History of the Devil's Drink

Coffee first appeared in Europe in 1615 after being brought back by Ventian traders. Initially used as an aid to digestion it soon became a beverage of choice. Some say that by replacig alcohol it allowed better more fruitful discussions to be held without the delerious effects of alcohol.

The government of the day soon realised the potential revenue stream and encouraged and taxed the opening of coffee shops. Europe's oldest is Cafe Florian on St Marks Square in Venice.

Originally called Arab Wine some priests opposed the delicious beverage urging its prohibition by referring ot it as the Devil's Drink. Pope Clement the 8th decided not to prohibit the drink but itstead baptised it making it into a Christian drink.

Surely now coffee is a drink made in heaven.

What people say about coffee

Coffee helps keep you young, can assist in preventing diabetes and as I've been finding out can be enjoyed anywhere in the world.

Coffee consumption varies by country with Scandinavians being the bigget coffee drinkers while Italy is in 9th place. From memory AUstralia comes in at 14.

Internationally the coffee market is worth US$90 trillion dollars with Brazil alone producing almost a third of the world's coffee. In the past three years Brazil produced 32,000,000 60kg sacks. Brazil exported 27M sacks.

Rising quickly to second place in coffee production is Vietnam which has pushed Columbia to third place.

With every sip of coffee you take you can feel excited knowing you are part of an international effort to keep the world healthy. I think I'll go and get another coffee.

(Currently sitting at Heathrow airport.)

Waiting with Rembrandt

The morning started with a very good "traditional" cappuccino at Outmayer, a chain pf Croissanteries. The coffee was good, as was the choclate croissant, the cream donut, the hot cheese/ham pizza and of course the obligatory plain croissant used as a control.

By 10:30 the streets were crowded with the weekend crowds doing their shopping. By lunch our legs were exhausted from walking the historic streets and we settled in for a lunch of chocolate pancakes complete with long coffee form a Cafina C80.

The afternoon we eventually had to give into the need to buy the customary knick-knacks before filing this story from the "3 Sisters Pub" while waiting for the speedy airport shuttle.

The Happy Dutch

Friday was spent visiting yet another coffee equipment supplier, this time about 1 hour out of Amsterdam. The facility was impressive, organised and functional. The Dutch workplaces that we have visited are obvioulsy very productive as we can tell from the quality of their output. Interestingly the feel in the workshops and production areas is relaxed. There is always music playing, the people are freindly but at the same time professionally focussed.

Lunch was taken in a disused train station which had been converted into a nice restaurant. The Dutch know how to enjoy their food.

The Dutch also know a lot about water and the need to keep it at bay. We visited the Kinderdijk, one of the more famous windmilled spotted areas. Our host informed us as were standing 2 metres below sea level. Not surprisingly we were still dry.

Afternoon peak hour traffic in Amsterdam was busy and at a crawl. It seems that not only do all of the Dutch own a pushbike, they also like to take their cars on the road on Friday afternoon.

Friday night dinner was followed by a nice espresso at Cafe Firenze located just off Rembrandt Sqr. Being a back street Italian restaurant I don't need to tell you that the pasta and the espresso were both excellent.

Leaving Amsterdam this afternoon and back to the cut & thrust of the Australian life on MOnday morning.

Some topics are funny in any country

Enough said.

CoCo's Outback - Lousy Food & Warm Beer

Stepping out for some dinner tonight we strolled past the cuisines of the world, Argentine steakhouses, pizzerias, chinese, until we had to find out how an Australian theme restaurant could be represented in Amsterdam.

We stumbled across Coco's Outback Restaurant near Rembrandt Plaza. Loudly promising Lousy Food and Warm Beer we were sure we couldn't be dissappointed. Cocos is owned and operated by a Dutch guy called Ed. We were greated by a striking young lady bearing
a strong Australian accent. A good start, sounds like home.

The bar has an Uluru feel with the walls being covered with red rock effect. At the moment they have much of the Australian covered in holloween decoration. The restaurant is complete with pool table which was in heavy use.

