Australian 2026 World Latte Art Championships (WLAC) representatives Amy Zhang and Victor Vu have come close to featuring in the finals of the competition, following brilliant performances in the initial 33-strong field.
Bala, representing Taiwan, won the competition, winning the final with a total of 531 points ahead of Malaysia’s Jacky Chang (515) and China’s Zking, Zhang Yuanyi (510).
The victory is Bala’s first World Latte Art Championship win, having finished third in 2023.
A Taiwanese representative has finished in the top three in five of the past six WLAC competitions, with Bala joining Yi-Chen Xie (2024) as Taiwanese winners of the event.
The top six scorers from the opening round went onto the final, with Amy ranking ninth, and Victor 13th in a competitive field. Bala also topped the opening round rankings with a score of 398, with South Korea’s Jay Kim finished second in the round with a score of 387.
Amy finished the opening round with 348 points, just seven points behind sixth-placed Tatsuya Ishibashi (Japan) and a place in the final.
Victor finished the first round with 329 points.
The 2026 iteration of the competition was not Victor or Amy’s first experience of the world stage, with Victor having finished fifth in the 2022 competition, and seventh in 2024.
Amy, on the other hand, finished seventh in the 2023 competition.
New Zealand representative, Dennis Hsueh, also competed well to finish the first round in 11th with 343 points.
Eduardo Olimpio, representing Brazil, won the People’s Choice Award. Across the competition, all 33 competitors participated in the Art Bar, where the public voted on designs of the competitors’ choosing to decide the winner.
Australia has a strong history in the World Latte Art Championships, the first of which was held in 2005.
Scott Callaghan won just the second iteration of the competition in 2006, while Jack Hanna (2007), Con Haralambopoulos (2008), and Caleb Cha (2015) have also won the WLAC while representing Australia.
For more of Victor’s designs, check out some of the most recent Espresso Yourself tutorials on the BeanScene website.
Final 2026 World Latte Art Championships rankings
- Bala (UCC Taiwan, Taiwan) – 531
- JackyChang (Afloat Coffee Roaster, Malaysia) – 515
- Zking (ShangHai NiuNiu Coffee, China) – 510
- Bank Sarawut (CP Miji Thailand, Thailand) – 494
- JayKim (Coffee Monster Academy, South Korea) – 487
- Tatsuya Ishibashi (Connect Coffee, Japan) – 447.
