Every coffelover in the world knows it: World of Coffee is a unique occasion to discuss and taste excellent coffee from all over the world. The festival includes a series of seminars, workshops, tasting sessions, along with the most awaited moments of the event: the World Barista Championships, the World Brewers Cup and the World Aeropress Championship. For the 2016 edition, the Irish capital is hosting the festival from today until the 25 June.
The event: special awards, seminars and tasting sessions
Championships aside, many special awards are about to given to the best projects on coffee, divided into 5 categories: Young Entrepreneur, Working towards Sustainability, The Innovation Award, Lifetime Achievement. Other special awards are thought for the best products, from the Best New Professional Coffee Equipment to the Best New Consumer Product; the Best New Roasters Product and the Best New Packaging, together with the Best New IT & Technology Innovation and, finally, the Best New Non-Food/Coffee Beverage.
World of Coffee represents a rare occasion for professionals to debate and discuss the latest innovative products, techniques and so on. The festival is, therefore, a moment of exchange among experts from different countries that, on these days, can share their competences and knowledges with each other. For the first time ever at the World of Coffee, 2 seminar rooms are being held at the same time: the first one is about coffee science (timing, temperatures, different kinds of water, chemical reactions during the roasting process); the other one focuses on the business side of the coffee sector (how to start an enterprise, business management).
And, of course, many tasting sessions are available every day at the festival (some of them are publicly available whereas others are closed for registered people).
World Barista Championship
World of Coffee also represents the decisive moment of the barista and brewer championships. All the national winners from all over the world are ready to compete for the international award. During the World Barista Championship, the comeptitors have to make 12 coffee beverages in 15 minutes: 4 espresso, 4 cappuccino, 4 signature drinks (no alcol allowed); the 6 baristas that get through the first round will then compete for the title of barista of the year.
World Brewers Cup
The World Brewes Cup is also divided into 2 steps (preliminary round and final round). During the first part, the competitors have to complete 2 services, one by using a coffee which was selected for them by the judges, and the other one using the coffee they prefer.
World Aeropress Championship
One of the most appreciated extraction methods is aeropress. This method has become so popular in the past few years that a new championship has been created for it.
Alongside with the World of Coffee, there is a sport challenge happening these days. It's the JavaJog (5k run/10k walk), a charity race that was invented during the first Scae and Scaa international events. All the money raised in these days will be donated to supporting projects for women that work in coffee plantations.
by Michela Becchi