The UK’s first coffee festival is to be held in Bath on 15th – 16th May 2010. The Bath Coffee Festival 2010 will be a two day outdoor event celebrating everything related to coffee and will be an opportunity for the coffee industry to showcase and sell their products, as well as educate consumers about the fine art of coffee making.
The main exhibiting area will be in the centre of Bath and will hold around 100 exhibitors, while other events and venues hosting coffee related activity will be located around the City. The festival programme will include expert barista sessions, roasting master classes, latte art demonstrations, as well as educational talks, films about coffee and music from the coffee growing regions.
While currently there are no coffee festivals in the UK, examples of successful annual coffee festivals can be found in New York, Sydney and New Zealand. Festival organiser Linda Donaldson comments: “Coffee is arguably the world’s most popular beverage. It has a universal multi-cultural appeal and is important to our society. While millions of cups are consumed every day, there are still a high proportion of people who have very little knowledge about the drink. The festival will provide an opportunity for coffee companies and others to change that and to wake consumers up to what real coffee is all about.
“We have decided to host the festival in Bath as it is well known for its café culture and high quality coffee shops. As a World Heritage City, Bath has an all year round tourist trade and historically generates high visitor numbers in May. We anticipate the coffee festival will attract a high volume of visitors.”
Among the first companies to sponsor the festival is Gold Top, the creamy milk that comes exclusively from British herds of Jersey and Guernsey cows. Keith Collins, Managing Director of Highgrove Food Distribution, which distributes Gold Top milk on behalf of the Jersey and Guernsey dairy farmers, says, “This is a great initiative that will appeal to a diverse audience. It allows the industry to demonstrate the quality of coffee available on the UK market and to highlight the importance of café culture to our society. Bath is a beautiful city and I can think of no better place to hold the first UK coffee festival.”
Other sponsors of the festival include coffee roasters Martin Carwardine & Co, Taylerson’s Malmesbury Syrups, Ginsters and tourism body Future Bath Plus.
To get involved with the festival see www.bathcoffeefestival.co.uk or call 0117 929 1900
Get the latest from the Coffee Festival twitter at twitter.com/bathcoffee
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