Many can agree that nothing quite beats a freshly brewed cup of coffee in the morning and with all of the at-home brewing tools available these days there are more ways to go about making a cup of joe than ever.

Having a dedicated space to brew and keep your equipment is essential. And while nothing can fully replicate the feeling of stepping into your favourite coffeehouse, here are a few tips to help you create the most authentic coffee shop experience possible with the ultimate home coffee bar.

The tips include:

• Start with a clean and tidy workspace
• Give it a view
• Quality coffee is a must
• Support your local roasters
• Incorporate a free-standing cart
• Think of your brewing tools as functional art
• Don’t skimp on the grinder
• Make it your own
• Invest in proper equipment
• Regularly restock your beans
• Don’t neglect your water quality

For the full list of tips, you can read the original article on Redfin.

The post 11 Ways to Create the Perfect Coffee Space at Home first appeared on Economic Journal.

There are so many coffee machines on the market these days that it can be confusing to start thinking about which one to buy for each situation. There are a number of considerations that may make the choice that little bit simpler and therefore whittle the selection down to something more manageable.

How many people?

The first thing to consider – and possibly the most important – is how many people the coffee machine is going to cater for.

If your office is small, fewer than ten people, it may be more cost-effective to opt for a pod machine or Nespresso. These coffee machines produce fantastic, high-quality coffees at the push of a button, and some come with the ability to steam and froth milk, too. The downside to these is that they are not really suitable for larger teams unless you have a couple of coffee machines side-by-side.

On the other hand, if you have a really large workforce coming in to use your open plan office each day, in-built coffee machines may be the way to go. These are expensive but oh, so worth the money. If your team of employees is larger, say in the 30 people plus bracket, these coffee machines are definitely worth your consideration.

Where will it go?

The next thing to think about is where your coffee machines would best be located. For most offices, the kitchen is the obvious choice. However, if your office has a kitchen that opens straight onto the workspace, noisy coffee machines may be too distracting. If your office kitchen is small, larger coffee machines may take up too much space.

But there’s nothing to say that coffee machines must go in the kitchen! As long as you have space for mugs, the possibilities are vast. Some coffee machines have milk compartments, so you don’t even need them to be near a fridge. Smart coffee machines do all the work for you.

What is the environmental impact?

There’s no getting around it: pod coffee machines are not environmentally friendly. The plastic waste that accompanies the Nespresso coffee machines is infamous. Though these coffee machines do produce delicious cups of coffee, they also create a problem that can easily be avoided.

Bean to cup coffee machines are much better. And as an added bonus, your office can have their say in which types of beans go in the coffee machines! A specialist delivery from a well-known company will keep them on their toes and will keep the coffee interesting enough for a little slice of novelty in the working day, without creating undue waste.

Have a think about what you’d like to do with your office and how you’d like to treat the natural world. You may find that reducing needless waste is more important than you realised!

What is the cost?

Possibly the biggest consideration when it comes to coffee machines. There are fantastic options available at every price point, from filter machines that cost less than £100 to multi-thousand pound in-built beans to cup coffee machines. It really comes down to how much you can afford, and how important coffee is to your workforce. There are loads of benefits to coffee, including keeping your employees happy and healthy and reducing time wasted by leaving the building in hunt of coffee, so it’s worth weighing up how much money you’ll save by keeping your team in caffeine.

Include in your consideration the cost of installation and all the extras. You don’t want any nasty surprises when it comes to paying the bill. But it’s also important not to give your employees something that doesn’t meet their needs, as this will just be throwing money away and will show a lack of respect, to boot.

Balance up the needs of your office with the available budget, then get the very best coffee machines that you can afford. This is a sure-fire way to show your staff just how much you appreciate them and give them a little treat each day.

Can you ask an expert?

When all’s said and done, you have things to do. Choosing your office’s first coffee machines may be important, but it’s not your job to be an expert in everything: there are people who are happy and able to counsel you on your options and help you make a decision. It may be worth getting in touch with a provider of coffee machines to see what they think, what their history of installing coffee machines in other offices tells them, and see how they may be able to help you.

