Adding to the regular round of beer festivals and chocolate extravaganzas in London, coffee is taking centre stage later this month when the London Coffee Festival comes to town from 25 to 28 April, forming the centrepiece of UK Coffee Week.
Taking place at the Old Truman Brewery on Brick Lane, there’ll be lots of gourmet coffees to sample, as well as artisanal food and even speciality teas for those who don’t partake - personally I’m with David Lynch on this issue, who said that ‘even a bad cup of coffee is better than no coffee at all’…
The London Coffee Festival will also feature the True Artisan Cafe where you’ll be able to relax with a coffee from one of the UK’s best outlets – this year Shoreditch Grind, Square Mile and others will be represented. The Make Decent Coffee Lounge will be running training sessions and offering tips on preparing the perfect cup, and the Roastery On Tour will feature coffee bean roasting on-site. The festival will also be playing host to this year’s UK Barista Championship (UKBC), a competition which tests coffee knowledge, presentation and preparation of the perfect cup.
Jeffrey Young, Managing Director of the Allegra Group, who are organising this year’s festival, said:
London is an inspiring playground for coffee and coffee culture and we are proud to host such a dynamic group of events that showcase the skills and determination of the nation’s best Baristas.
On Friday afternoon, things will be kicking off with the ‘Tia Espresso Martini Launch Party’ (which sounds like a pretty awful combination of flavours if you ask me!), taking place from 5pm to 8pm – on stage will be singing artists Kal Lavelle, Kirsti Robinson and Kadija Kamara.
You can find out about everything that this years London’s Coffee Festival has on offer over at their website. 50% of all ticket sales will be donated to Project Waterfall, an initiative in Tanzania to supply a fresh water supply to villages in Mbulu, a district of the country’s Manyara region.
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