Australia’s Charlie Chu Kyoungha has won the World Cup Tasters Championship at Host Milan.
The Australian Cup Tasters Champion of Ona Coffee scored a perfect 8/8 in the final round to secure his win in a time of three minutes and 20 seconds.
Charlie was ranked in fourth position leading into the Semi Finals round taking a cautious seven minutes and 44 seconds to accurately guess all 8/8 coffees correctly.
But it was Charlie’s accuracy that saw him enter the Final round, thanking team Ona and the Australian and Korean coffee community for their support before taking to the cupping table for the last time.
“I am honoured to be here today, I couldn’t be happier,” Charlie said.
With Charlie’s perfect 8/8 cups correctly identified in the final round, the Australian Champion became emotional as the moment of realisation kicked in, that he was now a world champion.
Germany’s Dénes Raymond won second place, South Korea’s Sang Min Ju placed fourth, and Costa Rica’s José Maria Gómez Mora placed fourth.
In other World Coffee Championship news, Australia’s Hugh Kelly, also of Ona Coffee won third place in the World Barista Championship, and Toby’s Estate’s Carlos Escobar placed fourth in the World Brewers Cup Championship.
To watch performances on-demand, click here.
Image credit @specialty_pal, @micheleilluzziphoto, and @worldcoffeechampionships.
