Baristas from across the globe came together in Amsterdam to compete for the title of 2018 World Barista Champion. Fifty-six competitors representing national bodies across the globe competed in a preliminary round, with the top 16 progressing to the semi-final round and the top six giving their performance one more time in the final round.
The winner fo the 2018 competition was Agnieszka Rojewska, who represented Poland for the sixth time on the world championship stage, having competed in the 2015 and 2016 World Barista Championships and 2014 and 2016 World Latte Art Championships.
Rojewska became the first Polish competitor and the first woman to win the coveted title of World Barista Champion. Previously, no other competitor from Poland had placed in the top six at the WBC.
Said Rojewska, “I hope this will encourage more women to keep chasing their dreams and goals.”
Rojewska took home the title with a compelling routine built around the themes of service and education. Her presentation focused on the relationship between barista and customer, illustrating how baristas can help foster the customer’s progression from square one to a more advanced and nuanced understanding of specialty coffee.
“Working behind the bar, I noticed that often customers are treated like coffee pros and they get confused,” Rojewska said. “Then they never come back because they don’t understand why the coffee tastes different that they are used to. I wanted to point out that I see this small problem in our industry.”
With at least 20 coffee competitions under her belt, including a win at the London Coffee Masters event earlier this year, Poland’s Agnieszka Rojewska was an ambassador for the barista community long before winning the World Barista Championship (WBC) last month.
