Judges & MC's
To judge a competition like Coffee Masters™, we had to recruit the best of best for our panel of judges and MCs. Comprising of legendary names from the world of specialty coffee, we are delighted to announce…
ANNE LUNELL – HEAD JUDGE
Coffee Masters Head Judge Anne Lunell is a Swedish Barista Champion, Brewers Cup Champion and the visionary behind Koppi, an internationally respected and well-loved coffee roaster in the Swedish town of Helsingborg, which she founded in 2007 with Charles Nystrand. Having been Head Judge of Coffee Masters – New York and London since their inception, there’s no one more up to scratch on what it takes to be a Coffee Masters champion.
KRIS SCHACKMAN
New York native Kris is co-founder of Five Elephant Coffee Roastery & Cake Shop in Berlin. He works there as CEO and Green Buyer, focusing on ethical and responsible practices and direct sourcing of quality coffee. As the director of Five Elephant Coffee he has been closely involved with staff competitions, participating in the training of numerous National Brewing and Barista Championship wins so knows a thing or two about the competition circuit.
FREDA YUAN
Freda Yuan’s incredible talent and accolades are evident in her winning the SCA UK Cup Tasters in 2017, 2018 and 2020, as well as gaining 3rd place in the World Cup Tasters 2017. Alongside this, she is a licensed Q-grader and a SCA UK Sensory Judge.
Throughout Freda’s six-year coffee career she’s worked on both sides of the supply chain, from barista through to green coffee buyer, with other roles including roasting and QC’ing. Her role as Origin’s Head of Coffee involves developing their direct trade coffee program and travelling the world in pursuit of exceptional crops.
DAVID DONDE
David’s Cape Town based café, Truth Coffee, has been named the best in the world by countless newspapers. He believes in results, individuality and playing on people’s strengths. The one thing he hates? Excuses.
JAMES WISE
James Wise has worked busy bars, managed, owned and consulted for cafes, won Coffee Masters™, given talks internationally, judged competitions, illustrated for global coffee folk and now works for one of the world’s best roasters: Assembly.
Do you know what he hasn’t done? Written an interesting bio.
KLAUS THOMSEN
Starting as a barista in London in 2001, Klaus Thomsen has since then become deeply involved in coffee. In 2006 he became the World Barista Champion and then went on to co-found The Coffee Collective with Peter Dupont and Casper Engel Rasmussen. The Coffee Collective is a microroastery, four coffee shops and importer of green coffee - aiming to set the bar high for transparency and payments directly to farmers. On a daily basis Klaus oversees the quality development and training programme for their baristas and also sources their award-winning Kenyan coffees.
LEM BUTLER
The 2016 USBC Champion and co-owner of Back Alley and Black & White Coffee Roasters Lem Butler is joining the impressive line-up of MCs for the sixth time. A leading American barista in his own right, he’s won the Southeast Regional Barista Competition no fewer than five times.
GWILYM DAVIES
2009 World Barista Champion and founder of East London’s Prufrock Coffee, Gwilym, is famed for making coffee in 36 different countries. He’s now settled in Prague where he owns and runs a Barista Training Centre.
ERIKA VONIE
Erika Vonie is a veteran of the specialty coffee industry and a previous winner (and MC) of Coffee Masters™ New York, as well as countless other barista championships. Whether it be through her consulting or own educational YouTube channel, Vonie is committed to championing and elevating the advancement of women, LGBTQIA and all marginalised individuals in specialty coffee. Erika will also be taking over the Coffee Masters™ Instagram and Twitter accounts throughout the show to cover the action live.