We recap the drama and excitement of this week’s global AeroPress competition in London.
BY KAIE BIRD SPECIAL TO BARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE
Photos courtesy of Kaie Bird
This year’s World AeroPress Championship had a lot of surprises, attendees from all around the globe, and a winner from our own 10 Minutes With archives! Congratulations to Wendelien van Bunnik-Verver. Check out scenes from the competition through our lens below.
All 65 national AeroPress champs enjoy each others’ company throughout the day in the Oval Offices, across the street from the Oval Space venue, where they get a bit of table space to spread out their coffee gear and practice with the un-masked competition coffee. Some competitors were a bit more nervous than the others, but the vibe backstage was very open and welcoming throughout the entire event.
Co-emcee Ximena Rubio’s goal in her own coffee community is to make sure inclusivity is a building part of events, to welcome anyone who wants to join, and to create a safe space for everyone. During the event, she spoke with competitors from many of the Spanish-speaking countries in Spanish, making the event bilingual. This allowed those who weren’t as comfortable speaking in English to have the space to talk about themselves, their brewing process, or their country.
United Arab Emirates Champion Sara Alkhoori (left) won Abu Dhabi’s regional AeroPress event. There were some complications with visas for the original UAE 2019 champion to travel to London to compete in the event, opening up a space for Sara to accept and represent on the WAC stage for UAE. Fortunately, Sara was able to travel despite the last-minute request, and she did quite well despite not having the opportunity to practice, advancing to the preliminary finals.
A head judge for this year’s event, Freda Yuan (right)—the newly crowned 2020 U.K. Cup Tasters Champion—had to come up to the stage and select a brew for a few of the rounds during the championship. Her slurp could be heard throughout the event, and co-emcee Oli Bradshaw started to make sure to mic her when she was judging. He gave the audience one job—take a recording of her slurp and make it trend worldwide.
The stage is filled with tension as competitors battle for the two remaining spots in the final round. Competing on the first stage were representatives from Romania, Australia, and the Netherlands, with the Netherlands advancing to the finals. At right, on stage two, were competitors from Bahrain, Germany, and France, with France advancing to the finals.
The top three finishers at the 2019 World AeroPress Championship, from left: Benja Khemacheva of Thailand, who placed second; new champion Wendelien van Bunnik-Verver of the Netherlands; and third-place finisher Alexis Gagnaire of France. The DJ must have pre-selected the track for this moment, as the beat built up the tension in the room, and every second seemed to be prolonged.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Kaie Bird is a coffee professional and event organizer based in Tel Aviv, Israel. She is the brains behind Sharing Tables, a group that connects the specialty-coffee community in Tel Aviv through events and outreach.
