TriestEspresso!

While we were at Coffee Fest Seattle, one of Italy’s most famous coffee shows ”TriestEspresso ”was taking place on the other side of the world, in Trieste, Italy, to be exact. I was lucky enough to visit Trieste back in 2004 for the World Barista Championship, so I can testify that it’s a pretty awesome place to experience specialty coffee, in any form, and has been for hundreds of years.

As we haven’t yet figured out how to be in two places at once, I’m relying on this press release from TriestEspresso for all the details about how this year’s event went. If you were there and want to share some stories about it, please leave a comment!

The fifth edition of TriestEspresso Expo (October 28-30) has closed with a new record and widespread satisfaction among the exhibitors, producers and visitors that have flocked to Trieste from all over the world for this three-day event dedicated to the entire espresso supply chain. The whole coffee industry has gathered in Trieste and the figures for this international event eloquently reflect its scope and importance. 8757 visitors (forecast: 8000) coming from 85 countries (forecast: 80) have outnumbered those from the past edition (2008) by 24.2% while 230 exhibitors from 22 countries (Austria, Burundi, China, Colombia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Rwanda, Slovenia, South Korea, Switzerland, USA, Vietnam, Yemen) have signed agreements worth millions of euro and established new sales channels. TriestEspresso Expo is the second most significant event in the town, after the Barcolana sailing regatta, for its ability to produce externalities throughout the provincial territory with an estimated turnover for local businesses (hotels, restaurants, museums, shops, transport) worth 5 million euro. The 2010 edition of TEE has occupied the entire area (11000 sqm) of the Trieste exhibition complex.

Launched in the year 2000, TriestEspresso Expo (a biennial fair) has experienced a progressive expansion culminating with the use of all available exhibition areas in this year’s edition. For the first time this year, the first exhibition day has been opened also to the public, thus giving the opportunity to non-business visitors to go around the exhibition stands.

œThe distinctive feature of this edition was the quality and productive potential of all players from the industry  observed Franco Bazzara of Associazione Caffè Trieste. œThis was the most successful edition of TriestEspresso in terms of turnover and this fact is all the more remarkable considering the current economic downturn affecting also the coffee sector. I believe we should continue to go along this path in order to help Trieste maintain its established status as the world capital of espresso coffee .

The fourth Partnership between European coffee museums was also held in conjunction with TriestEspresso Expo. After the partnerships with the Museum für Kaffeetechnik-Probat Werke in Germany in 2004; Caferama-Badilatti in Switzerland in 2006 and Kaffee Kompetenz Zentrum of Vienna in 2008, this time it was the turn of the Musée de l’aventure Peugeot here in Trieste.

Participants to the event included the delegate from the French Musée de l’aventure Peugeot (a company established exactly 200 years ago for the production of blades, timber saws and coffee grinders), Mr. Fabrizio Taiana (secretary of Club Storico Peugeot Italia). The meeting saw also the participation of the honorary Consul of the French Republic in Trieste, Christia Leggeri, with a presentation on the ties linking Trieste to France, and Mib professor Stefano Pilotto. Furio Suggi Liverani, President of Trieste Coffee Cluster, was also invited.