The results are in for the September U.S. Coffee Championships preliminary events in Richmond, Va.; Portland, Ore.; Austin, Texas; and Houston.
BY CHRIS RYAN
BARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE
Featured photo by Steven Cromer
In September, the United States Coffee Championships’ 2019-2020 competition season continued with four preliminary competitions held in Richmond, Va.; Portland, Ore.; Austin, Texas; and Houston.
The preliminary events take place for the five U.S. CoffeeChamps competitions: Barista, Brewers Cup, Coffee In Good Spirits, Cup Tasters, and Roasters. There are 13 prelims in total; with the September prelims complete, there are two preliminary events remaining: October 4-6 in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., and October 11-13 in Rogers, Ark.
Coffee competitors advancing from the preliminaries will move on to the U.S. Coffee Champs Qualifying Events taking place December 7-8 in Sumner, Wash.; January 11-12 in Nashville, Tenn.; and February 22-23 in Orange County, Calif. For more details, check out the U.S. CoffeeChamps website.
Read on to see what happened at the September preliminary events, and who is moving on to qualifiers.
Richmond, Va.
On September 6-8, Blanchard’s Coffee Roasting Co. hosted the Richmond preliminary event, which featured the Barista, Brewers Cup, and Coffee In Good Spirits competitions. Here are the competitors moving on:
Barista
1. Kylan Reasoner—Union Coffee, Greensboro, N.C.
2. Ryan Moser—Brick & Mortar, Richmond, Va.
3. Joe Burns—Convive Coffee Company, Pittsburgh
4. Filiberto Hernandez—Union Coffee, Greensboro, N.C.
Brewers Cup
1. Ben Martin— Madcap Coffee Co., Grand Rapids, Mich.
2. Chelsea Dubay—Joe Van Gogh, Chapel Hill, N.C.
3. Grant Wunderlich—Madcap Coffee Co., Grand Rapids, Mich.
4. Aaron Moxley—Independent, Winston-Salem, N.C.
Coffee In Good Spirits
1. Mo Koolphanich—Slipstream, Washington, D.C.
2. Dawn Shanks—Peregrine Espresso, Washington, D.C.
3. Matthew Kumar—Independent, New York, N.Y.
Portland, Ore.
Hosted by Novus Coffee Imports x Buckman Coffee Factory on September 7, the Portland preliminary featured the Roasters and Cup Tasters competitions. Here are the competitors moving on:
Roasters
1. Brian Clemens—Relevant Coffee, Vancouver, Wash.
2. Shasha Yang—Nossa Familia Coffee, Portland, Ore.
3. Andrew Coe—Elevator Coffee, Portland, Ore.
Cup Tasters
1. Shasha Yang—Nossa Familia Coffee, Portland, Ore.
2. Ken Selby—Blossom Coffee Roasters, Seattle
3. Brian Clemens—Relevant Coffee, Vancouver, Wash.
Austin, Texas
On September 27-29, the Austin Coffee Collective hosted the Austin preliminary event, featuring the Barista and Brewers Cup competitions. Read on to see the competitors moving on.
Barista
1. Raechel Hurd
2. Sam Schaefer
3. Heather McCullough
4. Holly Griffith
5. Ali Abderrahman
6. Miranda Haney
Brewers Cup
1. Welhong Zhang
2. Sarah Lambeth
3. Michael Replan
4. Solomon Gerges
Houston
The Houston preliminary, hosted by Houston Coffee Collective x InterAmerican Coffee, took place September 28 and featured the Cup Tasters competition. Here are the competitors moving on:
Cup Tasters
1. Adrianne Pena—InterAmerican Coffee, Houston
2. Mehmet Sogan—Independent, Houston
3. Benji Martinez—Xela Coffee Roasters, Houston