Conclusion

Buying coffee machines is a big decision and one not to be taken lightly. Things to think about include how many people it needs to serve, where it will be placed, the environmental impact of providing coffee for an office full of people, and the costs of buying and installing a specialist machine. Luckily, there are experts whose entire job it is to know all about the coffee machines on the market, who will be able to inform and counsel you on buying your office’s first coffee machines.

The post Things to Consider Before Buying the First Coffee Machine for Your Office first appeared on Economic Journal.

Have you ever felt unbelievably reluctant to leave the bed on a Monday morning? When your alarm clock rings at 6am and you just feel an overwhelming urge to go back to sleep, then it can be hard to think about the day’s productivity that you must journey through.

One major point in one’s daily routine that helps get into the zone of productivity is coffee. There are a lot of people who gets the same kick from coffee – but how does it work?

Caffeine

Caffeine does a load of things to your body, and it’s no secret that caffeine is used in many different instances.

Caffeine is tasteless, which makes it useful in products such as sports-drinks and protein bars. But caffeine is also used in a long variety of medical instances, to proact drowsiness, headaches and also migraines for example.

In coffee, caffeine is a natural by-product of the coffee beans. The amount in each coffee-origin varies from each origin. For instance, Colombia is known for having the best and the most decaffeinated coffee beans in the world.

What caffeine does to our bodies when consuming it, is a chemical reaction that affects the central nervous system. Caffeine stimulates the central nervous system and will reach the brain. When it does, the most noticeable effect is alertness. You’ll feel less tired and more awake, so you can guess why many sport-athletes use it, and why so many people feel compelled to drink coffee beverages in the morning.

Of course, it’s important to mention that, caffeine is addictive. Too much consumption can make your body less susceptible to caffeine, making your body require more to feel the difference. Keep in mind that these are the more extreme cases.

It is, however, well known, that people who stop drinking coffee for a while, starts to feel withdrawal symptoms such as headaches. When your body becomes accustomed to the caffeine, it will need to get used to not having it in the system.

Coffee Taste

The taste of coffee is enough to remind many people of the effects that coffee can give you. Many people transfer to decaf coffee, feeling the same kind of rush as they did with regular coffee, though sleeping better. This effect can be argued to be a case of “placebo”, which means that you are drinking something else, but your brain thinks it’s what it’s used to, leading to a faux effect that can make you sleep better at night.

For some people who experience this, the mere taste of coffee, is enough to raise their energy-levels to be more productive.

Espresso Versus Filter Coffee

Espresso and filter coffee are very different, and I’ve known many people who have argued about what holds the highest amounts of caffeine.

You may think that a double espresso will wake you up in the morning, better than a cup of filter coffee would. And it may be true, depending on the amount of filter coffee you would consume.

But a regular cup of filter coffee (350ml) compared to a double espresso (60ml) will actually give you a caffeine kick stronger, than an espresso would.

In an espresso there is 60-100mgs of caffeine compared to a cup of filter coffee where it’s 95-180mgs of caffeine.

You may want to consider dust off that filter coffee that you put in the cupboard when you bought your new espresso machine. Or you may want to order a cup of filter coffee from your local coffee shop, instead of a latte or an espresso, if they have filter coffee.

Productivity

With all this talk about caffeine and the chemical process, it’s not hard to wonder, why coffee has become such a great beverage to improve your productivity.

With the effect of better awareness and energy, plus the taste that so many of us enjoy, this has become a beverage that has revolutionised the world for hundreds of years. But especially today, with the coffee industry growing so rapidly and speciality coffee shops popping up everywhere, it has never been easier to get a cup of coffee to keep you awake on those early mornings.

Coffee definitely improves productivity everywhere. It’s almost standard that every company has installed a coffee machine or more for their staff, knowingly that it will improve the happiness of their employees, as well as help them be more productive throughout the day.

Bio

Jonas Hoffmann is a coffee enthusiast who enjoys writing about all things coffee and sharing his knowledge on a variety of coffee courses. Read more of his articles on Coffee You.

The post Coffee and Productivity first appeared on Economic Journal.

