On Friday 21st April, this year’s Specialty Coffee Expo took place in Portland, Oregon in the US. The annual expo is one of the biggest – and most important – events for the global coffee industry. Thousands of people attend the expo every year, including roasters, producers, coffee equipment manufacturers, baristas, and coffee business owners. The event serves as a platform to bring coffee professionals together to forge new connections and partnerships – helping to drive the specialty coffee sector forward.
Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA), the body that regulates and markets Ugandan coffee exhibited at the expo. On their twitter handle, they said: “The largest gathering of Specialty Coffee professionals is taking place at the Oregon Convention Center, USA from April 21-23, 2023. The USA is a top buyer of our Arabica and we are excited to showcase the best of Uganda coffee to buys, roasters & coffee lovers.”
Uganda’s coffee exports in January rose 23% compared to volumes shipped in the same month last year, according to a report from the state-run UCDA. UCDA attributed the rise to higher releases of stocks from warehouses by exporters eager to meet a gap in global supplies of robusta beans.
The east African country exported 494,226 60-kilogram bags of coffee, UCDA said. Coffee is one of Uganda’s largest sources of foreign exchange and the country is Africa’s biggest exporter of the beans followed by Ethiopia. The country predominantly cultivates the robusta variety.
In the report, UCDA said during the month exporters off-loaded larger volumes of stocks from warehouses “as the global robusta market started correcting upwards on account of reduced global supplies from major origins, Vietnam and Brazil.” In the twelve months to January Uganda earned a total of $865 million from 5.7 million bags of coffee exports, UCDA said.
COMPETITIONS AND AWARDS
Organised by the Specialty Coffee Association, the Specialty Coffee Expo is held in a different US city every year. The 2023 expo waslocated in Portland, Oregon – a city with a thriving specialty coffee culture. This dates back to the late 1990s when Stumptown Coffee Roasters first opened its roastery there. Alongside an extensive trade show and exhibition, the 2023 Specialty Coffee Expo will also host several competitions and awards schemes. The 2023 US Coffee Championships will take place at the event. These include the US Barista, Latte Art, Brewers Cup, Roaster, Coffee in Good Spirits, and Cup Tasters Championships. The six winners will go on to represent the US in their respective competitions, with the 2023 World Barista, Brewers Cup, and Cup Tasters Championships set to take place at World of Coffee event in Athens in June.
Every year, the Specialty Coffee Expo hosts the Best New Product and Coffee Design Awards. These two initiatives celebrate excellence and innovation in the global coffee industry. The Best New Product award honours new products which add value to the specialty coffee sector. The categories include:
- Coffee accessories
- Commercial coffee preparation and serving equipment
- Consumer coffee preparation and serving equipment
- Specialty coffee beverage additive
- Specialty non-coffee beverage standalone
- Open class (for products which don’t fit in any other category)
There were also be a series of workshops which explore a variety of subject areas. The Coffee Science Foundation also displayed the latest coffee research, featured topics will include sensory science, coffee genetics & breeding, market research, coffee quality & evaluations, and more. Many of the leading coffee equipment manufacturers and distributors also attended the 2023 Specialty Coffee Expo. This included TORR Industries – a major supplier of bag, box, and pouch filling solutions for liquid products, including cold brew.
Fouthermore, some of the world’s most forward-thinking coffee producers and co-operatives attended the Expo, including Sancoffee – a specialty coffee co-operative from Brazil, with a strong focus on direct trade relationships and environmental, social, and governance initiatives.
