Barista Magazine

JUN-JUL 2016

Serving People Serving Coffee Since 2005

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P U L L : E V E N T S WORLD COFFEE CHAMPIONS CROWNED, AND NINETY PLUS DOCUMENTARY DEBUTS AT HOTELEX This spring brought the 25 th incarnation of the Hotelex trade show to the sprawling grounds of the Shanghai New International Expo Center (SNIEC). Alongside the massive number of exhibitors, including everything an operator needs for a restaurant, hotel, or café, and numerous national championships (including the Chinese Barista Championship, as well as culinary competitions as diverse as baking, gelato, and pizza-making, among many more), Hotelex made history for the global specialty-coffee community this year. For the first time, an event in China held the World Championships for Coffee Roasters, Coffee In Good Spirits, Latte Art, and Cup Tasters. The SNIEC is set up in the shape of a triangle, with two sides each housing five exhibition halls, while the longer side, the hypotenuse, holds seven. Within the huge field created at the center of the triangle of halls, temporary buildings are erected to hold overflow exhibitors. This year, the coffee sector filled two of the permanent halls as well as two of the temporary buildings. Though traditionally a tea-drinking society, Chinese consumers seem to be almost racing toward a mature specialty-coffee culture. Connie Lin, brand marketing director for Mellower Coffee, which has nine franchise shops in Southeast China, says that throughout the country, "Coffee is a kind of lifestyle. Most people don't know specialty coffee, so we need to spread knowledge about what is a good cup of coffee." Maurizio Giuli, Nuova Simonelli's director of marketing, spent a couple of days at the booth of his company's Chinese distributing partner, Hiang Kie Coffee Group, talking to some of the 100,000 visitors to the show. "China is very important to us," Maurizio says of the market. "It's growing so fast—we want to be a part of it." Dan Jensen from Café Imports, who led numerous cuppings at the booth Café Imports shared with its Japanese distributor, DCS Co., Ltd., echoed Maurizio's sentiment. "For Café Imports, it's important to be at Hotelex because it is a huge emerging market," says Dan. "Laying the groundwork early in a country as huge and as complex as China is vital. Right now we have a presence at Hotelex to ensure that we'll play a role in the specialty market when it reaches the potential that we think it has." Near the front of one of the main halls at the Jas Caffe stand, a never-ending crowd surrounded the tables where a number of Ninety Plus Makers crafted hundreds of coffees each day for the fans. The Makers include coffee champions like 2014 World Brewers Cup Champion Stefanos Domatiotis from Greece, 2015 World Brewers Cup Champion Odd-Steinar Tøllefsen from Norway, and 2015 World Coffee In Good Spirits Champion George Koustoumpardis from Greece. In fact, one of the highlights of the Hotelex show this year outside of the competitions and show floor, was the debut of two documentary films by Ninety Plus At top: Um Paul of South Korea cradles his fi rst-place trophy a er winning the 2016 World La e Art Championship in April at Hotelex in Shanghai. Below: The Hotelex show hosted four World Coff ee Event Championships this year in Shanghai. The event drew tens of thousands of baristas and coff ee professionals from within China and around the globe. 26 barista magazine

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