Competitions

SCASA holds the exclusive rights to host World Coffee Events sanctioned competitions and award champions in the region with the privilege to represent their country on the world stage. 

The 2024 Cycle includes WCE-sanctioned Championships across three disciplines—Cup Tasters, Latte Art, and of course, Barista Champs

SCASA will host four Regional Qualifying competitions between May 2023 and March 2024 as well as a National Finals in advance of Worlds 2024.

Coffee Competitions 2024 Season

Barista Champs

The most prestigious event. Baristas bring their skills to the stage to perform for 15 minutes with some of the best coffees the country has to offer - see below revcised heats format.

Latte Art

Latte Art is always a crowd-pleaser, the baristas have 8 minutes to pour the most beautiful and innovative milk designs that they can think of

Cup Tasters

A test of the senses, the best coffee professionals in the business have to pick the odd one out of a line up of different coffees to claim the top prize

Barista Champs 10-minute Heats Format '24 Cycle

Baristas will have 10 minutes of competition time to present:
2 Espresso, 2 Milk Beverages & 2 Signature Beverages to 2x Sensory Judges, with 1x Technical Judge, and 1x Head Judge observing but not scoring.

Time breakdown:
– 30 minutes back-stage prep
– 10 minutes on-stage prep
– 10 minutes competition time
– 5 minutes clean-up

Scoring:
Will follow the prevailing WBC competition body rules as per the prior full-format Heats already conducted, but with the scores accrued only from 2x Sensory Judges and 1x Tech Judge. Deliberation follows the prevailing format.

Heats for the '24 Cycle are limited to 12 competitors with no minimum.

The purpose of all Heats is for baristas to compete for qualification into the National Barista Champs.

Automatic qualification to Nationals is tiered as below:
– First place qualifies for Nationals where a heat involves 1–4 competitors
– First & Second place qualify for Nationals where a heat involves 5–8 competitors
– First, Second & Third place qualify for Nationals where a heat involves 9–12 competitors

All competitors who do not automatically qualify are placed on a Qualifiers Ranking list based on their overall score.

Depending on the capacity of the Nationals event the Board may make available additional Wild Card competitor slots. Any slots made available will be filled by the highest ranked baristas who failed to gain automatic qualification.

In acknowledgment of the mixed qualification format for the '24 Cycle an interim format of 10-minutes will be used for final qualifiers of the ‘24 Cycle. The ‘25 Cycle will see a shorter 7-minute format, excluding signature beverage service, used for all qualifiers.

Barista Champs 7-minute Heats Format '25 Cycle

This new format is designed to make qualifying events more accessible to both host venues and competitors and allow for a more vibrant competition envirnoment.

Baristas will have 7mins of competition time to present:
2 Espresso,2 Milk Beverages to 2x Sensory Judges, with 1x Technical Judge, and 1x Head Judge observing but not scoring.

Time breakdown:
– 30 minutes back-stage prep
– 8 minutes on-stage prep
– 7 minutes competition time
– 5 minutes clean-up


Scoring:
Will follow the prevailing WBC rules, but with no consideration for the Signature Drink section and scores accrued only from 2x Sensory Judges and 1x Tech Judge. Deliberation follows the prevailing format, guided by the Head Judge.

Heats for the '25 Cycle are typically limited to 12 competitors (in instances where a venue offers additional days/space this limit will be extended up to a maximum of 24) with a minimum of 4 competitors to be deemed valid.

The number of qualifying places allocated to a 7-minute format Heat is dependent on the number of
entrants into that Heat.

Automatic qualification to Nationals is staged as below:
– 1st place qualifies for Nationals where a heat involves 4 competitors
– 1st & 2nd place qualify for Nationals where a heat involves 5–8 competitors
– 1st, 2nd & 3rd place qualify for Nationals where a heat involves 9–12 competitors
– 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th place qualify for Nationals where a heat involves 13–16 competitors
– 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th & 5th place qualify for Nationals where a heat involves 17–20 competitors
– 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th & 6th place qualify for Nationals where a heat involves 21–24 competitors.

All competitors who do not automatically qualify are placed on a Qualifiers Ranking list based on their overall score.

Depending on the capacity of the Semi-Finals event the Board may make available additional Wild Card competitor slots. Any slots made available will be offered first to the highest ranked baristas who failed to gain automatic qualification. These baristas will have a set amount of time to accept their invitation or relinquish their Wild Card entry.

The National Barista Champs Finals can and may be hosted at a later date and different venue to Semi-Finals. The Finals event will involve the top 6 competitors from the Semi-Finals round. The winner of the Finals will be named the National Barista Champion and be eligible to represent SA at the World Barista Champs.

Competitors and winners may be required to abide by conditions as described by the Board from time to time. The Board at its discretion may choose to combine the Semi-Final event and Finals into a single event should insufficient competitors qualify or into consecutive competition days at a single larger event. Any Semi-Finals or Finals event will follow classic WBC rules and format.