The 2025 Barista Competition was held at various Columbus Coffee cafes around New Zealand. We started off with competitions in the following locations – Christchurch, Timaru, Wanaka & Invercargill

These regional competitions saw our Barista’s setting the bar very, very high and the level of technical skills shown was next level. Out of all the Baristas competing in these Regions, only the top two would journey up to Auckland to represent the South Island in the overall finals.

A big congratulations to Connor from Columbus Coffee at Mitre 10 MEGA Wanaka who was the Lower South Island Regional winner, and Mercy from Columbus Coffee Timaru who was the Mid South Island Regional winner. Unfortunately Mercy was unable to travel to Auckland, so our second place winner Alyssa from Columbus Coffee Timaru travelled up to Auckland in her place.

Following the South Island Regionals was our Wellington Regional competition which saw three Baristas compete to see who will be joining us in Auckland to battle it out for the title of our National Barista Champion at the finals. Puni from Columbus Coffee at Mitre 10 MEGA Petone was our Wellington Regional winner for the second year in a row and earned his spot in the National Finals.

Our last Regional competition was in Auckland, where our Barista’s battled it out at our coffee Roastery to see who would meet Connor, Alyssa & Puni in the finals. After a tough competition, Tracey from Columbus Coffee William Pickering was the Auckland Regional winner, narrowly beating Yuki form Columbus Coffee at Mitre 10 MEGA Mt Wellington.

After the regionals were complete, our leaderboard showed that Stella from Columbus Coffee at Mitre 10 MEGA Porirua was the highest placed runner up, earning herself a spot in the finals as our Wildcard.

The 2025 Barista Championship finals were held at our National Support Office and after a fierce competition we had our winner – a huge congratulations to Stella Mitchell from Columbus Coffee at Mitre 10 MEGA Porirua! Stella displayed her expert level coffee skills through the taste, texture, composition and technique of her coffee’s that she produced to the judges. We also congratulate our 2nd and 3rd place winners too who were incredible!

Winner:

Stella Mitchell from Columbus Coffee at Mitre 10 MEGA Porirua

2nd Place:

Connor Clement from Columbus Coffee at Mitre 10 MEGA Wanaka

3rd Place:

Puni Patterson Liua from Columbus Coffee at Mitre 10 MEGA Petone