Durban – A record number of attendees poured into Durban for the 8th annual Creative Coffee Week hosted by Coffee Magazine, including a World Champion and four other International coffee experts.
The attendees of the two-day event on 30 and 31 July discussed the future of the SA Coffee scene, specifically in the agricultural sector.
Leading the discussions on global trends in coffee and coffee producing were Georgius ‘Odi’ Teja, the current World Coffee In Good Spirits Champion who was joined by Cup of Excellence Head Judge, Stephen Vick, award winning Coffee Farmer, David Maguta from Kenya and two representatives for the Colombian Coffee Growers Association, Maria Alejandra Olano and Diego Robles.
Editor at Large of Coffee Magazine and Event Organiser Mel Winter said the theme of Creative Coffee Week was “The Big Picture”.
Winter said the event in Durban was the first of three Creative Coffee Week Events being held in the coming months around South Africa.
“The bigger picture is essentially three pieces of the coffee puzzle, which makes up the supply chain from farm to cup,” Winter said.
The KZN leg focused on Coffee Farming and production in SA, where the Cape Town event will focus on roasting, and the final event in the series in JHB will focus on coffee retail and service.”
The first day of the two-day event involved a series of talks and presentations on the business of coffee farming, the quality and value of green coffee at the farmer/producer level.
The second day involved several coffee activations hosted at Humble Coffee, a Farm Tour to a KwaZulu-Natal coffee farm, and for the lucky few, an exclusive sensory OMAKAFE coffee experience with the World Champ.
The next events this year will be in Cape Town on 17 and 18 September, followed by the final event in Johannesburg on 11 and 12 December.
The Durban event was sponsored by:
- First National Bank,
- Equipment Café,
- Electrical Industries,
- Red Espresso,
- Dartpac,
- BWT,
- Selati,
- Bluewater,
- Morrico Imports & Exports,
- Ciro, Da Vinci Gourmet,
- FNC, ButtaNutt,
- SEAM Coffee,
- Eversys, and
- Beverage Seal
Trade partners
- Lizzard,
- Hilton Gardens Inn,
- Green Coffee Supply,
- The Jersey Cow Company, and
- Zuka Coffee
