One of the most exciting events for the coffee lovers and professionals in Europe is approaching and we will definitely be part of it.
Europe’s best-loved coffee event, World of Coffee, heads to Amsterdam in 2018. Our DABOV Specialty Coffee’s team is going to join the Specialty Coffee Association at World of Coffee from 21 till 23 June and reach thousands of coffee industry buyers and influencers within a unique mix of a trade show, education program, social events, and most importantly, the 2018 World Barista Championships. We can’t wait!
Europe’s Fastest-Growing Coffee Show
Traveling to a different European city each June, World of Coffee is the essential event for coffee professionals on our continent – drawing a loyal audience from the global specialty coffee community, more than 80% of whom return year-on-year. Brought to you by the Specialty Coffee Association, the event has more than doubled in size and stature over the last five years, growing from 3,000 visitors and 45 exhibitors to 6,800 visitors and 240 exhibitors in just 5 years. These results are impressive, aren’t they!
World of Coffee is a festival of innovation, entertainment & knowledge
The backbone of World of Coffee is the dynamic 5000 sq.m. exhibition featuring over 250 of the world’s leading coffee and Horeca industry suppliers. But Europe’s top coffee event is more than a trade show, it is a festival of innovation and learning comprising of several distinctive panels. Check out which they are so that you can make your programme and don’t miss anything important:
- World Barista Championships
- The SCA’s cutting-edge lecture series
- Two busy cupping rooms
- A week-long social programme of parties and networking events
- The ever-popular Roasters’ Village
- The Sustainability Forum
- The SCA Guilds Area
- The highly competitive World of Coffee New Product of the Show Awards
- The SCA Shop
We are thrilled to share with you that this year we are going to be straight into the eye of the specialty coffee storm during the World Barista Championship!
The 2018 World Barista Championship is fast approaching – in just under few weeks, from 20th to 23rd June, over sixty competitors will take to the stage in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, at the World of Coffee show. With regional competitions well under way, qualified competitors will have started planning their preliminary round performance – preparing three espresso-based courses in fifteen minutes to a panel of judges and the audience. Alongside the preliminary round on day one and two, competitors will also collaborate in groups of teams, as part of the WBC Teams Competition.
The Netherlands’ coffee industry is thriving, and what’s more, sustainability is of high importance to Dutch consumers – last year, the CBI went as far as to describe the country as “the epicenter of sustainability initiatives within the coffee sector”.
SCA has also announced a new round of Qualified Sponsorships
The Specialty Coffee Association has also announced a new round of Qualified Sponsorships for World Coffee Competitions starting in 2018 – affecting what equipment can be used for in the championships. At the moment, Simonelli and Mahhlkoenig are the espresso machine and grinder sponsors respectively. Other sponsors include Ally Coffee, Swiss Water, and more. Information about Qualified Testing for the sponsor position will be announced soon.
Over the last eighteen years, it’s been clear to see that behind every barista, there is a strong support network—from coaches to producers, to roasters. The World Barista Championship Teams competition is designed to foster and encourage that same spirit of mutual support amongst competitors. Participating competitors are grouped into ten teams, equally weighted based on historical performance of their National Body. Competitors continue to give the standard on-stage performance to the audience and a panel of judge, while working with and supporting their teammates behind the scenes. Each team also works a shift on the Team Bar, where competitors will work together to decide on a menu, equipment, and service.
Here are some of the baristas, that are going to participate this year:
The overall winner of the Teams competition will be determined by combining each team member’s individual score from the WBC preliminary round. The team with the highest combined score win the WBC Teams Competition, and some great prizes, including the chance to participate in a future WCE All-Stars event. The highest ranking member of the winning team who is not already qualified into semi finals will win a spot as the sixteenth semi-finalist, and continue in the World Barista Championship. In 2017 the WBC Teams competition was won by Team Tamper, which included Canada, China, Italy, Kenya, and Romania. Kenya’s Martin Shabaya qualified into semi-finals, and also joined the WCE All-Stars event at Hotelex Shanghai—keep your eyes peeled for more of the 2017 Team Tamper at upcoming All-Stars features!
Stay tuned for some more freshly roasted info, photos, and videos, straight from the event!
Sources:
https://www.worldofcoffee.org/
https://www.perfectdailygrind.com/2017/01/world-barista-championship-2018-amsterdam/
https://worldbaristachampionship.org/announcing-2018-world-barista-championship-teams/
After a few days of cupping, scrupulous selection and evaluation, the winner of the Best of Panama competition for 2018 was selected.
The annual edition of Best of Panama was held in Valle Escondido Resort & Spa and ran from 22 to 26 May. The event hosted more than 15 local judges, 18 international judges from the USA, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Australia, EUA and Japan and over 25 international guest testers from Asia, the United State, and Europe. We are also proud of our founder, Jordan Dabov, who was the only European to be invited as a judge for the last few years! They all confirm that the Geisha variety has the best and most deserved reputation in Panama.
On Best of Panama, a new record was scored by the washed Geisha
The washed Geisha scored a record result this year – 94.38 points out of a maximum of 100! This is a historic record since the highest rating so far is 94.11. It is for this reason that the question arises whether a maximum score of 100 points can be reached? “It would be great, but it would also mean that there would be no better coffee,” said Wilford Lamastus, President of the Specialty Coffee Association in Panama.
Will last year’s highest score on Best of Panama be reached in 2018?
For comparison, natural Geisha received 93.63 points, which is 0.48 less than its personal record from previous years of 94.11 points. Last year, the winner coffee was sold for $ 601 per pound at an online auction. Five years earlier, the price for the winner was $ 350.25. These differences not only show the quality of coffee but also help local development and gradual improvement in production. One can only guess how much the buyers will be willing to pay on this year’s online auction.
“Our costs are very high compared to the rest of Latin America. Only if we remain in the special category, this branch of coffee can provide better returns to the country,” appreciates producer Ricardo Koiner, manager of Kotowa.
Koiner supports his assessments of climate challenges, and Lamastus adds the impossible competition in volume with other exporting countries.
The weather this time led to the farms to have low production rates. “In many regions, 50% of the capacity was produced; in others, only 20%, “recalls Koiner.
In terms of volume, Lamastus takes Colombia as an example. The South American country sends abroad a minimum of 11 million bags per year. The special category of the Chiriqui highlands allows the harvest of some 200,000 bags, of which an average of 50,000 are sold in other markets.
For these and other organoleptic reasons, that is, texture, color, aroma, flavor and acidity, according to Bermúdez, the 50,000 bags of Panamanian special coffee captivate the public that seeks the most exalted grain.
Since last Wednesday they participated in the tastings of the coffee varieties produced in the highlands, where the pacamara, traditional, natural and geisha varieties are worked in their different modalities.
They are the cream of the coffee industry. “The buyers come, savor and negotiate quantities of 80 or 100 bags with the producers,” says Lamastus.
Others wait until the July auctions to compete for the most exquisite pounds of coffee in the world. Last year a buyer paid $ 601 for a pound of Geisha from Best of Panama. This year, experts now consider, that record can be broken.
Stay tuned for more info from the world of Specialty Coffee!
We are thrilled to share with you that one of the most significant events in the world of Specialty Coffee is currently underway – Best of Panama 2018!
Founded in 1996 by the Specialty Coffee Association of Panama (SCAP), the competition is now held for a 22 time! This event gives the world the opportunity to get closer to some of the most exclusive cafes such as Geisha for example! Thanks to SCAP’s members who have developed and established cultivation systems and processing methods that aim to create an outstanding product: „Our coffees have been ranked by experts as some of the best in the world in many international competitions, and our production is highly prized by the most demanding and discerning in the industry. We strive to promote a culture that is friendly with the environment: We understand that our water sources, forests, and wildlife are not only a key part of the success and uniqueness of our coffees, but also the most important asset to our communities,” said the locals.
Currently, SCAP has more than 50 active members that export its varieties of Specialty Coffees around the world and that are winners of prizes and recognition in different international taste competitions.
Also, the best of Panama represents the opportunity for local estates to promote the quality of their harvests, as this competition is overseen and judged by national and international experts in the specialty coffee industry. „For us coffee growers, the Best of Panama is a very important event, as it continuously raises the bar for the quality we strive to offer in our product,” said the producers.
This year, Best of Panama 2018 will take place in Valle Escondido Resort & Spa on May 22-26th. The event will host more than 15 preliminary local judges, 18 international judges from USA, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Australia, EUA and Japan and more than 25 International Guest Cuppers from Asia, USA, and Europe.
