With the ink formally dry on Day One, our consideration now turns to Day Two, the again half of Spherical One on the 2026 US Barista Championship. Howdy once more and welcome again to Sprudge’s stay protection of the 2026 Us Barista Championship. We’re right here on the Huckleberry Roasters HQ in Denver, Colorado to convey you all of the motion from each single routine because it occurs.
We’ve obtained 14 rivals on the schedule for in the present day and should you thought yesterday was stacked (should you’re simply becoming a member of us, our Day One recap will get you caught up), you then’re in for yet one more deal with in the present day. We’ll have three former USBC Finalists on the docket in addition to the 2022 USBC Champion Morgan Eckroth and two-time US Brewers Cup Champion Elika Liftee. Put it one other method, one in each three individuals competing in the present day has both been to a Finals or gained a nationwide espresso championship occasion. These are Semi-Finals form of numbers and we’ve been blessed with them for each days of Spherical One.
Talking of Semi-Finals, that’s everybody’s objective in the present day. There are 18 spots up for grabs for Saturday, and securing one is the following huge hurdle for anybody who has eyes on Sunday’s Finals (to say nothing of Panama in October). However first issues first, and that may be a robust efficiency in Spherical One. We’ll be updating this text all day lengthy as new rivals take the stage, so be sure to are staying locked in to Sprudge. And earlier than you realize it, we’ll have some Semi-Finalists.
Sprudge Media’s protection of the 2026 US Barista Championship is sponsored by Pacific Barista Collection, Ghirardelli, Swiss Water, Cafe Imports, La Marzocco, and Huckleberry Roasters.
Livestream the 2026 US Barista Championship on YouTube hosted by occasion sponsor Roastronix.
Jak Michael Ryan (he/him) – Proud Mary – Austin, TX
We’re kicking issues off robust in the present day with six place finisher from final 12 months’s US Barista Championship, Jak Michael Ryan of Proud Mary Espresso in Austin, Texas. Ryan is the final of the 2025 Finalists to compete this 12 months, following Jason Yeo, Noel Goodwin, and Circle Chan’s performances yesterday.
He competes in the present day with a Gesha selection from La Salsa on Santa Barbara, Honduras. Produced by Benjamin Paz, Gesha Lot No. 1 is from Hacienda Esmeralda seed inventory and has undergone a darkroom dried pure processing, and as an espresso served in frozen cups, it expresses flavors of raspberry, nectarine, and backer’s chocolate, with a medium weight and a juicy texture.
Shifting on to the milk course, Ryan opts for a 50/50 mix of freeze-distilled lactose-free milk and entire milk, and when added to the Gesha creates notes of white chocolate cheesecake, caramel, and malt cookie.
Lacto-fermented passionfruit juice, a clarified answer of plantain and honey, and mango distillate get mixed with the espresso for Ryan’s signature beverage course, expressing new flavors of orange blossom, date, and kiwi.
Jak Michael Ryan calls time at 15:01. Day Two is off to a superb begin.
Meg Skop (she/her) – The Espresso Motion – San Francisco, CA
One Finalist not sufficient for you? Properly you’re in luck as a result of right here’s one other. It’s Meg Skop of The Espresso Motion in San Francisco, California. Skop is a veteran competitor and her pleasure and normal effervescence is all the time a pleasure to observe.
Skop’s espresso in the present day is a mix of two totally different coffees from Cuaca, Colombia, each grown at 1,900MASL. The 90/10 mix consists of a Gesha selection produced by Diego Bermudez together with a Pink Bourbon by Wilton Benitez, Bermudez’s neighbor. The latter was rested for 65 days. The mosto-fermented coffees roasted by Moxie get vacuum-sealed and blended to cut back CO2 and as espressos have flavors of juicy peach, yellow mango, and a black tea end
For the milk course, Skop combines 95% A2 cream-top entire milk with 5% freeze-dried milk, all non-homogenized, that she vacuum seals and blends, and when mixed with the espresso, has notes of nougat, melted vanilla ice cream, and a buttery peach Danish.
