SCAE Award winners announced at Antwerp Fiesta
20th May 2007
The SCAE announced the winners of its 2007 Awards for Coffee Excellence at its Coffee Fiesta held in late May in Antwerp.
The prestigious awards were presented at the association's annual banquet in Antwerp's Horta restaurant.
Past president and keen photographer Trygve Klingenberg, who headed the jury of the new Photo Competition, presented the three winners of the first edition with their awards. He announced that the top pictures submitted were the work of Menno Simons of Trabocca (first place), Gary McGann of Espresso Warehouse (second) and Annick Kuppens of Light Lunch (third).
Membership Development chair Pauline Sherwood presented honours to distinguished former national coordinators Tone Liavaag, Stephen Hurst, Steffen Schwarz, Teresa de Batres, and Samuel Zenger, before announcing that the winner of National Coordinator of the Year was Roberto Trevisan of the Czech Republic.
The Awards for Coffee Excellence were presented in a session hosted by Marketing and Projects Officer Jens Henrik Thomsen. The Young Entrepreneur Award went to John Sytmen of Istanbul, while the Coffee Teacher/Trainer Award went to Sonja Grant of Kaffitar, Iceland.
Gerard-Clement Smit of Netherlands-based brewer manufacturer Technivorm took the Coffee Technician Award (in a new category introduced this year), while the Award for Originality in Design went to Zander Nosler and Randy Hulett of Clover.
Daniele Giovannucci, a consultant to the World Bank on coffee and sustainability issues, took the Sustainablity Award, while US-based speciality coffee pioneer and Cup of Excellence co-founder George Howell, of Terroir Coffee, was named the winner of the Better Coffee World Award, the association's highest honour.
The awards followed a day of competitions at the Coffee Fiesta to determine the 2007 World Coffee in Good Spirits Championship. The eventual winner--who had to make two perfect Irish coffees and two of his own speciality coffee drinks within eight minutes, ahead of contestants from 17 nations--was Helger Aava from Estonia.
Australian barista Jack Hanna bested his opponents from 18 other countries to win the SCAE World Latte Art Championship. Hanna achieved 40 points from the five judges, who examined both the visual and taste attributes of the final beverages.
Photo (by Charles Prager): Jack Hanna shows the concentration that would win him first prize in the World Latte Art Championship