Trainer and member of the board of the International Institute of Coffee Tasters

 So here they are: the first Espresso Italiano Trainers are ready. Twelve professional coffee tasters who are now qualified to give seminars on behalf of the International Institute of Coffee Tasters. Twelve new ambassadors of our association who all share the same aim: to raise awareness about the culture of the true Italian espresso.

They are now ready to popularize espresso coffee culture through a new seminar entitled “Espresso Italiano Experience”, a teaching format which enables participants to learn the basics of espresso tasting. Participants will discover how to distinguish a top quality espresso from the growing numbers of poor quality cups now available on the market.

This offensive against bad coffee will not just be restricted to Italy: three of the twelve new Espresso Italiano Trainers will be operating abroad in the United States, Slovakia and Denmark. And, meanwhile, the first Japanese Espresso Italiano Trainers have also just qualified. We shall be giving further details about this in the near future.

The following are our new Espresso Italiano Trainers: Alfonso Paolone, Melania Lopez, Vittorio Ventura, Giovanni Ferraro, Remo Poli, Adolfo Vallini, Virgilio Lanzanova, Dario Manazza, Gennaro Buono, Massimo Pallard, Paolo Scimone and Sebastiano Garbellini.

Trainer and member of the board of the International Institute of Coffee Tasters

We all knew the International Institute of Coffee Tasters was landed in China. We held the first Espresso Italiano Tasting courses in Guangzhou and Beijing in December 2010. Thanks to our member of the board Darcy Sun, from March of this year, our manual Espresso Italiano Tasting is also available in Chinese. Furthermore we organized in July a new series of training courses and seminaries.

Now we are back again in Guangzhou where the International Institute of Coffee Tasters together with the Italian Espresso National Institute has patronaged a new edition of Caffè Italia. So, after the editions in 2010 held in Tokyo, New York and Paris and the 2011 Tokyo one, a new building block is added to the plan of spreading the real Italian espresso culture.

From 24th to 27th of November a Caffè Italia strengthen by the presence of 16 different blends will enter the scene during the Guangzhou Coffee Expo 2011. A tasting point proposing the Iespresso in its regional variations to the Chinese public, ranging from the region of Piedmont to Sicily. There is just one idea in mind: to continue spreading our espresso principles in China.

What is the most challenging thing of this new Chinese episode? The fact that Caffè Italia knew how to capture the attention of more roasters, a lot of which will be present in the area (if you are curious to know who they are, I redirect you to the coffee list that follows). The journey of our espresso in China is rather long but meanwhile we are making our way, and we sincerely thank those who are supporting us.  

Caffè Italia at Guangzhou Coffee Expo 2011, click to enlarge

Trainer and member of the board of the International Institute of Coffee Tasters

The world of coffee shops in Italy is afflicted by a widespread lack of planning. A small number of coffee shop owners know their business and are able to plan and are joined by hordes of operators living hand to mouth. Although outside Italy the situation is not always at its best, it really depends on the country taken into account, you generally meet sharper operators who think in real terms of marketing.

GREENTREECaffè is one of these cases. Vittorio Ventura and Dana Hruba have created a chain of coffee shops in Bratislava; to be precise, five coffee shops in only two and a half years, in a very competitive market such as Bratislava. The Slovakian capital has only half a million inhabitants but is a remarkable tourist crossroads surrounded by Vienna, Prague and Budapest. This is why at least two other chains other than GREENTREECaffè exist, everyday playing “the coffee battle” in the city. It is obvious that the staff at GREENTREECaffè plays on Italian espresso and related products.

GREENTREECaffè is now the first Permanent Training Point of the International Institute of Coffee Tasters in Central Europe. The coffee shop in Venturska, with a splendid room with hundred-year-old vaults, within the last few days has entered into the International Institute of Coffee Taster’s network, bringing the number of the Permanent Training Points to 28 (four of which are outside of Italy: Stuttgart, Dneperpetrovsk, Tokyo and now Bratislava). To inaugurate the Institute new embassy, on Saturday 5th November a Espresso Italiano Tasting course was held to license new coffee tasters, which followed the course held last year by GREENTREECaffè. 

Vittorio Ventura receives the plaque for the GREENTREECaffè’s new Permanent Training Point in Bratislava. Photos of the new PTP are available on our Facebook page.

What’s the state of art of the coffee market in the UK? We interviewed Simon Speed Andrews, Head of Training of Miko Coffee.

What’s the situation of the coffee market in the UK?

The coffee market is not precise, we have always been led by the culture of Italy, but serve what is more akin to America with a new lead from Australia and NL. The ‘Starbucks’ phenomenon in the early 90’s has capitulated the spread and expansion of the coffee shop. The problem lies with the fact that we drink milky style drinks and the coffee has not always been the main criteria for good coffee. The culture is now changing and the customer is seeking good quality coffee and the espresso element is becoming very important.

What is the general culture about espresso in the UK?

Espresso Culture per se is not evident, however this I think is in part due to the ‘Starbucks’ phenomenon, again with the high level of antipodeans arriving and working in the coffee industry this has changed the outlook for more artisan roasted quality blends and the focus is on the espresso but regrettably still more single origin 100% Arabica coffees rather than good blends.

What is the future of the espresso market in the UK and what do you think should be done?

The future for the espresso is very positive, however to change the culture we need to focus more on the espresso and educate not only the coffee companies but also the general public, in terms of the benefits of a quality blend and how to prepare correctly the espresso. Unfortunately little care is given to the beans by the coffee house or those that serve it and a lack of knowledge in how to prepare good espresso has led to what I can only describe, as at best a mediocre experience, to at worst nothing more than a flavourless poor experience.