Skop is getting her cash’s value out of the vacuum blender, utilizing it for her signature beverage course as properly. She combines jasmine flower and coconut milk, mango olea saccharum, pineapple mango mosto juice, purple chili olive oil, and espresso, all of which will get vacuum blended. The outcomes are notes of cherry blossom and lime zest on the nostril and flavors of cherry limeade, marzipan, lemon sweet, and a warming habanero end.
Meg Skop calls time at 15:05.
Christian Ortega (he/him) – Olympia Espresso – Seattle, WA
Now as much as the stage is Christian Ortega of Olympia Espresso in Seattle, Washington. Ortega has chosen a carbonically macerated, white honey processed Gesha for his routine, produced by Sebatian Ramirez of Finca El Placer in Quindio, Colombia.
We’ve obtained our first technical timeout of the 2026 USBC. The microphones are usually not being agreeable in the present day. Ortega must choose again up on the 2:41 mark the place he left off. It’s a tricky factor to do, to come back again when your circulation is interrupted, made all of the harder by the truth that rivals don’t have their very own music in the course of the first spherical to assist them maintain monitor of time.
After a little bit of a ramp up, Ortega is again on monitor and his Gesha espressos have notes of bergamot, meyer lemon, and apricot (and if that isn’t essentially the most old skool Yirgacheffe fashion taste calls, I don’t know what’s. Bear in mind Yirgacheffe?).
For his milk, Ortega has created a mix of 64% freeze-distilled lactose free milk, 35% freeze distilled oat milk, and 1% cryo coconut powder that, when added to his espresso, creates new flavors of coconut, candied macadamia nuts, and cereal milk.
Gesha espresso, peach hibiscus tea focus, honey syrup, and a clarified Froot Loop milk tincture (!!!) all get hyperchilled and nitrogenated for Ortega’s sig bev, presenting flavors of darkish cherry, apricot, and orange liqueur.
Christian Ortega makes a pleasant restoration and calls time at 14:18.
Stephanie Hernandez-Salazar (she/her) – Vignette Espresso Roasters – Greensboro, NC
Our subsequent competitor is Stephanie Hernandez-Salazar of Vignette Espresso Roasters in Greensboro, NC. Hernandez’s theme in the present day is the weaving of moments, which she represents with a pastel tapestry she has hand-crocheted herself.
The premise of her personal tapestry right here on the 2026 USBC is a Gesha selection espresso produced by Franky Hoyos at Finca El Encanto in Huila, Colombia. Beginning off with the milk course, a 3:1 ratio beverage, Hernandez combines freeze-distilled lactose-free milk with Gesha espresso for notes of melted chocolate ice cream, fruity pebbles, and orange creamsicle. We’ve obtained back-to-back cereal calls within the milk course, and I’m not mad about it.
Shifting now to the signature beverage, Hernandez incorporates piloncillo along with her Gesha espresso and tops them with a coconut Jamaica chilly foam, combining to create flavors of candied tamarind, dried cherry, tootsie roll, and fruited confectionary chocolate.
Ending with the espresso course, Hernandez stirs the drinks for the judges for notes of blood orange, blood orange zest, and crafted chocolate, with a medium-light weight, silky texture, and a malted chocolate aftertaste.
Stephanie Hernandez-Salazar of Vignette Espresso Roasters calls time at 14:39.
Khoa Trinh (he/him) – Boxx Espresso Roasters – Los Angeles, CA
Our subsequent competitor for the day is Khoa Trinh of Boxx Espresso Roasters. Trinh is the second of three Boxx representatives at this 12 months’s USBC. The primary, Manuel Torres, went yesterday. It’s an inauspicious begin for Trinh, who known as the second technical timeout of the day, this one inside the first minute of his routine.
