Filipino invention shines at the World Barista Championships

Multi-hyphenate Michael Harris Conlin just added another designation to his growing roster of accomplishments.

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The social entrepreneur (he's CEO and president of Henry and Sons), 2025 National Barista Champion, two-time World Barista Championship semifinalist, and Manila Bulletin Agriculture contributor (you can read his columns in our magazine and on agriculture.com. ph) is also an inventor.Conlin recently placed 13th in the World Barista Championship (WBC) in Milan, an event that he calls "the F1 of the coffee world."

"It's baristas from over 50 countries bringing the best of the best coffees and we're all urged to innovate and push the boundaries of coffee forward within a set of rules. Being able to just compete is a huge honor already."

AVANT GARDENER

YVETTE TAN

The first time Conlin competed was in 2019, where he placed 15th using an Ethiopian, Philippine coffee blend. "At the time, a lot of people were saying it was a fluke. And I felt it was a fluke, too," he said. "That's what pushed me to compete again. I wanted to see if I could make it into the semifinals. The hope was really to win. Nobody ever competes not to win."

This year, he placed 13th using the rare Colombian eugenioides and our very own Philippine Liberica, commonly known as barako.