Coffee Competitions: The US Cup Tasters Championship Is This Weekend

2014 United States Cup Taster Champion Amanda Juris.

San Francisco, California will play host this weekend to the 2016 US Cup Tasters Championship, a coffee competition dedicated to the art of competitive coffee tasting. You heard us right! The coffee evaluation process—like all things, really—can indeed be turned into sport, and this one’s part of a world-wide league of coffee competitions governed by World Coffee Events.

This year’s edition of the US Cup Tasters Championship will take place in conjunction with the Good Food Awards, an annual awards show in San Francisco that honors the very best in artisanal food stuffs, small batch beverages, and delicious coffees. The competition takes place during the Good Food Marketplace at Herbst Pavillion (2 Marina Blvd, San Francisco) and runs over the course of two days: Saturday, January 16th and Sunday, January 17th. The winner will advance to represent the United States at the 2016 World Cup Tasters Championship, taking place beginning April 29th in Shanghai, China.

2014 World Cup Tasters Champion Pang Yu Liu.

18 competitors in total will do battle at US Cup Tasters. Let’s meet them all and get a run-down of this weekend’s schedule. We’d love to see you live at the event over this weekend—ticketing details are here.

Saturday, January 16th

6 Round One Heats, 18 competitors beginning at 12:15pm PST. 

Heat 1 [12:15 PM]

Michael Johnson, JBC Coffee Roasters, Madison, WI

Austin Amento, Augie’s Coffee House, Redlands, CA

Samuel B. Demisse, Keffa LLC, Towson, MD

Heat 2 [1:00 PM]

Siobhan Gottlieb, Volcafe, Petaluma, CA

Piero Cristiani, Cafe Imports, Minneapolis, MN

Steve Hyun, Andante Coffee Roasters, Los Angeles, CA

Heat 3 [1:45 PM]

Aaron Lerner, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Waterbury, VT

Adam Walsh, JBC Coffee Roasters, Madison, WI

Adam Snow, Beans & Bagels, Chicago, IL

Heat 4 [2:30 PM]

Todd Kendall, Taylor Maid Farms, Santa Rosa, CA

Oliver Stormshak, Olympia Coffee Roasting Company, Olympia, WA

Tim Taylor, Ipsento Coffee, Chicago, IL

Heat 5 [3:15 PM]

Taylor Sullivan, OLAM Specialty Coffee, Healdsburg, CA

Sam Schroeder, Olympia Coffee Roasting Company, Olympia, WA

Izi Aspera, Blue Bottle Coffee, Oakland, CA

Heat 6 [4:00 PM]

Megan Person, Cafe Imports, Minneapolis, MN

David Yake, Camber Coffee, Portland, OR

Percy Ramirez, Saint Frank Coffee, San Francisco, CA

Sunday, January 17th

2 Round One Heats, 6 competitors beginning at 8:15 AM PST, followed by Semi-finals and Finals. 

Heat 7 [8:15 AM]

James Tooill, La Colombe Coffee, Philadelphia, PA

Pius Choi, Klatch Coffee, Rancho Cucamonga, CA

Jason Farrar, Commonwealth Coffee Roasters, Denver, CO

Heat 8 [8:45 AM]

Leslie Mah, Ritual Coffee Roasters, San Francisco, CA

Joe Marrocco, Cafe Imports, Minneapolis, MN

Amanda Juris, Verve Coffee Roasters, Santa Cruz, CA

Semi-Finals Heat 1 [9:30 AM]

Competitors TBD

Semi-Finals Heat 2 [10:15 AM]

Competitors TBD

Finals [11:00 AM]

Competitors TBD

Much more information is available here via US Coffee Championships, the official coffee competition website of the Specialty Coffee Association of America.

Sprudge Media Network’s 2016 coffee competition coverage, including all United States national events, is proudly produced in partnership with Urnex Brands. 

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