Anyone who travels knows that the expression “Italian espresso” is often improperly used to describe a kind of coffee that has nothing to do with the real Italian espresso essence. It is a reality showing the lack of real product culture and sometimes even bad faith.

In recent years, much has been done to try to effectively defend this “Made in Italy” symbol. The Italian Espresso National Institute, in collaboration with the International Institute of Coffee Tasters and the Centro Studi Assaggiatori – Italian Tasters encoded the Certified Italian Espresso profile and then launched an appropriate certification.

The efforts of the Italian Espresso National Institute did not remain unheard: today that sensory profile has international legitimacy. However, if we want to defend the Italian Espresso tradition we must gather everyone who, also in far countries, believes in this product and its culture.

This is the reason why the International Institute of Coffee Tasters, which boasts a register of more than 8,000 students in more than 40 countries worldwide, has decided to create a new position: the Espresso Italiano Trainer. The aim is to train ambassadors of the Italian Espresso culture spread to the four corners of the Earth who will pass on information and basic tasting techniques to students in order to evaluate the drink. They will have only one objective in mind: prepare their students to expose false Italian Espressos and reward the best ones.

If you want get more information, just write to carlo.odello@italiantasters.com.

* Chairman of the board of the International Institute of Coffee Tasters

The Host show will take place next month in Milan. If you are attending it, why do not you consider to attend the Italian Espresso Tasting course just the day before the show (20 October)? Let us make you discover the real Italian Espresso culture. If you are interested in understanding how to recognize and evaluate the real Italian Espresso, just download the leaflet. You can also drop me an email at carlo.odello@italiantasters.com if you need further information about the course.

Do you want to prepare your trip and get more information about the espresso you will find in Milan? Just read the article about the coffee tradition in the area of Milan. And remember that if you are a member of the International Institute of Coffee Tasters you will receive a free selection of articles of our quarterly magazine in English.

 * Trainer and member of the board of the International Institute of Coffee Tasters

In essence, the perception that the consumers have for single serving systems is improving. Consumers that evaluate these systems as “excellent” or “very good” have risen from 26% in 2007 to 45%.

In addition, the survey results show that awareness of the existence of such single serving systems has grown from 55% in 2007 to 73% in 2011. The owners of single serving coffee machines now make up 7% of consumers, compared with 1% in 2005. The number of people who have bought a single serving machine in the past six months has grown by 35% this year compared to 29% in 2007.

We just scheduled an Espresso Italiano Tasting course just the day before the Host show in Milan (20 October 2011). Many professionals wrote us asking about this course: here it is! The course will take place in Brescia, hometown to the International Institute of Coffee Tasters. This means just 1,5 hours fom the Host show in Milan.

Why should you attend an Espresso Italiano Tasting course? I can think of many good reasons, but one seems to me the most important: to go back to the roots of Espresso, to understand the culture in which it was born.

I have been working in the coffee business for some years (not counting the years I was at the university but already spent some time at the events of the International Institute of Coffee Tasters and of the Italian Espresso National Institute). And I have been travelling around the world in the last few years training people how to taste Italian Espresso.

What did I discover? Easy to say: coffee is culture, means it is strongly connected to real life. It is like Chinese tea: you cannot understand it unless a Chinese explains it to you. That’s because he or she is Chinese and was born and raisen up in the real Chinese tea culture. The same for Japanese tea. And for any other specific tea culture.

Let us make you discover the real Italian Espresso culture. If you are interested in understanding how to recognize and evaluate the real Italian Espresso, just download the brochure from the link below. You can also drop me an email at carlo.odello@italiantasters.com if you need further information about the course.

Download:

Italian Espresso Tasting course: brochure (PDF)

* Trainer and member of the board of the International Institute of Coffee Tasters

Espresso Italiano Tasting, the official handbook of the International Institute of Coffee Tasters, has just been published in Chinese. And more courses and seminars on tasting Italian Espresso are coming in Guangzhou next week (July 26th-31st). The classes will be held by Carlo Odello, member of the board of the International Institute of Coffee Tasters. For  more information about the courses and the book please contact Ms Jolin (jolin@acoffee.cn).

The data processed by the Italian Espresso National Institute, show the development of espresso in the world. If, on the one hand, Europe is confirmed as the main opening of the market (55% of the machines sold abroad in 2010), it is also true on the other hand that compared to 2009 this market loses about 6% both in volume and value compared to global sales. The espresso machines are sent particularly to the Far East (China, Japan, Korea and other countries in the region) so much so that in 2010 they earned about 5% more in volume than value when compared to the same sales the year before. The Far East marked a growth of +86% in volume and +81% in value compared to the same global sales the year before, while the rest of Asia grew +73% in volume and +75% in value. The North American market is also doing well, the United States and Canada with machine purchases in 2010 at a volume of 8% and a value of 7.5%, up 50% in volume and 40% in value from 2009.

"Espresso has, for many years, achieved global notoriety and appreciation" said Gianluigi Sora, chairman of the Italian Espresso National Institute, commenting on the data. "An extremely large majority of our espresso machines are sent abroad and it will increasein the future, just consider the tumultuous growth in Asia and North America."

"Italian Espresso is, in this global market, a specific way to drink espresso" Sora continued. "For the Italian Espresso National Institute the conservation is therefore twofold. Continue to improve the quality of the product on the Italian market while at the same time spread a major part of our culture abroad with the support of our roasters that are using increasing resources for exportation."