Young

One year since this milestone. Chase your dreams, as little or as big as they may be. Do what they tell you that can’t be done. Life can change in a blink of an eye. Never give up. Thank you to everyone who supported since the beginning. Special thanks to the broski @carlos.esco.bar for the infinite affirmations. “World champion” 100 times a day. Broski you are next! 🏆 @barista_hany appreciate you sharing your experience on navigating the industry ✨ The one chat that night changed my life I swear bro. Master @nunopark for your teaching, patience and moral compass. Thank you 🧙‍♂️ @soongkie the babysitter, life coach, uber driver and psychologist 🤣. Your support meant the absolute world.. Only right we claimed worlds after the insane effort! Last photo of @jeanelau - Boss claims prize 🤣🏆 Thank you for everything 💛 Photo cred - @noahmauloa 📸

It’s crazy looking back at some friendships, how it first started and where it’s all headed. Big ups to this guy @tehrence 🦸‍♂️ and @zus.coffee ⚡️ With the goal to introduce specialty coffee to the wider world. We sorted through a whole bunch of wild coffees and chose only the best ones that would turn heads and spark the people’s curiosity! Thanks for entrusting us in curating the SOE selection. Much love team! 🫶

Well.. at least he got a set of APAX minerals 👀🤷🏻‍♂️

Insights and recap from the World Cup Tasters Championship 2026 BKK 🥄🌏 Finals (Top 4) This one was so damn tight the whole way through.. and it didn’t really get decided until the last round. Nicky (1st) @4mat_cibi4 One of the more efficient tasters throughout the week. Fast when needed, but never forcing it. Even in the semi-final (6:02), where he slowed down the most, nothing slipped. Then in the final he scored 7/8 at 3:35 and was the only one to hit it. He didn’t win on speed (2nd slowest time in final) but prioritised accuracy instead. Hit rate: 93.75% (30/32) Total time: 16:39 Avg time per set: 0:31 Catherine (2nd) @cathequeiroz Probably the cleanest and most impressive performance across the entire competition. 8/8 in every round leading into the final, fastest overall time (13:48), fastest avg time per set (0:31). Everything was clicking until the final where two cups were incorrect in the end. Still one of the strongest runs we’ve seen, maybe ever. Hit rate: 93.75% (30/32) Total time: 13:48 Avg per set: 0:25.8 Mehmet (3rd) @memlicoffee Came out firing with the fastest 8/8 (2:49) of the entire competition. Early rounds he showed quick decisions and confident calls. But in later rounds as the difficulties kept getting bumped up, the speed fell slightly Still held an impressive 23/24 cups from the earlier rounds leading into the finals and secured 6/8 for a well deserved podium finish. Hit rate: 90.6% (29/32) Total time: 17:24 Avg per set: 0:33 Mizuki (4th) @mimmmm_._ One of the fastest all weekend. 1st in QF, and a 2:11 finals. One of the fastest to finishers. Mizuki also had 23/24 leading up to finals but it seemed there was a slight trade-off for time in the end with most of the errors coming out in the finals. Still a solid podium finish nevertheless! Hit rate: 87.5% (28/32) Total time: 14:05 Avg per set: 0:26.4 On the sets The difficulty didn’t just increase, it shifted pretty drastically. In the end no one managed a perfect 8/8. Even the top performers who barely dropped any cups started to make mistakes which forced a different kind of decision making. One which was faster, and less forgiving. Hectic finale. Congrats everyone!

