The Barista League Debuts Its New Format in Prague, and Izolda Zogranian + Max Hook Take the Win

The coffee competition opened this year’s season in Prague with a reimagined format, and Germany’s Izolda Zogranian and Max Hook walked away as champions. 

BY VASILEIA FANARIOTI
SENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT

Photos courtesy of The Barista League

What to know:

• Coffee competition The Barista League kicked off its 2026 season in Prague, Czech Republic, introducing a new format where service and concept accounted for 62% of competitors’ total scores
• Germany’s Izolda Zogranian and Max Hook took home the win, with a performance centered around making specialty coffee more approachable

The Barista League (TBL) returned to Prague this spring for the first European stop of its 2026 season—and it returned with more than just a familiar backdrop. A year after the Czech capital hosted one of their most memorable events, the TBL team arrived back with a fundamentally redesigned competition format, one that has been in development since 2025 and is now being rolled out across a global season spanning six continents. 

Teams representing Portugal, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Latvia, Ukraine, and the U.K. took the stage over the course of the event, competing in front of a live audience and a global online viewership. When the scores were tallied, it was Izolda Zogranian and Max Hook of Germany who took home the win—a duo with more than four years of working history and a concept centered on making specialty coffee genuinely approachable for those who have always felt on the outside of it. 

We sat down with Izolda and Max to talk through their preparation, their approach on stage, and what they hope to do with the win. 

Barista Magazine: Congrats on your win! How did you prepare for The Barista League competition? Did you have a strategy going in? 

Izolda & Max: Thank you so much! While we were able to dedicate a couple of hours to cuppings of the provided coffees, as well as doing our taste testing for our cocktail and mystery ingredient drink, most of our strategy consisted of us being able to rely on each other.  

Sadly, Izolda moved out of the city right in the middle of preparation for The Barista League, so after setting out the ground ideas and having settled on our vision for the drinks, we had to do the fine tuning of our recipes separately with mutual trust. Which is why we think our approach is best described by our values—community. Finding a person who you can rely on and have full confidence in is probably the most important thing in those circumstances. 

How did you aim to stand out from the other teams, whether in approach, style, or energy? 

We know that we work well under pressure together and how to be professional without losing the fun and the connection to our customers. This synergy was what we wanted to present to the judges. One of our ideas on how to stand out was not to fall too deep into rigid competition talk and sound too rehearsed.  

Having a rough sketch of what to talk about let us focus on our connection with the judges in the moment and allowed us to circle back on topics that were brought up at the beginning of our service without it sounding all too staged—even with us standing up on the stage. So, the goal was to make everything as close to a real-life experience as possible. And, of course, to trust in each other that if one of us fell short in their part of the presentation the other would be able to pick up and continue the conversation and portray our concept without any uncomfortable energy. 

What makes The Barista League different from other competitions—and what did you love most about it? 

The community. The way most teams were rooting for each other—even between the rehearsals and the different training sessions, teams were just bonding, letting each other try their drinks, being excited to share their visions, inspirations, and ideas.  

The way the TBL team made us feel welcome, and not just as a cog in the wheel of the competition. How accessible the whole thing is—no sourcing your own coffee and ingredients. Sometimes it felt like just showing up and being fueled by passion is enough. That we had access to the score sheets beforehand also helped us understand what to prepare for and what the judges would be keeping an eye out for. 

How did the team dynamic work between the two of you? Any funny or memorable moments from backstage? 

Since we have been working together for over four years and being more than just work besties, there was just a serene sense of trust and understanding between the two of us. But also, to try and break the tension of participating on stage we tried to joke around and have fun, as we always do. The moment that stands out most—probably sharing cocktails with the other teams backstage. Maybe a bit too many cocktails. 

One unique aspect of The Barista League is the live interaction with judges. How was that experience for you, especially being able to respond and engage in real time? 

We loved the idea of the judges actually being customers in our imaginary café. And with this in mind, we tried to treat them just as such. In a café setting it would feel unnatural to keep a monologue up and running for ten minutes with the customer keeping quiet.  

Our concept was all about people being new to coffee, and cafés sometimes overcomplicating things—that resulting in people feeling overwhelmed and left out. By giving the judges the choice between something approachable and something more advanced we wanted to strike up a conversation on that topic. This led to us asking them about a memorable moment of their first time experiencing specialty coffee and how accessible that situation was for them as a customer. And discussion is always a fun experience! 

Who or what inspires you most in the coffee industry right now? 

People going beyond the boundaries is something that inspires us always—pushing for more and thinking outside the box, whether it is finding new ways to approach coffee or speaking up for what is right within the industry.  

We had the pleasure of being a part of Brew Revolution’s journey a couple of months ago, where we brewed some coffee together and had some nice chats. One important topic they raised was mental health within the coffee industry, and everything that comes with it. That was a topic that came to mind many times since it had been brought up. 

Looking beyond the competition itself, how were the months of preparation, and what was your overall experience working with the TBL team and everyone involved? 

Honestly, there is not much to say apart from great. The support from the TBL team was incredible every step of the way. Shoutout to the team that made it possible and keeps doing this for passionate people all over the world. 

Now that you’ve taken home the win, what’s next for you? Any big goals, projects, or coffee dreams on the horizon? 

As mentioned in our competition concept—making coffee accessible and making it easy to approach for all. We also want to continue making the coffee community feel more and more like a big family around the world, where you can always approach your local barista for friendly advice or bond over your coffee experiences. A lot of coffee people are already connected, but sometimes it’s important to remember that this can be as easy as sharing a love for the same thing. 

If you had to describe your Barista League experience in three words, what would they be? 

Fun. Friends. Wholesome.

The Prague 2026 winning performance is available to watch now on The Barista League’s YouTube channel. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Vasileia Fanarioti (she/her) is a senior online correspondent for Barista Magazine and a freelance copywriter and editor with a primary focus on the coffee niche. She has also been a volunteer copywriter for the I’M NOT A BARISTA NPO, providing content to help educate people about baristas and their work.

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