Over the past few years, the coffee industry has shown a drastic change in many ways, and it continues to surprise us. Now more than ever, we need to look out for what’s new and popular in order to stay ahead of the game. What’s more, the industry’s challenges might even shake the status quo in unpredictable ways. Without a doubt, 2018 is shaping up to be a game-changer in the coffee industry driven by four major trends.

1. Growing Consumption

Worldwide coffee consumption grows at an average of 2.5% per year, and producers are struggling to keep up with demand. This increase in demand poses the challenge of having to increase productivity while decreasing costs, but at the same time presents new opportunities.

Part of the issue with keeping up with demand is the climate change that impacts growth. If the supply of coffee declines due to, for example, irregular rates of precipitation leading to unpredictable harvests and causes prices to rise.

Another potential issue is the shortage of labour because of the nature of the job. On most farms, picking coffee beans is seasonal work, and families struggle to make a living from their low wages.

As a result of these fluctuations and struggles, children of coffee-producing families often move to the city for better job opportunities. Experts say that the industry should work on a new strategy that adapts to the exponential growth, but these changes are likely to take time.

2. New Generation, New Coffee

The drastic increase in coffee consumption might not surprise us, but the preferred coffee types might come as a shock. The fastest growing consumption groups are generation Y and Z, who tend to be more educated and curious about new flavours than other age groups. Moreover, they are more willing to experiment with new types of beverages, especially if they are ‘instragrammable.’

According to experts, this year’s coffee trends will be dominated by quality filter coffee, cold and nitro brew, coffee-cherry tree, processed coffee, as well as other gourmet novelties that millennials are the most intrigued about.

The most pressing challenge for the foodservice industry is to keep up with what’s popular and learn about upcoming techniques and recipes. Boosting a menu by accommodating coffee specialities can be a risky investment, as it is hard to predict which coffee craze will stick around for the long haul. One thing is for sure: visually appealing coffee creations are more likely to survive in the era of social media, filters, and hashtags.

3. Sustainable Coffee

The idea behind sustainable coffee is to unite all players in the industry, from growers through roasters and retailers, to work towards the same goal. Their objective is to produce coffee in a way that not only conserves nature but also ensures fair pay and working conditions for local farmers. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), ‘25 million of smallholder farmers rely almost exclusively on coffee production for their livelihood.’

How can a company or an individual support the cause? You can see companies who have already joined the challenge on the Sustainable Coffee Challenge website. There are also different certification programmes like The Rainforest Alliance and Australian Certified Organic that provide sustainable coffee brands with a label to make the choice easier.

Many experts predict that unsustainable coffee won’t even be an option in the near future. Therefore, retailers feel the urgency to join the initiative in order to keep their competitive advantage.

4. Technological Development

As preparing coffee is becoming more sophisticated, the technology needs to follow to stay on top of new recipes. Therefore, the coffee industry is trying to meet the ever-growing demand by leveraging new technologies to be more convenient, speedy, and personalised.

Many new tech startups focus on improving the coffee experience by using mobile apps, smart coffee, fully automated coffee machines, and what not. When considering new technologies to implement, innovation and quality should be the main keywords but the social aspect is another considerable priority.

In short, tech innovations in the coffee industry, just like in many industries, continue to remove human error from the equation through greater automation and precision.

The post 4 Coffee Industry Trends to Watch out for in 2018 first appeared on Economic Journal.

Why The Days of Quality Coffee Might Be Numbered

#UKCoffeeWeek is in full effect this week with more ways to support coffee growing communities and enjoy a caffeinated beverage. This year UK Coffee Week 2018 and thousands of coffee shops across the UK is joining forces with Project Waterfall to raise funds for their next developmental project in the rural Jabi Tehnan district of Ethiopia.

From April 16-22, residents in the UK can frequent participating coffee shops to help support the cause.

With this inviting prospect in mind, we want to share with you some news from the coffee world: Arabica beans, the starting point of your favourite brew, are at risk.

How Much Coffee Do You Drink?

If you’re anything like us, you know how a cup (or more) of coffee in the morning is essential to start and keep you going throughout your day.

For something that we love and consume so much and so often, it goes without saying that we want only the best quality coffee coming out of our coffee machine.

