Before we talk about the U.S. AeroPress Championship 2026, let’s talk about AeroPress.
AeroPress is a simple and accessible coffee brewer, but it gives you endless room to experiment. You can make a clean, pour over style cup, a concentrated shot, something closer to a French press, or build your own recipe. That freedom is what makes AeroPress special. It’s a brewer built around creativity, curiosity, and technique
The AeroPress Championship started in 2008 in Oslo, Norway, when Tim Wendelboe and Tim Varney began experimenting with AeroPress recipes and wondered who could brew the best cup. What started with just three competitors grew into a global competition, with national champions from around the world eventually competing for the World AeroPress Championship.
This year, the U.S. Championship came to Boston, our hometown, hosted by Atomic Coffee Roasters. Thirty six competitors from across the country came together to compete using the same AeroPress and, most importantly, the same mystery coffee.
The mystery coffee is one of the most exciting parts of the competition. Competitors do not know what coffee they will receive until competition day. That means you cannot spend weeks developing a recipe specifically for the coffee. You have to taste it, understand it, and make decisions quickly. You have to figure out the coffee’s character, what it needs from your recipe, and how to bring out the best flavors with the limited time you have.
This year’s U.S. competition coffee was Ethiopia Ayla Bombe, a washed heirloom lot from Sidamo, grown between 1,950 and 2,000 meters. Every competitor received the same coffee, so nobody had an advantage from choosing their own beans. The difference came down to how each brewer understood the coffee and what they could do with it.
Each competitor had limited time to develop a recipe, brew, and present their coffee to the judges. The judges tasted the coffees and selected their favorite, with the winner moving forward to the next round until only the finalists remained.
And yes, that meant Akira and Pack eventually had to face each other.
After all the rounds, our own Phillippe Akira Kato became the 2026 U.S. AeroPress Champion, with Pack taking second place and Justin Enis from Enjoy Coffee Roasters taking third.
🏆 Phillippe Akira Kato — Newbery Street Coffee Roasters — Boston, MA
🥈 Pack Katisomsakul — Newbery Street Coffee Roasters — Boston, MA
🥉 Justin Enis — Enjoy Coffee Roasters — Providence, RI
Bringing home 1st and 2nd place is something we still can’t quite believe. We are incredibly proud of Akira and Pack, especially knowing how many talented brewers they had to compete against to reach the final.
A huge thank you to the World AeroPress Championship, Atomic Coffee Roasters, and especially Matthew Coade for bringing the U.S. Championship to Boston and creating such an incredible event.
And congratulations to our friend Justin and the entire Enjoy Coffee Roasters team on taking third. We are proud to share this podium with you.
This was more than a competition for us. It was a chance to represent Boston, compete alongside some of the best brewers in the country, and celebrate the coffee community we are lucky to be part of.
1st and 2nd in the U.S. AeroPress Championship. Still feels unreal. 💚☕️
