Alan Bruce, Anne-Lise Mornard-Stott, Ewan Kim and Takahito Koyanagi, (L-R) | Photo credit Yongzhi Zhang @jjang.yongjii
It was packed to the rafters on Friday 3 May at Ozone Coffee Roasters in Auckland where a full field of 32 coffee cuppers accurately and quickly slurped their way through delicious coffee. There were 8/8’s all over the place! The leaderboard was changing constantly.
The top four were Takahito Koyanagi of Toasted Espresso in Auckland, Cup Tasters Champion of 2016; Ewan Kim of L’affare, Auckland; Alan Bruce of Flight Coffee in Wellington and Anne-Lise Monard-Stott from Ripe Coffee Roasters in Petone, Wellington.
The final announcement was tense as each cup was revealed.
With a score of 8/8 in 2.07 minutes, our new champion was revealed.
Alan Bruce of Flight Coffee in Wellington is off to Berlin to represent New Zealand!
Runner up is Anne-Lise Mornard-Stott of Ripe Coffee Roasters in Petone.
Third Place is Ewan Kim of L’affare Auckland.
And rounding out the final is Takahito Koyanagi of Toasted Espresso in Auckland.
Congratulations to everyone involved! We are so proud of you all for stepping up and there are obviously some great palettes in New Zealand coffee.
Our volunteers were quality. Thank you for all your help.
Thanks to all our amazing sponsors and especially Ozone Coffee Roasters for hosting.
Good luck in Berlin, Alan!