Onto the menu which was delivered by "Lou", an Aussie girl who is working in Europe. She reiterated that we shouldn't expect too much of the themed menu which is presented as a real work of art as you thumb though the pages offering various treats. I settled on the burger, declining the kangaroo option, served with potato wedges and a salad on the sesame roll.

The food arrived and the portion was ample, so generous I couldn't finish it. Glancing around at our fellow diners they too were surprised by the generous size serves.

Lou's Australian accent had to be investigated. She tells us she and her partner Damien both from Melbourne are travelling for a year and picking up work. Netherlans now offers reciprocal work priviledges to Aussies and I guess it is a bigger party alternative to the traditional working London trip which I did way back in 1988.

Work at Coco's really suits Lou given that she can't speak Dutch and I guess she adds to the Aussie theme of the restaurant.

If you are in Amsterdam and in need of a reasonably priced and hearty meal, head for Cocos just off Rembrandt Plaza.

Rolling flats of Amsterdam

Today started with a relaxing sroll out of the hotel for breakfast. My travelling preference is to get out of the sterile hotel environments and eat where the locals might be eating. We settled upon a Delifrance café and ordered morning cappuccinos and croissants. They were so fresh I had to supplement my original plain croissant with the chocolate and then the custard filled variations.

Our coffees were quickly prepared using the Cafina C80 machines pictured above. Nice fulfilling coffees, perhaps not quite presented as they would be at home but good coffee none the less. Since arriving in Amsterdam 25 hours ago we have seen just 1 tradition espresso machne. The majority of coffee shops are opting for the benefits of automatic machines.


Our job today was to visit the Bravilot Bonamat people located 50 kms out of Amsterdam. They are the people whom produuce the Bolero Xl42 machines that many of our gaming lounge customers use. Their offices are very clean and presentable. A tour of the factory showed why their machines are so relaible. Their factory utilises the latest robotic technologies for much of the manufacturing work. The robots can even continue working when the humans have gone home to sleep.

In the afternoon we received a technical presentation on the new enahnced version, the Bolero XL423 which is now available in Australia from Gilkatho.



Walking through the shopping precinct of Nieuwenduik I was struck with the wide range of services available from this shop. In case you can't read the thumbnail, they provide "Magic Mushroooms, Psychedelic herbs and pills, Sex stimulants, Energizers, psychedelic seeds, hemp seeds, head products and much much more." I get my kicks from coffee so I didn't need any of the wares but looking at the picture, travelling companion Nick Wolski seems to be paying a little too much attention.

Amsterdam or bust

My body is in Amsterdam but my head is only just in Koblenz. Having left Stuttgart in the late afternoon we entered a time warp when we got onto the autobarn system.

The roads were crowded but the vehicle was still doing 200Kph at times. Hopefully sometime during the night the rest of me will arrive in Amsterdam.

Bitching Betty, the SatNav is a lovely lady, even being so polite as to backtrack us and then divert us around a major traffic problem. These Germans have thought of everything.

Amsterdam is the usual swirling mass of colours, mainly red. There seems to be plenty of people doing late night window shopping amongst the haze of the coffee shops. Lesson: don't stand downwind of those coffee shops. As a non-smoker my clothes have unfortunately taken on enough aroma to test the custom's dogs on the way back into Australia.

On the comuncations front I've run out of luck on the low cost WiFi access which accounts for the lack of uploaded pictures on the website. This post I'm doing via an email cafe.

Just to make it more exciting I can't send SMS from my phone. With technology we always have to live in hope.

Thursday we are planning to spend around Amsterdam.

The bike crazy Dutch stop for these light signals for cyclists.

The locals don't risk handling the contents of the street rubbush bins. They use these trucks to vacuum out the contents of the metal bins.

Industrial Germans know how to have fun.

