Felix Hohlmann at the Barista World Championship 2026: 25th place in Panama City
Rank 25 out of more than 50 national champions: That's Felix Hohlmann's result at the World Barista Championship 2026 in Panama City. Felix entered as a two-time German Barista Champion, after 2024 in Busan it was his second World Championship. He didn't make it to the semifinals. We're satisfied anyway, and so is Felix. Why is explained further down. First, it's about everything in his presentation: the two coffees, the milk, the signature drink, and the question that shaped his 15 minutes on stage.
Barista World Championship 2026 in Panama City: Format and Result
The World Barista Championship took place in Central America for the first time this year, as part of World of Coffee Panama. A fitting location: a large portion of the coffees that have won world championship titles in recent years come from Panama.
You might know the format from our articles about the German Championships. In 15 minutes, participants prepare four espressos, four milk-based drinks, and four signature drinks. Four sensory judges evaluate each beverage, and technical judges assess work methods and cleanliness. In round one, all national champions compete, the best 16 advance to the semifinals, and six of those advance to the finals.
Felix took the stage on Friday in round one and finished in 25th place.
Felix' Presentation in Video
"Am I Good Enough?" The Theme of the Presentation
Every World Championship presentation has a theme that ties the three courses together. Felix chose a question that has accompanied him since his first competition: Am I good enough?
"Am I good enough? Yes, always. But there's always more I can learn in every moment."
Felix is the youngest of four brothers. As the youngest, he wants to keep up with the older ones, and he's been extremely competitive in games ever since. Early on, he learned that losing a game and being worth less than his older brothers are two different things.
This distinction came back to him in 2013, at his very first competition, the Swiss Brewers Cup. Felix was so nervous that he ground his AeroPress coffee far too fine. So fine that the carafe cracked on stage. It felt like he wasn't good enough. But he was, Felix says today. He just didn't yet know where his room for growth lay. Since then, he's competed year after year, now at more than 20 competitions.
Both coffees in the presentation tie back to this story. Felix has worked with both farms before, and both have asked themselves this same question in the time since.
Espresso: Gesha 1931 from Gesha Village
In 2015, at one of his first barista competitions, Felix used a coffee from Gesha Village. The farm in western Ethiopia is run by Rachel Samuel and Adam Overton. They went into the wild forests around Gori Gesha, where the Gesha variety originally comes from, and collected seeds to replant on their own farm. The name Gesha 1931 commemorates the year Gesha was first collected in this region.
"The coffee was beautiful then, the coffee today is outstanding," Felix said on stage. Because the farm has improved year after year.
The championship coffee comes from the Oma block at around 2000 meters elevation. After selective harvest, the cherries were floated and then dried naturally for 28 days. At the beginning, the cherries lie in a thin layer so they don't over-ferment. Over time, the layer gets thicker. This slows drying and brings high sweetness and clear floral notes.
Felix described these aromas to the jury for the espresso:
Along with medium, citric acidity and a medium body with silky texture.
Normally, you ask the jury to stir the espresso before their first sip. Felix used a technique instead that he developed on his way to the 2024 World Championship in Busan. Together with researchers from the University of Freiburg, he discovered that gently swirling the cup prevents polymers and lipids in the espresso from clumping. This makes the espresso taste fuller and creamier. Read more about it and how to try it at home in the article Coffee Waving: Improve Espresso with Vibration.
Milk Drink: Nitro Natural from Maguta Estate in Kenya
For the milk drink, Felix looked back mentally to the 2013 Brewers Cup. Back then, he had a washed Kenya in his bag, and a classically washed Kenya had been the gold standard for years.
David Maguta, also known as David Ngibuini, asks himself the same question on his farm Maguta Estate in Nyeri as Felix does: Is a traditionally washed Kenya still good enough? He started experimenting, first with a CM washed, then with a Nitro natural. Felix used this Nitro natural for his milk drink.
The cherries of the SL28 and SL34 varieties go into a sealed tank flushed with nitrogen for six days after harvest. They then dry for 25 days on African raised beds. The nitrogen prevents oxidation and keeps tropical fruit aromas in the coffee.
What's interesting is the milk. Felix used a blend of two components:
95 percent lactose-free milk from Schwarzwaldmilch, freshly imported to Panama and concentrated to half its volume using freeze concentration. In this process, water is removed from the milk in the form of ice. Sugar, protein, and fat remain, the milk becomes sweeter and gets more texture.
5 percent coconut-oat drink from ROA. The coconut note bridges to the tropical aromas of the Kenya.
Felix steams the blend to only 50 °C so the fruity aromas of the coffee are preserved. The aromas in the glass:
Signature Drink: Gesha with Grape Juice and Kombucha
The signature drink is the creative part of the presentation. Felix asked himself how he could transform the fine structure of the Gesha Village espresso into something completely new. The ingredients:
Plus a medium wine acidity.
Both coffees were roasted on a drum roaster. The Gesha Village 14 days before the performance, in 9 minutes to 190 °C final temperature, for maximum sweetness and balance. The Kenya 15 days before, in 10 minutes to 189 °C. The short Maillard phase emphasizes the tropical fruit notes so they stand out against the milk.
Our Equipment on the Championship Stage
In Panama, our new pressure tamper had its first major stage appearance. Felix wanted a tamper he didn't have to think about during competition. We developed it according to his specifications. The contact plate rests on the portafilter rim and keeps the tamper straight. Two springs ensure consistent tamping of 8 to 10 kilograms with each shot.
KM Professional Pressure Tamper 58.55 mm
2-spring system · 8 to 10 kg tamping pressure · for all 58 mm portafilters
Price in shopFelix also steamed the milk with equipment from his own house: with our KM milk pitchers, which he developed together with Michel and which we use in our cafés and courses.
Rank 25: What the Jury Feedback Tells Us
Felix is very satisfied with his performance, and we as a team are too, with both the performance and the ranking. After the round, there was a debriefing with the jury, and the feedback was detailed enough for us to gain a lot from it.
Felix was especially praised for his technique. His flavor descriptions for the espresso and milk drink were precise. With the signature drink, however, we lost points—it was rated less favorably overall.
Then there are the taste points. Felix' espresso was rated as good, earning three points. For very good and thus four points, it wasn't quite enough. Because each beverage is judged by four judges, every step between three and four points counts four times for the espresso and milk drink. These exact points were what we were missing for the semifinals.
The presentation itself ran very smoothly, technically everything worked perfectly, and Felix felt comfortable on stage. We received a lot of positive feedback from people close to us and from strangers.
One point from the debriefing particularly stuck with me: Felix was quite calm during his presentation. He didn't deliver a high-paced show that's all in from the first moment. He was calm, friendly, and purposeful, and he was entirely himself. Many people greatly appreciated that, and I found it very strong too. You saw Felix as a person and felt it—a personality was on that stage showing themselves. That fits perfectly with the theme of his presentation.
Perhaps a different kind of performance would have left a different impression with the jury. But it was Felix' presentation, and it was honest. I'm convinced it was exactly the right choice to do it this way, because it was so much him.
Conclusion
Rank 25 at the Barista World Championship 2026, a technically clean presentation, and feedback we can work with. The difference to the top 16 came mainly from the signature drink and the step from good to very good in the espresso and milk drink. Felix ended his presentation with a sentence that also speaks for us as a team:
"'Good enough' is not a finish line and was never a label for who we are. It's the point where the comfort zone ends and progress begins."
You can find all previous titles and World Championship rankings of our team in the overview Kaffeemacher Titles, Medals, and Top Rankings.
