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The time is drawing closer, friends, for the inaugural North American premiere of the Coffee Masters Tournament, a wildly inventive multidisciplinary coffee competition created by our friends & partners at Allegra Events. Coffee Masters debuted earlier in 2015 at the London Coffee Festival, and will be held again over several days at the 2015 New York Coffee Festival, happening September 25th-27th in Manhattan.

Coffee Masters 2015 – Highlights from Allegra Events on Vimeo.

A few weeks ago we announced the judges for this upcoming event, and today we’re excited to announce the 20 competitors who will engage in the heat of battle—”the brutal discipline”—on the Coffee Masters stage. From around the world to Manhattan, let’s meet our 2015 NY Coffee Masters competitors:

Ben Morrow, Melbourne, Australia – ST ALi and Sensory Lab

Brandon Paul Weaver, Seattle, USA – Slate Coffee Roasters

Brandon Tully, NYC, USA – Underline Coffee

Cosmin Mihailov, Bucharest, Romania – Bloom Specialty Coffee

Elle Taylor, Denver, USA – Amethyst Coffee

Jenna Gotthelf, NYC, USA – Everyman Espresso

John Gordon, Auckland, New Zealand – Framework Coffee

Josh Littlefield, NYC, USA – Irving Farm Coffee Roasters

Josh Taves, Denver, USA – Novo Coffee

Karley Webb, San Francisco, USA – Four Barrel Coffee

Nathan Cochran, Philadelphia, USA – ReAnimator Coffee

Reef Bessette, San Francisco, USA – Saint Frank Coffee

Ryan Fisher, Denver, USA – Commonwealth Coffee Roasters

Sapphire Courchaine, Rochester, USA – Joe Bean Coffee 

Stacey Cullen, Bay Area, USA – Independent

Steven Latham, NYC, USA – Box Kite NYC

Bartosz Ciepaj, UK – Facebook / Freelance

Brandon Giles, Brooklyn, USA – Starbucks Reserve Williamsburg 

Buck Berk, NYC, USA – The Coffee Mob

Jennifer Custard-Jarosz, NYC, USA – Intelligentsia

This remarkable pool of competitors joins an equally fascinating team of judges, including Anne Lunell of Koppi [Sweden], Stephen Vick of Blue Bottle Coffee [Oakland], noted consultant and World Barista Champion Gwilym Davies [worldwide], Sam Penix of Everyman Espresso [NYC], and John Letoto of Greenway Coffee [Houston].

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The 2015 Coffee Masters Tournament at the NY Coffee Festival will be MC’d by Sprudge editor & co-founder Jordan Michelman alongside Vic Frankowski, whose London-based DunneFrankowski consultancy helped design the competition format in association with Allegra Events.

We’ll see you there in one month for Coffee Masters!

Photos by Gary Handley for Coffee Masters & Allegra, used with permission.

The post 20 Baristas That Will Compete At The NYC Coffee Masters Tournament appeared first on Sprudge.