Support us The Taiwanese winner Bala (center) of the 2026 World Latte Art Championship in San Diego. His nationality was later inexplicably changed from 'Taiwan' to 'Chinese Taipei.' Image: Instagram Screengrab When Bala stepped onto the podium in San Diego in April, holding the trophy for the 2026 World Latte Art Championship, the backdrop behind him said “Luckin Coffee” — the Chinese chain that was an official sponsor of the event. He had just poured a raccoon, a giraffe and red pandas to claim the title with a winning score of 531 points. The official announcement listed him as representing Taiwan. About a week later, however, the Specialty Coffee Association quietly changed “Taiwan” to “Chinese Taipei” in the World Coffee Championships’ records. There was no announcement or explanation for why the change was made. Only a revision — soon followed by reports that the WCC had also stripped past rankings PDFs from its website, hiding the historical record of who had represented whom. The renaming of a barista may seem like a footnote to Beijing’s larger pressure campaign against Taiwan — the warships, the semiconductor controls, the diplomatic isolation.
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