La Cimbali’s Coffee Specialist Rob Ward reflects on a busy start to 2015
With the coffee event season for 2015 now well underway, La Cimbali’s Coffee Specialist Rob Ward has been busy at ScotHot – Scotland’s biggest food and drink trade show, preparing for the SCAA annual exhibition in Seattle, and looking forward to this year’s London Coffee Festival!
Running every two years, and this year as part of Scotland’s Tourism week – ScotHot was a great success, with more exhibitors than ever and over 7,000 visitors. One of the highlights for Rob was being part of the UKBC semi-finals judging team. Says Rob ‘This year the competing baristas showed more talent than ever before so the standard was really high. I was truly impressed by the professionalism of the competitors and the other judges, and despite the stakes being incredibly high, the comradery and support for each other was fantastic. But…. there could only be one champion, and Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood from Bath won by one point, with Dale Harris second and Jana Slamova in third place. Maxwell will now go on to represent the UK in the World Barista Championships in Seattle in April, and myself and everyone at La Cimbali wish him the very best of luck.
With the success of ScotHot behind me, my next stop is the SCAA exhibition in Seattle where I am really looking forward to hooking up with as many of our international customers as possible while I am there. It will be interesting to see how the atmosphere and buzz changes in Seattle as it hosts the World Championships compared to the US national one. I will of course also be cheering on Maxwell who will be looking to improve on last year’s 5th place, and who knows we may soon have a UK champion for the first time since 2009.
Straight from drinking my last sip of espresso coffee in Seattle, I will start preparing for the fabulous London Coffee Festival, which two weeks after the end of the SCAA is the official launch event for UK Coffee Week. We love being at this festival, and once again will be back in our old haunt – the prestigious Hyde Park Area. Please come along and see us. Plus, if you are a small roaster and interested in winning the chance to show off your roasting skills on one of our M100 HD espresso coffee machines, then please enter our competition on the London Coffee Festival website. But hurry up – the deadline for entries is 31 March!’
All in all a busy but great start to the year!
To win a chance to showcase your roasting skills with us at the London Coffee Festival visit:
www.londoncoffeefestival.com/WhatsOn/LaCimbaliCompetition
For more details regarding the SCAA annual exhibition in Seattle visit:
www.scaaevent.org
For more details regarding the London Coffee Festival visit:
www.londoncoffeefestival.com
