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NINE BARS continued from page 54 solace." He says that this year he'll approach the Northwest regional less as a standalone competition and more as a warm-up to the national. "It's the first round," Chapman says. "It is essentially what gets you the opportunity to go to USBC." And this year, finishing in second place at regionals comes with the extra reward of skipping the first round and automatically advancing, along with the regional winner, to the semifinal round of 18. With 12 competitors guaranteed a spot in the semifinals, that means only six competitors from the first round of 24 will advance to the semis. "That's a tough jump, especially at the U.S. level," Chapman says. "So the bye into the semifinals is a huge game changer for a lot of people." Another significant change caused by the format switch is in how competitors will be judged. Previously, several sets of judges switched off throughout the first round while one set of judges worked the finals. Now with finals eliminated, the top six baristas likely will have been judged by different people throughout the 56 Fresh Cup Magazine freshcup.com first round. Chapman sees this as a positive development also, as it increases the need for tight calibration between judges. "I think it's going to put a lot of heat on the judges, and people aren't going to want to judge unless they're 100 percent dedicated to it," he says. "I think as the years go by, the judging is going to get incredibly tight and incredibly good." GOING FORWARD When the Big Central kicks off in Minneapolis at the end of this month, many in the industry will be watching closely to see how the format change plays out. For Chapman, upping the competitiveness by tweaking regionals to serve as a USBC qualifier—and increasing community through the expanded events—are moves that are good for both the competition world and the industry as a whole. "It makes us stronger in continuing to push specialty coffee as a viable product for people to invest money into, which I think is what we're all in this for," he says.