Our visit to the Dubai World of Coffee 2024
This January, the third edition of World of Coffee returned to Dubai, and with its return came the crowds to support the coffee community in the region.
Mare Terra Coffee also travelled this year with our friends from IRM Coffee Roasting Machines from Greece. At the centre of the event was its iRm_3 model which is truly at the cutting edge of green coffee roasting technology. Energy efficiency, combined with roasting design and technology, produced outstanding results in our Sirius AMAR batches from Ethiopia and Alnitak AFRE from Guatemala, which we presented at the preparation bar during the event.
These kinds of events are a great opportunity to reconnect with those on the other side of the world. It was great to catch up with our Rwandan producer partners in Baho, Emmanuel Rutsatira and Kenean Dukamo from Daye Bensa in Ethiopia. Their partnerships are the cornerstones of our East African lots and a valuable collaboration with our R&D team working at origin.
Emmanuel’s Ikivuguto and Cih AME lots were presented together with another partner of ours, Marco from Ireland, whose continued support helps us to run our events, such as our annual Open de cata competition.
As the speciality coffee market in the Middle East grows, so does its love of gadgetry.
This year we have seen numerous presentations and demonstrations of coffee technology that has pushed the boundaries of excellence and efficiency. One of the ones that caught my attention was the stand-alone lever espresso machine from Meticoulous. With its ‘robotic lever’ and digital motor, it is the next level of Home Barista for preparing high-precision coffees.
Another strong point of the event was the quality and diversity of the lectures. I attended Hillary Chindodo, from Zimbabwe, who made a great reflection with her talk ‘From farmer to cup’: Rethinking the coffee value chain. And for those working in branding and consumer behaviour, the lecture of Dra- Fabiana Carvalho on The Extrinsic Matters: ‘Packaging colour and consumer behaviour’, was a great talk that highlighted the importance of first impressions, even before considering taste. The conclusion was that colour plays a key role in attracting the consumer and creates hedonic and sensory expectations.
Last but not least, it wouldn’t be a WOC event without the hustle and bustle of the various competitions.
This year, the UAE’s most talented baristas competed for the title of champion and the honour of representing the UAE at the World Barista Championship.
Michaela Rnazol of Typica Cafe took first place, while second place went to Kemal Risyad of Archers Coffee, followed by Nooran Al Bannay of Coffee Architecture in third place.
