AUSTRIAN AEROPRESS 2026

The road to Mexico City, they say, is paved with good recipes. Recipes for that killer AeroPress brew that sends the judges spinning. Which is exactly what it will take to win this national competition and go on to do battle in December at the World AP Championships.

So on Sunday, May 31st 2026 at 10.00 am the Rudolfstanz street festival - which takes place in the Viennese 15th district dubbed Rudolfscrime - will host the 2026 edition of our most beloved pressing competition.

Rudolfstanz is a three day local urban street festival held in front of the Techisches Museum Wien from 29th to 31st of May featuring all manner of sweet attractions like live music, DJs, street food, artisan stalls, kids' entertainment and dancing.

So come rain or shine (which means "findet statt bei jedem Wetter" in local street parlance) on Sunday 31st of May, Austria's best pressers are invited to take to the Eastern stage of the festival and show their mettle.

Come and join us, party for free or compete and buy a ticket here!

Win and fly on our dime to Mexico City to participate in the World Finals representing Austria.

These are the new rules of the AeroPress. We wish there were less rules like in the good old times, as this competition is not just about rules, it is about coffee, fun and party. And these rules have exploded in the past years which has to do with the immense popularity of the competition and the devotion of its followers. And 2026 features some significant rules changes.

Check them our at World AeroPress Champs We Don't Much Like Rules Page or below.

Please please read them, all your questions are answered in these rules.

Last updated: January 28, 2026. Asterisk (*) denotes changes from last season

1. Event Format

2. Brewer Specifications and Restrictions *

3. Filter Use and Guidelines

4. Brewing Accessories and Tools *

5. Brewing Regulations *

6. Water Regulations

7. Judging Process

8. Pre-Competition Preparation

9. Set Up Time

10. Competition Time *

11. Regional and National Competition Eligibility *

12. World Final Eligibility

13. No Winner Able to Travel

14. Conflict of Interest *

15. Procedure for Complaints and Disputes

For instance under point 5 it states that in 2026 you may use 20 grams of coffee in your AeroPress. Better read those rules, eh?

And lastly one important house rule:

If you have already participated in another national AP championship, you cannot participate again in ours. Be a sport and let others have their chance, too.

OATLY - wow no cow!

BRITA

LAMARZOCCO

COFFEE PIRATES - home of Austrian AeroPress

Rudolfstanz

THE TUNES

Get into the swing of things with our brand new 2026 AeroPress Spotify Playlist!

10.00 Event Start - all competitors must register and receive 1 bag of the Round 1 competiton coffee.

Time to practise with the coffee on stage - please bring your own equipment - meanwhile the rounds are drawn by the judges.

11.30 Start of Round 1: depending on the total number of competitors (max. 64), the rounds will be of 3 or 4 people competing against each other. The winner of each round advances. The losers might still receive a wild card to rejoin the competition at the Semifinals. Wild cards are possible throughout the entire competition.

15.00 Semifinals: every competitor with receive 1 bag of the Semifinals competition coffee and time to practise.

16.00 Start of Semifinals

18.00 Final Round: every competitor with receive 1 bag of the Finals competition coffee and time to practise.

18.30 Start of Final Round

19.00 Award Ceremony

20.00 Event ends

These times are just an approximation, no one can really tell how this goes. Which is the beauty of it.

Round 1 and Semifinals:

Guatemala Pampojilá

It is a natural, yet very clean and juicy and an unusual variety for Guatemala, a Ruiru11, usually found in Kenya. It is an F1 hybrid made up of many varieties such as Catimor, K7, SL28, N39, Rume Sudan and others. It was created as a high yield, coffee leaf rust and CBD resistant variety that still delivers high cup quality

Finals:

Colombia Finca Nogales Lavender Haze

This orange bourbon was dried together with flowers and reminds us of Felix Jaehn's remix of TayTay's song Lavender Haze. It seems deceptively easy to brew a great cup from this floral tornado of a coffee - yet to make it really shine requires the mastery of a true AP champion.

Sale of all competitions coffees will start Monday 18th of May on Coffee Pirates website and at the coffeeshop (Spitalgasse 17, 1090 Wien). And a little later at resellers Kaffeeothek and Gota Coffee ´.

All competitors will receive a free bag at the start of the competition.

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Host or Publisher COFFEE PIRATES / Oliver Goetz