2019 US Coffee Championships Coming to Kansas City March 15-17

Pictured next to the Kansas City Municipal Auditorium, the Kansas City Convention Center (right) will host the 2019 U.S. Coffee Championships.

The 2019 U.S. Coffee Championships (USCC) will be taking place in Kansas City, Missouri, on March 15-17, according to an announcement from USCC organizers today.

USCC events are typically held in conjunction with the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) Expo, where thousands of coffee professionals are already gathered each year. Yet this year, the World Barista Championship and World Brewers Cup competitions are taking place during the SCA Expo in Boston in April, meaning U.S. champs must be crowned ahead of that event.

“This is a special year because the U.S. Coffee Championships will take place outside of the Specialty Coffee Expo,” Melissa McGuinness, senior event manager of national competitions at the SCA said in today’s announcement.

Along with members of the Kansas City coffee community, the SCA and the USCC working group are hosting a webinar this coming Tuesday, Oct. 9, at 2 EST in which curious coffee people can learn more about the host city selection process. The event itself will be held at the Kansas City Convention Center.

USCC events this year include the United States Barista, Brewers Cup, Cup Tasters, and Roaster championships. New to the USCC this year is the US Coffee in Good Spirits Championship, in which competitors combine coffee and booze to make cocktails. National winners for each of the U.S. championships will be given an opportunity to compete in the world championships for each event.

To compete in the U.S. championships, competitors must first qualify through one of the two main qualifying events, taking place Dec. 1-2 in Denver, and Jan. 12-13 in Nashville, respectively. Preliminary events have been underway at SCA-member venues for both of those events for months, offering reserved spots for qualifying competitors. Confused yet? [email protected] offers answers.