The setting for this year’s SCAE World of Coffee event was the beautiful coastal city of Rimini in Italy, and the stunning views and sandy beaches did not disappoint the thousands of visitors that attended SCAE’s biggest and best show yet.
This year’s event was a landmark in World of Coffee history, with a record number of companies exhibiting, as well as over 8000 visitors to the show across three days. At the heart of the action was this year’s World Championships, with the pick of the competitions being seen over at the World Barista Championships where Hidenori Izaki from Japan was named World Champion after a fiercely contested final day.
Over at the World Coffee Roasting Championship, Yu-Chuan Jacky, Taiwan was crowned this year’s winner after a world class performance, whilst at the World Brewers Cup Championship and the Ibrik Championship, Stefanos Domatiotis and Stavros Lamprinidis, both of Greece, were named champions respectively.
A total of 54 National Barista Champions, 27 National Brewers Cup Champions and 9 World Coffee Roasting Champions competed in the 15th World Barista Championship, 4th World Brewers Cup and 2nd World Coffee Roasting Championship.
All three Championships took place over four competition days at the World of Coffee in Rimini, Italy, as part of the Speciality Coffee Association of Europe’s, annual coffee event. Over 8,000 coffee fans from Europe and around the globe attended the event, and over 57,000 unique viewers streamed the competitions live online.
In addition to an incredible competition was the fantastic representation of exhibitors and coffee professionals, highlighted through the Awards for Excellence and the New Product of the Show Awards. This year’s winners thoroughly deserved their prize and were a great example to other professionals from within the community.
SCAE were also delighted to formally announce the introduction of the new Board of Directors. With some familiar faces returning for another term, and some new people stepping in for the first time, we’re all excited as we move into a new era for SCAE. It’s with great thanks to Drewry Pearson, our former President, that we now look to leadership from the new President, Cosimo Libardo, as we move into a bright future.
Other highlights from the show included a variety of seminars and workshops hosted by SCAE’s Education team, all of which proved to be an essential networking event for our members and were a great success. Each session was designed to offer every coffee enthusiast an opportunity to meet with likeminded individuals, as well as learn more about SCAE’s Coffee Diploma System and the intricate details built in to each module.
This year’s World of Coffee event also saw the launch of the brand new Barista Guild of Europe, an exciting new venture where Barista’s can join an exclusive community to network and take part in training, as well as sharing their coveted skills and knowledge with the Barista community. The BGE organisers were delighted to announce the first Barista Camp, to be held 5-8 September 2014 in Athens, Greece
As the curtain closes on Rimini 2014, we can all look excitedly towards Gothenburg 2015 where SCAE’s World of Coffee goes Nordic.
Source: SCAE
