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

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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

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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).

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