Shelby Williamson, Huckleberry Roasters
Jen Apodaca, Royal Coffee
Leo Sideras, Independent
Evan Inatome, Elixr Coffee
Aaron Rollins, Caffe Ibis
Hugh Morretta, La Colombe
Daniel Mauck, Social Hour Coffee Roasters
Mark Boccard, Southdown Coffee
Weston Nawrocki, Manzanita Roasting Co.
Andrew Burgason, Windmill Coffee
Nathan Van Dusen, Brio Coffeeworks
