On the 3rd of October, 2025, Johannesburg hosted its first The Barista League competition and I was lucky enough to be in attendance. I must admit that I didn’t have a clear idea of what I was going to witness but, in retrospect, I feel fortunate to have been at the first instalment of what is now going to be an annual event on the South African coffee competition calendar. The Barista League isn’t like any coffee event I’ve attended before, and I’ve attended a few over the years. I believe it’s going to make an important mark on the South African coffee scene thanks to all the ways in which it is different, which I think are worth reflecting on.

For context, I wound up at Johannesburg’s The Barista League event, not because I was competing, but because I was part of a small local team representing the Rancilio brand, one of the key sponsors of the event, and also one of the brands we are proud to work with at Cape Coffee Beans. Standing behind the Rancilio Specialty RS1 (more on this later) offered the perfect vantage point from which to appreciate the significance of this coffee gathering, the first of its kind in Africa.

A different type of competition

While The Barista League has been around for many years and has hosted competitions all around the world, my expectations of barista competitions are based on events of a very different sort. South Africa has hosted more traditional annual competitions for almost two decades. Most of these are quite formal affairs with elaborate sets, meticulously crafted speeches and beverages and serious tones and atmospheres. I’ve attended many of these and they are unavoidably the benchmark against which I was comparing this new event. It became pretty clear upon entering the venue that this was going to be something different.

A different approach

Before reflecting on my experience on October 3rd, it’s probably helpful to touch on the philosophy and approach of The Barista League; it is definitely different by design. Perhaps the most profound difference between The Barista League competition and the ones we are more familiar with in South Africa is the required preparation.

Traditional barista competitions allow the competitors to choose their coffee, which has inevitably led to a huge emphasis on lot selection. With the possibility of gaining an advantage by simply selecting a higher-end, more expensive coffee to compete with, a huge part of the preparation is finding and securing those competition coffees. Needless to say, that immediately places a big barrier to entry in front of a potential barista competitor as there are very few baristas in South Africa (or in many other parts of the world) that would have the independent financial means to secure a competition-worthy coffee. In practice that means that successful competitors tend to have big organisations behind them to assist with this process.

At The Barista League competition, every competitor is using the same coffee, provided by the organisers. That completely obviates the coffee-sourcing part of the competition and focuses the baristas on the elements that are the key parts of their jobs: quality beverage preparation, speed, accuracy, and presentation.

While there is huge merit to this idea of a level playing field in any geography, I can’t help but reflect on how important this aspect of the competition is in South African. The unfortunate reality is that baristas tend to earn very modest wages and so affordability is an unavoidable factor in traditional competition preparation and success. The Barista League has found a way to remove that element entirely, and that can only be a good thing for local baristas.

A different focus

This key format difference between The Barista League and other barista competitions is one of many things that shift the focus of the competition from the coffee and other extrinsic factors to the baristas themselves. This is an event that celebrates the skills that these coffee professionals leverage every day in doing their work, and puts them to the test in front of an audience and a panel of judges, on a totally level playing field. This different focus might explain why I saw more new faces among the competitors than I typically do at barista competitions. There were familiar faces on stage, of course, but it wasn’t just the usual suspects.

A different set of tools

While this may not have stood out to everyone in attendance I couldn’t help but take note of the equipment on the stage as well. The competitions that I’ve attended in South Africa historically have generally been sponsored by a small handful of respected international brands, all of which manufacture fantastic tools for the barista, to be sure, but it felt refreshing, and appropriate, to see something different at the centre of the Barista League competition.

The irony is that Cape Coffee Beans has worked with the Rancilio brand for more than a decade—Rancilio manufactures some of our most popular domestic and commercial offerings—but none of us had seen any of Rancilio’s higher-end equipment before this competition. Especially imported for The Barista League event, the competitors worked on the Invicta, and we had the privilege of demonstrating the flagship, Specialty RS1, to the people in attendance. It felt in line with the general theme of including something different from what we’re used to seeing.

A different experience for the attendees

With all of these novel things to experience, I couldn’t help but notice that the event was also very different for the attendees, as much as the competitors. In the crowd were many of the South African coffee industry’s familiar faces, the same ones I see at many other events, but the interactions felt entirely different. There was time and space for longer form conversations, not just fleeting hand-shakes and hellos. The atmosphere made people feel more relaxed, and no one was really there to sell anything, which made it easier for interactions to be led by people’s curiosity rather than their professional goals. I think that was a big part of what made it fun for me to be there, personally.

A different vibe

All of this was helped and amplified by the very different feel of The Barista League event. Instead of the usual trade show dynamic, The Barista League competition felt like it was part-party. From the playlist to the aesthetic, and even to the venue, the evening was thoroughly enjoyable in all its aspects, with a coffee-meets-nightlife atmosphere that seemed to add to everyone’s enjoyment. This event was fun to attend, even for the non-industry people.

Something different is coming next year

Suffice it to say, I’m very excited for next year’s The Barista League competition in Johannesburg, and I expect that many other people will be too. It’s already scheduled for October 4th, 2026. I think this event is going to have a positive and profound impact on the South African coffee industry.

To add to the excitement, our new friends at The Barista League tell me that next year’s competition is going to be even more different from what we’re used to than this year’s was. In keeping with the emphasis on doing things differently, The Barista League is going to be entering a new era of competition with a new format, a new set of rules, and a focus on innovation and leadership.

I’m looking forward to hearing more about what’s in store, and seeing it for myself at next year’s event. I hope to see even more coffee lovers and coffee professionals at The Barista League competition in Johannesburg in 2026.

Did you attend 2025’s Barista League competition in Johannesburg? Would you like to attend in 2026? What are your thoughts on The Barista League’s format? Leave your comments below!

About the author

Phaedon is the founder of Cape Coffee Beans. He's a former strategy consultant turned eCommerce guy who came to South Africa for 6 months and wound up staying more than a decade (and counting). Back in 2013, he decided to try to turn a budding interest in coffee into a business and so Cape Coffee Beans was born. These days he spends most of his time thinking about how to expand the reach and elevate the standards of specialty coffee in South Africa by arming people with the right tools, beans and information.