The World’s Best Coffee Party Is Coming to Sydney This November

The World AeroPress Championship is swinging into Sydney! Join the 60+ national champions at the world’s most raucous coffee competition!

BY ASHLEY RODRIGUEZ
BARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE

Cover photo by Rodrigo Balduino

The 2018 World AeroPress Championship is taking place November 17 in Sydney, Australia, at COMMUNE. The competition, which has expanded to more than 140 regional events in over 60 countries, will bring together baristas, coffee pros, and home enthusiasts from around the world to battle it out for the title of this year’s top AeroPress brewer.

This year’s competition will combine new elements and familiar faces. For the first time ever, attendees will be able to try coffees brewed by contestants at the Competitor Brew Bar. Attendees will also get to sip on free espresso shots roasted by Single O, which will also be providing the coffee that competitors will be brewing down with (we don’t know yet what the super-secret coffee will be—that’s part of the challenge that the competitors will have to contend with). The event will be emceed by Marcus Boni and Michelle Johnson, who also kept the crowd going during the 2017 World AeroPress Championship in Seoul, South Korea.

The competitions leading up to the world championships have been exciting and notable. World Barista Champion Agnieszka Rojewska was on the judging panel for the national competitions in Germany, Israel, and Belarus, and this year will be the first appearance of champions from Bahrain, Croatia, Paraguay, Portugal, and Qatar.

Over 3,000 people participated in a regional or national AeroPress competition in this competition year—quite a big jump from 2008, when the idea of an AeroPress competition was just an inkling between founders Tim Varney and Tim Williams. “The first competition took place in a small room in Oslo, with only three competitors and Tim Wendelboe as the judge,” a press release states. “It was a modest and understated affair.”

Almost 10 years later, and the World AeroPress Championship has gained a reputation for promoting a competition environment that is inclusive and fun. The barrier to entry is low—usually an entrance fee and a willingness to have fun and not take yourself too seriously—and folks not participating in the competition are encouraged to cheer on their favorite competitors and party on with other members of the coffee community.

If you’re still not sold—and frankly, how could you not be—there will be free beer provided by local brewery Moon Dog. Tickets are $25, but if you’re looking for a real VIP experience, you can purchase a $65 VIP ticket, which includes events over two days, including a super-secret event the day before, and priority access to the competitors’ VIP area and priority access to the bathroom (a surprisingly HUGE perk at coffee events). If you can’t be there, you can keep up with the competition by following the WAC on Instagram or following the hashtags #sydney2018 or #2018WAC.

Here’s a full list of the competitors you’ll be seeing in Sydney: