Simple Kaffa

Simple Kaffa (興波咖啡) operates out of Zhongzheng District in central Taipei, Taiwan, and is the home base of Berg Wu, who took the World Barista Championship title in 2016. That win remains the shop's most cited credential, but the operation has since grown into a multi-location roaster-café with its own sourcing program and an explicit focus on staff development.

The Chinese name 興波 — loosely, "rising waves" — predates the WBC win, but the championship put Simple Kaffa on international itineraries almost overnight. In 2019, travel publisher Big 7 Travel ranked it first on its list of the world's 50 best coffee shops. Rather than trading indefinitely on that recognition, the team's stated direction has shifted toward what their about page calls "a base for passing on craft": training younger baristas to hold a quality baseline consistent enough that the specific barista behind the bar shouldn't matter.

On the roasting side, Simple Kaffa documents green beans by terroir before they enter the roaster — tracking origin, processing method, and the environmental conditions of each lot. Their about page frames the roaster's role as an interpreter of those accumulated signals, working at the intersection of precision data and sensory judgment. The shop sells retail coffee online, including a drip-bag gift box line, and has produced limited-run collaborative releases, including a 100-piece titanium cup series with Japanese metalworker Horie commemorating the tenth anniversary of Wu's WBC win.