THE BARISTA LEAGUE:

NORTH AMERICA

MONTREAL, 11 SEP

CONGRATULATIONS

to The Barista League: North America champions!

Jair & Sebastian from the team Los Typicas

EVENT HIGHLIGHTS

MEET THE JUDGES

MORGAN ECKROTH

MorganDrinksCoffee & Onyx Coffee Lab
@morgandrinkscoffee
One of the most recognizable faces in specialty coffee, Morgan blends competitive excellence with creative digital storytelling to make the coffee world more approachable and inclusive.
JONATHAN GAGNÉ

Author of The Physics of Filter Coffee
@jgagneastrocoffee
Astrophysicist turned coffee scientist, Jonathan is known for bringing scientific rigor to coffee brewing. His blog and book have influenced baristas and coffee professionals around the world.
PLY PASARJ

Co-founder of Rogue Wave Coffee
@coffeewithply
With deep roots in the Canadian coffee scene, Ply is a seasoned competitor, trainer, and café consultant. 2020 & 2025 Canadian Brewers Cup Champion, 2019 Canada's Aeropress Champion.
CAROLINA RODRIGUEZ

Co-founder of @culturacafetours
@beanolina

Based in Ontario, roots in El Salvador and Guatemala, she offers tours to farms in El Salvador through the Cultura Cafe Tours business she has with her mom, she also works for Tim Horton's and has extensive judging experience in SCA competitions.
BRAHIM DJIDDAH

Founder of micro-roastery Sensory House
@sensory.house
Brahim is an environmental advocate, originally from Chad, specializing in reforestation and agroforestry, with hands-on experience in coffee cultivation and processing. He’s skilled in coffee roasting, cupping and Q-grading. Currently, he’s also developing an agroforestry certification program.

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MEET THE TEAMS

Thank you to our North American Selection Committee for hand-picking the very best teams to compete in this event! Sebastien Blondeau, Mon Leung, Tania Ferrufino and Pauline Ménard.

GOT MOJO?

Morgane & Jordan

Morgane was on the finalist judge panel for the 2024 Candian National Barista champs and got to taste some of the best coffee in Canada.
Jordan started an online coffee subscription service during the pandemic in Winnipeg that grew into a brick-and-mortar cafe within a year.
JC BEAN

Cleo & Janice

Cleo was the finalists at Brewer’s Cup 2024, as well as came 4th in The Barista League: Montreal in 2024.
GRIND HARD, FOAM HARDER

Jérémy & Léo

Jérémy likes to keep in touch with the coffee field and try to be in as many fun projects there are.
Léo has been a coffee addict ever since attending The Barista League event in Toronto a few years ago. He has three machines at home and always has a coffee bean rotation in his kitchen.
MAME TOMO

Kyoko & Nana

Kyoko is a self-confessed coffee geek, and loves not only volunteering at coffee events, but also taking part. Amongst aothers, she has taken part in World AeroPress Championship Invitational 2024 in Lisboa nad placed 3rd at AeroPress Championship Vancouver Region in 2023.
Nana works at a roastery, as well as studies roasting and sensory engineering. She is also a dancing barista!
FIRE AND ICE

Morin & Gregory
Morin is already banking on winning The Barista League: North America this year.
This will be Gregory’s first coffee competition! He is a big clover of coffee and running.
THE BITTER BARISTAS

Chloée & Kale

Kale works at the CRS in Montreal, where he wears many hats, from maintenance and operations to occasionally jumping behind the bar as a barista. He's known as the go-to person for finding solutions to just about anything. Chloée is the manager of EVEN café, also in Montreal.Although they barely knew each other before competing together, their dynamic clicked right away. They're in it for the challenge and the thrill of having an audience for just about everything they do.
LOS TYPICAS

Jair & Sebastian

Jair takes part in various competitions, but no luck yet. He hopes this time it will be his turn to win!
In July Sebastian participated in the National Barista Championship for the first time, and even travelled to Ecuador himself to choose the coffee for it.
LES ONE SHOT WONDERS

Marianne & Xavier

When a teammate of on old colleague could not make it to last year's The Barista League: Montreal, Marianne jumped in at the opportunity and won 3rd place, without having the intention to compete 24 hours before the event!
Xavier, apart from being a coffee lover, is also an avid kung-fu practicioner and instructor.
KA-PI DNA

Tsai Jou & Deh Yi

Tsai Jou is a certified hypnotist and a barista — she has founded a Hypno Café, where she leads unique experiences combining coffee with guided meditation. Once she served pour-over coffee in the middle of a flower field during a meditation retreat — because she believes that coffee is more than caffeine, it’s a ritual.
Deh Yi is a patissier, drawing inspiration from Asian flavours to create desserts that not only pair with coffee, but transform it. For her, dessert isn’t just sweet — it’s a language. And through it, she gets to tell stories that taste like home.
CÂLINE DE BEAN

Laurence Elizabeth & Danaë

Laurence Elizabeth has taken part in a latte art competition before, which they absolutely loved! They also once served Manon Massé who complimented their art on the hot chocolate!
This will be the first coffee competition for Danaë, who once got a compliment on her chai latte from Lisa Leblanc.