Jack Simpson

The World Barista Championship is the discipline’s most-watched stage: national champions get fifteen minutes to serve a panel of judges four espressos, four milk drinks, and four original signature beverages — judged on taste, technique, and presentation. In 2025 the title went to a competitor out of Melbourne’s Axil Coffee, representing Australia. It’s the clearest window into where craft is heading: the routines that win here set the calibration, dialed-in standards, and ideas that working baristas adopt for years afterward.