Insights from World Cup Tasters Championship 2026 BKK 🥄 🧠 Semi-finals Rank 1 - Catherine Queiroz/Switzerland The one and only to go 24/24. All while staying under 4 minutes every round, averaging a 28sec time per set. Rank 2 - Nicky (Le Quang Cuong)/Vietnam Traded speed for accuracy. At 6:02, nearly doubling his quarter final and round 1 time but securing the only other 8/8. Proof that slowing down can still be advantageous. Slowest avg timer per set per set among the top 4. Rank 3 - Mizuki Tagami/Japan Consistent pacing across all rounds with only one miss in the last set of the semis. One of the most efficient and consistent overall. Current avg timer per set is 40s per set. #4 Mehmet Sogan Fastest start of the competition (8/8 & 2:49 in round 1). Gradually slowed down to match difficulty increase in later round. 23/24 so far with only 1 set missed in the semis. Current avg timer per set sits around 42s #5 Juan Hu 5th in every round. Perfect until the semis, with just one cup incorrect and missing out the finals by 14s. Most consistent overall but jusst shy from the final 4 in the end. Avg timer per set is 46s. Out of 8 competitors: 8/8: 2 people - 25% 7/8: 3 people - 37.5% 5/8: 2 people - 25% 2/8: 1 person - 12.5% A significant bump up in difficulty for the semi-final rounds. Incorrect answers per set Set 1: 3 incorrect - 37.5% Set 2: 2 incorrect - 25% Set 3: 1 incorrect - 12.5% Set 4: 1 incorrect - 12.5% Set 5: 1 incorrect - 12.5% Set 6: 2 incorrect - 25% Set 7: 2 incorrect - 25% Set 8: 3 incorrect - 37.5% Set 1 and Set 8 together were the most difficult(37.5% incorrect rate). A few reasons could be the palate not being warmed up to make decisions straight away on the first cup meanwhile palate fatigue could also set in near the end. Sets 2, 6, 7 (25%) were moderately difficult. Occasionally catching a few people off. Meanwhile sets 3, 4, 5 (12.5%) seemed to be the easiest sets which almost everyone got correct.

World Cup Tasters 2026 BKK 🥄 🌎 Quarter Finals analysis 1/3 - Difficulty scaled with the field In the Quarter Finals, 37.5% of competitors scored a perfect 8/8, compared to 38.6% in Round 1. Despite the field becoming stronger, the proportion of perfect scores remained almost identical, suggesting that the difficulty scaled with the level of competition rather than becoming significantly easier or harder. Out of 16 Competitors: 37.5% - 6 scored a perfect 8/8 25% - 4 scored 7/8 12.5% - 2 scored 6/8 18.75% - 3 scored 5/8 6.25% - 1 scored 3/8 Only 8 advanced to the semi finals 2/3 - Spread of incorrect sets Set 1 – 3 Set 2 – 1 Set 3 – 3 Set 4 – 4 Set 5 – 3 Set 6 – 2 Set 7 – 3 Set 8 – 1 Errors were spread across the board and the time to beat in order to reach semi finals was 7/8 & 5:20. 3/3 - Speed vs Accuracy 8/8: ~25-43s per set 7/8: ~40-45s 5/8: ~20-31s 3/8: ~49s A similar pattern from Round 1, emerged. The faster more decisive finishers also seemed to be correct more often. Whereas a slower pace meant second guessing and indecision. The best pace seems to sit around ~30-35s per set. Final Take Round 1 was about perfection, Quarter Finals was about control. On paper, the percentage of perfect scores barely changed (38.6% & 37.5%), but the round itself became noticeably harder. In Round 1, mistakes were concentrated in set 4, whereas in Quarter Finals, the mistakes were everywhere. There was no single set to blame, no obvious recovery point. Every decision carried weight, and small errors accumulated quickly. At the same time, pacing stayed almost identical. The level didn’t drop but some struggled to maintain accuracy at that same speed. The competitors who advanced weren’t just the most accurate. They were the ones who could hold their decision making together across all 8 sets.

