On Sunday 14 April, Brazil’s Dionatan Almeida was announced as the 2024 World Cup Tasters Champion at the Specialty Coffee Expo in Chicago, United States.
Dionatan scored eight out of eight cups correctly in the final round in a time of 2:19 minutes, narrowly beating Aurore Ceretta of Germany who placed runner up with a score of eight out of eight cups in 2:29 minutes.
Han Jong Lee of New Zealand came in third, scoring eight out of eight in 2:51 minutes. Jonathan Rangel of Guatemala came fourth, scoring seven out of eight in 2:24 minutes in the final round.
Speed and accuracy were key to advancing through each round of the competition, in which competitors faced eight sets of three triangulations of coffee. The goal of the Cup Tasters competition is to identify the outlier from each set. The finalists were ranked by the correct number of outliers, with the finishing time serving as the tiebreaker.
Australian competitor Frankie Shi of Infinity Coffee Roasters placed 17 out of 34 finalists. Ahead of the event, Frankie said: “Once I return, I definitely want to continue competing in the future, regardless of the outcome, and help train others to succeed. I love competing and can’t wait to see what the future holds for me.”
Back-to-back Australian Barista Champion Jack Simpson is due to compete in the World Barista Championships in Busan from 1 to 4 May.
To watch performances on-demand, click here.