In the city of Mercedes and Audi we've seen how the Germans love to have fun. After spending most of the afternoon driving from Switzerland to Stuttgart we soon found ourselves in a search for a great hotel for the night. After traversing such great Stuttgart sites as the Bahnhofplatz (train station plaza) and the pedestrian mall the Satnav was still keeping its patience with helpful polite tips like "Do a U turn when possible".

Eventually the hotel was found but to gain access is was acceptable to drive along the mall dodging inquisitive pedestrains. The hotel was good, clean, polite and comfortable. Interestingly there was a German gentleman paying cash to book a room with a very
well presented young lady. He was particularly keen to pay cash and not use his credit card. The hotel was otherwise super with a good hearty German style Fruhstuck in the morning.

After breakfast Nick & I wandered down the Platz in search of a Tchibo coffee. We were too early for them but we did settle on a clean looking coffee and gelati cafe. Pictured above are the coffees which unfortunately were slow, lacked body and were left undrunk on the counter. Stuttgart is the home of great cars but our verdict on coffee will wait until another visit.

German leg

Hi from friendly Germany. The weather is a tropical 20 celcius, certainly not european autumn. Today, Wednesday is being spent driving from Stuttgart to Amsterdam, another day at the office.

Pictured is the view of the German customs officials checking passports as motorists leave the private banking country of Switzerland.

I took this picture while we were temporarily detained for some closer examination of our passports. Fortunately no full body searches this day.

This tank of fuel came in at a nice round EURO 100 or about AUD$170 of juice for the fast paced autobahn.

Bankers Paradise

According to Dilbert creator Scott Adams, all of the intelligent people of the world moved to one area and established Switzerland.
Not wanting to change too much money into Swiss Francs, I had 30 non-spending minutes to kill at the Zurich Bahnhof (train station)
and headed out to capture the essence of Zurich for you.

The station leads out onto the shopping & commercial sreet, not surprisingly call Bahnhofstrasse (Train Station Street). Big name
retailers like Bally & Swarovski. It was Swarovski where I did some window shopping when thiss bag caught my eye. Remebering my
promise not to change money today I had to dissapoint Kathy by not buying the CHF6000 (AUD 6500) diamond encrusted hand bag.

Swiss use these electronic telephone directories for CHF 0.40 to find telephone numbers.

People we meet on the train

The morning in fashion-conscious Milano dawned way too late after another night of jetlag deprived sleep. Before long it was time to say goodbye to Hotel Atena and head for the station. Italy really is a great place to visit and enjoy all things Italian. A country that has definate priorities. I noticed in the classic hotel breakfast room that the drinks on sale were priced E2.50 for soft drink yet E1.50 for beer.

Outside the hotel the slow but steady Number 9 tram pulled to a halt and I boarded for the start-stop journey to the Central Station for my train to Zurich. Being Monday morning it seems that half the populaiton of Milan was at the station. The other half were about to arrive on the arriving trains. The ticket windows were barely open, the queues were long and it was just 2 minutes to departure before I had my ticket for Zurich.

The trian was soon filled to capacity and I found myself sitting next to, not surprisingly, an Italian. Turns out he too is involved in the coffee industry and was visiting Milan for the SIC. Andrea Greco is a green bean coffee trader based in Sicily. Having completed his economics degree he has started work in his father's business learning the ropes for the past two years.

At the Milan show he was visiting clients and meeting the other show attendees. He already has very good English language skills but is hoping to travel to perhaps England where he can more intensly develop his languages.

Today is a day of rest for him before flying back to Siciliy this evening. For his day of rest he is catching the train to the Swiss lakeside town of Lugano. He enjoys travelling and seeing new places when he isn't wotking 6 days trading gree coffee beans.

When at home in Mascalucia he enjoys fishing, tennis and of course is a keen supporter of Milan Football club. He had even managed to fit in a visit at a suppliers box at San Siro soccer stadium on Sunday afternoon.

After he left the train I detected some other Australian accents "in range" on the time. Two adventurous ladies from Hobart were on an 8 week Eurail trip of Europe. They seemed pretty happy and I was pretty jealous as I recalled my months of backbacking across the continent.

