Roasters are invited to submit their coffees for the second Stuttgart Coffee Summit, that will take place from 1 – 5 February within the framework of Intergastra 2014. Intergastra is an important trade fair in the German-speaking world for the restaurant and hotel industry. A highlight with a blind tasting of 180 different types of coffee in the Alfred Kärcher Hall (Hall 9) at the Stuttgart trade fair grounds. The event is set up as an opportunity for managers and supervisors from the restaurant and hotel industry to find out how they can increase their turnover and profits with high-quality coffee, and increase customer loyalty.
Roasters are invited to take part in the blind cupping event. Six roasters at a time will be given 30-minute slots to present their coffees. Six daily cupping sessions will take place from 11am to 2pm, on all five trade fair days, with the opportunity to put 180 different types of coffee in the limelight. “The advantages for both sides are obvious,” Intergastra organisers said in a statement. “The (micro) roasters obtain a specific flavour profile of their beans from the professional testers and find out from the visitors how their coffee is received by restaurateurs and other gastronomy experts. The restaurateurs find out at this event which blend suits their company and have the opportunity to compare different roasters and thus find alternative business partners for the topic of coffee.” In the afternoon, roasters can invite their guests to a VIP cupping session at the Stuttgart Coffee Summit, the outcome of which is not included in the assessment.
“The tasting is run as a Brazil cupping,” Dr. Steffen Schwarz from Coffee Consulate in Mannheim, co-organiser and partner of Stuttgart Coffee Summit, said in a statement. “We thus have the opportunity to sample many different coffees and conduct a broad analysis of preferences of coffee flavour profiles.” Assessments during this initial professional coffee tasting in Stuttgart will be included in one of the largest market studies on the brown bean in the German-speaking world, which will be published by Steffen Schwarz and Messe Stuttgart after Intergastra 2014.
