Ally Coffee’s 2017 Origin Trip Sponsorship to Include World Cup Tasters Champ, and the U.S. Cup Tasters Champ and Runner-Up
After treating the top finishers in the 2016 U.S. Barista, Brewers Cup, and Roasters Championships—as well as the World Barista & Brewers Cup Champs—to an all-expenses-paid trip to Brazil as the Official Origin Trip Sponsor, Ally Coffee just announced it will do all that and more moving forward: On Wednesday, Ally Coffee announced the expansion of the Origin Trip Sponsorship to include the top two finishers from the U.S. Cup Tasters Championship, as well as the World Cup Tasters Champion.
“We’re super excited about bringing the Cup Tasters competitions into it,” Ally’s Ricardo Pereira said by phone on Tuesday in an interview with Barista Magazine. “It was so cool to see the Barista, Brewers Cup, and Roasters champions [as well as World Brewers Cup Champion Tetsu Kasuya of Japan, who attended as well] collaborate and share information with one another [in Brazil, on Ally’s first sponsored origin trip in July 2016]. Bringing the top two from the U.S. Cup Tasters Championship, and the World Cup Tasters Champion, into the mix for 2017 will show us even more how we can collaborate not just as individuals, but as an industry.”
Ally’s sponsorship for the U.S. Barista and Roaster Championships, and the U.S. Brewers Cup, is an agreement made through the U.S. Coffee Championships and the Specialty Coffee Association (formerly “of America”) which allows for the top two finishers in the U.S. Barista, Brewers Cup, Roasters, and now Cup Tasters Championships to participate in Ally’s sponsored trip to source. The World Coffee Championship Origin Trip sponsorship terms—which offer the same trip to source from Ally to the World Barista, Brewers Cup, and now Cup Tasters Champion—are made with World Coffee Events.
For its inaugural champions trip in the summer of 2016, a team of delegates from Ally brought guests to three different growing regions in Brazil. Those attendees included U.S. Barista Champion Lem Butler of Counter Culture Coffee, and runner-up Andrea Allen of Onyx Coffee Lab; U.S. Brewers Cup Champion Todd Goldsworthy of Klatch Coffee, and runner-up James Tooill, who was with La Colombe at the time of his win, and who now works for Ally Coffee; and U.S. Roasters Champ Tony Querio of Spyhouse Coffee and runner-up Kyle Bellinger of Neat Coffee, as well as select members of the coffee press and a few special guests.
Ally will be continue to be very active in its U.S. Coffee Championships involvement in 2017, with half its staff participating at the qualifying events coming up in Knoxville, Tenn. (January 21–22) and Austin, Texas (February 11–12), as well as at the U.S. Coffee Championships taking place in conjunction with the Global Specialty Coffee Expo in Seattle, Wash., April 21–23. Ally is also a Green Coffee Sponsor for the 2017 U.S. Roasters Championship.
“Last year’s trip with the champions was really special—we all learned so much,” says Ricardo. “It was pretty much the coolest way to promote an exchange of information between the competitors.”
The 2017 Ally Coffee Origin Trip, which will take place in July, will return to Brazil but take participants to three different growing regions than those visited on the 2016 inaugural trip. “We will be ready to announce the plans we will be taking the champions at the time of the U.S. Coffee Championships in Seattle,” says Ricardo, who will personally present the top two from each of the four championships with their coveted, all-expenses-paid trip prizes. The World Brewers Cup and Cup Tasters Championship will take place during the World of Coffee event in Budapest, Hungary, June 13–15, and Ricardo and his team at Ally look forward to presenting those winners with the prize of a trip to Brazil.
“There is so much to see in Brazil, and it’s a real treat for us to bring such esteemed coffee professionals along on a journey like the Origin Trip Sponsorship prize trip,” says Ricardo. “We can’t wait to find out who will be joining us this time!”
