Bucharest Coffee Festival 2023

30/06/2023

From May 12-14, we were present at the Bucharest Coffee Festival. This year was truly special for us for two reasons. Firstly, we participated as exhibitors, and prepared both brewed coffee and espresso, as well as milk coffees. Secondly, the entire team present at the festival participated in one of the two national competitions: Latte Art National Championship and Cup Tasters National Championship. Let’s take them one by one:

Exhibitors

During the 3-day festival, we selected 5 origins to delight the coffee community with.

For brew:

• Colombia Delagua – anaerobic natural processing and tasting notes of black cherry, rum, toffee, hazelnuts;
• Colombia Aroma Nativo Geisha – lactic fermentation with honeysuckle, tropical fruits, peach, honey;
• Colombia La Abuela – washed coffee with blossom, roses, raspberry, hibiscus, tropical fruits;
• Colombia Aroma Nativo Wild Honey – wild honey processing method with tasting notes of lemongrass, tropical fruits, melon and citrus zest.

For espresso and milk:

• Colombia Jairo Acila – Honey + Wine Yeast & Peach processing method and tasting notes of sweet peaches, floral, lime, white chocolate.

 

 

Competitions

Being part of the specialty coffee industry offers many opportunities. Each barista who is passionate about this industry can constantly evolve. We are thrilled that this year, colleagues from many of our coffee shops dedicated their time, practiced regularly, and took the plunge to participate in the two national competitions.

Thus, for the National Cuptaster Championship, we had on stage for the first time:

Catalina from Meron Platinia (Cluj-Napoca), our colleague for 1 year and 4 months, level 3 barista;
Tia from Meron Central (Cluj-Napoca), our colleague for 1 year and 2 months, level 3 barista;
Li from Meron Roastery (Cluj-Napoca), our colleague for 1 and a half year, from the production team;
Robert from Meron Iulius (Cluj-Napoca), our colleague for 9 months, level 2 barista;
Cristi, trainer (Cluj-Napoca), our colleague for 5 years.

 

 

For the Latte Art National Championship, we had on stage:

Ema, our colleague for 1 year and 2 months, level 3 barista;
Bogdan, our colleague for 10 months, level 2 barista;
Cristi, last year’s National Champion at the National Latte Art Championship.

 

 

Two competitions, one winner

Both competitions were won by our colleague, Cristi Oltean. He has demonstrated the power of self-confidence, effort, hard work, and practice, but more importantly, the power that passion holds when it comes to perseverance and the final result.

By winning these two titles, Cristi will participate in the World Cup Tasters Championship in Athens this June and at World Latte Art Championship in Taipei in November.

 

We are very grateful for this year’s @bucharestcoffeefestival.

Next stop: WOC Athens. Until then, we will keep roasting light & staying bold.

 

PS: Here you can watch some captured moments from the festival!