Insights from World Cup Tasters Championship 2026 🥄 🧠 Round 1 Analysis 1/3 - All 16 moving on to the Quarter Finals scored a perfect 8/8. 17th place (8/8 & 6:54) was 4 seconds shy from moving on (16th place, 8/8 & 6:50). Total – 44 Competitors 38.6% – 17 scored a perfect 8/8 43.2% – 19 scored 7/8 9.1% – 4 scored 6/8 4.5% – 2 scored 5/8 4.5% – 2 scored 4/8 A single mistake or even being too slow meant going home. 2/3 - Where were the mistakes? Incorrect answers distribution by set: Set 1 – 1 incorrect Set 2 – 3 incorrect Set 3 – 1 incorrect Set 4 – 17 incorrect Set 5 – 7 incorrect Set 6 – 4 incorrect Set 7 – 4 incorrect Set 8 – 4 incorrect Set 4 was the most difficult. Set 5 was 2nd most difficult. Sets 6, 7, 8 followed in 3rd place Sets 2, 1 showed the least amount of incorrects. This year, all sets on the table were the same for competitors. Only the order in which the cups were placed in each set was different. Different to other years where no-one really knew who else got the same sets wrong. This is a huge step for competitors to learn where their mistakes came from and how they can improve (granted that the coffee list is released at a later stage by the team @worldcoffeechampionships 🤞) 3/3 - Average Time taken per set 8/8 - 34.1s 7/8 - 33.3s 6/8 - 32.8s 5/8 - 33.2s 4/8 - 38.9s Most competitors whether they scored 6/8, 7/8, or 8/8 were all sitting around 32-34 seconds per set mark. (Top 6 were all under 30 seconds.) Speed itself wasn’t clear differentiator but there was a small outlier group who scored 4/8. The time is slightly slower at 38.9s. Maybe due to a moments hesitation or second-guessing? Round 1 of wctc 2026 needed a minimum 8/8 or nothing. The cut off window was decent at 6:50, but the scary part is that it would eliminate you even if you were a second later. With a couple of sets accounting for the majority of misses, as well as a few misses coming in when least expected. Solving difficult sets under high pressure as well as being certain about the simpler ones is a lot harder than it sounds. Can’t wait to see how it all unfolds tomorrow in the quarters and semi-finals :) Good luck everyone!

. . ——————————————————————————— 🔥Workshop notice in Adelaide, partnering with @deux.coffee.au 🔥 . 6 hours course, split into 2 workshops 🟡Venue: Deux Coffee Roasters 🟡Time: 9am to 4pm, 17th May 2026 🟡Ticket: $200/person 🟡Event capacity: up to 12 attendees 😭Lunch is not provided😭 ——————————————————————————— Coffee Sensory Basic(3hrs) Instructor: Nuno Park @nunopark Time: 9am - 12pm 🔴 Clearly understanding of aroma, taste, flavour, and aftertaste 🔴 Clearly understanding of sourness, sweetness, and bitterness 🔴 Delivering clear directions of anticipated profiles from cups 🔴 Experiencing factors and components through curated coffee Cup Tasters (3hrs) - Competition Focused Instructor: Young Baek @youngsdrip.exp Time: 1pm - 4pm Building foundational skills for Cup Tasters: 🔴 Learning how to prepare for competition and how to increase chances for success 🔴 Practicing to identify cups faster using clear, repeatable cues 🔴 Developing protocols for approaching difficult sets 🔴 Break-down competition level sets and various techniques for increasing perception 🔴 Understanding singles vs blends 🔴 Training sets will progress in difficulty: * Clear contrast coffees * Similar washed coffees * Various levels of blends ——————————————————————————— Designed for: Anyone looking to build confidence with own tasting notes and experience by developing a more structured approach in coffee tasting Anyone seeking a clear direction of how to taste Anyone preparing for Cup Tasters Coffee trainer, coffee roaster, Q/C & Q/A, barista, home brewer, and coffee lover . . . . . . #coffee #adelaide #barista #australia #specialtycoffee

Happy holidays everyone and see you for a cuppa somewhere around the world in ‘26✌️ Big love @andcoffeespecialty

2nd year back for judging @coffeebrewingtournament_jp 8 different competition coffees checked off with the crew ✌️ Thanks to Japan’s hand drip champ @nitta_coffee and CBTJ’s own finalist @ka3.zu2.ki1 for the test brews! Huge thank you to @snowbeanscoffee for hosting 🙏 Side note: They have a vending machine of only Cup of Excellence Coffees outside the lab. Crazy stuff!

Happy holidays from Rudolph @taufanmokoginta and Santa 🦌🎅🎄 Christmas time well spent with the people of @coffeebrewingtournament_jp @snowbeanscoffee Thanks for the snap! 📸 @__sakurakko

How good can coffee in a can for ¥100 be?! @georgiacoffee_japan would most def drink again 👍 Ps. Can opt for Hot or Cold on some vending machines. Subarashi, 大好き 🇯🇵🫶