Big news in the United States coffee competition space as the 2025 US Coffee Championships have been officially announced, and with it comes significant changes to the event structure. 2025 is going to look very different, but for those who have been tuning in to coffee comps for a while, it may be a little familiar.
Announced via the US Coffee Champs Instagram, the biggest changes sees the 2025 season will be returning to a true regional format, breaking down the country into three divisions: USCC West, USCC Cetnral, and USCC East. The new structure consists of two rounds of competition as opposed to three and “will effectively combine the Preliminary & Qualifier format to return to the Regional Competitions format that existed before,” per the announcement. This includes bringing the compulsory format from the former Preliminary round to the Regionals as a means of lowering the cost of competing at this level.
The USCC Leadership Committee has been working the past few months to take a candid look at the state of US competitions, what we value, what the community values, and have begun to make strategic changes in order to create a more sustainable, accessible, and notable competition structure for US competitions. After many conversations within USCC Leadership, past and present, each of the leadership teams for the individual competitions, valued sponsors and previous hosts, and folks in the Coffee Community, SCA, and US Chapter, we have decided to return to a Regional Qualifying Competition Structure to be launched in the 2025 season… While there are many things to consider as we walk through this new season together, we hope that this decision creates a competition culture that better represents those who produce, support, and participate in the USCC while also allowing the specialty coffee community to have deeper involvement in its production and a more valuable impact on the communities who engage with it.
Included in the format is a shift of where the events will be held. The USCC is moving away from larger venues—“fully divergent from Expo”—and will instead be hosted by community partners. The partner locations will receive support and sponsorship from the USCC for both the Regional and National levels of competition, and Nationals will be held at a “static location” with multi-year hosts. Not yet selected, applications for host partners open on Friday, August 9th.
The USCC will also be hosting season launch and listening sessions Wednesday, August 7th and 14th. You can sign-up to attend either of the sessions here.
For more information, visit the US Coffee Champs Instagram page.
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
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Zac Cadwalader
August 6, 2024
