The 2026 World Brewers Cup, Coffee in Good Spirits, and Roasters Champions

by

Editorial Policy

Published on

✉️ This story was featured in this week’s Coffee News Club
👋 Get the Coffee News Club newsletter in your inbox weekly—sign up.

Last week, the finals of the World Brewers Cup, World Coffee in Good Spirits, and World Roasters Championship took place in Brussels during World of Coffee. 

Nas Jaafar, representing Malaysia, won the World Brewers Cup—the first person from Malaysia to do so. Australia’s Simon Gautherin came in second, and Bavis Kwong of Hong Kong placed third.

At the World Coffee in Good Spirits final, Andy Philein of China took the top prize, creating drinks inspired by the cosmos such as a signature cold drink called “Saturn” and an Irish coffee entitled “Afterglow of the Cosmos.” Sion Wu of Taiwan (or Chinese Taipei, as World Coffee Championships now controversially refers to it) came second, and Akira Zushi of Japan⁣ placed third.

The 2026 World Roasting Championship crown went to Belgium’s Benjamin Brassart, who won the title on home soil. China’s Li Zhong Xiang took second place, while Thanasis Angelopoulos of Greece came third.

With that, the 2026 coffee competition season is almost over, with just the World Barista Championship to come in Panama in October. In June, Jak Michael Ryan of Proud Mary Coffee won the United States Barista Championships, and Jill Hoff of Monogram Coffee won the Canadian Barista Championships.

Read the full story on the three world champions from Sprudge here.

Photo by Di Bella Coffee on Unsplash

Share This Article
Avatar photo

Fionn Pooler

Fionn Pooler is a coffee roaster and freelance writer currently based in the Scottish Highlands who has worked in the specialty coffee industry for over a decade. Since 2016 he has written the Pourover, a newsletter and blog that uses interviews and critical analysis to explore coffee’s place in the wider, changing world (and also yell at corporations).

Join 12,500+ coffee leaders and get top stories, deals, and other industry goodies in your inbox each week.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.


Other Articles You May Like

Coffee News Club: Week of July 27

Record global coffee harvests, higher prices might be encouraging customers to buy less but pay more for beans, and coffee is good for your heart—just keep it to five cups a day.
by Fionn Pooler | July 27, 2026

Coffee Tech Stacks: Corvus Coffee Is On the Precipice of a Major Tech Overhaul

Off-the-shelf tech solutions can’t always handle the complexities of a roasting operation. But for Corvus Coffee Roasters in Denver, a new software platform designed specifically for coffee roasters could be a game-changer.
by Ashley Rodriguez | July 24, 2026

Say Goodbye To Ice Diluting Your Cold Brew — Try Cryogenically Freezing It

Some coffee shops have come up with a solution to keep drinks cold without ice watering things down: cryogenically freeze the glass. 
by Fionn Pooler | July 23, 2026

The U.S. Collected $166 Billion in Tariff Revenue. Will You See Any of that Money?

Some green coffee importers have pledged to pass the money refunded to them from tariffs down to customers.
by Fionn Pooler | July 21, 2026