Which is the best coffee nation?

1st May 2008

In Copenhagen in June, the SCAE will find the best coffee nation--not which is the best nation to plant, grow, harvest and process quality coffee, but what nation takes the best care of the coffee after that.

To discover the winner is a simple process: we add the results from the our World Championships, in Latte Art, Cup Tasting,Coffee in Good Spirits and the World Barista Championship. This implie that the winning nation in the Latte Art gets a score of 1 point, number 2 gets 2 and so on, with the same going for the other competitions. The nation with the lowest number of points wins. So, in order to be eligible for this grand prize, a nation needs to be participating in all four of these World Championships.

In Copenhagen, the results will be published each day at the entrance to the hall, so that everyone can follow the successes or failures of every individual nation, and cheer and support their favourite as the competitions unfold.

The 2006 competition was won by the UK, while last year, the trophy was taken by Iceland, with Russia just behind them. The winner's trophy is held for only one year at the time, so Iceland will be sending a very strong team to ensure that the trophy remains in their through 2008.

The final result will be presented on Sunday just after the Barista finals.--Alf Kramer