London Coffee Festival 2016 Doubles Attendance from 2015

From April 7-10th , London Coffee Festival hosted over 46,000 visitors; almost double the number from last year. Held in London’s trendy Brick Lane, global brands including Lavazza, Cimbali, Starbucks and InterAmerican Coffee as well as numerous independents made up the 200+ exhibitors that displayed the latest industry techniques and innovations. The brainchild of founder Jeffrey Young, London Coffee Festival is only five years old, but it has proven a huge success with professionals and coffee lovers alike; so much so, that London Coffee Festival has expanded to Amsterdam, and in 2015, New York.

Walking through London Coffee Festival, one truly gets the feeling that you are among the brightest and most creative professionals in the industry. Perhaps that is the reason that Starbucks Coffee decided to introduce its tea subsidiary, Teavana, to Europe during the London Coffee Festival. Until now, Teavana has been in only the U.S. market. Teavana will soon be available in all Starbucks stores in the UK as well as Europe, the Middle East and Africa, with cold tea beverages being introduced in the summer 2016, and hot tea beverages being introduced in autumn.

Dedicated to elevating industry standards, there was no shortage of demonstrations and tastings by world-class baristas and interactive workshops, taking place in the event’s extensive Lab Program, on topics ranging from how to set up a cluster of coffee shops to growing your social media, as well as roasting

demonstrations by Jeremy Torz and Steven Macatonia, founders of London-based Union Hand-Roasted Coffee, winner of the Best Coffee Artisan Coffee Roaster and Most Ethical Brand awards at The European Coffee Symposium 2015.

After industry days on Thursday and Friday, coffee professionals let loose at Friday evening’s Espresso Martini Launch Party. Saturday and Sunday offered consumers the opportunity to join the fun. Particularly popular with the public was Taylor St. Barista: The Dummy’s Guide to Coffee Tasting session, designed to teach the finer points of cupping.

London Coffee Festival serves as the launch event for UK Coffee Week, which recruits UK coffee establishments to host charitable activities for Project Waterfall, a charity that funds clean drinking water and sanitation to the world’s coffee growing communities. In the past three years, London Coffee Festival has raised more than £180,000 to deliver clean drinking water to over 14,000 people in Tanzania, Rwanda and Ethiopia. Donations from UK Coffee Week 2016 will be used to contribute to projects in coffee communities in the Oromia region of Ethiopia.

Fifty percent of all ticket sales to London Coffee Festival go directly to Project Waterfall. Visitors will be happy with the knowledge that attending the event helps to deliver clean water to coffee farmers, so they can continue to sustainably produce the coffee we all enjoy.

The next London Coffee Festival takes place April 6-9, 2017.

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