New Delhi :

The 5th India International Coffee Festival, the flagship event of the coffee sector, will be held in Bangalore from January 21-25.

The event is being organised by the India Coffee Trust and promoted by the state-run Coffee Board of the Union Commerce Ministry. About 1,000 delegates and 10,000 visitors are expected to participate.

“We have two additions to the event: there will be ’Launchpad’ for launching new blends, products, services and technologies. The other would be coffee themed quiz,” Coffee Board Chairman Jawaid Akhtar told reporters here.

For the first time, the Board will give away the ‘Barista Championship’ awards for best roaster, curer, exhibitor and for latte art, he added.

With the ‘Changing Face of Coffee’ as theme of the festival, the event would comprise of conference and exhibition on the coffee sector.

The conference aims to capture the changes taking place in the coffee sector and will discuss current trends related to production as well as take a close look at the prevailing market scenario.

It will focus on issues such as health aspects of coffee, innovative and alternate channels of coffee delivery to consumer among others.

There will be workshops on processing, brewing, roasting, espresso making, cooking with coffee, art on silk and coffee entrepreneurship.

A trip to Coorg, called ‘Coffee Trail to Coorg,’ will be conducted at the end of the festival.

The first three editions of the festival were held in Bangalore, the traditional coffee capital of the country, whereas the fourth edition was organised in Delhi.

Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu are the major coffee producing states in the country.

source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / Business Line / Home / by PTI / New Delhi – January 09th, 2014