Almost 7000 coffee aficionados met with more than 1,500 exhibitors at 250 stands over the three-day World Of Coffee event at the RDS in Dublin late last week, where both the World Barista Champion and the World Brewers Cup Champion were both crowned.
Organised by the Speciality Coffee Association of Europe (SCAE) and sponsored by BWT water+more, included an expansive programme of educational seminars, talks and cuppings and the first ever Sustainability Forum, which proved a very successful addition to the event. The SCAE Excellence Awards, sponsored by OikoCredit, the New Product of the Show Awards and the SCAE Photography Awards were all given to worthy winners and the second year of Re:co the Speciality Coffee Symposium, where delegates discussed innovation and strategic development within the industry, was another great success.
Here's a list of the competition winners from the World of Coffee 2016:
World Barista Champion – Berg Wu of Taiwan
The runners up were – Yoshikazu Iwase (2nd) from Japan, Ben Put (3rd) from Canada, Lem Butler (4th) from USA, Charlotte Malaval (5th) from France and Lex Wenneker (6th) from The Netherlands.
World Brewers Cup Champion –Tetsu Kasuya of Japan
The runners up were – Mikaela Wallgreen (2nd) from Finland, Chad Wang from Taiwan (3rd), Benny Wong from Hong Kong (4th), Todd Goldsworthy from USA (5th) and Odd-Steinar Tollefsen from Norway (6th).
SCAE Excellence Awards
Leaders in the SCAE Community were also celebrated at the event, when the SCAE Excellence Awards were announced on Friday 24 June. Proudly sponsored by Oikocredit, the Awards are judged by the SCAE International Development Committee and honour members of the coffee community who have contributed to the success of the industry through education, innovation, sustainability and entrepreneurship. This year’s winners are:
Young Entrepreneur Award: Henry Wilson, Perfect Daily Grind, Passionate Educator Award: Chiara Bergonzi, independent trainer, Innovation Award: Pete Southern, Creator of the PUSH Tamper, Working Towards Sustainability: Benjamin Weiner, Gold Mountain Coffee Growers, The Ambassador’s Award – Tony Overbeak, Urnex, Lifetime Achievement Award: Edy Bieker @ Sandalj, head of the quality and training departments.
New Product of the Show Awards
The New Product of the Show Awards, were announced on Thursday 23rd June and recognised the most exciting new innovations to enter the market over the last 12 months. The winners were:
Best New Professional Espresso Machine
Slayer Steam and a special mention goes to Gruppo Cimbali SPA for the Faema E71
Best New Professional Small Equipment
Milk Mate by La Cultura del Caffe
Best New Food/Non-Coffee Beverage
Hazel Mountain Cacao Tea with a special mention to Coffee Cherry from Mare Terra Green Coffee
Best New Roasters Product
Coffee-tech Engineering Ltd with the Silon ZR-7
Best New Consumer Product
Beans Corp Ltd with the Cafflano Kompact
Best New IT & Technology Innovation
Artisan Coffee Group Ltd with the Open Cup
Best New Packaging
Ahlstrom with the Green Capsule Top Lid
SCAE Photography Awards
SCAE’s annual Photography Awards were another crowd pleaser at World of Coffee. The judges included Johan Damgaard, Johan & Nystrom, Chris Dobbs, Chris Dobbs Photography, Sarah Grennan, Café Europa and Ludovic Maillard, Maison Jobin
From Bean to Cup – Marcin Rzonca
The People and the Bean – Gavin Smart
The Artist's Way – Raul Perez
The Bean and the Farm – Victor Beis
