COMPETITION · WLAC · GENEVA 2025
World Latte Art Championship: Chen Zhuohao Pours China's First Latte Art World Title
No tasting score. The art on top of the milk is the whole point — and the judges score it from a printed pattern card before you pour.
The World Latte Art Championship (WLAC) is the most visual of the SCA-sanctioned world competitions. Competitors submit a designs sheet in advance — drawn patterns they intend to pour — and judges compare the cup on the bar to the drawing on paper. Accuracy, symmetry, contrast, creativity, definition: each scored separately.
The format
- Preliminary round: two matching macchiatos and two matching free-pour lattes — the cup must match the drawing on the designs sheet, and the pair must match each other.
- Semi-final: two matching pours of a more complex design.
- Final: a designer-pattern set, evaluated on visual definition, colour contrast, creativity, and identicality between the two cups in each pair.
Etching is allowed in some classes; in others it is purely free pour. The barista controls flow rate by tilting the pitcher and adjusting height, with no funnel or stencil ever permitted.
2025: Chen Zhuohao, China — Geneva
The 2025 World Latte Art Championship final was held at World of Coffee Geneva in late June 2025. Chen Zhuohao, representing China, took the title.[1] In his post-final interview Chen described his design language as built from "dots and lines" — small, repeatable geometric primitives composed into rosetta-style wings and tessellating patterns, all poured from a moving pitcher rather than etched.[2]
Finalists: 1. Chen Zhuohao (China), 2. Ryusei Nozawa (Japan), 3. Elly (Ji-eun) Kim (Korea).[3]
Why it matters
Latte art is the only one of the world championships whose output is, by design, social-media-native. A WLAC final routine is a livestream-friendly demonstration of café craft — and the patterns that win in June tend to dominate Instagram by autumn.
References
- World Coffee Championships, "Announcing the World Latte Art Champion: Chen Zhuohao representing China!" (28 Jun 2025).
- Daily Coffee News, "Four New World Coffee Champions Crowned in Geneva" (30 Jun 2025).
- Fresh Cup Magazine, "Rooted in Craft: Meet the 2025 Latte Art and Coffee in Good Spirits Champions" (20 Aug 2025).