We are so proud to announce that our coffee hunter Jordan Dаbov was invited to be a part of the international jury in Best Of Panama. This honour is granted to cuppers from USA, Asia and Australia with high experience in cupping quality coffees. For years a European judge has not been a part of this event.
Follow us for more up-to-date information about the event and the results!
Small and medium coffee producers were the big winners in the Oro de Santa Barbara competition, with several of them selling their coffee at a thousand dollars per quintal dry parchment.
For four days, 25 international judges of eleven nationalities tasted 60 lots of coffee that had pre-qualified to participate in the competition, choosing the ten best aromatics from the land of the reed.
The grain grown in San José Colinas, became the Oro de Santa Bárbara coffee, reached a rating of 90.97 from the Pacayalito farm, Los Naranjos village owned by producer Miguel Ángel Tábora.
The second place was obtained by the grain produced in the Las Flores village, by the coffee grower Balbina Sabillón, who achieved a score of 89.65%, while the third place fell on the Cacaulapa farm, located in the village La Alianza, in the municipality of San José de Colinas, owned by Merlyn Paz with 89.43%.
Who received the best price at Oro de Santa Barbara?
But who took the best price and became the surprise of the competition was the sample of coffee maker Nery Rolando Muñoz Fernández, San Luis Planes, who despite having been in fourth place managed to get his grain to buy 15.25 dollars per pound.
It should be noted that the average purchase price per pound of dry parchment coffee in the national market is around 16 lempiras per pound and 1,600 lempiras per quintal.
Nery Muñoz became the leading producer of the competition by getting his grain auctioned at almost one thousand dollars per quintal, one thousand four hundred percent more than the normal market sale price.
The closing events of the event were headed by the designated Ricardo Álvarez, who stressed the importance of the small and medium producer selling their coffees directly, without intermediaries and at unthinkable prices for them.
“Who would have thought that a coffee farmer with less than an apple, disabled and about to go blind, has managed to get his grain to buy it at a thousand dollars a quintal, a thousand times more than its price in relation to the value of the local market, that’s what it’s about, to support people like Nery so that they have the necessary profitability to ensure a better life, “he said.
To reach the three finalists, the international tasters selected 10 coffees, among them, the grain that is harvested in the farms Guacamaya, El Milagro, La Bendición, Noriega, Las Flores, San Ramón and Buena Vista.
Oro Santa Barbara was promoted by the government through the presidential appointee Ricardo Álvarez, the mayor’s office through its owner, the lawyer Fátima Juárez, the Chamber of Commerce and Industries of Santa Bárbara, the Country Brand and the Secretariat of Economic Development, all under the vision that small and medium producers could compete directly and obtain better prices for the grain.
An international jury for the first time comes to Honduras to choose and buy Specialty coffee
The international tasters participating in the competition came from different countries, including Germany, Canada, Japan, China, Holland, Russia, Korea, Singapore, the United States and Bulgaria, all of whom were summoned by the well-known judges Sherri Jhons and Ez Yon, who since early April they were in Santa Bárbara to pre-select the aromatic they tasted in the competition.
During their stay in Santa Barbara land, the tasters visited different farms where they could roast coffee in an artisanal way and verify the production process in situ.
After choosing the first three places of the competition, all the coffees participated in the auction and according to the quality of the grain, they achieved prices between 6 and 15 dollars per pound.
“That was the idea, that the small producer could sell without intermediaries since these remain with the highest percentage and producers end up losing, they are the ones who have made a large investment in their farms to achieve a successful production,” he said. the presidential designee.
It is noteworthy that it is the first time in the history of Honduran coffee that 25 judges of eleven nationalities come to the country to choose and buy the best coffee in a department.
“The judges have assured me that next year they will participate again in Oro de Santa Bárbara and that they are willing to replicate this experience in other departments of the country” concluded Álvarez.
The department of Santa Barbara registers about 16 thousand coffee growers, those who harvest ten percent of the national production, about one million bags among the municipalities with the highest production are, Atima, San Nicolás, Colinas and also the Santa Bárbara mountain.
During the harvest period, the coffee sector generates one million direct and indirect jobs, represents the second source of foreign currency, after remittances, it benefits about 20% of the Honduran population that directly or indirectly depends on the crop.