Trains - just didn't have enough tme to meet everone in the carriage.

Land of Cheese & Chocolate

Had an interesting train trip from trendy Milano to the serious city
of Zurich. Met some interesting people on the train, travellers,
tourists and some workers.

I spent the last night with a Swiss family of friends whom we have
know for many years. An very enjoyable evening of fine Swiss cuisine
and good family stories.

The contrast bewteen the vagaries of Italy and the precision of life
in Swiyterland cannot be overlooked. I don't know how I survived
without heated bathroom towels.

There is freakish weather in Europe at the moment. Even as it is now
the end of October I was able to walk through this Swiss villiage in
my Billabong tshirt and short sleeves. Perhaps as I travel north this
week the story may change.

The agenda for today is a suburban commuter trian to Zurich bahnhoff,
pickup a hire car and head to Germany. Looking forward to unleashing
my Australianised Deutsch language skills on the unsuspecting Germans
but only if I survive the drive.

[ED: I apologise for mixing up the Z & y in this report. This german
lazout kezboard is a little perplexing. Was unable to connect my
laptop to any networks today so I am using my Swiss hosts' computer.

Last day here

Tomorrow I'm heading off in search of more European coffee when I catch a train to efficent Zurich. You just know that the trian will be on time!

Looking at the site plan of the Fiera in Milano it is exciting to think that after three days at the Fiera I've barely covered 20% of the 100,000 sqr metres of the exhibition. The centre is 5 times the size of Brisbane's Convention and Exhibition centre. 4 times larger than Sydney's impressive Drling Harbour.

Of the 14 halls of the HOST Exhibition I've managed to visit just 4 of the 14 halls. Halls I've missed include 2 halls of Confectionary & Pastries, 2 of Cash & Carry, 3 halls of Professional Catering and 2 of Hotel specific displays.

Looks like I'll have to come again in two years.

Couldn't leave without visiting the Gelati

After writing the previous post yesteday and being reminded how big the Gelatie and Pastry trade halls were I had to make time for a run through.

Once again the trade displays were impressive and entertaining. 10,000 metres of space fits in a lot of refrigerated cabinets, dispensers, drink machines, shop outfitters and trendy "restaurant/bar" concept displays.

As you can see from the above pics also no shortage of gelati samples. Anyone for another?

Note to self: Wait a week after getting home before checking body weight.

Viva La France - milk steaming made easy

Prepare to have the revolution at your local coffee shop. The French have been applying their creative flair to the art of coffee and have made some interesting progress and not a moment too latte either. I visited the Reneka International stand to see what they had in store.

Using a specially designed steam wand on their Viva S GTV you simply place the jug of milk under the steam wand and the built in temerpature sensor will heat and froth the milk to the perfect consistency and temperature. There isnàt even any need to hold the jug.

Unlike the popular autofrothers the Viva perfectly steams the milk in the jug allowing the operator to then pour the milk onto the espressos. The milk froth was consistent and had better retention than other autofrother milks that we have seen.

The benefits of the frothing method are that it is impossible to burn the milk, the milk is always frothed perfectly and being in a jug, the milk can still be free poured for latte art. You can visit their website fo rmore information at www.reneka.com.

I also got to visit the secret confidential labs area of their stand. Unfortunately that story will have to wait until that new technology is released.

Clean machines make good coffee

Everybody knows about it but getting people to do it is another matter. I am talking about the need to have good clean coffee equipment to make good coffee that will keep customers coming back for more.

Now everyone is even able to clean the inside of their grinder for better tastes, better grinding and longer life of their grinder investment.

Yankee company, Urnex, makes a range of cleaning products to suit traditional and automatic coffee machines. They were demonstrating their new product Grindz which can be run through shop and B2C grinders to remove built-up coffees. Joshua Dick of Urnex explained that Grindz is the first cleaning product that will clean grinders. It is natural and food safe and will clean grinder burrs and casings while removing most flavoured coffee odours.

