Honoka Kawashima, with some of her team in 2023.
L-R Dove Chen, Logan Collinge, Luise Metelka, Honoka, Nico Nozaki, Frank Hsu.
Photo credit Andrew Turner @ATPhoto
As we prepare for the 2024 Barista Champs season, Honoka our 2023 Barista Champion, is working hard to proudly represent New Zealand at the World Barista Championship in Busan, South Korea next April 2024.
Competing on a world stage is a different story from day-to-day café life. Participating in an international coffee competition of this magnitude comes with significant expenses, including travel, accommodation, equipment, green coffee, and training costs. It takes a big team to truly be successful at this level, even though Honoka is the only one onstage.
Thanks to our amazing sponsors, her individual costs of accommodation, airfares, and insurance are covered as part of her winning prize package. Honoka needs your help in getting her support team to Busan with her. That’s why they are humbly reaching out to you, coffee friends, family, and the community, to ask for your support.
Photo credit Andrew Turner @ATPhoto
Your support goes beyond Honoka’s personal journey. It’s an investment in promoting and celebrating the rich coffee culture and community of New Zealand. Together, we can show the world that New Zealand, the home of the flat white, can compete with the best on the global coffee stage.
Please consider contributing to their Givealittle campaign and sharing it with your networks. Your support means the world to her and her team and they will be incredibly grateful for any help you can provide. Any amount, no matter how small, will make a meaningful difference in helping her achieve this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Think of it as shouting Honoka and her team a coffee!
Many thanks for your support of our champion, teamwork truly can make the dream work.
Photo credit Laurel Li @Laurel_wander