Category: Events

Word is spreading throughout the food & beverage industry about inaugural Dublin Coffee & Tea Festival 2014.  This unique event, which will celebrate the ever-more sophisticated consumer tastes for coffee and tea in Ireland, is fast becoming a must-do on the industry calendar as the place to present your offering directly to the consumer and is due to take place at the RDS, Dublin 12-14 September 2014.

The Dublin Coffee & Tea Festival will be brimming with features for all to enjoy including The Roasters’ Village, The Cupping Room, The People’s Stage, The Festival Roastery, The Food Village, Fringe Events and not to mention the National Competitions

Coffee excellence is the hallmark of Speciality Coffee Association of Europe – SCAE (who are organising the event along with the Irish Foodservice Suppliers Alliance – IFSA) and at the Festival its Irish chapter will run a number of national competitions allowing the public to view the very best in action over the 3 days.

Competitions scheduled to take place so far include The National Brewers Cup and the semi-finals of the much-lauded Irish Barista Championship, the National Latte Art Championship (the finals of which will take place at CATEX 2015), and first-ever The National Home Barista Championships.

The Festival will be home to a new event showcasing the emerging new trend of ‘home barista’. Over the recent years there has been a steady growth in the number of consumers purchasing their own equipment for use at home and experimenting in roasting and brewing methods. This competition will allow the home baristas take to the stage to demonstrate their skills and compete with pride in front of an audience.

The Festival is already enjoying the support of some key companies on the Irish coffee and tea scene including:  3FE Coffee Ltd, Ariosa Coffee Roasting Company, Badger and Dodo, Boutique Coffee Roasters Ltd, Bailies Coffee Company, Bewleys, Cloud Picker Coffee, Coffee Hub, Coffee Mojo, Espresso Tech, Hancock & Abberton, Insomnia, Java Republic, Joes Coffee, Kingfisher Tea, Marco Beverage Systems, Mrs Doyles Tea, Niks Tea, Robert Roberts, Solaris Botanicals and Suki Tea.

Said Sean Martin, Chairman, IFSA “We believe we had a terrific concept in developing this event that not only allows the sophisticated tea and coffee market in Ireland to showcase their products directly to their target audiences but also indulged the ever more discerning tastes of the irish consumer today by presenting the latest products and trends to them all at one event and under one roof”. He continued, “ The fact that so many well known brands have signed up to take part in the show is testimony to the fact that our instincts were correct and this truly will be a popular event for all. Of course the staging of the various competitions not least the consumer-participant Home Barista Championship, along with the fringe events will lend further spark to the excitement all round.”

For further information on features, competitions and exhibitors check out www.dublincoffeefestival.com

March will be an incredible month for coffee lovers as the “Brew Ha Ha” weekend sees some of the most eagerly awaited coffee events coincide on one big weekend at the Twisted Pepper on Dublin’s Middle Abbey Street.

Coffee lovers from as far away as Russia, Scandinavia and even Australia convened on Dublin for last year’s event and this year will be even more equally enticing to coffee enthusiasts everywhere.

First up on the Friday 30^th March is the Irish Brewers Cup where we seek to find our national representative who will follow up on Keith O’Sullivan’s victory at last years World Championships. This event pits some of the countries finest baristas in a battle to find the most skilled filter brewer and promises to be a hotly contested event.

Saturday sees Tamper Tantrum Live return to the stage at the Twisted Pepper in what is one the coffee industry’s premier education-focused conferences with a unique urban twist.

Last year’s speakers included World Barista champions, Espresso Machine innovators and Coffee bloggers; tickets sold out in a matter of days. This years line-up is a tight-lipped secret at the moment but is guaranteed to be just as prestigious.

Sunday is a double header with proceedings opening with the Irish Cup Tasters Championships. This event requires participants to spot the odd coffee out of three on eight separate occasions to determine who’s pallet is the most refined. Irelands representative in the past two years, David Walsh, has gone on to finish second at the World Championships two years running.

Following that is the inaugural Hasbean World Home-Barista Championships, aimed at crowning the finest home-barista there is. Amateur contestants will bring their own equipment and present to a panel of professional judges to determine who will be the first ever Hasbean World Barista Champion.

Entry is free on Friday and Sunday but Saturdays even is a ticket-only affair and can be purchased here for €50 which includes lunch and filter coffees for all attendees.

This is one of the most exciting events on the international coffee calendar and is a unique opportunity for coffee lovers to experience the best of what the specialty coffee industry has to offer.

Friday 30^th March Irish Brewers Cup

Saturday 31^st March Tamper Tantrum Live

Sunday 1^st April Irish Cup Tasters Championship

Hasbean World Home Barista Championships

Entry for the Brewer’s Cup and Cup Tasters Championships will be online shortly.

This years judging certification workshop will take place on Saturday, October 15th in Marco HQ in Sandyford, Dublin. Each year the standards of both baristas competing and judges… err… judging improves. The Irish Chapter of the SCAE is committed to the creation of a credible, talented and dedicated pool of certified national judges to best serve both the national competition but who would also be capable of representing Ireland at global coffee events. To that end two key objectives this year and in future years for the chapter will be to ensure proficiency of national judges in the ever evolving rules and regulations of the WCE, but also to put forward one nationally accredited Irish judge to go to WCE Judges Certification Workshops.

Points to note:

• All currently accredited Irish National judges will need to be annually re-certified in order to be eligible to judge in upcoming SCAE competitions.
• It is now mandatory that all judges be proficient in both sensory and technicaal judging areas.
• It is essential that all those intersted in becoming a nationally accredited judge in upcoming SCAE national competitions attend and pass the upcoming Judge’s Workshop.
• In order to attend the Workshop, participants must confirm availability for both the November semi-finals and the February finals.
• You must familiarise yourself with the current WBC rules prior to attendance of the Workshop – click here for download.