2026 China Coffee Latte Art Championship Guiyang Final: Kunming Barista Li Jin Takes the Title

At a Glance (China Coffee Network): On September 25, the Guiyang division final of the 2026 China Coffee Latte Art Championship was held at the Guiyang International Conference and Exhibition Center. After a full da…

On September 25, the Guiyang division final of the 2026 China Coffee Latte Art Championship was held at the Guiyang International Conference and Exhibition Center. After a full day of fierce competition, Li Jin, a competitor from Kunming, claimed the crown with a steady performance and consummate skill.

Following the China Coffee Brewing Championship and the China Coffee Cupping Championship, the China Coffee Latte Art Championship is another professional coffee competition launched in the series. This year it landed in Guiyang for the first time, drawing 21 outstanding baristas from Hainan, Yunnan, Guizhou and other provinces to compete on the same stage.

The competition used a head-to-head knockout format: competitors were paired by drawing lots and had a time limit to create free-pour latte art, with no etching needles or sauces allowed anywhere in the process. Three visual judges and one technical judge scored the works comprehensively across surface quality, pattern difficulty and execution, overall visual impression, as well as workstation management, bar operations and hygiene. After round upon round of competition, champion Li Jin, runner-up Fu Yongyun, third-place finisher Zhao Youjing and one other barista will represent the Guiyang division at the national finals held at the end of the year.

“Compared with other competitions, this one is more challenging,” Li Jin told reporters after winning. He has worked in the coffee industry for 15 years and long regarded coffee as the cause he will strive for all his life. He made a special trip from Kunming to compete, and beyond the contest he also wanted to experience firsthand the rich atmosphere of Guiyang as a “city of coffee.” “Guiyang is now called the ‘coffee capital’ in coffee circles, and many tourists put drinking coffee in Guiyang on their must-visit list. This time I also want to check out Captain George, Dui De, Heishi and other cafés and take in Guiyang’s coffee culture.”

“In this competition, the competitors used the coffee cup as their canvas and milk as their ink. From delicate flowers to intricate geometric patterns and even famous landscape paintings, every piece felt like a perfect fusion of art and beverage, leaving one enchanted before even taking a sip,” said Qiang Hua, a member of the CCL China Coffee League committee and vice president of the Guiyang Coffee Association. He noted that bringing the event to Guiyang lets local baristas train through competition, learn where they stand against their peers, and absorb knowledge that cannot be learned in a shop. Guiyang now has more than 3,000 cafés, and the mutual reinforcement of competitions, market and culture will help the industry develop better.

Reporter: Tianyan News / Li Yaru

Editor: Luo Chang

Second review: Shen Anyong

Third review: Hu Lihua

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