Joshua must think we are going to need a lot of this product in Australia as I have been lucky enough to score an invite to the Urnex cocktail party tonight. (ed: Wayne is on an alcohol free coffee trip and will be the token designated driver at the party!)

Ice to eskimos or real ovens to Italians

Good to see an Australian growing his successful business by displaying in the Professional Catering section of HOST.

Brett Beech of Beech Ovens in Stones Corner Brisbane is at Milan for the second time selling his company's impressive capabilities in oven technology. He successfully has much of the Australian 5 star market with intentions to gain more of the European market.

Decaffeination of Coffee

Decaffeination CoffeeEven in the caffeine charged world of the speciality coffee fair there is a demand for decaff. We stopped by the Demus SpA stand and enjoyed a full bodied yet caffeine free espresso.

Decaff coffees I've tried often leave me feeling flat and unexcited. The decaff prepared by Elana on the Demus stand had a good stronge colourful crema and a traditional taste on the pallet.

Dr Massimiliano Fabian, the CEO of Demas has had caffeine in his blood (or not in his bood if decaffeineated) since his mother was in the business. Massimiliano explained to me the basic decaffeinating process: Steaming, extraction, recovery of the solvent and re-bagging. There are four different decaffeinating processes currently used by various processors.

Water: He considers to be the worst as it strips not only the caffeine but also much of the flavour.

CO2: Requires large investment in capital works as the gas needs to be in liquid form requiring high pressure containment.

Ethel acetate & Methylene chloride: Ethel Acetate removes a number of chemicals while Methylene is the preferred method for Demus as it specifically targets the caffeine while leaving the taste of the product in tact.

In the future Massimiliano believes that the market for decaffeinated products will continue to grow driven by increasing total coffee consumption and the aging population's preference for lower caffeine beverages. The reference to the aging population is interesting. As the baby boomers are moving through the age brackets they want to enjoy more coffee but are conscious not to absord so much caffeine.

500 coffees every hour

The Trade Fair gives manufacturers the opportunity to display some of their big iron and each one of them claims ot have the most reliable, most efficent coffee mchines on the planet.


Katharina Kuhne, Egro Sales Manager uses the Series 90.

One machine we saw (and tasted) in action is the Egro 90 Series capable of a productivity rate of 500 espressos per hour. Try calculating the profit on selling each of those at $3.00 a hit. With 10 different product selections the machine simultaneously can be making three drinks in the one process; while 1 drink brews, the next shot grinds and the previous shot ejects.

Designed for the most demanding large hotels and very busy environments, the swiss people certainly like their precision. Check their website for more product info.



But we cannot overlook the Italians' passion for fine engineering. The nice people at Brasilia have on this display this rather large brewing chamber. Any guesses on what size shot this brewing chamber would produce?

Just out of picture is the smaller industrial sized working unit which produces 5 litre shots from 1,000 gram doses.

There were lots of other interesting things to see on the Brasilia stand, one of which was these stylish home espresso machines made under contract for another coffee company. Brasilia put effort into their body work.

Cupful of Art dimensions

One company which has a fine reputation for its ceramic wares is IPA Industria Porcellana SPA. On display they have some of the widest range and most colourful, artistic coffee cups that you will see. For Italians coffee really is art.

Espresso cleaning made easy.

Caring and cleaning an espresso machine is critical to the ongoing quality of coffee that can be produced in the machine. We found the good people of Quality Espresso have made this easy by implementing a number of features into the Futurmat F3 with Display.

Sales Director, Julian Melbourne expalined that the machine has an autoprogram that will cycle the machine through the chore of end of day back flush. Simply insert the blanks, initiate the program and the machine will do the rest.

The machine goes further by notifying the operator of the need for regular maintenance and also reporting the success of the cleaning cycles. For operators whom may have to clean 2 or 3 coffee groups per day this one feature will save much time.

