World Coffee Events (WCE) is bringing the 16th World Barista Championship (WBC) to the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle, United States from 9 – 12 April, 2015. A total of 50 national barista champions will compete in the WBC at the Specialty Coffee Association of America’s (SCAA) Event, which is expected to attract an estimated 10,000 people. The eighth annual World AeroPress Championship will also be held concurrently in Seattle at WithinSodo on 9 April. AeroPress Champions from more than 30 countries will compete using Café Imports supplied La Perla del Cafe coffee from Costa Rica. The 2015 SCAA Event will see the return of the Brew Bar, which will serve coffees from 15 different specialty coffee roasters from around the world. Marco Beverage Systems will sponsor the Brew Bar, which will feature five different manual brewing preparation methods and daily hands-on demonstrations. Daterra Coffee, in partnership with more than 12 international roasters, will be serving its coffee at the WBC Espresso Bar. The 2015 WBC Qualified Sponsors will feature their products onstage, including Victoria Arduino’s Black Eagle as the Official Espresso Machine, Mahlkoenig’s K30 Twin, K30 Vario, and EK43 as the Official Grinders, Cafetto EVO Espresso Machine Cleaning Products as the Official Cleaning Product Sponsor, and Pentair Everpure’s MRS-600HE-II High Efficiency RO System Official Water Filtration Sponsor. DaVinci Gourmet is the Gold Sponsor of the WBC, which sees baristas prepare espressos, cappuccinos and original espresso signature drinks for a panel of international judges. Based on 2014 figures, more than 63,000 viewers are expected to watch the competition via WCE's livestream online broadcast.
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