ISTANBUL, Turkey – Held by dsm group under the primary sponsorship of the leading Turkish com-pany Paşabahçe, the third Istanbul Coffee Festival took place at Küçükçiftlik Park from October 6-9, 2016.
The festival played host to over 150 coffee brands and broke a new record by attracting almost 30,000 coffee fans.
Last year, Istanbul Coffee Festival received the title of Europe’s biggest coffee festival, and this year it became one of the world’s two largest coffee festivals along with London Coffee Festival.
Bringing together the leading brands of the third wave coffee movement and the culture based on this very concept under one roof, Istanbul Coffee Festival featured many of Istanbul’s leading specialty coffee shops, coffee bean brands, coffeemaker manufacturers, designer products, and treats that go with coffee.
Coffee lovers enjoyed tasting, training, workshops and seminars, at-home coffee brewing methods, concerts, and live art performances.
In addition, many coffee experts from Norway, Denmark, Germany, El Salvador, Greece, the UK, Iran, and the US attended Istanbul Coffee Festival to share their knowledge and experience with the festival’s professional guests.
One of the world’s two largest coffee festivals in Istanbul
Alper Sesli, the founder and president of dsm group which carried out the festival, made a statement regarding the event. He said this year’s Istanbul Coffee Festival broke a new record by attracting al-most 30,000 visitors and that this year more coffee beans were consumed compared to last year’s amount of over 1,750kg.
According to Sesli, 85,000 coffee cups were prepared for Istanbul Coffee Festival and this figure increases to over 120,000 when the cups of the coffee brands showcasing their products at the festival were included.
He emphasized that Istanbul Coffee Festival, where three met-ric tons of daily milk were used, received the title of Europe’s biggest coffee festival last year and that it became one of the world’s two largest coffee festivals this year.
He also pointed out that in addition to this year’s attendance record they also brought together 80,000 coffee enthusiasts in the last three years and stated that 1,200 people worked at ICF 2016, the latest link to this huge event.
According to Sesli, events like Istanbul Coffee Festival contribute to the economic recovery and this year was no exception. The four-day economic contribution of the festival totaled $2 million.
Sesli emphasized that coffee is the world’s second most traded commodity after petrol and today Turkey’s share in the European coffee market is 14 percent which indicate that the coffee sector has been growing rapidly in Turkey.
In addition to the contributions of coffee chains, third wave specialty coffee also played an important role in this development.
Finally Sesli thanked the festival’s Communication Solution Partner Türk Telekom, the coffee brands supporting the event, people visiting the festival, and in particular the festival’s main sponsor Paşabahçe.
SCAE Turkey winners announced
The Turkish auditions for Specialty Coffee Association of Europe (SCAE) were also carried out at the festival.
SCAE Turkey Championship was launched under five different categories: “The Best Barista”, “Latte Art”, “Cezve & İbrik – Turkish coffee pots”, “Brewing”, and “Roasting.”
As a result of an assessment by a panel of experts, Nisan Ağca, Özgür Genç, Koray Erdoğdu, Orkun Usta, and Serkan Sağsöz won in the categories of “The Best Barista”, “Latte Art”, “Cezve & İbrik – Turkish coffee pots”, “Brewing”, and “Roasting” respectively. SCAE Turkey winners will represent Turkey at the World Championship events
