SHANGHAI, May 14, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- On May 4, the high-profile 2024 World Barista Championship (WBC) World Barista Championship came to a successful conclusion in Busan, South Korea. The competition brought together 53 top baristas from all over the world to compete on the same stage, setting off another wave of enthusiasm in the industry.
The 2024 champions have been announced
In this competition, which is known as the "Coffee Olympiad", after fierce competition, the champion, runner-up, third runner-up and the top seven lists were finally decided. Indonesia's Mikael Jasin won the championship for his deep understanding of coffee mindfulness and innovative coffee-making skills. He was followed by Australia's Jack Simpson and Japan's Takayuki Ishitani, who finished second and third respectively. Honoka Kawashima from New Zealand, Junghwan Lim from South Korea, Ian Kissick from Ireland and Zjevaun Lemar Janga from the Netherlands finished fourth to seventh.
The professional innovation of the Chinese players was once again on display
The picture on the upper left is: Pan Wei, and the picture on the upper right is: Wang Guifeng
As a top world coffee event authorized by World Coffee Events (WCE), it is attracting a large number of outstanding players from countries with great coffee consumption potential in the world to perform on stage. Among them, this competition includes Pan Wei and Wang Guifeng, players from Chinese mainland selected by Shanghai UBM Sinoexpo International Exhibition Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Shanghai UBM Sinoexpo") in the event authorized by Chinese mainland.
With the theme of "Customized Service Experience", Pan Wei brought Chinese Yunnan coffee and its special flavors to the international perspective for the first time through her performance, and highlighted the concept of long-termism by emphasizing that the establishment of a product life cycle depends on the feedback loop between producers, roasters, baristas and consumers. Through his performance, Wang Guifeng showed everyone the innovation ability and love of Chinese baristas for the art of coffee.
It is worth mentioning that Penny Pang from Hong Kong and Sin Lin from Taiwan also performed well in this WBC event in Busan. In recent years, with the emergence of more and more Chinese faces in the competition, the Chinese contestants have demonstrated the professionalism, innovative spirit and unique insights of Chinese baristas, allowing the world to see the progress of Chinese coffee.
The World Coffee Championship is in ChinaIn 2003, UBM Sinoexpo Shanghai successfully introduced the World Barista Championship into China with the authorization of WCE, and the selected Chinese champions could get the tickets to the World Barista Championship and compete with the world's top players on the international stage. Since then, UBM Sinoexpo has introduced other international coffee competitions, including the World Coffee Late Art Competition (WLAC), the World Coffee Cupping Competition (WCTC), the World Coffee Brewing Competition (WBrC), the World Coffee & Spirits Competition (WCIGS) and the World Coffee Roasting Competition (WCRC). Nearly 30 regional competitions are held in more than 20 cities and regions across the country every year. For more than 20 years, UBM Sinoexpo Shanghai has delivered more than 40 Chinese champions and 2 world champions to the world stage by hosting events.
The expansion and prosperity of the scale of the event is inseparable from the continuous expansion of the scale of China's coffee industry. According to the "2024 China Urban Coffee Development Report" released at the same time as the 2024 Shanghai International Coffee Culture Festival, the market size of China's coffee industry will reach 265.4 billion yuan in 2023, of which Shanghai leads the world with 9,553 cafes. At the same time, the number of cafes in China's third- and fourth-tier cities is also growing rapidly, demonstrating the huge potential of the Chinese coffee market.
In addition, Mr. Zhang Xueqiang, General Manager of UBM Sinoexpo Shanghai Co., Ltd., also met with Mr. Yannis Apostolopoulos, CEO of the Speciality Coffee Association (SCA), an authoritative organization in the global coffee industry. The two sides conducted in-depth discussions on the organization of coffee competitions, the selection and training of coffee talents, and the development of China's specialty coffee industry. In the future, UBM Sinoexpo will continue to maintain closer cooperation with SCA to continuously improve the quality and influence of coffee competitions, provide a broader competition stage for Chinese baristas, better promote the specialty coffee culture, and spread the unique charm of Chinese coffee.