However Trinh appears unfazed. He’s again up and operating and prepping photographs for use within the signature beverage course.
Espresso for Trinh in the present day comes from Jameson Savage at Finca Deborah in Chiriqui, Panama. Grown at 2,200MASL, this Inexperienced Tip Gesha, as an espresso pulled at 19g in to 43g out, expresses flavors of bergamot, white florals, and inexperienced apple.
Switching now to a Gesha and Chiroso mix, Trinh makes use of a 50/40/10 mix of freeze-distilled entire milk, freeze-distilled lactose free milk, and coconut milk. When mixed with the espresso mix, the 4:1 ratio beverage has notes of earl gray cookie and salted caramel.
For the signature beverage, Trinh combines lacto-fermented nectarine juice and asparkling fermented raspberry and rice kefir along with his espresso mix, creating flavors of pink guava, rosé wine, and mojito, with a medium weight, a glowing effervescence, and a touch of mint.
Christopher Jiongo – Java Jiongo’s – Woodbridge, VA
Shifting proper alongside now, our subsequent competitor is Christopher Jiongo of Java Jiongo’s in Woodbridge, Virgina. To say that we’re excited for Jiongo’s routine can be an understatement. It has been a few years since we’ve seen trustworthy to goodness syrup bottles in a competitor’s setup, however Jiongo is altering that and goes decidedly and splendidly old skool.
The primary espresso for Jiongo in the present day is the Destroyer Mix from Ceremony Espresso Roasters in Baltimore. It’s a mixture of coffees from Colombia and Ethiopia and for Jiongo in the present day has notes of savory peach wine with a touch of cinnamon and a creamy orange zest.
For the milk course, Jiongo switches to a special Ceremony mix, the Mass Enchantment, a Mexico and Colombia mix. He provides to it a 1:1:2 mix of oat, pistachio, and entire milk.
That’s two business blends for Jiongo in the present day and nary a scale in sight. A barista barista’ing at a barista competitors? You like to see it.
Ending up with the signature beverage Jiongo makes use of the Mass Enchantment mix, to which he provides vanilla syrup and lavender syrup, ending it off with a mascarpone cheese chilly foam.
Christopher Jiongo calls time at 20:09.
Morgan Eckroth (they/she) – Onyx Espresso Lab – Portland, OR
Welcome again the champ! Subsequent to compete is the 2022 US Barista Champion and 2022 World Barista Championship Runner-Up Morgan Eckroth. If there’s something like an odds-on favourite to win this 12 months, it’s Eckroth. On paper, not less than. However, as they are saying, that’s why they play the sport.
Eckroth kicks off her 2026 marketing campaign with a Gesha selection espresso produced by the Lamastus Household on the Elida Property in Boquete, Panama. Grown at 1,900MASL and darkroom dried pure processed, as an espresso pulled 20g in to 40g out over frozen spheres, it has notes of raspberry, earl gray tea, and a chocolate lined orange end, with a medium-light weight and spherical physique.
For the milk course, Eckroth switches to an SL28 selection produced by Edinson Argote at Quebraditas Espresso Farm in Huila, Colombia. Pulled at a shorter 20g in to 35g out and mixed with a mix of lactose-free entire milk freeze-distilled to 50% by quantity, Pacific Barista Collection coconut milk, and cryodesiccated entire milk powder, it has notes of milk chocolate, purple cherry, and salted caramel.
Each espresso are represented in Eckroth’s signature beverage. They get hyperchilled and combined with an orange and mango juice, bergamot and panela milk punch, and soy lecithin, all nitrogen charged and poured over a rose snow on the backside of the cup. The completed drink has flavors of strawberry yogurt, milk chocolate, and orange creamsicle.
Onyx Espresso Lab’s Morgan Eckroth calls time at 14:50.
