PARIS – Collectif Café, the most important French professional coffee federation is behind various competitions and, in particular, the Best Espresso Blend of France run at the Paris Coffee Show. This year, the Coffee Days organised by Collectif Café will serve as a backdrop to the launch of a new competition, that of the Best Regional Blend, sponsored by Faema and BWT.
For this first edition, 37 candidates will be proposing a blend to be submitted, blind, to a jury made up of five people (a bartender, a coffee roaster, a chef or pastry chef, a sommelier or coffee expert and a consumer).
Why this new competition?
It is the combination of the popularity enjoyed by its Best Espresso Blend of France competition organised at the Paris Coffee Show and a desire to better represent its regional members that has driven Collectif Café to organise this new competition.
What dates have been set for the 2023 Best Regional Blend competition?
In collaboration with Faema for the machines and mills and BWT for the water treatment system, Collectif Café will be coordinating the 5 tests in the hotel schools as follows:
- on 2nd May, École Ferrandi in Paris will welcome 10 candidates for Île de France
- on 3rd May, Lycée Stanislas in Villers les Nancy (54) will welcome 3 candidates for the North-East region and 10 for the North-West
- on 4th May, Lycée François Rabelais in Dardilly (69) will welcome 7 candidates for the South-East region
- on 5th May, Lycée des Métiers Jean Monnet in Limoges (87) will welcome 7 candidates for the South-West region.
The five finalists in the Best Regional Blend competition – one in each major region, will contest the title of Best Espresso Blend of France during the Paris Coffee Show to be held at the Parc Floral de Paris this coming 9th to 11th September.
A competition to train the younger generation in quality coffee
Sensitive to the role of educating the younger generation, Collectif Café, Faema and BWT have made a point of approaching the schools and hotel schools to organise the competition.
For David Serruys, Chairman of Collectif Café, the hotel schools are an important link in the coffee chain and “it is essential to highlight these establishments that train future waiters in cafés, restaurants and hotels…”
The French consumer is paying increasing attention to quality coffee and the training of tomorrow’s coffee experts satisfies a real need of the chain.
The opportunity to highlight agroforestry and responsible coffee
In line with the topic of the Coffee Days chosen this year “Agroforestry and Responsible Coffee”, the Best Regional Blend competition will provide the opportunity for participating coffee roasters to showcase their coffees obtained from agroforestry and for Collectif and its partners, to raise awareness of the challenges posed by sustainable coffee consumption and production.
About Collectif Café
Established in 1959, Collectif Café supports the French coffee chain, optimising and supporting all industry professionals: importers, coffee roasters, bartenders and coffee shops.
Through its two major events, the Paris Coffee Show and the Coffee Days, Collectif Café spotlights the small and medium traditional coffee roasters of the French coffee chain. It promotes the traceability, quality, taste and know-how of coffee roasters amongst consumers.
