World Barista Championship 2026: Pan Wei from China is world champion

Pan Wei from China is the 2026 World Barista Champion. In the final in Panama City, he finished ahead of Shing Win from Malaysia and Frederick Ruben from the Emirates.Final results, how the German, Austrian and Swiss champions did, the new grinder rule and recent winning coffees.

The 26th World Barista Championship ran from 22 to 25 October 2026 at the Panama Convention Center in Panama City. It was part of the World of Coffee Panama trade fair. According to the organiser, World Coffee Championships, it was the first world championship held in Central America. In the first round, 50 national champions competed.

The final for the top six took place on Sunday, 25 October. On the same day, the organiser announced the winner and the order of the finalists. It did not publish any scores.

The final: Pan Wei takes the title to China

Pan Wei competed for China and had already performed in the first round on Thursday. As of 26 October, neither his coffee nor his theme had been published. We will add both once they are confirmed.

With second place, Shing Win won Malaysia’s first podium finish. His theme was moisture, from drying the cherries to extraction at the machine. He served a natural-process Gesha El Velo from Hacienda La Esmeralda in Panama.

For this coffee, the cherry skins were inoculated with bacteria and yeasts isolated from coffee. It then fermented for three days in a tank without oxygen. Drying was slow, with controlled temperature and humidity. Methods like these go far beyond classic washed, natural and honey processing.

How it worked in Panama: from 50 competitors to six finalists

Each competitor has 15 minutes. In that time, they prepare an espresso, a milk drink and their own creative drink for four judges. The creative drink is called the signature beverage. The top 15 from the first round went through to the semi-final, plus one wildcard place.

All six finalists were among the 16 semi-finalists named on 23 October. For the host country, Benjamin Roque reached the semi-final but not the final. The Team Bar competition went to Team Pressure, which included finalist Jill Hoff. All performances are on the organiser’s YouTube channel.

Germany, Austria, Switzerland: out after the first round

Germany was represented by Felix Hohlmann, who works in Basel. In March 2026 in Bremen, he won the German Barista Championship run by SCA Germany. It was his second title after 2024. In Panama, he finished 25th in the first round. His employer reported this on 25 October.

According to that report, his espresso and milk drink were each rated good, which means 3 points. Reaching the semi-final would have needed a 4. Hohlmann’s theme was ‘Am I good enough?’. For his espresso, he served a Gesha from the Gesha Village farm in Ethiopia, processed as a 28-day natural.

Junior Vargas Otero competed for Austria and Mathieu Theis for Switzerland. Both performed on Thursday and did not reach the semi-final. As of 26 October, their first-round placings had not been published.

New rule for 2026: the same grinders for everyone

At the end of April, the organiser published the rules for Panama. The biggest change concerned grinders. A sponsor provided two approved models to all competitors. Their own grinders had to match these models exactly and could only contain original parts. All equipment was checked and sealed before the competition.

This removed modified grinders as an advantage. The grinder decides a large part of espresso extraction, as explained in how to dial in espresso: grind size and shot time. With identical equipment, the coffee, recipe and performance count for even more.

The other changes are smaller. The water judges receive between drinks has changed. The rules now also state more precisely how many espresso shots must be prepared for the signature beverage.

Recent world champions: Panama Gesha in the espresso course

The 2024 and 2025 world champions both served a Gesha from the same farm in Panama in their espresso course. It was Finca Deborah, run by Jamison Savage in Volcán. The table shows the title holders since 2023.

Jack Simpson won in Milan in October 2025 with a lead of almost 20 points. His espresso was a Gesha called Aether, produced specially for the competition. The whole cherries were first macerated under argon, meaning fermented in an airtight tank, and then washed. In the espresso course, he received full marks throughout.

In 2024 in Busan, Mikael Jasin became the first world champion from Indonesia. His espresso was a washed Gesha from Finca Deborah. For his milk drink, he mixed 60 per cent cow’s milk with 20 per cent each of cashew and oat drink. He then thickened the blend by reducing it. For everyday frothing of milk and oat drink, see milk foam for cappuccino.

Host country Panama: home of the most expensive Geshas

Panama is a small coffee country, but it is well known at the top end of the market. That is mainly down to Gesha, often also spelt Geisha. In August 2025, a washed Gesha from Boquete fetched US$30,204 per kilogram at the Best of Panama online auction. That is around €27,000 (our conversion).

This price has little to do with the coffee you buy in the shops. Competition coffees are often tiny lots that never reach the retail market. As of 26 October, the organiser had not announced where the next world championship will take place.

Last updated: 26 October 2026.