As you can see above, we produce millions of coffee bags every year (a standard coffee bag weighs 60 Kg) and we consume tonnes of it: Finland ranks first in per capita drinking with more than 10 Kg per person every year. The tea-drinking United Kingdom comes very low in these ranking with a per capita coffee consumption just short of 3 Kg per year.

Different Varieties of Coffee

For several hundreds of years, cultivating and producing coffee has been a prerogative of countries such as Ethiopia, Indonesia and almost the whole of South America, where the best beans thrive; and it’s from these countries that we are unfortunately reporting bad news.

There are dozens of variations of coffee plants and species, however, only 3 of them are cultivated and sold worldwide: Arabica, Robusta and Liberian.

This last one takes up a very minor market share as it is mostly only produced in West Africa and rarely encounters the export market.

The famous Arabica beans, largely considered some of the best variants of coffee in terms of taste and quality, are by nature very delicate: they can only grow in certain temperature and altitudes and are very susceptible to diseases and pests that can ruin entire plantations.

For this reason, many countries – especially in Latin America – are testing an increase of production of Robusta, a stronger, more resilient variation of coffee plants that are, however, poorer in quality and thus usually dedicated to instant coffee and lower quality blends.

While some countries are against the mainstream spread of Robusta as our first choice coffee beans, large companies like ANACAFE in Guatemala, are boosting it and buying more fields for it.

However, Robusta still counts for a smaller percentage of the total coffee produced and we still produce lots of Arabica, so we should still be safe for a long time. Right?

No. The fragile nature of Arabica plants and their unique genes means that they are on the fast lane towards extinction, and the perils of diseases and changing temperatures around the world will fasten this dire process even more. We have seen this happen in the past already: both in 1890 and more recently in 2009 a leaf epidemic wiped out large chunks of the Arabica population in Latin America and certain parts of Asia.

Pesticides: Problem or Solution?

In a great effort to avoid this from happening, some companies – and the World Coffee Research (WCR) – are trying to crossbreed Arabica with other plants in order to make it stronger while preserving its beloved taste.

This strategy, together with the use of mass pesticide, has always been frowned upon, and many believe that it’s not the way we should approach the Arabica problem, but rather we should focus on sustainable farming practices.

Chemical treatments are never a positive aspect of our food and drink industry, nonetheless, untreated organic coffee is more susceptible to bacteria and fungi that grow spontaneously on the beans; on the other hand, sustainable practices like shade-grown coffee are less efficient and they still do not provide the same level of security.

Will Arabica Go Extinct?

If there is no change in our current approach to global warming and we are unable to stop pests from feasting on Arabica beans too much, the coffee that we all know and love might go extinct before 2080.

However, the same global change of temperatures that will make it impossible to grow Arabica where it is growing now, could possibly make other places potential candidates for new coffee plantations. Thus if we are lucky enough, we will keep drinking Arabica for many more years, perhaps just grown in new, unexpected places.

The post Why the Days of Quality Coffee Might Be Numbered first appeared on Economic Journal.

Since the British Nutrition Foundation’s annual healthy eating week is already in full swing, and healthy eating naturally goes hand in hand with the proper drinks, Economic Journal has decided to provide you with a short overview of one of the more controversial products. Similar to alcoholic drinks like beer and wine, coffee has been both commended and criticised with regard to its effects on our health. With Brits consuming around 70 million cpus of coffee per day, it might be interesting to look at these seven ways in which coffee might actually be beneficial for your wellbeing.

1. It Helps You Burn Fat and Improves Your Physical Performance

Caffeine is actually one of only a handful of natural substances which can have a positive effect on fat-burning, which is why it is also found in many common supplements. However, while drinking coffee can seriously boost your metabolism in some cases, the effects may be less powerful for frequent drinkers.
Did you know that drinking a cup of coffee before your workout can also significantly boost your athletic performance? This is especially the case when it comes to types of fitness focused on endurance, like running or cycling. Coffee can boost the amount of fatty acids in your bloodstream, enabling your muscles to burn them for energy.

2. It Protects Your Liver

Granted, a lower alcohol intake is still the first and foremost way to take good care of your liver, but coffee can actually be a big help as well! It can help lower liver enzyme levels; it does not even matter if you are drinking regular or decaf, since both have shown effects.