The machine also has features to improve the taste of the water for tea drinkers as well as a healthy 15 litre boiler.

Pictured above is Luis initiating the auto-backflush program.

High flyers

As you can imagine the high-flying jet-setting fast paced life of your coffee scribe is champagne and coffee all the way. With tongue firmly in cheek I'm writing at the 1 star hotel that the budget allows. Wih amenties like no iron, two flights of stairs and free breakfast until 9:30 am (but extra between 9:30 and 10:30) we are really living it up in the fashion mecca of Milan.

Travelling companion Nick Wolski is pictured above window shopping at Prada in the centre of Milan.

Nick would have been able to afford to buy any of these bags had he not just drank the most expensive beer of his short life. At $19 for a schooner he won't be having too many at that bar. I was lucky, my 250ml of water cost just $7. When you think about that it makes water $28/litre (compared to petrol at just $1.20/litre.) We asked the server why the drinks were so expensive: her simple reply "This is Milano".

Here's Nick earlier at the Coffee Fair eyeing off rather more coffee than he can drink.

Star Wars: Coffee episode

In the tradiional Italian coffee bar market the presentation of the machine is as important as the essence of the coffee itself.

Walking around the Fair you can see the efforts that Elektra, Gaggia and others make to not only produce a functional piece of equipment but also a machine that will make the coffee bar a place to remember.

The three group Astoria strikes me as particularly eye catching. For a larger pic click here

Style champions at Jura

There is one company that continues to produce new machines with style and charm. Jura of Switzerland has made style additions to a number of models many of which will be released in Australia in early 2006.

One new series of machine styling which catches the eye is the "chrome" look. On display are the extensions of the Z series and X9 machines now finished in very shinny reflective surfaces. My pictures do not do them justice. The machines will stand out in commercial applications were look, style, presentation and, of course, coffee are essential.

The Jura Z5 model now in chrome finish.High Res

In early 2006 Jura will be releasing these steroid laden F series machines. Using the current F series as the breeding ground they have developed larger water tanks, larger drip trays and large digital display to make this series suitable for the small office 30 coffers per day market. Pictured above is Eveline Fink, Jura's export manager and Australian account manager explaining to Nick Wolski.

Feasibility of auto in cafes

The growing penetration of automatic coffee maxhines into the general home and office market is now also being matched by the progress of automatic machines suitable fo rthe foodservice and cafe market.

Auto machines on display included units from manufacturers including Jura, WMF, deJong Duke, Franke and many many more. French manufacturer Unic has nade its mark with the release of the Tango which is capable of producing 4 cappuccinos at once seriously rivally the productivity of traditional human efforts.

The Tango is targetted at cafes who want to improve staff efficency, provide a consistent product while enjoying the lower marginal per cup labour costs that an automatic of this calibre can produce.

Ice makers hot on competition

The event in Milan is not just about coffee, it also displays items and services for the hotel and greater hospiyality industry. While your writer enjoys the coffee he is also struck by the variety, diversity and obvious competition in the "ice maker" buisness.

One icy manufacturer was referring to run with the glamour models and free Corona Mexican beer, the exhibitors stand above went for the skills and entertainment. Pictured is the onstand ice skulpter as he creates his fourth piece of art for the day. His tool of choice appeared to be his electric chainsaw.

LHR Arrival

Flight SIN - Heathrow was uneventful and decidely unremarkable. Most
people slept inspite of the rather upset loud 1 year old in 28C.

Weather at Heathrow is cold & rainy - Welcome to the UK they know how
to turn on the weather.

First coffee this morning is being producing by a Cafina C5. After a
long night I'm looking forward to it.

Sunset over North West Australia

This pic was taken as the sun was setting on the first leg from Sydney to Singapore. The trip going west around the globe results in really long days and very long nights as our British Airway Boeing 747-400b unsuccessfully races to keep ahead of the sun.

