Swiss Coffee Festival 2020

by Schaerer Marketing Team
creative coffee world

Swiss Coffee Festival

This is what we have experienced at the Swiss Coffee Festival in February 2020

The second Swiss Coffee Festival of the Swiss Speciality Coffee Association took place in Oerlikon in February. This year the Schaerer AG was also present.

The second Swiss Coffee Festival took place on 8 and 9 February 2020 in Oerlikon near Zurich, organized by the Speciality Coffee Association Switzerland (SCA). This festival for coffee attracts a young and hip audience. More than 500 visitors came together to discuss the origin, cultivation, distribution and enjoyment of coffee. Over 50 exhibitors, from speciality coffee suppliers, roasters and fully automatic coffee machine manufacturers, to water filter and espresso machine manufacturers and dealers of professional Barista equipment, presented many things that made the hearts of the enthusiastic visitors beat faster. Schaerer was represented for the first time as a sponsor of the SCA.

The Swiss Coffee Festival

A festival is a meeting place for everyone interested in coffee. In addition to the professional suppliers, private Frahlinglovers also visited the event.

On both days, so-called Coffee Talks took place. Specialists and industry insiders gave lectures on all aspects of coffee - from green coffee to the coffee business in general, to practical reports from restaurateurs and the advantages and disadvantages of different coffee bean processing methods.

Monika Oeggerli, Trainer at Schaerer’s own training and coffee expertise centre, attended the festival in her role as a board member of the SCA. She was responsible for the organisation and moderation of the Coffee Talks. For Schaerer AG, she used her sensory expertise to approve the quality of the beverages from the Schaerer Barista three-quarter-automated machine. According to Oeggerli, the event was a very enriching experience for both the SCA and Schaerer AG. An additional presentation of a Schaerer fully-automated machine is recommended for next year. According to the trainer, in addition to manual brewing methods such as filter coffee, ibrik, AeroPress, etc., portafilters, semi- and fully-automated coffee machines are all part of the SCA family. Coffee specialities can also be brewed into delicacies on Schaerer fully-automated coffee machines and would be ideal additions to the offering at the Swiss Coffee Festival.

Not only Monika Oeggerli had a full schedule with the Coffee Talk presentations once an hour. Generally, the second Swiss Coffee Festival was very well attended on both days – on Sunday morning, visitors even stood in line to get into the exhibition hall. Jürg Balsiger, Regional Sales Head in Switzerland, and Jelena Bozic, Marketing Manager in Switzerland, held down the fort at the Schaerer booth. "It was my first Swiss Coffee Festival, and I was surprised by the relaxed atmosphere and how many of the visitors were quite young, between 20 and 25 years old”, reports Jelena Bozic of her experience. “It was not a typical trade fair. It was really interactive, and there were things to try and enjoy all over the place. I had the feeling there were a lot of private visitors with a passion for coffee looking for something special”, she described her impressions of the Swiss Coffee Festival.

Representatives of the Swiss trade press, as well as representatives of well-known Swiss coffee associations, also visited the event in Zurich, taking the opportunity to discover new products and exchange ideas with other industry insiders. For Schaerer, participating in the event was not only exciting but also a complete success. “We had the chance to take in the coffee scene ambience and also position ourselves as manufacturers at the same time", said Jürg Balsiger after the festival. Because for Schaerer AG, the best result in the cup and individualised solutions for their customers are paramount when developing new machines. For the marketing employee, the fair trade appearance was worthwhile, and not only for networking reasons: “Although I was not exactly expecting it in that environment, I had a handful of conversations with potential customers”.

Swiss Coffee Championships

One highlight of the festival was the Swiss Coffee Championships, where the best representatives competed in four disciplines. Prizes were awarded in the categories: Barista, Brewers Cup, Latte Art and Coffee In Good Spirits.

Winner of the Swiss Coffee Championships 2020:

Emi Fukahori in the "Barista" discipline. She will represent Switzerland at the World Barista Championship in Melbourne in May 2020.

Matt Winton in the "Brewers Cup" discipline. He will also fly to Melbourne to represent Switzerland.

Milo Kamil in the discipline "Coffee in Good Spirits". Milo will represent Switzerland at the "World of Coffee" in Warsaw in June.

Gregory Raymond in the "Latte Art" discipline. He defended his title from 2019 and will also travel to Warsaw to give his best for Switzerland.

Nice to Know: The Specialty Coffee Association

The Specialty Coffee Association of America was founded in 1982 and is a non-profit, member-based organisation for the coffee speciality industry. In January 2017, the Specialty Coffee Association of America and the Specialty Coffee Association of Europe fused into the Specialty Coffee Association, or merely the SCA. The SCA Switzerland is a national branch of the SCA which holds its own events, like the Swiss Coffee Festival, and also participates in joint events, such as the annual World of Coffee trade fair. The SCA has thousands of members in over 100 countries. These include coffee growers, producers, machine manufacturers, organisations as well as baristas and roasters - the membership encompasses all elements of the value-added coffee chain. The philosophy of the SCA is based on openness, inclusiveness and the power of shared knowledge. As opinion leaders, the SCA members create a centre of knowledge of coffee through media and events. They define the criteria for qualitatively superior coffee based on collaboration and exchange with SCAE members as well as other national and international associations. The SCA is continuously working to make coffee better and to raise worldwide standards in the industry. The services of the association include set-up, execution and support for events, seminars and courses which serve to promote conscious coffee consumption and quality as well as the certification of experts and national and international competitions with awards.