[W]orld Barista Champions. Costumed syrup bottles. Huge numbers of coffee obsessives.<\/p>\n
Those were just some of the sites at Seoul\u2019s Coex Convention Center in November, as specialty-coffee professionals from around the globe gathered over five days for two events: the World Coffee Leaders Forum and the Caf\u00e9 Show. In recent year\u2019s, South Korea\u2019s reputation as a coffee-crazed nation with a rich caf\u00e9 culture has surged, and the show backed it up in the sheer number of attendees. According to Caf\u00e9 Show organizers, more than 101,725 people from 63 different countries attended the 2013 event, which was open to the public for two of its four days. (That\u2019s a vast uptick from the 2012 show, which drew 72,800 attendees.)<\/p>\n
At the week\u2019s other event\u2014the World Coffee Leaders Forum\u2014more than 800 participants from 34 countries took in a curriculum that included plenary sessions, in which industry leaders discussed the future of the global coffee industry; technical courses where experts shared their knowledge in hands-on fashion; and World Coffee Adventure sessions, in which representatives from coffee-producing countries discussed their respective nations in detail.<\/p>\n
Among the notable plenary session presenters were Bai Feng of the Beijing Coffee Association, who discussed the rising coffee market in China, home to the world\u2019s fastest-growing economy; Napoleon Matute of Honduras\u2019 IHCAFE and Santiago Pardo of the Colombia Coffee Growers Federation, who discussed their nations\u2019 strategies for combating the coffee-rust crisis; and Geoff Watts of Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea, who covered the company\u2019s approach to delivering top-notch coffee.<\/p>\n
The technical courses were highlighted by reigning World Barista Champion Pete Licata, who delivered a presentation on his competition history before stepping behind an espresso machine and breaking down his craft for the crowd.<\/p>\n
This was the second installment of the World Coffee Leaders Forum following its 2012 debut; Danny Shin, the event\u2019s chair, called the event a success. \u201cI believe we matched and perhaps even surpassed participants\u2019 high expectations for the event,\u201d he says. \u201cWe attracted large crowds and heard very positive feedback from attendees for all of the events. As the first event of this kind in Asia, our event has helped expand Asian interest in gaining knowledge about the coffee industry.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Seoul comes out for World Coffee Leaders Forum, Caf\u00e9 Show.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":395,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"limit_modified_date":"","last_modified_date":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}},"beyondwords_generate_audio":"","beyondwords_project_id":"","beyondwords_content_id":"","beyondwords_player_style":"","beyondwords_language_id":"","beyondwords_title_voice_id":"","beyondwords_body_voice_id":"","beyondwords_summary_voice_id":"","beyondwords_error_message":"","beyondwords_disabled":"","beyondwords_podcast_id":"","beyondwords_hash":"","publish_post_to_speechkit":"","speechkit_hash":"","speechkit_generate_audio":"","speechkit_project_id":"","speechkit_podcast_id":"","speechkit_error_message":"","speechkit_disabled":"","speechkit_access_key":"","speechkit_error":"","speechkit_info":"","speechkit_response":"","speechkit_retries":"","speechkit_updated_at":"","_speechkit_link":"","_speechkit_text":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[267,111,119],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n