Sydney Rush Hour

The Brisbane-Sydney flight was delayed even further on the Brisbane
tarmac. The eventualy arrival into Sydney was late. By the time I
was of the transit bus, through immigration and the first bag search
my name was being called on the PA system.

Not content with leaving from a close gate BA16 was leaving from Gate
37 at the end. A quick run, bypassing all of the wonderful duty free
(sorry Dieter no Bundy rum on this trip), got me to the gate with just
enough time for another bag search, a body scan and eventually onto
the flight.

The jumbo to Singapore has just 89 passengers, feels spacious but
apparently will fill up for the SIN - Heathrow leg.

Dinner was a choice of roast chicked with palenta or a taste of
italian cusine - gnocci. I regretably went for the chicken.

Coffee offered onboard is the "Mill House" brewed coffee supplied in
sealed portion control bags with predicatble results.

First Coffee

The first official coffee of the trip was at Brisbane domestic
airport. I was luckiliy invited into the rarified atmosphere of the
Qantas Club to enjoy some of the pre-flight hospitality.

Qantas have standardised on the Franke auto machine in all of their
capital city lounges. The machine offers a pretty standard range of
auto drinks from espresso to cappuccino. Normal and decaf beans are
available.

The drink was so-so, I choose the caffeinated cappuccino but found
that the milk was bubbly instead of frothy.

I must admit the panini was a welcome late lunch.

The first flight from Brisbane has arrived late leading to a late
departure which will put some sprite into the Sydney tranist.

Milan Show Opens Tomorrow

My inbox received a good reminder of the importance of well time and meaningful communication. This morning I received a polite
email from the organisers of the Milan show which contained the essential information all in one place.

Travel & parking information
Opening hours
Info on the free shuttle bus system
Plus a list of events (in pdf format for off line reading on the plane.)

A similar effective email was received yesterday from British Airways with a summary of all the important information that I need fo
rtravelling with them. Times & transit info.

The more we can see email being used "in context" instead of the worn "boiler plates" the better.

Cappuccino Price Index

Gilkatho's "Cappuccino Price Index" was quoted in Brisbane's Courier-Mail today.

In an article "Trouble at the coffee mill" journalist Fiona Donnelly explored the hot topic of rising coffee prices and the effect that this can have on the final consumer's cost.

International Coffee Trade Fair

For five days SIC - the International Coffee Trade Fair - which forms part of Host from 21 to 25 October in the pavilions of Fiera Milano Nuovo Quartiere in Milano - becomes the world point of reference hub where information circulates about anything to do with the coffee world.

This Fair concentrates on a thriving market where, in Italy alone, 30 million cups of coffee are drunk each day and where the daily consumption reaches 200,000 kgs (source: Fipe 2004). These are figures that make this drink - which reflects Italian style throughout the world - the king of all drinks. This is the reason for the multitude of events, conferences and discussion groups that are planned for SIC which deals with these developments by inviting major exhibitors such as Brasilia and sector experts to address the Fair.

Operators and others alike will provide ideas and drive to better understand this business and create interesting opportunities for professional development.

Coffee is discussed in all its guises at SIC. From an economic point of view, by analysing the fluctuation in its price, and by research into approaches to consolidate the sector. It is also viewed from a qualitative and sociological point of view with studies into new technologies and the discovery of new social trends linked to its consumption.

There is also the training aspect. There is a large area devoted to training where topical themes such as qualifications and legalisation of training schools for the baristi who require even higher skill levels. A further development at this show is the "1st International Symposium on Coffee Servings" organised by the Consortium for the Development and Protection of Standards E.S.E (Easy Sharing Espresso). It is an event aimed at trying to move the coffee servings segment away from a concept of being a simple commodity to that of being a service for the consumer. These represent only a few of the highly significant examples of the sector's vitality.

Quality, professionalism and service are the key words which characterise the 18th SIC show - the International Coffee Trade Fair. A Fair that again this year is confirmed as providing a unique environment and opportunity for all those operating in this sector.
For more information visit http://www.expocts.it/