History of the Cezve/Ibrik Championship (CIC)

The Cezve/Ibrik Championship (CIC) is an annual international coffee competition that judges the preparation of coffee brewed in a cezve, also called an ibrik: a small, long-handled pot traditionally made of copper, brass, or ceramic. Competitors prepare a traditional cezve/ibrik drink and a signature cezve/ibrik drink for a panel of judges within a fixed time limit. The championship is one of the seven disciplines that make up the World Coffee Championships, alongside events such as the World Brewers Cup and the World Coffee in Good Spirits Championship.

History and Origins

The cezve/ibrik brewing method predates espresso and filter coffee by centuries, with roots in the Ottoman Empire’s 16^th-century coffeehouses. The method spread from the Middle East through the Balkans, North Africa, and the Caucasus, and it remains a daily ritual in Turkey, Greece, Armenia, Bulgaria, and Iran, among other regions. In 2013, UNESCO inscribed Turkish coffee culture and tradition on its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, formally recognizing the preparation ritual’s cultural weight.

Establishment of the Championship

A trial event for the discipline was staged in Copenhagen before the competition’s formal launch. The first official World Championship of Cezve/Ibrik took place during the COFFEENA trade fair in Cologne, Germany, in 2009, organized by the Speciality Coffee Association of Europe (SCAE).

Ten competitors took part in that inaugural edition, preparing drinks without additives, drinks with spices and sugar, and signature drinks for the judging panel. Christina Koumpouni of Greece won the first title, ahead of Reinhard Grebien of Austria and Aysin Aydogdu of the United Kingdom.

Organizing Body and Purpose

The championship was founded and run by the SCAE. Following the 2016 merger of the SCAE and the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) into a single Specialty Coffee Association (SCA), oversight passed to World Coffee Events (WCE), the SCA’s competition arm, which now organizes the CIC as part of its wider World Coffee Championships portfolio. The competition’s stated purpose is to preserve and promote the cezve/ibrik brewing tradition, elevate it within the specialty coffee industry, and give competitors a global stage to showcase both technical skill and cultural heritage.

Competition Format and Rules

Each national champion advances to the world final, where competitors prepare two drinks: a traditional cezve/ibrik drink made with unflavored water and coffee only, and a signature cezve/ibrik drink that may include additional ingredients. Under current rules, each competitor serves both drinks to two sensory judges, producing four total servings, within a 15-minute routine that also includes a technical judge’s evaluation of preparation and workstation consistency.

Coffee must be served in a 50–110 ml traditional cezve/ibrik cup, filled to within 5 mm of the rim, and an external heat source is required for preparation. The rules have changed substantially since 2009, when competitors had 12 minutes and prepared six drinks across three categories.

Stavros Lamprinidis, the 2014 champion, proposed blending elements of the barista and Coffee in Good Spirits rule sets into the CIC format to make the competition more accessible to newcomers, a change adopted in the years that followed.

Judging Criteria and Scoring System

Competitors are scored across sensory and technical categories. Sensory judges evaluate the balance of sweetness, acidity, and bitterness in each drink, along with aroma, body, and overall harmony, and any added ingredients must complement rather than mask the coffee’s qualities. Technical judges assess cleanliness, consistency of preparation between drinks, and adherence to equipment and service rules. Presentation, cultural storytelling, and stage presence also factor into a competitor’s overall score, since the championship explicitly encourages entrants to bring a personal or regional cultural element to their routine.

Championship Categories

Unlike disciplines such as the World Barista Championship or the World Latte Art Championship, the CIC does not split into separate sub-disciplines. Instead, it is structured around the two required drinks: the traditional cezve/ibrik preparation, which highlights technical fidelity to the historic method, and the signature cezve/ibrik preparation, which allows competitors creative latitude in ingredients, presentation, and cultural framing.

Qualification Process

Competitors qualify by winning a national Cezve/Ibrik Championship, run by their country’s licensed SCA National Body or Competition Body. National bodies nominate a single representative to the world final in years when standard nomination rules apply, though regional championships, such as the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Cezve/Ibrik Championship first held in Dubai in 2015, have also served as qualifying or promotional events for competitors from countries without an established national competition.

Past Winners

➡ 2026 Cezve/Ibrik Championship

Notable Milestones and Records

The 2018 cancellation risk faced by the entire World Coffee Championships season in 2020, due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, marked the only full-year gap in the competition’s modern history; the CIC resumed in 2021 in Athens under revised health and safety rules. France has produced three consecutive champions, Pierre de Chanterac (2023), Jordan Tachnakian (2024), and Charles Boyenval (2025), the longest single-country winning streak in the championship’s history.

The United Arab Emirates has produced three champions overall (Karthikeyan Rajendram in 2017, Michaela Ruazol in 2022, and Jane Espante in the 2026 edition), reflecting the country’s growing specialty coffee scene and its role as a regular host city through the Gulfood and World of Coffee Dubai trade events. Greece has won the title four times (2009, 2014, 2015 runner-up notwithstanding, and 2016), more than any other nation across the competition’s first decade.

Impact on the Coffee Industry

The championship has helped move the cezve/ibrik from a regional domestic tradition into the specialty coffee mainstream, placing it alongside pour-over and immersion methods judged at events like the World Cup Tasters Championship and the World Coffee Roasting Championship. Competitors have introduced modern tools, such as the AeroPress and siphon brewers, into cezve/ibrik routines, prompting debate within the specialty coffee community about how far innovation should extend within a five-centuries-old method.

The competition has also expanded the geographic footprint of cezve/ibrik brewing in specialty cafés, with national championships now held in countries such as Poland, Sweden, and France that fall outside the method’s traditional Ottoman-influenced region.

Evolution and Future Developments

Rules governing the CIC have been revised multiple times since 2009, most significantly after the 2014 championship in Rimini, when the competition adopted stricter alignment with barista and Coffee in Good Spirits scoring conventions to standardize judging.

The championship’s host cities have shifted from being staged as a standalone or regionally hosted event toward consistent inclusion within the annual World of Coffee trade show, alongside the World Barista Championship and World Brewers Cup. The event continues to draw competitors from an expanding roster of national bodies each season, with World Coffee Events publishing final rankings and rule updates on its official website ahead of each edition.

See Also

• History of the World Brewers Cup (WBrC)
• History of the World Barista Championship
• History of the World Latte Art Championship
• History of the World Cup Tasters Championship
• History of the World Coffee in Good Spirits Championship
• History of the World Coffee Roasting Championship (WCRC)

References

1. Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) — World Coffee Championships, official rules and rankings archive
2. World Coffee Events / wcc.coffee — Cezve/Ibrik Championship official pages
3. Sprudge Coffee News
4. Barista Magazine Online
5. Daily Coffee News (Roast Magazine)
6. Perfect Daily Grind
7. Comunicaffè International
8. Global Coffee Report
9. Fresh Cup Magazine
10. STiR Coffee and Tea Magazine
11. UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists
12. European Coffee Trip