UKBC 2010 winners

Before starting this week’s blog, I should mention that one of the industry’s greats, Emilio Lavazza, passed away recently. I cannot say that I knew him well, but did meet him on a number of occasions, most notably at the Lavazza plant in Turin about 10 years ago. He was a knowledgeable man with a passion for coffee and innovation. He will be missed.

You can almost feel the excitement and tension now rising throughout Europe and beyond as our national champions in five of the coffee disciplines head towards the World Championships in London in June.

The crowning of national champions is a great thing, and certainly brings the whole speciality coffee movement into the media spotlight. But it is important not to forget why we have the Championships—and also to emphasise that, as an Association, we have a great deal more to offer than just competitions and training for competitions.

Let there be no doubt, the SCAE’s Championships fulfil an important part of the Association’s mandate to promote quality. They do this by emphasising and reinforcing the message that attention to detail and excellence at every stage in the marketing chain is paramount—be it the barista making the final cup, or the cup taster selecting the best coffee. Championships are an extremely important tool in the arsenal we use to generate excitement and commitment to quality, but they must NEVER be seen as the only thing that we do.

We do so much more, and I urge you all to look beyond the competitions to the Gold Cup Programme, the trips to origin; the fantastic education programme at our events, the research programme, Café Europa, the monitoring of EU legislation and the fact that we act as a voice for the industry.

So yes, enjoy the Championships, celebrate the winners, commiserate with the losers, but remember: there is more to the Association than competitions. Above all, get involved!

Mick