Day One of the 2020 US Coffee Championships Qualifying Event in Nashville, Tennessee is in the books! Coffee professionals from across the United States descended upon the Track One event center in hopes of punching their tickets to the US Barista Championship taking place later next month in Orange County, California.
Today’s field was full of competition veterans like Jenna Gotthelf and Steph Caronna as well as a few doe-eyed rookies, each trying to put their best foot forward and impress the judges. Today also brought with it the triumphant return to competition of one Michelle Johnson who has not competed in nearly three years. With 25 competitors taking the stage today, the action came hot and heavy; blink and may miss the magic. Luckily for those with ill-timed eye movements, Sprudge was on hand all day to track the action. So let’s look back at everything that was Day One of the 2020 US Barista Championship Qualifying Event in Nashville, Tennessee.
Sprudge Media Network’s coverage of the 2020 US Coffee Championships Nashville Qualifying Event is presented by Cafe Imports, Acaia, IKAWA, Pacific Barista Series, Bellwether, and Baratza.
Julius Delacruz, Lamplighter Coffee Roasters
Jason Yeo, Saint Frank Coffee
Kate Eichler, Free Press Coffee House
Jinwoo Ahn, Cafe Grumpy
Zedeeka Fulay, One Line Coffee
Marsinah Hopkins, Speckled Ax Wood Roasted Coffee
Dana Walls, Sunergos Coffee
Sam Leyba, Arrow Coffee Company
Audrey Kim, La Colombe
Rei Rosenquist, ChadLou’s Coffee Roasters
Dom Rodriguez, Metric Coffee Co
Nicole Leigh Henderson, Peregrine Espresso
Sawyer Beckley, Backyard Beans Coffee Company
Laura Ostendorff, Junto
Heather McCullough, Novo Coffee
Fil Hernandez, Union Coffee Co
Michelle Johnson, Red Bay Coffee
Steph Caronna, North Carolina Museum of Art
Elijah Wright, Hawaiian Village Coffee
Holly Griffith, Avoca Coffee Roasters
Philip-Andrew Yuen, Honolulu Coffee
Leah Ritsema, Madcap Coffee Company
Tracy Jiang, Intelligentsia Coffee
Chris Dennis, Klatch Coffee
Jenna Gotthelf, Counter Culture Coffee
See you tomorrow for Day Two of the US Barista Championship Qualifying Event in Nashville!
Photos by Elizabeth Chai for Sprudge