Source:
http://www.latribuna.hn/2018/04/29/pequenos-productores-logran-precio-record-competencia-cafe-oro-santa-barbara/
The fourth Coffee Festival Oro de Santa Barbara will be held in Honduras and the best coffees from the region will be shown
During the festival, the foreign jury will be in direct contact with the producers. The judges are also going to visit farms and do sightseeing in the region so they could explore the beauty of the nature in the region.
Oro de Santa Barbara supports small and medium-sized producers
“The idea is that the small and medium producer can sell their coffee without intermediaries, since these remain with the highest percentage and producers end up losing, and it is they who have made a large investment in their farms to produce a successful production,” said José Luis Medina, president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Santa Bárbara, who together with the City Hall, the Government of the Republic and a specialized group of national and international judges are promoting the activity.
Darío Enamorado, a producer from the municipality of San Nicolás, said that in the department of Santa Bárbara there are “very good coffees that have not yet been discovered by the buyer”, so the competition is an initiative that will make it known what they really want.
Coffee is the golden grain in Honduras
Coffee is a leading agricultural product in the country’s exports and has established international prestige thanks to its quality. To date, about 16,000 coffee producers have been registered, which generate 10%, equivalent to a million sacks, of national grain production. Among the highest production areas are Atima, San Nicolás, Colinas and also the Santa Bárbara mountain.
During the harvest period, the coffee sector generates one million direct and indirect jobs.
For the Honduran economy, coffee represents the second generator of foreign currency, after family remittances.
Honduras in the fifth world exporter of coffee in 2016/17, according to the World Coffee Organization; It is also the third producer in Latin America and the first in Central America.
We are so happy to announce that we already have the results of Cup Of Excellence Nicaragua 2018.
Our coffee hunter and founder, Jordan Dabov, who was part of the jury in the contest of Cup of Excellence Nicaragua 2018, shared with us the important information on the phone.
Here is this year’s Top 20:
Jordan Dabov, who once again was part of jury of an important Specialty Coffee event, shared with us on the phone: “These four days were full of so many amazing and exciting coffees to taste! We are thankful to all the Nicaragua’s farmers for the great work and investment of energy they made in planting these tasteful coffees. We’ve tasted some unique lots and I really hope our participation here is motivating the farmers to continue growing.”
The adventure in search for the Truth About Coffee has begun! A month of exciting coffee events is ahead of us.
Our founder, Jordan Dubov, will embark on an exciting journey to Central America for a month, and in particular to Nicaragua and Honduras. He will join the international jury of the COE – Cup Of Excellence and also visit local farms! Meanwhile, however, he will also visit major coffee events in the US!
This year Cup of Excellence Nicaragua is going to be held from 9 April to 12 April.
The national jury started with 213 different coffees, 107 of which were only allowed to a national round. These coffees come from all over Nicaragua, used different methods to process them. This week, the national jury identified 40 coffees that qualified for the final. For the first time, Jordan Dabov – the founder of our company Dabov Specialty Coffee, will take an honorable participation in the jury.
Learn more about the process, the participants and the jury here.
Specialty Coffee Expo 2018
We are so happy that our founder Jordan Dabov is in the eye of the coffee storm and will share with us some of the spicy innovations from the World of Specialty coffee.
Oro Santa Bárbara – The Best Harvest of Western Coffee
Santa Barbara, Honduras, is a home of the Fourth Coffee Festival, where 25 international judges from 11 countries – Germany, Canada, Japan, China, the Netherlands, Russia, Korea, Singapore, the United States and Bulgaria, along with the judges Sherry Jones and Ez On taste the best coffee produced in the region for 2018. Our founder Jordan Dabov is going to be part of that amazing event.
Our team had the pleasure to attend a training at La Marzocco factory, a leader in the professionals’ coffee equipment around the world.
The company La Marzocco was founded in 1927 by Giuseppe and Bruno Bambi and has its origins in Florence, Italy, the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance. Even today highly specialized staff controls every manufacturing stage of each machine, which handmade for each customer.
This was our first visit, leaving us with a lot of useful information. Training in a company with almost 100-year history has allowed us not only to see the process of constructing coffee machines but also to get closer to the history and experience of a major international company.
We thank La Marzocco’s team for the wonderful two days at their factory.