2022 wac world final

Vancouver, Canada

1st Place: Jibbi Little, Australia
2nd Place: Simon Derutter, Belgium
3rd Place: Jennifer Rui Ping Ho, Singapore

A note from the organizers

After two years on the bench, the World AeroPress Championship made the triumphant return to in-person events, making history in the host country and marking the next chapter for the competition.

With a new team and a stream of fresh ideas, we put wild concepts into practice and grew the event from a single-day affair to a fully immersive, three-day format. A day for learning, a day for competition, and a day to connect with the host city by hopping from cafe to cafe with new friends (and far too much coffee).

In planning for 2022, we had the goal to reconnect with our community around the world and rekindle that fire for accessible, inclusive, high-energy coffee events that don’t suck. We also strove to bring the WAC back to pre-pandemic numbers and glory.

Thanks to the hard work of our small team, our network of hosts around the world, and the support of our generous sponsors, we’ve smashed those goals and can confidently say that the greatest championship in the world is back and better than ever.

We hope that you enjoy this page to relive the '22 world final. We also hope that it causes a decent amount of fomo so that we convince you to join us next year.

— Team W.A.C.

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2022 Season at a Glance

6 New WAC Circuits
59 Regional Championships
56 National Championships
4,445 Competitors Worldwide
21,203 Spectators Worldwide

On December 1st, we organized our first ever exclusive day of talks, workshops and panel discussions with notable figures in the coffee industry. Day one was all about connection, insight, engagement and inspiration for our national champions and the barista community.

Future and current competitors experienced sessions with Wendelien van Bunnik (2019 World AeroPress Champion), Michael Phillips (2010 World Barista Champion), Jill Hoff (2020 Canadian Barista Champion), Ben Put (4x WBC Finalist), Dylan Siemens (2017 US Brewers Cup Champion) and a panel discussion which included Eric J Grimm (Cofounder of Glitter Cat Barista) and hosted by Tim Williams (WAC Head Honcho).

After the sessions, competitors and their coaches were given access to the practice area, and the official championship coffee to build their world-title winning recipes. Instead of keeping this part of the championship behind closed doors, spectators were able to experience this brewing frenzy with a coffee in one hand, and a beer in another.

When the clock struck 6PM, we closed the practice area, sent champions to dinner and reset the venue for the big show.

On December 2nd, the season culminated at the ‘22 World Final, or as we more appropriately refered to it — 'The Playoffs'.

Competitors and attendees walked in from a beautfiul snowy waterfront, to an ice-hockey themed arena as the DJs played 80’s hits on full blast. Denim jackets, bright red totes, and the giant stage bore the words “sorry not sorry”, a cheeky Canadian coloquialism and a sign of things to come.

As the number of champions dwindled from the original 41 to the nine semi-finalists, we were ready to pull the biggest twist in our fourteen-year history. The nine adrenaline-fueled brewers were led on stage, re-introduced to the audience, and handed a brand new coffee while Tim coyly stated: “You only have forty minutes to dial it in. Sorry, not sorry.”

In the final rounds, the air was so tense you could slash it with a hockey stick. Ultimately, it was Jibbi Little, aka the thunder from down under, who raised the coveted golden AeroPress while the crowd roared in her achievement.

On December 3rd, the gloves were off as the WAC descended on nine amazing coffee shops around the city.

We grouped national champions together for celebrity shifts at the hottest cafes to connect with the host city on a deeper level, and serve up their recipes using the championship coffee. The feedback we received was unanimously positive, with cafe staff shouting “this was the best day of service we’ve ever had!”, and champions telling us “working in a local cafe with baristas was the favourite part of my trip”.

Attendees, sponsors and champions were cafe-crawling their way around Vancouver and reminiscing about the experiences they shared, right up until the afterparty for farewell drinks and merriment. And then there was the after-after party... but, you really just had to be there.

Thank you to our sponsors for the 2022 season

the '22 WAC branding was designed by the belfast branding studio angel & anchor