Miranda Huncovsky (they/she) – Go Get Em Tiger – Los Angeles, CA
Now as much as the stage is Miranda Huncovsky. They’re representing Go Get Em Tiger in Los Angeles, a restaurant and roastery famously began by two former USBC Champions Kyle Glanville and Charles Babinski.
The theme for Huncovsky in the present day is Kaizen, the Japanese concept of fixing for the higher. That is offered first within the signature beverage course, a mixture hyperchilled espresso, juniper berry syrup, Fever Tree tonic, nitrogen infused, and completed with a magnolia tea air. It has notes of jasmine inexperienced tea, Brisk iced tea, and orange soda.
Espresso in the present day for Huncovsky is a yeast inoculated, darkroom dried Gesha produced by Julio Madrid at Finca Milan in Colombia. When mixed with a lactose-free milk that has been freeze-distilled to 75% by quantity, it presents flavors of guava Danish, macadamia nuts, and shortbread cookie.
Ending with the espresso course, Huncovsky’s Gesha has flavors of dried mango with a papaya sweetness, starfruit acidity, and a tannic bitterness.
Miranda Huncovsky calls time at a decent 13:23.
Group USA is up 2–0 over Australia at halftime.
Brandon Jarnagin (he/him) – Boxx Espresso Roasters – Los Angeles, CA
Going up subsequent is Brandon Jarnigan, the third and remaining consultant of Boxx Espresso Roasters in Los Angeles, California.
Jarnigan’s espresso in the present day is a thermal shocked, yeast inoculated Gesha from Franky Hoyos at Finca El Encanto in Huila, Colombia. Pulled at 20g in to 45g out, as an espresso it has flavors of tootsie roll, banana, and candied orange with a malted chocolate end.
We’ve obtained a 3rd technical timeout for the day. A few of Jarnigan’s script has been about issues not going based on plan, and I don’t need to say he spoke this technical into existence however…
Jarnigan is switching to a Nestor Lasso mosto-fermented Gesha for his subsequent course, the milk course. He combines it with a mix of freeze-distilled lactose free milk, freeze-distilled sheep milk, and jersey cow milk, creating flavors peach cobbler, violet, and bubble gum.
The signature beverage for Jarnigan, which he has named the Impolite Awakening, consists of brown butter miso, a black garlic, black pepper, and sage honey syrups, balsamic vinegar seasoned cascara tea, and Franky Hoyos espresso, mixed in a cezve, heated over an open flame, and completed with a spritz of a Madagascar vanilla extract. It has savory flavors of ache au chocolat, salted toffee, and black pepper.
Brandon Jarnigan calls time at 21:55.
Divya Raghavan (she/her) – Atlanta, GA
Up now’s an impartial competitor out of Atlanta, Georgia. Right here to the stage is Divya Raghavan.
Raghavan just isn’t solely the primary competitor of the USBC to convey an Asian espresso, she’s the primary one to look past Arabica. She competes with a mix of two totally different Liberica coffees, 80% coming from a black honey processed, anaerobic fermented Liberica produced within the Quang Tri province of Vietnam by 96B, and 20% from the Skia Espresso Property in Coorg, India.
As an espresso, the Liberica mix has notes of jackfruit, cedar, and bubble gum, with a stevia and blueberry aftertaste.
Technical timeout quantity 4. There should be one thing within the air. Raghavan’s routine will have to be restarted, so we’re shifting onto the following competitor after which we’ll be again.
Elika Liftee (he/him) – Houston, TX
We’ve obtained champion quantity two on the day, due to two-time US Brewers Cup champion and impartial competitor Elika Liftee.
Liftee can be competing with a Liberica this one an anaerobic fermented, pure processed espresso from Indonesia. As a part of his breve white mocha-inspired signature beverage, it will get included with a cold-pressed pineapple shrub, clarified tropical white chocolate, panela easy syrup, orange blossom water, shaken, chilled, and garnished with black Hawaiian sea salt. It produces flavors of candied plum, peach ring sweet, milk chocolate, and rose.
