The Specialty Coffee industry includes a niche, and perhaps too little-known, community of competitive coffee professionals. I don’t just mean folks competing for business and market access. I mean individuals who get up on a stage and brew coffee competitively.

This is a difficult thing to explain to the average coffee consumer. It rings of parody, conjuring up images of self-important baristas making unnecessarily tedious concoctions. In reality, U.S. Coffee Champs Competitions are one of the most nurturing and rewarding communities I have had the privilege of working with.

Tommy Kim, a 2022 finalist and longtime competitor, demonstrating his pulse pour technique on stage in Boston 2022.

What Are the U.S. Coffee Championships?

The U.S. Coffee Championships is a platform for coffee professionals to demonstrate a mastery of their craft and skills, in most cases preparing and presenting a finished product to a panel of sensory judges for evaluation. The championships include Barista, Brewer’s Cup, Roaster, Coffee in Good Spirits, Coffee Tasters and Latte Art. Each competition hosts several Preliminary-level events, two Qualifier events and one National event. Competitors move through these levels and, at Nationals — this year taking place at the SCA Expo in Portland — the judges determine who will move on to represent the United States at the annual World Coffee Events.

Commitment to the preparation and execution of such a string of performances is a serious undertaking. It requires a lot of investment, and for a while we saw many of the same companies and individuals dominating the competition scene. There was a systemic issue: access. Access to time, resources and financial support.

The competition body made two major changes to increase access. First, it added a Preliminary level of competition; numerous events meant more slots for competitors and the likelihood that travel would be shorter and accommodations outside of the usual convention cities more affordable. Additionally, some competitions changed the format at this level to require a smaller personal investment in the time and materials needed to compete.

The second change was adopting a weighted lottery system for registration, breaking the hold that seasoned and company-sponsored competitors had on positions, given their ability to register in the specific and short sign-up window.

I would be remiss if I did not also mention a major contributor to the changing landscape of competitions: Glitter Cat. This non-profit organization, started by former Barista competitor Veronica Pearl, “provides support, training, access to resources and mentorship for marginalized hospitality professionals including BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, neurodivergent, disabled and persons of marginalized gender.”

I am so pleased to report that these efforts (as well as the work of groups like Go Fund Bean and Getchu Some Gear among others) have produced important results. Over the past near decade, the faces and stories of those involved in this community have changed. While the professionalism and innovation demonstrated at these events has always been unparalleled, the representation in recent years has infused this community with authenticity and belonging.

Baltimore Qualifiers

Last month, in Baltimore, Md., was the first Qualifier-level event since 2019, and it was nothing short of elating to be among this community! While competitions naturally bring our focus to the stage, for every competitor, there is a panel of judges and group of volunteers who are their necessary counterparts. This is where my work has been focused.

I have been training judges for Brewer’s Cup since 2017. Volunteering as a judge is an incredible professional development experience. Judges in training are led through a day-long calibration workshop by seasoned sensory professionals. People come to us with a wide range of coffee experience, and if they demonstrate the necessary skill during calibration workshops, they sit on sensory panels for the duration of the weekend, judging competitors. They are also given the opportunity to taste and score a range of processes, qualities and roasts. During performances, they are presented with some of the best brewed coffee in the country by accomplished professionals using innovative techniques.

The growth we see in our judges across a weekend of calibration and competition is tremendous. Judges learn how to record their taste and customer service experiences in a rules-based, concise and timely manner, under tremendous pressure and often while balancing emotional reactions. They support each other's development and add to the ever-growing community — and this is perhaps the sticking point.

Truth be told, many coffee professionals work in small teams or completely alone, relying on self-education, ever seeking rare and coveted opportunities for career advancement. It is a very rare thing to meet folks who share your passion for the industry, and who are as hungry for new ideas and constructive criticism. What draws me back year after year is the spirit of support and cooperation that underpins these events.

Amanda Armbrust-Asselin judging a finals competition in Boston, in 2022.

The 2023 Season

This 2023 season of U.S. Coffee Champs competitions is the first season where things are “back to normal,” in that the number of events and competitors are where they were pre-pandemic. However, during the pandemic, the coffee industry lost a lot of professionals who were forced to make different career choices in the face of unsafe working conditions, staff reductions and business closures. Additionally, many companies cut their budgets and are not sending employees to the competitions.

This has proven a serious challenge. Each event, and all the preparation leading up to it, is run by and for community. That means volunteers are devoting serious time outside of their work and family lives to make sure this platform and community continue to exist.

In a landscape where professional development opportunities seem few and far between, coffee competitions are a bastion of coffee knowledge. There is a unique mix of practical skill building and exposure to new ideas in the coffee community. It is a place to find context, connection and, for some, rekindle the flame of purpose that drives the work we do in this very niche and very special industry.

Sponsorships and Origin Trips

This season, InterAmerican Coffee is supplying the coffees used in the Cup Taster’s competitions and our sister company Atlas Coffee Importers is supplying the coffee for the Roaster’s Competitions.

We're also thrilled to announce that NKG Bloom is sponsoring the trip to origin for six winners of U.S. Coffee Championships. Specifically, the top two winners of the Brewers, Roasters and Barista competitions will win a trip to see NKG Bloom in practice. (More details coming soon!)

This feels like a full circle moment, because access is an issue at all levels of the coffee supply chain. This trip to origin will provide an opportunity for these dedicated coffee professionals to connect with some very impressive work at the foundation of that chain. NKG Bloom work with farmer groups and individuals to provide smallholder producers with the services and resources they need to run their farms at full potential and enter a pathway out of poverty. This targeted initiative, focused on both economic and environmental sustainability, aims to enable coffee production to continue into a future that's seriously threatened. These efforts are built on the hope of enabling service professionals to continue to work with diverse and beautiful coffees, innovating the ways in which they arrive in our cups.

The next competition event is Nationals in Portland, at SCA Expo. If you have ever wanted to go, I urge you not to miss this opportunity to connect with some of the most talented and supportive coffee professionals in our industry! We hope to see you there, as a competitor, judge, volunteer or spectator — because we would not have coffee without community. •

Top photo: Amanda Armbrust-Asselin (far left) Head Judging at the 2022 Preliminaries, hosted by Black & White Coffee in Raleigh, NC.</small