RUSSIA 16th March 2011

The SCAE's Russian chapter, headed by National Coordinator Chris Speirs, welcomed seven countries to the glorious city of St. Petersburg, still wrapped in a deep blanket of snow, for the 2011 edition of the European Team Coffee Challenge, reports Pauline Sherwood.

At the opening dinner of the event, our new Executive Director, David Veal, welcomed Poland, Finland, Switzerland, Ireland, Ukraine, UK and, of course, Russian teams to three days of fun, learning and cultural exchanges, accompanied by blinis, vodka, borscht and lots of interesting tasting experiences, especially with some great coffee blends roasted and presented by the teams--and Russia came out top in that event!

Andrew Hetzel came all the way from Hawaii to give a very interesting presentation on the current state of the world coffee market, with some insights into how we might deal with the very high prices everyone is facing. Alexander Tsibaev of Montana Coffee led the teams through the process of identifying defects in coffee, followed by a test to see if they had absorbed the technique - and the UK did best at that.

There was a photography competition--you will see some great results soon!--and one of the highlights of the ETCC this year was a 'Ready, Steady, Cook' evening led by one of Russia's most famous chefs in his training school. Each team was given a set of ingredients to produce part of the menu for the evening and we were all served the results--which were very impressive: soups, stuffed pork loin, salmon en papillotte, potatoes dauphinoise, salads and a tiramisu to finish. Our teams not only know their coffee, they can really cook too!

During one day, there was a roasting competition on an electric Toper roaster, using the blends the teams had chosen from a tasting held beforehand. The roasts had to be designed to highlight the particular nuances of seven different coffee brewing methods, like aero press, espresso and filter. The UK had the good fortune to draw the Cezve method, to take advantage of the skills of their team member Aysin Aydodgu, who is the current World Cezve/Ibrik Champion! She even persuaded one of the exhibitors to let her wear a Georgian costume displayed on their stand! Again, the Russians triumphed here, with their demonstration of the Geyser method.

When not roasting, the teams were each allocated a different coffee shop in the city at which they had to persuade the general public to taste the coffee and make donations to the chosen charity, the Raisa Gorbachev Fund for Children with Leukaemia. They added to their funds by selling coffee around the exhibition that was taking place at the same time. They collected an impressive total of 25,000 rubles (about €620) for the charity.

We were very well looked after at the newly-opened Holiday Inn, conveniently next to a metro station, so we were also introduced to the deepest underground system in the world. Fortunately, we had Russian baristas shepherding us everywhere, so no one got lost--although we noticed that St Petersburg has added to its appeal as a tourist destination by introducing lots of signage in English.

As usual at the ETCC events (this was the fourth), this was a great event for our young people in the coffee trade to get to know each other--and we know that our industry is in good hands if their enthusiasm and skills are anything to go by.

Thank you to Chris and his team for being excellent hosts; everyone  really appreciated the opportunity to participate in this great fun event. In the end, the UK won by just six points, ahead of Ukraine, with Russia coming third. But at the ETCC, winning is not the most important thing; it is encouraging our young people to take the coffee industry forward into whatever lies ahead for our favourite beverage!

Now we are all wondering where the ETCC will be next year . . .

Pictured: Top :Contestants from seven nations gathered for a series of enjoyable contests (photo by Serg Dorohoff). Above left: The UK's winning team (from left to right, standing), Edmund Buston from Clifton Coffee, Aysin Aydogdu from Mambocino Coffee, Paul Stephens from Redroaster Coffee and, kneeling, Neil Le Bihan from Dark Fluid. To see a full gallery of images from the ETCC in St Petersburg, click here to go to the event album on Flickr.