BREWING UP THE BIGGEST BUZZ THE CITY HAS SEEN THIS SEPTEMBER - THE DUBLIN COFFEE & TEA FESTIVAL 2014

Word is spreading throughout café scene about the inaugural Dublin Coffee & Tea Festival 2014. A first-time event for Ireland it will celebrate the ever-more sophisticated tastes for coffee and tea in Ireland taking place at the RDS (Industries Hall), Dublin 12-14 September 2014 – tickets go on sale from early July and kids go free.

Created by both the Irish Foodservice Suppliers Alliance (IFSA) and the Speciality Coffee Association of Europe (SCAE- Irish branch) the Festival will celebrate every aspect of the coffee & tea world from where the tea and coffee come from to how they are brewed, the varying varieties on offer today, the latest brewing equipment on the market and all the enjoyment that goes with it including cakes and chocolate!

The Dublin Coffee & Tea Festival will be brimming with features for all to enjoy including The Roasters’ Village (sponsored by Marco Beverage Systems), The Cupping Room, The People’s Stage, The Festival Roastery, The Food Village, Fringe Events and not to mention the National Competitions.  An all-encompassing event, coffee and tea lovers from around the country will for the first time be presented with a unique opportunity to taste  some of the finest coffee and teas from Ireland's best roasters, meet coffee bean farmers and experience the whole harvesting process.  They can also enjoy the benefit of some very practical expert tutorials like learning how to roast your own coffee.  And to whet the appetites even further there will be a range of pastry and chocolate makers on hand to share their latest offerings for all to taste.

Said Sean Martin, Chairman, IFSA “This is a very exciting event for the coffee and tea community in Ireland. Through the platform of the Festival and this collaboration between IFSA and SCAE, we will be focussing our efforts on educating and inspiring the public and the national media to embrace speciality coffee and teas and the associated culture and lifestyle.  These two bodies have worked together for over 14 years now in staging the Irish Barista Championship and have sent many competitors to the European and World championships with high levels of success recorded annually.  We are very excited that this collaboration has also presented the Irish Coffee community with the opportunity to stage the largest coffee event in the World in 2016 – the staging of the World of Coffee exhibition in Dublin and the hosting of the World Barista Championship 2016, where over 65 Nations will compete and over 5000 International coffee and tea professionals will spend a week in Dublin enjoying the event and all that Dublin and Ireland has on offer.”

The Dublin Coffee & Tea Festival has also just announced that it is set to launch the first ever Home Barista Competition in Ireland.   The competition, which presents the public with the opportunity to demonstrate their skill at making speciality coffees themselves at home, has been designed along the lines of the infamous World Barista Competition for professionals.  
The competition is very practical and will operate along a very strict set of criteria.  Each competitor will, during a maximum time frame, make and serve an espresso and a cappuccino, using milk and coffee as the only ingredients and an espresso coffee machine with cups/ mugs as the only tools.

Said Damian Marshall, Event Manager of the Speciality Coffee Association of Europe’s Irish Chapter (who along with the Irish Foodservice Suppliers Alliance are running the Festival), “It's no secret that the Irish consumer has developed an ever-more discerning taste for coffee in recent years with the retail market growing exponentially in the last decade.  But this trend has also continued into the home with the consumer purchasing their own espresso machines and both learning and mastering the art for themselves.  With the Home Barista Competition, we are both celebrating this trend, profiling the most-skilled and rewarding their talents in one go.  From initial research and feedback received we believe the competition is going to be fierce and it’s brewing up to be a very exciting final at the Festival!”

Recognising the potential of the Dublin Coffee & Tea Festival Dublins 98FM radio, the Irish Independent newspapers, Failte Ireland, Fairtrade Ireland, La Marzocco espresso machine makers and Totally Dublin magazine are now official partners to the show and they join a host of leading coffee and tea industry brands that will be showcasing at the Festival.

The Festival is also already enjoying the suppport of many of some key companies on the Irish coffee and tea scene including:  3FE Coffee Ltd, Alpro, Ariosa Coffee Roasting Company, Badger & Dodo Boutique Coffee Roasters, Bailies Coffee, Benders Paper Cups, Brodericks, Bewleys, Chez Emily Choclatiers, Cloud Picker Coffee, Coffee Culture, Coffee Hub, Coffee Mojo, Dairyland Cuisine, De Longhi, Espresso Tech, Fair Trade, First Draft Coffee, Fitness Coffee & tea, Hancock & Abberton Ltd, Heavenly Tea & Coffee, Insomnia, Java Republic, Joes Coffee, Kilbeggan Handmade Chocolate, Kingfisher Tea, la Marzocco, Lillys Tea, Marco Beverage Systems, Mathew Algie, McCabes Gourmet Coffee, Mrs. Doyles Tea, NevPak, Niks Tea, Robert Roberts Ltd, Scanomat Ireland, Silverskin Company, Solaris Botanicals, Square Mile Coffee Roasters, Suki Tea, UCC Coffee Ireland.

Coffee excellence is the hallmark of Speciality Coffee Association of Europe – SCAE (who are organising the event along with the Irish Foodservice Suppliers Alliance – IFSA) and at the Festival its Irish chapter will run a number of its professional national competitions allowing the public to view the very best in action over the 3 days.

Competitions scheduled to take place so far include The National Brewers Cup and the semi-finals of the much-lauded Irish Barista Championship and the National Latte Art Championship (the finals of which will take place at CATEX 2015).
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For further information on features, competitions and exhibitors check out www.dublincoffeefestival.com