PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Some of the best coffee professionals in the country live and work in the Portland area. This weekend, they had a chance to shine as the U.S. Coffee Championships came to the Rose City.
Baristas, roasters, brewers and tasters all had their chance to be crowned best in the United States as the U.S. Coffee Championships took place April 21-23 at the Oregon Convention Center.
Heading into the competition, Portland was well-represented by people from Portland and Vancouver who had qualified in the regional competition in March.
Wenbo Yang, owner of Artly Coffee, In J Coffee and Super Joy Coffee in Portland competed in the brewers cup and latte art.
Yang is business partners with Ryan Jie Jiang who owns Less and More Coffee. Jiang qualified in the U.S. Cup Tasters competition.
Seidy Selivanow from Kafiex Roasters in Vancouver qualified in the U.S. Barista competition and her business partner Matthew Selivanow competed for the best U.S. coffee roaster.
Andrew Coe, from Elevator Coffee in Portland, also competed in the U.S. roaster competition.
Morgan Eckroth, who works as a barista in Portland but represented Arkansas-based Onyx Coffee Lab in the competition, competed for top U.S. Barista.
After a long weekend preparing drinks, roasting coffee and delicately drizzling coffee art, some Portland’s professionals finished among the best in the country.
Yang placed first in the U.S. Brewers Cup and second in U.S. Latte Art.
Coe finished first in U.S. Roaster and Selivanow finished fifth.
Eckroth finished second in the U.S. Barista Championship. In 2022, Eckroth was named runner-up in the World Barista Championship after finishing first in the U.S. Barista Championship.
In an Instagram post, Eckroth congratulated Isaiah Sheese who bested her in the U.S. competition this year.
“@isaiahshees, you deserve this so much. Congratulations, a hundred times over… It was an excellent competition season,” she wrote.
