HAMBURG, Germany – As an international trade fair, COTECA has become a key feature in the annual schedule of events for the coffee, tea and cocoa industries. Now taking place for the fourth time, the Coffee, Tea and Cocoa Global Industry Expo will be bigger and more international than ever, topping its own previous record with a total of roughly 40 exhibitor nations.
From 7 to 9 September 2016, 200 exhibitors will present all aspects of the trade, from cultivation to trading, and from processing through to top-quality finished products.
Through a cooperation arrangement with the “Kaffee Campus” of the German Roasters’ Guild, there will be many products and services of particular interest to roasters.
The accompanying two-day conference featuring international industry experts promises to give numerous inspiring insights into the future of the markets.
“Our expectations for COTECA 2016 have already been exceeded. We are looking forward to a fascinating event, hoping our exhibitors and visitors will have some great conversations and a very successful fair,” says Bernd Aufderheide, President and CEO Hamburg Messe und Congress GmbH.
The world meets at COTECA
Exhibitors and visitors are traveling to Hamburg from all around the world to attend Europe’s leading trade fair for coffee, tea and cocoa.
The fair’s 200 exhibitors will include both, international industry leaders and small, innovative companies – from producers in the originating countries to tea merchants, and from raw coffee traders and the processing industry to manufacturers of packaging materials and machines.
Creative companies and start-ups will set up small market-style stalls in the COTECA Arcade to present their products. COTECA will feature exhibitors from Peru, Australia, Sri Lanka, Iran, Japan, China, and other countries. Mexico, Argentina, the United Arab Emirates, and Taiwan will be represented for the first time.
Japan to highlight green tea in special programme
Japan will present an impressive programme this year focussing on green tea and its preparation. Tea Grand Master Shindo Takatori from Shizuoka, Japan, Misako Lelong-Nohsoh, certified expert in Japanese teas and Japan’s Green Tea Ambassador to Paris, and Kazuko Chujo, Master Tea Expert from Hamburg’s tea school Omote Senke Chado, will prove their skills.
Workshops and presentations will demonstrate the traditional manual tea drying and rolling process which requires exceptional manual skill.
The preparation of Matcha using a bowl and a bamboo whisk (chasen), and of leafy green tea using a Japanese teapot (kyusu), will be demonstrated in traditional tea ceremonies called Chado.
Kaffee Campus will feature comprehensive programme for roasters
Visitors will be able to attend a number of exciting lectures and workshops revolving around coffee beans, made possible through a cooperation arrangement between the fair and the German Roasters Guild’s “Kaffee Campus”.
The spectrum of topics ranges from sustainability and human rights in coffee cultivation to quality criteria in artisanal coffee roasting and modern marketing strategies for roasters. Experts will offer highly informative workshops on subjects such as coffee preparation, sensory perception and roasting profiles.
COTECA conference to explore future market prospects
Science and business news as well as hot trends in the coffee, tea and cocoa universe will be presented by international experts at the accompanying two-day COTECA conference.
The roster of speakers includes well-known experts such as Albert Scalla, Senior Vice President of Intl FCStone, a leading international financial services company based in the US, whose highly topical speech “Coffee and Cocoa: Price Risk Management in two of the most volatile products in the commodity markets” will highlight means and ways for companies to protect themselves against the risk inherent in highly volatile commodity prices.
Dr R.M. Bhagat, Deputy Director/Chief Scientist of the Tocklai Tea Research Institute in Jorhat, India, will speak about “Climate Change in Assam – recent research findings of future sustainability of tea in Assam”, presenting current research findings about climate change in the tea growing region of Assam.
Finally, Hanni Rützler, a leading food trend researcher in German-speaking countries, will report about her findings and recent developments in the world of tea. Her lecture is titled “Trends in tea consumption – drinkable enjoyment in transition”.
Furthermore, there will be various coffee cuppings and tea tastings on all three days of the COTECA fair, providing industry visitors with opportunities to learn about coffee and tea varieties from around the world and their special characteristics, and network with subject matter experts.
About COTECA
COTECA Coffee, Tea and Cocoa Global Industry Expo will be held at CCH Congress Center Hamburg from 7 to 9 September 2016, with opening hours 10:00 to 18:00.
As a trade show for coffee, tea and cocoa, COTECA is Europe’s only business meeting that covers all three sectors. COTECA is accompanied by a high-quality conference addressing the future of the markets for coffee, tea and cocoa.
In cooperation with the Kaffee Campus of the German Roasters Guild, COTECA presents the whole range of coffee.
The concept supporters of COTECA are the German Coffee Association, the German Tea Association, the German Association of Herbal and Fruit Infusions (WKF), and the German Cocoa Trade Association.
