WCE selects seven roasters to sponsor TED2016 Brew Bar

World Coffee Events (WCE) has selected seven specialty roasters to serve their coffee at the TED2016 Brew Bar, taking place at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Canada from 15 – 19 February. Australian company Veneziano Coffee Roasters is one of the specialty roasters currently keeping conference crowds coffee fuelled. On the WCE Brew Bar, Veneziano will showcase its direct trade single origin Guatemala Finca Potomay alongside brews from six other specialty coffee roasters. They include Intelligentsia, Bar Nine, Kaldi’s Matchstick, Pachamama, SightGlass and Swiss Water. “We first heard about the opportunity to participate with WCE and TED2016 via the Global Coffee Report,” said Veneziano, Managing Director, Craig Dickson. “We submitted two coffees in our application, and were pleasantly surprised to hear that out of the 32 roasters who had applied, we were chosen to have our coffee represented on the world stage at such an iconic and innovative event.” A team of Certified Q Graders were responsible for sipping the submitted espresso and filter roasts from around the world at the Specialty Coffee Association of America’s (SCAA) headquarters in Santa Ana, California. Veneziano have since sent over 45 kilograms of coffee for the occasion. WCE has collaborated with the SCAA, the Specialty Coffee Association of Europe, and the Barista Guilds of America and Europe in organising and staffing this year’s coffee service at TED. A total of 10 baristas will man the six WCE full-service and self-service brew bars during the 54-hour event. TED2016’s fast-paced program will be presented over five days and will feature, among other things, TED’s renowned 18-minute talks, plus music, comedy, technology demonstrations. The conference will feature 12 sessions and cover a broad spectrum of topics. More than 70 speakers will take to the stage, including musicians, entrepreneurs, and environmental advocates. The theme for the TED2016 event is Dream. “We certainly dreamt of what it would be like to have our coffee served at TED, and our dream came true,” said Dickson. “We can only hope that the hundreds of TED attendees will try our Guatemalan single origin, fall in love with it, stay alert, and dream big.” Veneziano will go on to sponsor the WCE Championship Brew Bar at Hotelex in Shanghai in March.