Korea Posted 15 December 2011

Korean Chapter Celebrates - 29 new AST's and 25 new Barista Certifiers

Following a very successful training week for Authorised SCAE Trainers (AST’s) at SCAE HQ in which 22 trainers attended including many Koreans. Last week, SCAE sent a team over to Seoul to conduct further training.

Hosted by Steven Kil of Speciality Coffee Appraises Institute of Asia. the delegation was lead by David Veal, SCAE’s Executive Director, and included Annemarie Tiemes (Education Coordinator), Alf Kramer, David Locker, and Filip Akerblom. 25 Trainers were authorised, with many certifying in Grinding and Brewing, Green Coffee and Sensory, Roasting and Barista skills.

All declared the visit a great success and a further trip is planned for next year.

One of the really exciting developments with the new Coffee Diploma System is the high level of interest we have had from all over the world. Since its launch in Maastricht in June 2011, SCAE have issued over 1000 certificates across all the modules, with each certificate contributing points to the Diploma itself.

Since June, we have authorised 51 new trainers from Chile, New Zealand, Norway, Romania, Switzerland and the UK.

We have had requests from all over the world to run Coffee Diploma System courses, but the most interest has come from Korea. The speciality coffee market there is growing rapidly and Koreans have a tremendous thirst for knowledge, education and SCAE certification. The Coffee Diploma System fits their needs perfectly. There are now 52 AST’s in Korea, all ready to start rolling out Coffee Diploma System and day certifications in 2012.

David Veal remarked, ‘It has been a pleasure, honour and privilege to work with our Korean members in the UK and then visit them in their own country and see the level of dedication, professionalism and passion they have for coffee and increasing their knowledge of coffee.’

Please note: Dates for further AST courses will be announced in the New Year.