The World Coffee Events (WCE) Rules and Regulations Committee has launched the 2018 Rules and Regulations for the World Latte Art Championship (WLAC) and World Coffee in Good Spirits Championship (WCIGS).
Changes this year have focused on the WLAC. The Art Bar portion of the Preliminary Round has been streamlined to focus on core bar skills, and as a result will have reduced competing time.
To further focus on bar skills, in all rounds where food colouring can be used in designer drinks, competitors will only be able to use one colour.
A number of workflow and process clarifications have been made around the provision of milk and coffee, with longer competitor performance times introduced as a result of new minimum shot extraction times. Together, these changes should bring an increased focus on competitors’ free-pour skills, and better reflect bar service and the drinks that are served in a café environment.
The WCIGS rules have received only minor updates to synchronise with the other competitions, including moving to gender-neutral language, and some spelling and grammar clarifications.
The full rule-sets that will be in use in the 2018 championships as well as a summary of all 2018 changes is available at worldcoffeeevents.org/rules
A group of dedicated industry professionals review and update the World Coffee Championships Rules and Regulations each year, with the goal of reflecting the high standards of the coffee industry.
“This process seeks to improve the competitor experience, increase fairness, and honour the support of our community and our sponsors, so the world coffee competitions can continue to grow with our industry,” WCE said in a statement.