Greece’s Konstantinos Komninakis is the new World Cezve/Ibrik Champion following a winning performance at the Gulford event in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on 24 February.
The ninth World Cezve/Ibrik Championships consisted of four full days of competition, in which 19 international competitors demonstrated their Ibrik skills in front of the judges.
Turkey’s Hazal Atesoglu came in second, while Karthikeyan Rajendran is taking home the third Soy Turkiye handmade trophy.
Konstantinos said he is new to the world of competitive brewing.
“The National Greek Championships were my first time competing and to go on from there and to win the world title is an amazing feeling,” said Konstantinos. “I am honoured and after a lot of hard work, I must thank my team, Antonis Kargiotis, George Bournelis, the farmer Graciano Cruz, and of course my inspiration to compete, Stavros Lamprinidis.”
Karthikeyan kicked off the last day of competition on Wednesday, up against the six finalists from the previous three days of heats.
The Philippines, Romania and Saudi Arabia were all represented in the finals of the annual event, which tests baristas brewing abilities in the method commonly referred to as turkish coffee.
Popular in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, the World Cezve/Ibrik Championships is a Speciality Coffee Association of Europe (SCAE) event, supported by sponsors Gulfood and Loumidis.
“Hosting the World Cezve/Ibrik Championship here at the Dubai World Trade Centre during the Gulfood event was an easy decision for us to make and gives us a fantastic opportunity to promote speciality coffee in this region,” said SCAE Executive Director, David Veal. “The response we’ve seen from the audience here is overwhelming and it’s quite evident Ibrik’s growth in popularity is continuing.”
