24 more coffee professionals have purchased tickets to the national stage of competition for the 2025 United States Coffee Championships. The fifth regional qualifying event took place over the weekend at Messenger Coffee/The Roasterie in Kansas City, Missouri, and included competitions for the Barista Championship, Brewers Cup and Coffee in Good Spirits.
Over three days at KCMO, competitors from all over the country came to test their strength in the biggest qualifying event of the season in three disciplines. For the Barista competitors, it was the last chance to join the 12 competitors who already qualified for the national competition last month thanks to the first qualifier in Raleigh. At CIGS, this was the first chance for coffee mixologists to move on. The Brewers Cup sits somewhere in between. They already have one qualification in Raleigh, and the third is scheduled for next month in Las Vegas.
In addition to the Vegas event, there is only one event left before a full field is assembled for all competitions – the Coffee in Good Spirits event in Westchester, Pennsylvania, originally scheduled for October. And then the real fun begins, with the start of the 2025 U.S. Coffee Championships and the crowning of fresh national champions and U.S. representatives at the various World Coffee Championships. Will it be one or more of these 24 competitors? Let’s get to know them.
Brewers’ Cup
1. Huxley Owens – Archetypal Coffee
2. Jesus Iñiquez – Coffee Archetype
3. Peace Sakulclanuwat – Coffee Project NY
4. Elika Liftee – Onyx Coffee Laboratory
5. Kyle Ramage – Black and White Coffee Roasters
6. Josh Clements – Amberson Coffee
Coffee in a good mood
1. Richelle Taylor – Olympia Coffee
2. Natti Solowoniuk – Coffee Novo
3. Will Johnson – Messenger Coffee
4. Keith Honda – Desert Oasis Coffee
5. Jerry Truong – Independent
6. John Chau Ly – NY Coffee Project
Barista Championship
1. Jason Yeo – Saint Frank Coffee
2. Dakota Graff – Onyx Coffee Laboratory
3. Miranda Huncovsky – Moongoat Coffee Roasters
4. Rafael Levy Diner – Onyx Coffee Laboratory
5. Cory Sponsler – Coffee Movement
6. Like Michael Ryan – Proud Mary’s Coffee
7. Circle Chan – Coffee Movement
8. Olivia Morris – Little Teddy Bear’s Coffee
9. Gray Kaufman – Independent
10. Christian Ortega – Olympia Coffee Roasters
11. Alex Sciarrotta – Narrative Coffee
12. Christian Gutierrez – Moongoat Coffee Roasters
Congratulations to everyone who continues their career!
