The Specialty Coffee Association United States of America Chapter (SCA USA Chapter) has announced the dates and locations of the 2020 season of the US CoffeeChamps Qualifying Events and the US Coffee Championships.
The US Coffee Championships (USCC) are composed of three levels of competition, the US CoffeeChamps Preliminaries, US CoffeeChamps Qualifying Competitions, and final US Coffee Championships.
The current portfolio includes the US Barista Championship, Brewers Cup, Cup Tasters Championship, Coffee in Good Spirits Championship, and Roaster Championship.
The US Barista Championship and Brewers Cup will be held in Orange County, California at the OC Fair & Event Center, from 21 to 23 February.
The US Coffee in Good Spirits, Cup Tasters, and Roaster Championships will be held at the SCA’s Specialty Coffee Expo in Portland, Oregon from 24 to 26 April.
“The World Barista Championship and World Brewers Cup will take place in early May in Melbourne, Australia, which is just a few days after the conclusion of the SCA’s Specialty Coffee Expo in Portland,” says Nathanael May, the US Competitions Committee Chair.
“The idea of sending our champions to the other side of the planet with less than a week to prepare was unacceptable. In order to give our US Barista and US Brewers Cup champions plenty of time to plan and practice for their performances at the world events, we’ve made what we feel are acceptable changes to how our season will flow.
“We understand that it’s not excellent to have our championships spread out over two events in two separate cities two months apart, but we want the people representing our community on the world stage to have the opportunity to be extraordinary. We believe this schedule accomplishes that while not placing an undue travel burden on all of our competitors for Barista and Brewers.”
While the US Coffee Championships have only just been announced, the US CoffeeChamps Preliminaries are well underway. View the full list of US CoffeeChamps Preliminaries HERE.
Top competitors from the preliminaries will have a guaranteed spot to compete in one of the qualifying events of their choosing.
The 2020 US CoffeeChamps Qualifying Events include:
- 7 to 8 December 2019 in Sumner, Washington. This event includes the Barista and Brewers Cup Qualifying competitions.
- 11 to 12 January 2020 in Nashville, Tennessee. This event includes all five Qualifying Competitions.
- 22 to 23 February 2020 in Orange County, California. This event includes the Coffee in Good Spirits, Cup Tasters, and Roaster Qualifying Competitions.
“A key focus of the US Chapter volunteer leadership is to drive engagement across a wide variety of events, programs, and coffee gatherings,” says SCA USA Chapter National Coordinator Marcus Boni.
“The USCC program remains an awesome opportunity to not only showcase barista commitment and passion, but also grow and learn with a diverse part of our community. Even if competing or judging isn’t your thing, I warmly encourage you to come out to these events for fellowship, knowledge and coffee-buds networking. Each event will have a lot to offer, and I’m proud to say it’s where my love for our community began.”
General admission tickets for the US CoffeeChamps Qualifying Events in Nashville and Orange County will go on sale 1 November 2019 for US$10 advanced sale and US$15 at the door via Eventbrite.
No entry fee will be required for the event in Sumner. Competitor and judge registration will also open 1 November 2019 for Sumner, Nashville, and Orange County Qualifying Events.
For more information, visit uscoffeechampionships.org
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