International Coffee Tasting, the coffee competition from the International Institute of Coffee Tasters (Iiac), is poised to conquer the world. International Coffee Tasting Asia 2013 will in fact be held in Tokyo this November. After four editions organized in Italy, the competition moves to one of the most definitely interesting areas for the world of coffee: Asia.

The rules and methods implemented will be the same that helped International Coffee Tasting succeed so far: completely blind tastings performed by Iiac tasters and statistic validation of data. Only the winners will be announced (those who ranked in the first 30 %), the others will still receive a sensory profile and their placement so that they will be adequately informed about their performance (in this sense, the competition is also a useful market research).

"The big difference is that the tasting commissions will be made up exclusively of Asian Iiac tasters: Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese, Chinese," says the President of the International Institute of Coffee Tasters Luigi Odello, "Here is the real value of this competition: a sensorial evaluation performed by professionals who operate in arguably the most interesting export markets of the moment."

Many of the past winners have told us how being able to claim an International Coffee Tasting Gold Medal supported their export business. An award won in Asia for the Asian market could therefore have very important value.

Regulations and the application form are available at www.coffeetasters.org.

The International Institute of Coffee Tasters will organize a new edition of Caffè Italia, the Italian Espresso event, at Foodex 2011, the most important food exhibition in Japan (Tokyo, Makuhari Messe, Hall 3, booth C01, March 1-4).

The second edition of Caffè Italia will give visitors the opportunity of tasting six different Italian Espresso blends and evaluate them. For the first time visitors will have to judge the espresso blends using a tasting card. Caffè Italia will also host training sessions held by Chihiro Yokoyama.

Carlo Odello, member of the board of the International Institute of Coffee Tasters and communications manager of the Italian Espresso National Institute, will be at Caffè Italia, too. "We aim at spreading the culture of the real Italian Espresso and Caffè Italia is a great opportunity for us – Mr Odello said – Japan proved to be very sensitive to Italian Espresso, we now have more than 300 tasters in the country. We recently launched the Espresso Italiano Tasting classes in China and are looking for partners in other Asian countries such as Korea and Thailand".

Caffè is organized in cooperation with the International Institute of Coffee Tasters – Japan, the Italian Espresso National Institute and the Italian Trade Commission.

For more information: info@coffeetasters.jp, carlo.odello@italiantasters.com.

IIAC Japan will organize three license courses in September:

• Tokyo (09)
• Osaka (10)
• Fukuoka (11)

More information: info@coffeetasters.jp, ph. +81 3 54116191.

Everything is ready for the kick-off of the International Institute of Coffee Tasters – Japan. It will be opened up on the 28^th of April in Tokyo. To celebrate the occasion, on the 26-27^th of April two new licence courses have been organised to satisfy the continually increasing demand for training on coffee tasting. The courses will be held in Osaka and Tokyo, as in the past. The new tasters will join the large number of tasters already operational in Japan thanks to the excellent coordination job done by Yumiko Momoi and her staff.

Brazil also will have its own International Institute of Coffee Tasters. The founding of an association with the same aims of its parent association and which will apply the very same methods seems to be a symbolic undertaking in the country which give us so much precious raw material for the Italian Espresso. While the Japanese market dates back to some years ago, the Brazilian market is opening up just now to the Espresso: an association of coffee tasters has a pioneering spirit to it.

Also the market in the Balkans is opening up and growing. Where the must was drinking Turkish coffee, nowadays, in the dregs of that beverage, it is possible to read the future of the espresso in the Balkans. In March, the International Institute of Coffee Tasters has been invited by Grand Kafa – the biggest roaster, comprising Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria, in the region – to give coaching at a licence course and a course for Espresso Italiano Specialist at its new training centre. This is a collaboration with the most challenging training scheme in the Balkans and a cooperation which will position the International Institute of Coffee Tasters and its method as the quality standard for this region.