Turning now to the milk course, Liftee blends the Liberica with a Chakira selection espresso from Boquete, Panama. Mixed with a mix of 60% freeze-distilled entire milk and 40% lactose-free freeze-distilled entire milk, his drink presents flavors of peach, butterscotch, malted chocolate, and orange.
Lastly, for the espresso, the Liberica is reduce to 10% and the Chakira goes as much as 90% to let the Ethiopian Landrace selection to shine. Pulled over frozen spheres, it has notes of peach, orange, and earl gray tea, with a medium and mushy texture and a mango and orange blossom end.
Elika Liftee calls time at 15:16.
Divya Raghavan continued…
And we’re again with Divya Raghavan. We’re choosing again up with Raghavan after the espresso course and let’s fake like this little hiccup by no means occurred.
The second for Raghavan in the present day is the milk course. For it, she combines her Liberica espresso with a 2:2:1 mix of freeze-distilled lactose-free milk, lactose-free milk, and coconut milk. Collectively they create notes of banana pudding and tiramisu.
For the signature beverage, Raghavan incorporates guava nectar, grapefruit juice, lime juice, and sea salt and chili syrup, completed with a rose and jasmine water mist. When added to the Liberica espresso, it creates notes of pomegranate molasses, tamarind, and lemon black tea, with a black pepper aftertaste.
Divya Raghavan calls time at 14:46 on her second try of the day.
Juan Diaz (he/him) – Know The place Espresso – Miami, FL
Our remaining former USBC Finalist of Spherical One is Juan Diaz of Know The place Espresso in Miami, Florida. The theme of Diaz’s routine is honesty, and so to let the reality of the coffees come by means of with out the backstory, he will probably be giving details about his coffees on the finish of the routine. What we do know is that it’s made up of three totally different pure fermentation strategies and roasted on three totally different roasters.
First up for the thriller espresso, this one roasted on a Loring, is the espresso course. Pulled over frozen spheres, it has notes of purple cherry, raspberry, 70% darkish chocolate, and tangerine.
Shifting on to the milk course, Diaz has created a mix of 70% full lactose milk, 20% lowered caramelized almond milk, and 10% freeze-distilled milk, the Diedrich roasted thriller espresso has flavors of rum raisin, strawberry cheesecake, and salted butter cookies.
Switching to a Stronghold roasted espresso, Diaz combines three expressions of grape—a clarified grape punch, dried raisin syrup, and a grape shrub—all blended to create notes of lime sherbet, skittles, pineapple orange juice, and a hop aftertaste.
That espresso by the way in which, is an SL28 selection grown in Cauca, Colombia by Paola and Carlos Trujillo at Finca Patio Bonito.
Juan Diaz calls time at 14:57.
Olivia Morris (they/them) – Little Bear Espresso – Albuquerque, NM
Our final competitor of Spherical One is Olivia Morris at Little Bear Espresso within the ABQ.
Morris competes in the present day with a washed Gesha from Jhonatan Gasca Zarza’s first harvest of the variability on his Cauca, Colombia farm, Finca Bella Vista.
Beginning with the signature beverage, Morris combines a espresso lemon peel infusion, chamomile hop water tea, peach oleo saccharum, and espresso, all stirred over ice and completed with a sprig of lavender, creating flavors of pine resin, overripe pineapple, and pink guava, with rosemary aromatics.
For the milk course, Morris has created a 50/50 mix of freeze-distilled lactose-free milk and Minor Figures oat milk. Mixed in a 1:1 ratio with the Gesha, the milk beverage presents notes of candied praline, salted caramel, and pomelo.
The final course for Spherical One is espresso, and Morris’s first harvest Gesha has notes of limoncello, silver needle white tea, mild florals, and dried apricot.
And Olivia Morris calls time at 14:40.
That’s it for Spherical One! We’ll have Semi-Finals bulletins, so keep tuned!
