We’re putting together an initial series of the World Coffee Championships (WCC) Podcast, supported by Victoria Arduino and Urnex, to release in September of this year — and we want to hear your stories! An initial limited release of six episodes, the WCC Podcast will offer a glimpse behind the scenes of the World Coffee Championships, bringing to light some of the hidden stories woven in and around these annual events that serve as the culmination of local and regional events around the globe.
We’re really excited to begin work on this project despite the delay of both WCC events until later this year, thanks to the support of Urnex and Nuova Simonelli. The initial run will focus on three broad categories across all 7 events in the WCC portfolio; rule-breakers, enthusiasts, and unsung heroes. To help jog your memory, we’ve elaborated on the themes below. Got a great story to share, whether it fits into a category or not? Email us at podcast@worldcoffeevents.org — no email is too short or too long!
Unsung Heroes
An entire ecosystem of volunteers work behind the scenes alongside staff to make moments like this possible and every task performed, big or small, has the capacity to impact the final result. If you’re one of the thousands of volunteers who have dedicated time to the running of a coffee competition, we want to hear from you! Tell us about your personal experience: What was your most memorable moment? What were some of the stresses or challenges you faced in your role, or what was the most unexpected fun you had working behind the scenes?
Rule-Breakers
Throughout the history of the World Coffee Championships, competitors have pushed the boundaries of what the rules and regulations would allow. Whether it was Alejandro Mendez’s crema-less espresso, or how Joo-yeon Jeon invited the judges to sit on the table, competitors are always finding new ways to think and perform outside the box!
We’re looking for stories about the innovators, the rule-breakers, and the trouble-makers – competitors and coaches who pushed the boundaries of the rules and the structure of the competition to create new experiences and score points in different ways. What’s your favorite rule-breaking performance?
Enthusiasts
We’ve all heard stories about people who watch and support coffee competitions but who don’t work in coffee. If that’s you, get in touch! We want to know about your journey: what was the moment where coffee competitions went from a curiosity to a commitment?
