The Coffee Week that Was

There is a lot that happens for London Coffee Week. The cheers at the Aeropress championships roared through the venue, the pressure of the barista championships hushed a large crowd and the live music on the lawn transported people to another place.

I learned of the sale of Grumpy Mule to a larger company – I have trouble believing that the quality will be maintained but I am hopeful the coffee I bought will prove that the sale left the high standard of coffee unaffected.

I learned of the new drinks Koko Collection had launched in Vancouver. Shame I’m from Toronto but they looked lovely and their hot chocolate is amazing. I have to admit that I really dig the single origin hot chocolate they have where you can chose by origin and percentage cocoa as well as adding great flavoured sugars.

I learned about the new small coffee suppliers as well as the old ones – including a Cimbali who have been around for 100 years supplying coffee. They were celebrating their new machine and supply to the coffee trade by making coffees from history. I have to admit, I appreciate our modern take on coffee!

I learned that the price of espresso is regulated by the Italian government because it is considered such an essential part of daily life. It is interesting how central a part of life espresso is in Italy. Chocolate is a huge part of my life so it was god to see both Green & Blacks and Lindt at the coffee festival. Lindy even worked with DeLonghi to create a coffee and chocolate pairing workshop.

With 7,500 visitors to the festival it is easy to see why there was a queue that took so long to get through. Coffee is seemingly more popular than chocolate right now – or perhaps not? With Chocolate Week in October perhaps 7,500 people will also come to shop for chocolate, get free chocolate demonstrations and learn about pairing chocolate as well as how to make their own chocolate!