3. It Lowers the Risk of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s

In this case, scientific indications are quite strong, as several studies suggest that caffeine intake may actually make you less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease.
As one of the most common neurodegenerative diseases along with Alzheimer’s, it makes sense that Parkinson’s disease might be affected by caffeine as well. While drinking coffee can help prevent the disease from breaking out at all, it also has the potential to help already affected patients control their movements. In this case, however, it does seem to matter whether you enjoy decaf or regular coffee!

4. It Lowers the Risk of Getting Type II Diabetes

A disease affecting around 300 million people, Type II Diabetes has become a severe issue in the health industry. Drinking coffee, however, seems to entail a significant reduction in the risk of developing the disease – allegedly by almost 50%!

5. It Helps You Fight Depression

Drinking coffee appears to lower your risk of becoming depressed in the first place—and not, as you might think, because of the “caffeine high,” but because of the high amount of antioxidants it contains. Coffee has even been linked to lower risks of committing suicide, because it can act like a mild antidepressant by helping your body produce, for example, dopamine and serotonin.

6. It Provides the Main Supply of Antioxidants in the Western Diet

In a typical Western diet—especially American—nothing else provides us with more antioxidants than coffee. This is not to say that you should substitute your fruits and veggies entirely with coffee, but a cup every now and then will provide you with some essential dietary ingredients.

7. It May Make You Smarter

Of course, we all know that drinking coffee can increase our energy level and help us feel less tired. But because the effects of drinking coffee can stimulate the firing of neurons in our brains, it may actually improve several aspects of our brain function, enabling the brain to work more efficiently. Many complex functions like vigilance, reaction time, or memory can thus be influenced positively!

Be aware, though, that this is all a matter of quantity, as well as your individual needs and lifestyle. Economic Journal wishes you a happy Healthy Eating Week!

The post Healthy Eating Week 2017: 7 Surprising Health Benefits of Coffee first appeared on Economic Journal.

Shanghai is fastest-paced city in China and featured its unique Hai-style culture, houses China’s biggest coffee consumer market, and is making itself the trading center of coffee worldwide.

In this city, a cup of coffee smoothens the fast development of its economy and culture.
In this city, a cup of coffee could mean an idea, an opportunity and even wealth.

Since coffee beans were firstly discovered 2000 years ago, coffee has been an indispensable element of modern life.

“In our mind, coffee is not just coffee itself, it is the embodiment of energy and enthusiasm, opportunity and success. So, we make every effort to build an international and professional platform showcasing coffee products and its culture with which we could bridge the innovative and efficient communications between exhibitors and purchasers.”

Co-located Events

CAFEEX Barista Championship
Oriental Tea Art Performance Show
CAFEEX Business Match-making
Franchise Cafe Brand Meeting

Figures of Cafeex

Exhibition Area: 17,000㎡
Booths: 800
Exhibitors: 300
Visitors: 50,000

Visit the website and get registered at http://www.cafeex.com.cn

The post CAFEEX – Cafe Expo Shanghai 2017 first appeared on Economic Journal.

We all love going to a cozy cafe to enjoy our favorite cup of coffee, but who knew this could also help support the communities that grow our coffee for us! UK Coffee Week is making this possible by hosting a nationwide fundraising. During this week you can enjoy your morning coffee more knowing you are giving back to communities that produce the coffee we drink.

UK Coffee Week started in 2011 and since then it has helped more than 14,000 people in Rwanda, Tannia, and Ethiopia. This year it will take place between the 10th-17th April, 2017, starting that Monday and ending on Sunday.

So How Does It Work?

For every cup of coffee sold at coffee shops partaking in UK Coffee Week, the fundraising will receive 5p to be given to Project Waterfall.

In 2016, UK Coffee Week has raised more than £270,000 and donated 100% of these donations to Project Waterfall. Project Waterfall has helped two coffee communities: Oromia and Tokay Kutaye in Ethiopia by providing them with clean water to drink.

How Can I Be A Part of It?

If you own a coffee shop anywhere in UK,

• You can sign up to be among thousands of coffee shops taking part in coffee week. The early registration for UK Coffee Week 2017 starts on Monday October 10th, 2016. You can sign up by paying a small fee and receive free marketing material to help promote this important cause.

