The team at Sprudge is in Dublin, Ireland at the World of Coffee Expo, where the 2016 World Barista Championship and World Brewers Cup is happening right this very instant. On Friday night, the top six finalists from each competition were announced with great fanfare, loud pulsating EDM, and hundreds of coffee loving fans cheering. Cheering!

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In all, over sixty countries were represented, over one hundred of the world’s greatest coffee professionals in all the lands. Some quick takeaways: Japan, USA, and Taiwan all have finalists in both competitions. Odd-Steinar Tøllefsen of Norway is back in the finals and could perhaps get first place and claim the Brewers Cup Championship for the second year in a row. And in the world of competitor music selections, electronic dance music reigns supreme.

Here are the top twelve that will compete for the grand prize trophies tomorrow:

The Top Six Baristas (in no particular order of barista greatness):

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Charlotte Malaval, Ditta Artigianale, France

Yoshikazu Iwase, Rec Collective Co., Japan

Lex Wenneker, Espresso Service West, The Netherlands

Lem Butler, Counter Culture Coffee, United States of America

Ben Put, Monogram Coffee, Canada

Berg Wu, Simple Kaffa, Taiwan

The Top Six Brewers (in no particular order of brewing greatness):

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Todd Goldsworthy, Klatch Coffee, USA

Chad Wang, Jascaffee China, Taiwan

Tetsu Kasuya, Coffee Factory, Japan

Odd-Steinar Tøllefsen, Supreme Roastworks AS, Norway

Mikaela Wallgren, The Coffee Collective, Finland

Benny Wong, The Cupping Room, Hong Kong

Catch up on all you’ve been missing over at our sister site Sprudge Live, your source for coffee sporting activities:

2016 World Barista Championship – Round One, Day One

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2016 World Barista Championship – Round One, Day Two

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2016 World Barista Championship – Semi-Finals Round

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2016 World Brewers Cup – Round One, Day One

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2016 World Brewers Cup – Round One, Day Two

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The finals begin Saturday morning, and we’ll be there covering it all live over at Sprudge Live and on Twitter at @SprudgeLive. Catch the competition on Livestream here!

Sprudge.com’s coverage of the 2016 World Brewers Cup Championship is made possible by Acaia. All of our Sprudge Live coverage from Dublin is supported by Urnex Brands and KitchenAid.

 

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