I was talking to Jo from Beyond the Bean the other day, and I said, “I’m so looking forward to seeing you in London at the Caffe Culture/SCAE show and the World Barista Championship ”in just a little more than a month!” And she had a little panic attack. While we’re all excited for the upcoming show in lovely London, there is a lot to do beforehand!
First things first: the details. The Specialty Coffee Association of Europe (SCAE) annual Conference and Exhibition, CAFFE CULTURE, will take place at the Olympia event space in London, June 23 “25. During the Conference and Exhibition, the world’s most elite coffee competitions will take place, including the World Coffee In Good Spirits Championship; the World Cup Tasting Championship; the World Latte Art Championship; the Ibrik Competition; and of course, the World Barista Championship, which was won by this dude in 2009:
If you’re planning on attending the SCAE Conference, and you happen to be an SCAE or SCAA member, be sure to take advantage of the discounted participation rates! The impressive roster of speakers scheduled for the SCAE Conference Programme include Doug Zell of Intelligentsia; Paul Ettinger of Cafe Nero; James Hoffmann of Square Mile Coffee; Buck Hendrix of Starbucks; Richard Barclay of SSP Group; David Anderson of CADA; Jeff Grout of JG Consulting; and a super special and exciting speaker: David Schomer of Vivace in Seattle!
The Conference is designed to be as intimate and informative as possible for attendees, and is therefore limited to 300 participants, so sign up now! And for more details about the schedule, go HERE.
At the same time that the Conference is taking place, be sure to walk around the show floor and the competition areas to see the amazing talent on display from people like this guy…
And this guy, too.
And don’t forget this guy!
Speaking of the World Barista Championship: Barista Magazine is once again putting together the official WBC program, and as more information on the competitors is sent our way, I’ve been amazed by how many baristas are repeat national champions! I know I did a post on this before, but I’ve just been amazed at how many names I recognize as we assemble this program. Here is a list of the repeat champs so far:
Australia, Scottie Callaghan
Costa Rica, Auren Chacon
Denmark, Søren Stiller Markussen
Guatemala, Raul Rodas
Honduras, Ana Lucia Lardizábal de Hawit
Hungary, Atilla Molnar
Ireland, Colin Harmon
The Netherlands, Sander Schat
New Zealand, Luciano Marcolino
Norway, Oda Haug
Poland, Izabela Popiolek
South Africa, Ishan Natalie
Thailand, Benyapa Naowan
Uganda, Roberts Mbabazi
USA, Mike Phillips
This WBC is looking to be something pretty amazing… we can’t wait!!