• You can also host your own fundraising event at your coffee shop and have a little fun yourself, as well. Why not host a concert or a workshop and donate the raised money to the fundraising campaign?

If you don’t own a coffee shop but love coffee, no worries! There are a few ways you can also support coffee week!

• As a coffee enthusiast, why not discover new coffee shops involved in the UK Coffee Week and get your cup of coffee from them during the week.

• Are you a loyal customer at your frequented coffee shop? Why not raise consciousness by mentioning about this event at your favorite coffee shop, if they are not already aware of it!

• Most importantly keep enjoying your cup of coffee while supporting the fundraising effort to help coffee growing communities access clean water.

The post UK Coffee Week: Let’s Celebrate Coffee first appeared on Economic Journal.

UAE’s annual coffee competitions call professional baristas to battle for most coveted titles

National UAE Barista, UAE Latte Art, UAE Brewers Cup, & UAE Cup Tasters Championships to brew storm

The 8th National UAE Barista Championship, the most anticipated competition in the Middle East’s coffee industry, is calling skilled and professional baristas to showcase their expertise and knowledge in the event that will begin on November 2, 2016 with a November 4, 2016 finale in Dubai. Besides, there will be three more equally exciting, competitions including the UAE Latte Art, UAE Brewers Cup, and UAE Cup Tasters Championships.

Baristas participating in the National UAE Barista Championship will be judged on a 15 minute performance, where they will prepare four batches each of identically prepared espressos, espresso-based milk beverages, and their very own creation of espresso-based signature beverages, while talking through the process, selection and story behind the drinks, to the audience. The winner of the title will receive the title of UAE’s Top Barista and will go on to represent UAE at the 2017 World Barista Championship which will take place in Seoul, South Korea.

The 5th National UAE Latte Art Championship, on the other hand, will also be a highly competitive platform for baristas to highlight their creative expression in an on-demand performance. Beverages prepared by competitors will be judged for visual attributes, creativity, identical patterns in the pairs, contrast in the patterns, and the barista’s overall performance.

Likewise, participants will have to prepare and serve three individual beverages from whole bean coffee for a panel of judges in the UAE Brewers Cup Championship, which promotes manual filter coffee brewing. Lastly, the UAE Cup Tasters Championship will test the speed, skill and accuracy of professional cuppers in distinguishing the taste of specialty coffees.

Anselm Godinho, Managing Director, International Conferences & Exhibitions, organisers of the Coffee Championships said: “The UAE coffee championships offer local baristas a tremendous opportunity to showcase their passion, ingenuity and knowledge in brewing a perfect cup of hot beverage in their profession. We have witnessed a notable increase in participants at the National Coffee competitions over the years with the Barista Championship being the most popular. Going by the current trend, we are upbeat that all the championships will receive wide participation from innovative, creative and talented baristas from the UAE.”

Sanctioned by Word Coffee Events (WCE) and affiliated with the World Coffee Championships, the UAE Coffee Championships will be part of the highly awaited International Coffee and Tea Festival which will take place from November 2 to 4, 2016 at the Meydan Gallery & Convention Centre in Dubai, UAE.

To register for the championship, log on to:

http://www.coffeeteafest.com/index.php/championships.

The post The 8th International Coffee & Tea Festival, 2-4 November 2016 first appeared on Economic Journal.

COTECA 2016 To Be Bigger and More International than Ever!

International trade exhibition in Hamburg a key meeting place for the Coffee, Tea and Cocoa trades

As an international trade fair, COTECA has become a key feature in the annual schedule of events for the coffee, tea and cocoa industries. Now taking place for the fourth time, the Coffee, Tea and Cocoa Global Industry Expo will be bigger and more international than ever, topping its own previous record with a total of roughly 40 exhibitor nations.

From 7 to 9 September 2016, 200 exhibitors will present all aspects of the trade, from cultivation to trading, and from processing through to top-quality finished products. Through a cooperation arrangement with the “Kaffee Campus” of the German Roasters’ Guild, there will be many products and services of particular interest to roasters. The accompanying two-day conference featuring international industry experts promises to give numerous inspiring insights into the future of the markets.

