The Korea Coffee League, based on the Korea Barista Championship (KBC), which started in 2003 as the first public barista competition in South Korea, consists of several competitions. In teams of three—one team leader and two team members—baristas compete in various challenges. These include the Korea Team Cupping Championship (KTCC), where teams compete by judging coffee quality; the Master of Cupping (MOC), which aims to improve understanding of coffee varieties and enhance cupping skills; the Master of Brewing (MOB), a competition using various brewing tools; the Ikawa Korea Roasting Championship (IKRC), a roasting competition using the Ikawa sample roaster; and the Korea Coffee Roasting Championship (KCR), where participants roast coffee freely using their own roasters with a designated green bean.
These six competitions together represent South Korea’s top coffee contests.