A conversation with World Barista Champion Jack Simpson

Thank you, mate.

Pleasure to be here.

So obviously now the world's aware of your skills in coffee being World Barista Champion 2025.

Why don't you give us a little bit of an insight on your story in coffee? When did it begin and when did you start to get super excited about being the best in the world?

Yeah, good question.

I started when I was about 16.

So, I got a part-time job just by chance.

I was handing my resume out to a few different places and just wanted money on the weekend.

So, landed a job in a small cafe in a small country town in regional Victoria.

And they had a coffee machine.

And it was one of those things that I sort of, I took notice very quickly because there was customers coming in just for coffee every day.

And that sort of amazed me, not being a coffee drinker at 16.

It's amazing to think people come in every single day and pay, you know, $4 or $5 back then for a cup.

So that really sort of got me engaged and I really wanted to learn how to make it.

So I jumped on the machine but made terrible coffee early on and quickly realized that I need to drink coffee to understand what I'm doing.

It's going to affect the overall outcome and getting customers to come in and try my coffee.

So That's where I got started.

I'm not sure about around the world, but in Melbourne, it's very difficult to create a career as a barista.

I didn't really think of it as a possibility early on.

I tried my trade in carpentry and I did my apprenticeship there.

I didn't know what to do.

I still had this passion for coffee, but I didn't think it was a possibility.

Until I was sort of working around Melbourne, visiting lots of cafes, chatting to baristas, and they actually sort of encouraged me to actually give it a go, and I did.

And ever since then, I had my goal set on achieving as much as I can in the coffee world, and I'm still on that path now.