Cup of the Middle Kingdom
Guides / Cup of the Middle Kingdom
A country of tea-drinkers has produced the world's best barista. It took a decade of near misses, and a coffee boom, to get there.
By Saam Kzad
4 min read
When Pan Wei stepped off the stage in Panama City on Sunday, he had done something that Chinese baristas had been promising for years. He was named the 2026 World Barista Champion at World of Coffee Panama, the competition's 26th winner. Shing Win of Malaysia finished second and Frederick Ruben of the United Arab Emirates third. China's first title in the sport's showpiece event came in the heartland of the beans themselves, an apt setting for a country that is only now becoming a serious coffee origin as well as a consumer.
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