“Our expectations for COTECA 2016 have already been exceeded. We are looking forward to a fascinating event, hoping our exhibitors and visitors will have some great conversations and a very successful fair,” says Bernd Aufderheide, President and CEO Hamburg Messe und Congress GmbH.

The world meets at COTECA

Exhibitors and visitors are traveling to Hamburg from all around the world to attend Europe’s leading trade fair for coffee, tea and cocoa. The fair’s 200 exhibitors will include both, international industry leaders and small, innovative companies – from producers in the originating countries to tea merchants, and from raw coffee traders and the processing industry to manufacturers of packaging materials and machines.

Creative companies and start-ups will set up small marketstyle stalls in the COTECA Arcade to present their products. COTECA will feature exhibitors from Peru, Australia, Sri Lanka, Iran, Japan, China, and other countries. Mexico, Argentina, the United Arab Emirates, and Taiwan will be represented for the first time.

Japan to highlight green tea in special programme

Japan will present an impressive programme this year focussing on green tea and its preparation. Tea Grand Master Shindo Takatori from Shizuoka, Japan, Misako Lelong-Nohsoh, certified expert in Japanese teas and Japan’s Green Tea Ambassador to Paris, and Kazuko Chujo, Master Tea Expert from Hamburg’s tea school Omote Senke Chado, will prove their skills.

Workshops and presentations will demonstrate the traditional manual tea drying and rolling process which requires exceptional manual skill. The preparation of Matcha using a bowl and a bamboo whisk (chasen), and of leafy green tea using a Japanese teapot (kyusu), will be demonstrated in traditional tea ceremonies called Chado.

Kaffee Campus will feature comprehensive programme for roasters

Visitors will be able to attend a number of exciting lectures and workshops revolving around coffee beans, made possible through a cooperation arrangement between the fair and the German Roasters Guild’s “Kaffee Campus”. The spectrum of topics ranges from sustainability and human rights in coffee cultivation to quality criteria in artisanal coffee roasting and modern marketing strategies for roasters. Experts will offer highly informative workshops on subjects such as coffee preparation, sensory perception and roasting profiles.

COTECA conference to explore future market prospects

Science and business news as well as hot trends in the coffee, tea and cocoa universe will be presented by international experts at the accompanying two-day COTECA conference. The roster of speakers includes well-known experts such as Albert Scalla, Senior Vice President of Intl FCStone, a leading international financial services company based in the US, whose highly topical speech “Coffee and Cocoa: Price Risk Management in two of the most volatile products in the commodity markets” will highlight means and ways for companies to protect themselves against the risk inherent in highly volatile commodity prices.

Dr R.M. Bhagat, Deputy Director/Chief Scientist of the Tocklai Tea Research Institute in Jorhat, India, will speak about “Climate Change in Assam – recent research findings of future sustainability of tea in Assam”, presenting current research findings about climate change in the tea growing region of Assam.

Finally, Hanni Rützler, a leading food trend researcher in German-speaking countries, will report about her findings and recent developments in the world of tea. Her lecture is titled “Trends in tea consumption – drinkable enjoyment in transition”.

Furthermore, there will be various coffee cuppings and tea tastings on all three days of the COTECA fair, providing industry visitors with opportunities to learn about coffee and tea varieties from around the world and their special characteristics, and network with subject matter experts.

About COTECA

COTECA Coffee, Tea and Cocoa Global Industry Expo will be held at CCH Congress Center Hamburg from 7 to 9 September 2016, with opening hours 10:00 to 18:00. As a trade show for coffee, tea and cocoa, COTECA is Europe’s only business meeting that covers all three sectors. COTECA is accompanied by a high-quality conference addressing the future of the markets for coffee, tea and cocoa.

In cooperation with the Kaffee Campus of the German Roasters Guild, COTECA presents the whole range of coffee. The concept supporters of COTECA are the German Coffee Association, the German Tea Association, the German Association of Herbal and Fruit Infusions (WKF), and the German Cocoa Trade Association.

Please visit their website: www.coteca-hamburg.com

The post COTECA Global Industry Expo, 7-9 September first appeared on Economic Journal.