Australia is certainly not running short of excellent baristas. In fact, our coffee culture is recognised as being among the world’s best. Earlier this year, Sydney’s Toby’s Estate Coffee Roasters flagship Chippendale cafe was named the best coffee shop in the world in the World’s 100 Best Coffee Shops global ranking.

But now that Melbourne has had time to collectively work through its feelings about this with what has no doubt been a very busy group of therapists, it can once again rejoice in its coffee excellence. Local barista Jack Simpson of Hawthorn’s Axil Coffee Roasters has once again been named the best barista in Australia at the Australian Coffee Championships. This is the third year in a row that he has taken out the title of Australian Barista Champion – the first time anyone has achieved this in the competition’s history. In 2022, Axil Coffee Roasters’ Anthony Douglas won the title. Clearly they’ve got some pretty magic beans going on over there. 

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Credit: David Caird

The competition is run by the Australian Specialty Coffee Association, and requires competitors to make four espressos, four milk-based drinks and four ‘unique signature beverages’ in just 15 minutes. That’s enough pressure to steam anyone’s soy latte. 

Winning this title means Simpson will go on to represent Australia at the World Barista Championship in Italy. Last year, he placed second. Douglas placed first in 2022. Will Simpson take the top spot this year? We’ll all be a-jitter from our extremely well-made espressos as we wait for the results. 

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