UNITED KINGDOM 24th May 2010

The United Kingdom chapter of the SCAE in mid-May participated in Britain’s first Coffee Festival, which took place in the city of Bath, UK National Coordinator Kenneth Cooper reports.

Bath, a beautiful World Heritage city, with its Roman Baths and Spa, quaint streets, and wide crescents, also has many coffee shops, representing both the multinationals, but also, more importantly, some very good quality independents.

The Bath Coffee Festival was held in two giant carpeted marquees during the weekend of May 15-16, and the SCAE UK chapter took a stand at the festival to publicise the work of the Specialty Coffee Association of Europe. Spreading the word and work of the SCAE were Board Director Pauline Sherwood, John Sherwood and myself, and we were assisted by Andrew Carter and Sam Dunford who both worked the San Remo espresso machine that was loaned to us by San Remo UK (the UK Barista Championship machine sponsor).

On a most beautiful Saturday, with the sun out in a cloudless sky the festival was opened by the Lord Mayor of Bath, accompanied by the Lady Mayoress at 10:00am, after which the marquees were crowded with visitors. The visitor numbers remained high throughout the day, and even in the afternoon when I thought it would go quieter because of the football Cup Final--but this being a big rugby city, it did not make any difference! (Pictured, top, are Pauline Sherwood and Kenneth Cooper meeting Lord Mayor of Bath Colin Barrett at the SCAE UK stand.)

The visitors were treated to excellent coffee from UK SCAE members including Origin Coffee and Extract Coffee to name but two, but of course, the best coffee was from our stand! The visitors were also offered pastries, coffee making equipment, local sausages and pies. Industry charities Coffee Kids and Macmillan Cancer Support took part with stands as well. Outside the main marquee, you could learn to salsa or samba, either before or after listening to a number of musicians, and reading the newspaper, courtesy of Taylors of Harrogate, who had their own marquee, which they called the Easy Tent.

The organisers had also arranged several workshops, including cupping and blending by coffee buyer Mike Riley, Turkish coffee preparation by our own Ibrik competition organiser Aysin Aydogdu, a Latte Art master class by Daisy Rollo, who is from Coffea Arabica, and a barista demonstration by Jose Melim, who won the south west regional heat of the UKBC. Finally, artist Derek Stansfield showed the visitors how to paint using coffee as a medium.

These workshops were repeated on the Sunday, which started out wet from the rain (and I glad I was prepared, with my wellingtons in my car, if it had carried on raining). At first, the rain put off some visitors, but as soon as it stopped raining, they came swarming in once again.

According to the organisers, 7,530 visitors visited the festival (although I am not too sure of this figure, as I had been counted twice on the Sunday). The organisers had publicised the event through all types of medium, newspapers, magazines, websites and radio, and they did do an excellent job--but then again, they are a PR company.

On our stand, the visitors were intrigued by the display of green coffee beans, which were from a number of different countries, and of course showed different characteristics--it helped them appreciate all the work that goes into quality coffee. The way that we had positioned our espresso machine, so that the visitors could see our barista at work, especially when performing Latte Art, was a big draw, with crowds of people watching. I am glad that we had a stand at the festival; it gave a chance for us to explain to the consumers that not all coffee is the same and that you can obtain great speciality coffee.

The coffees we used were donated by Has Bean, James Gourmet Coffee and Pennine Tea and Coffee and thank you to them. Colin Smith, Chairman of the SCAE Communications Committee and Mike Segal, the SCAE's web editor visited us too.

The organisers were very happy with the reaction to the event and the visitor numbers, and they are preparing for the next event in 2011. One has to wonder which other cities and towns will follow Bath with their own coffee festivals--please form an orderly queue!