The 2021 World AeroPress Championship looked a little bit different than usual. In our first virtual W.A.C., National Champions submitted their recipes and our team of surrogate baristas executed them right here in Melbourne, Australia at Bureaux Coffee and W.A.C. HQ.

The competition began in late April when the official coffee was roasted and shipped to the AeroPress HQ in Palo Alto California. From there it was packed up alongside our world final kits and shipped off to 45 national champions in three wildcard competition winners in 45 countries. Our champions had less than two weeks to come up with the winning recipe using 14 different water formulations, a grind size chart to dial in on our official grinder, two bags of coffee and their trusty plastic brewers.

As the competition day began on March 5th, surrogate brewers began brewing the recipes they had been studying over the last 24 hours. Viewers from all corners of the world tuned in to our Instagram for fast-paced coverage of the preliminary rounds and the beginning of the Quarters marked the kickoff of our official livestream. Over the course of the next 3.5 hours, competitors had their recipes duke it out in head to head battle while they anxiously watched through their screens. Over 6,000 audience members on every continent were present to cheer on their national champions, adding to the intensity of the afternoon.

By 5:30 pm, our 2021 champion had been crowned and the golden AeroPress raised aloft by their surrogate brewer. Tuomas Merikanto, a first time competitor, took the title of 2021 World AeroPress Champion, while Maru Mallee of the Netherlands placed second, followed by Brandon Smith of South Africa taking the third place position.