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tags: [] - coffee/business - coffee/history/figures aliases: - Sasa Sestic WBC - Saša Šestić created: 2026-05-10 updated: 2026-05-10

Sasa Sestic

Tags: #coffee/business #coffee/history/figures Aliases: Sasa Sestic WBC, Saša Šestić Related: World Barista Championship | Carbonic Maceration (Coffee) | Specialty Coffee MOC Status: ✅ Complete

Overview

Sasa Sestic is an Australian coffee professional of Serbian origin, based in Canberra, Australia, and the founder of ONA Coffee. He won the 2015 World Barista Championship in Gothenburg, Sweden, representing Australia. His competition routine introduced CO2-assisted carbonic maceration processing to a global specialty coffee audience and is widely regarded as a turning point in the history of coffee processing, launching an era of experimental and fermentation-driven post-harvest methods.

Background and ONA Coffee

Sestic founded ONA Coffee in Canberra, Australia. The name ONA derives from Outstanding Nicaraguan Arabica, referencing a coffee he sourced in the early years of the business. ONA Coffee has grown to include multiple café locations in Canberra and operates as a respected roastery and professional training centre. The business reflects Sestic's dual focus on competition-level quality and accessible café experience.

ONA Coffee's training programme has produced a number of competitive baristas and contributed to Canberra's profile as an unexpected hub of Australian specialty coffee activity.

2015 World Barista Championship

Sestic won the 2015 World Barista Championship in Gothenburg, Sweden, competing as a representative of Australia. His winning routine used a Colombian coffee processed using a CO2-assisted carbonic maceration technique — a method adapted from the wine industry, specifically from the macération carbonique process used in Beaujolais wine production.

In the carbonic maceration process as applied to coffee, whole cherries are placed in a sealed vessel and flooded with CO2 gas, displacing oxygen and creating specific anaerobic fermentation conditions. The resulting cup displayed intensely fruity and aromatic characteristics that were markedly different from the clean, washed coffees that had dominated WBC competition to that point. The judges and the wider coffee community responded strongly to the distinctiveness of the cup profile.

Impact on Coffee Processing

The 2015 WBC win is considered a pivot point in specialty coffee history. Before Sestic's victory, competition coffees at the WBC level were predominantly high-quality washed lots valued for clarity, cleanliness, and terroir expression. His demonstration of carbonic maceration as a repeatable, quality-driven processing technique opened the competition — and the wider specialty coffee market — to a new paradigm.

In the years following 2015, experimentally processed coffees — including carbonic maceration, anaerobic fermentation, and co-fermentation with added substrates — became increasingly prevalent in competition routines and on specialty roastery menus globally. Sestic's routine effectively catalysed what is now recognised as the experimental processing era in specialty coffee.

See Carbonic Maceration (Coffee) and Anaerobic Processing for detailed explanations of these techniques.

Origin Work

Sestic travels extensively to origin and maintains direct working relationships with producers in Colombia, Ethiopia, and other producing countries. His origin partnerships focus on collaborative processing innovation — working with farmers to develop and refine specific fermentation protocols that produce distinctive, competition-viable cup profiles. This collaborative model has influenced how processing innovation is now conducted at origin level across the industry.

Key Facts

  • Australian coffee professional of Serbian origin; based in Canberra
  • Founded ONA Coffee (Outstanding Nicaraguan Arabica), Canberra
  • Won the 2015 World Barista Championship in Gothenburg, Sweden, representing Australia
  • Competition routine used CO2-assisted carbonic maceration on a Colombian coffee
  • Technique adapted from wine industry macération carbonique process
  • The 2015 win is considered the catalyst for the experimental processing era in specialty coffee
  • Before 2015, WBC-winning coffees were predominantly washed lots; after 2015, experimentally processed coffees became prevalent
  • Direct origin relationships in Colombia, Ethiopia, and other producing countries

References

This article is part of All-About-Coffee.com - The comprehensive coffee knowledgebase.

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