Today, the Specialty Coffee Association released updated Rules & Regulations for the 2023 World Barista Championship (WBC), World Brewers Cup (WBrC), World Cup Tasters Championship, and Cezve/Ibrik Championship. The WBC and WBrC updates mark the largest competition changes since before the pandemic, opening up new service possibilities for competitors and major changes in how judges score and evaluate performances.⠀ All World Coffee Championships (WCC) rules & regulations updates are overseen by the Competitions Strategic Committee–a volunteer leadership group focused on evolving the WCCs in line with strategic goals. Many of these changes introduced today were planned or in progress before the COVID-19 pandemic.⠀ ⠀ The WBrC criteria for evaluation have undergone significant changes to refocus the competition on evaluating a competitor's coffee brewing skills, and will also have major format changes—including introducing a Semi-Finals round in 2023.⠀ ⠀ The 2023 WBC updates introduce two new types of scoring scales, and adjusted category weightings to better reflect the skills and areas of focus for the competitions. The milk beverage course can now be prepared using plant-based or other animals' milk, and world competitors will have the option of brewing their espresso using a range of group head temperatures.⠀ ⠀ Scoresheets for both the WBC and WBrC have been re-designed for clarity and ease of use. The World Cup Tasters & Cezve/Ibrik Championships updates focus on small language changes for clarity and consistency across the WCCs.⠀ ⠀ Alongside these rules updates, the SCA is announcing the expansion of the espresso machine sponsorship criteria to include allowing fully-automatic machines to bid for the 2024 World Latte Art & World Coffee in Good Spirits Championships, alongside traditional machines.⠀ ⠀ Learn more about these updates at the link in our bio.