You oughta know #16

In this week’s issue: New Zealand coffee champions crowned; New coffee throwdown throws down in Wellington; FIFA Women’s World Cup breaking MORE records.

Oh, hello friend. I see it’s Tuesday again. That must mean that you’re looking for your weekly dose of coffee news? You’re in luck! Here’s the things you oughta know this week.

In this week’s issue: New Zealand coffee champions crowned; New coffee throwdown throws down in Wellington; FIFA Women’s World Cup breaking MORE records.

Latte Art and Cup Tasters Champions are crowned in Auckland

The Latte Art and Cup Tasters championships were held in Auckland over the weekend. And it was a banger.

Latte Art competition

“Renowned for its consistency in symmetry and contrast, the championship celebrates the fusion of detail, design, and dexterity, all skilfully executed in silky milk. It seeks to discover baristas who possess a unique ability to pour their heart into each cup, elevating their creations to the level of masterpieces.”

The Meadow Fresh Latte Art Champion 2023 is Tsubasa Nico Nozaki from Flight Coffee in Wellington!

Tsubasa Nico Nozaki celebrating the win. Source: NZSCA instagram.

Nico will now represent New Zealand at the World Latte Art Championship, taking place in June 2024 in Copenhagen, Denmark. What a massive prize!

Cup tasters competition

The New Zealand Cup Tasters Championship celebrates the art and precision of professional coffee cuppers, who showcase their speed, skill, and accuracy in distinguishing the taste profiles of specialty coffees. With each cup offering distinctive flavours and characteristics from around the world, cuppers rely on their refined senses of smell and taste, unwavering attention, and extensive experience to identify the odd cup among a set of three in each triangle.

The New Zealand Cup Tasters Champion 2023 is Pat Russell from Sucafina NZ in Auckland!

Pat Russell looking stoked after his win at the NZ Cup Tasters Champs. Source: Pat Russell’s instagram.

Pat will be heading off to Chicago in April to test his skills against the world’s best, at the highly anticipated World Cup Tasters Championship, in April 2024.

So very very awesome!

Congrats to everyone who took part in the competitions!

Throw down in welly

The newest causal coffee competition kicks off next week in Wellington.

Allbrews is a multi-brewer throwdown where any brewer goes. The only constant is the coffee.

Competitors are given five minutes to brew a mystery coffee, roasted by Hammerstone Coffee roasters. They are then judged through a blind cupping, not unlike the AeroPress Champs. One winner from each round progresses until there is a winner!

The prize us a $500 gift voucher from Espresso Ninja. That’s pretty rad.

I’ve entered and I’m super excited to try out a brewer I haven’t given a lot of love. All will be revealed next week!

The action kicks off at 6pm on Thursday August 17 at One Market Lane in the Capital. It’s a koha to come and watch, so why don’t you come on down to watch me, TMR contributor Matty T and others throwdown our best brews!

Tickets from Humantitix.

FIFA Women’s World Cup - breaking more records

We’re at the pointy end of the competition now, with only two round-of-16 games left to play tonight.

The tournament continues to break records here in Aotearoa:

The record crowd for a football match in Aotearoa New Zealand – women’s or men’s – has been broken three times in Auckland since the opening of the tournament. Match 1 between New Zealand and Norway set a new record attendance figure in Aotearoa (42,137), before this figure was eclipsed by the match between Portugal and United States of America (42,958) just 12 days later. The Round of 16 match between Spain and Switzerland on 5 August drew another record crowd of 43,217.

It’s amazing to see New Zealand get behind the tournament and support football here!

Eden Park - opening game: New Zealand Football Ferns vs Norway. What a vibe.

Next Tuesday is the semi-final in Auckland - the last of the games here in New Zealand. I’ll be there - lets hope for another record breaking crowd.

On The Magic Roast this week…

On Thursday we launch a new feature - the Good Shout.

Good Shout is a shout out series calling out great cafes and coffee experiences.

The first one features European correspondent, Matty S.

Have a great week!