Panama City, Panama · 25 Oct 2026
World Barista Championship 2026
Final results: Pan Wei of Parking Coffee in Hangzhou won the final in Panama City — the first World Barista Champion from China. Where every finalist finished, who they are and the cafés they compete for.
News ·
Final results
- World Barista Champion 2026
- Pan Wei · China
- A first
- China’s first world title in 26 championships
- Second
- Shing Win · Malaysia
- Third
- Frederick Ruben · United Arab Emirates
- Trophy handed over by
- Jack Simpson, champion 2025
- Where
- World of Coffee Panama, Panama City
Pan Wei of China won the final on 25 October at the Panama Convention Center, the 26th World Barista Championship and the first in Central America (the organiser’s announcement).
Pan Wei — World Barista Champion 2026
- World Barista Champion
- 2026 · Panama City
- China’s champion
- 2021 · 2025
- His café
- Parking Coffee, Hangzhou
- Regional champion
- Hangzhou, 2015
- Before coffee
- An engineer
- His 2021 coffee
- Yunnan, not Geisha
Pan left an engineering job at a state-owned company for a café apprenticeship that paid 600 yuan a month — a tenth of his salary. By 2015 he was Hangzhou’s regional champion (Qianjiang Evening News, 2021).
He won China’s title in 2021 with an anaerobic lot from Yunnan, not a Geisha: «Geisha is simply too expensive». Coffee, for him, is an everyday drink — «if coffee isn’t a drink for everyone, what else could it be?»
His first world championship, Busan 2024, ended in the first round. Two years later he won it, in his first world final (his organiser profile).
Parking Coffee, Hangzhou
- Opened
- 2021
- Where
- 51 Hai’er Alley, Hangzhou
- Roasts
- Its own coffee
- Order
- The «Champion Set»
His café stands on Hai’er Alley — «Children’s Lane», once a street of baby-goods shops. Its coffee sets show one coffee in several drinks, so guests taste what the stage taught him.
When a Hangzhou paper visited in 2022, signs asked guests not to take photos and Pan was behind the bar himself: «Winning a title is no reason to stop making coffee and just give orders to the staff» (Dushi Kuaibao).
In June 2026 the machine maker Gemilai named Parking one of the three specialty roasters it works with, beside M2M and Marus Coffee.
2nd — Shing Win, Malaysia
- Represents
- One Half Coffee Roastery, Petaling Jaya
- Malaysia’s champion
- 2025
- World championships
- His first
- Also works in
- Green coffee, at Tri-Up
Second at home in 2023, Malaysia’s champion in 2025, second in the world at his first try. He is one of the partners behind One Half, which opened its Petaling Jaya roastery in 2023 with a team led by three-time Malaysian champion Keith Koay.
3rd — Frederick Ruben, United Arab Emirates
- Represents
- Benchmark Coffee, Sharjah
- UAE champion
- 2026
- A first
- The UAE’s first world podium
- Before coffee
- Taekwondo
Born in Indonesia, he worked at Blacksmith Coffee in Abu Dhabi before Benchmark and has competed in coffee since 2022. Benchmark is a café, micro-roastery and omakase coffee tasting on Aljada Boulevard; his teammate Jhomar Morales is the UAE’s Latte Art Champion 2026.
4th — Gabrel Tan, Australia
- Represents
- Veneziano Coffee Roasters, Melbourne
- Australia’s champion
- 2026, after three second places
- Espresso
- Finca Lérida Geisha, Panama
- Milk course
- Finca Ali Kartika, Sumatra
His routine, «The Power of Recognition», set Panama’s fame in specialty coffee beside Indonesia’s promise: a washed Geisha from Maria Amoruso’s Finca Lérida in Boquete for espresso, a Kartika from Raymond Ali’s Finca Ali in South Sumatra for milk, and both in a signature drink with koji-fermented tree tomato. Last year’s champion Jack Simpson helped him prepare (BeanScene).
5th — Jane Kawinnart, Thailand
- Represents
- Fika & Co., Bangkok
- Thailand’s champion
- 2023 · 2026
- A first
- Thailand’s first world finalist
- In coffee since
- 2015, in Melbourne
Thirteenth in the world in 2023, in the final three years later. Jane co-founded Fika & Co., which roasts its own coffee and pours it in its own cafés; Bangkok’s coffee community raised money and gave her a place to practise before Panama.
6th — Jill Hoff, Canada
- Represents
- Monogram Coffee, Calgary
- Canada’s champion
- 2020 · 2026
- Team award
- Team Pressure won the team competition
- Coach
- Ben Put, Monogram’s co-founder
Monogram’s Director of Coffee came back to the stage after five years of coaching and judging: fifteenth in the world in 2021, sixth in her first world final now. Monogram began as a handmade coffee cart and grew into a Calgary roaster with its own cafés.
Watch it
The winner announcement and every final routine are free on the World Coffee Championships YouTube channel: Pan Wei · Shing Win · Frederick Ruben · Gabrel Tan · Jane Kawinnart · Jill Hoff.
Links
- The organiser's announcement ↗
- Winner announcement on YouTube ↗
- Pan Wei's organiser profile ↗
- What the championship is ↗
- The final's line-up ↗
- The full line-up of 51 ↗
The result and what each finalist represents are the organiser’s; the titles are from Good Cup’s championship records. Portraits: World Coffee Championships.