Peter Ševič about the Ljubljana Coffee Festival
The Ljubljana Coffee Festival, which will take place at the Ljubljana City Museum (Mestni muzej Ljubljana) on 5 and 6 October, will be the second consecutive event presenting the quality coffee offer in our city. The Ljubljana Coffee Festival, which will take place at the Ljubljana City Museum (Mestni muzej Ljubljana) on 5 and 6 October, will be the second consecutive event presenting the quality coffee offer in our city.
The wide selection of the gastronomical festivals in Ljubljana is complemented with the Ljubljana Coffee Festival. Where and when did you get the idea for the Ljubljana Coffee Festival?
The idea of organising this festival has been developing for years. This is the most important event in the city of Ljubljana from the perspective of coffee industry; it used to be of few European cities without a festival of coffee on the highest professional level. By organising the Festival, the Slovenian capital will undoubtedly take a step further in creating a diverse offer of coffee and contributing to the educational, economic and tourist development in the area of wholesome coffee industry in Slovenia. The Ljubljana Coffee Festival puts the capital of Slovenia on the map along with the best coffee capitals and along with European “speciality” festivals of coffee offer.
Who is this Festival for – mostly for people, who are professionally connected to coffee, or for coffee enthusiasts as well?
The Festival is the turning point of the new trend in the coffee industry in Slovenia, and it is intended for professionals from the coffee industry, coffee shop owners, restaurant owners, Food & Beverage managers, chefs, hoteliers as well as coffee enthusiasts. The Festival provides the answers to the most complex questions from the world of coffee production as well as the most frequently asked questions on how to prepare a top quality cup of coffee at home.
What is, in your opinion, the role of the Festival among the Ljubljana’s gastronomy festivals?
The Festival will offer the best of the top quality coffees. As far as the providers on the festival are concerned, Mr Wilford Lamastus the owner of the Lamastus Family Estate farm from Panama, will definitely provide the highlight of the Festival. He will give a lecture on the most prestigious coffee variety, the “geisha”, and organise a tasting of his coffee, which broke the record as the most expensive coffee in the world this year. Coffee is far more complex than wine, considering the aromas and tastes, and should be placed on the highest level of gastronomic offer.
Which part of the programme would you like to emphasise to the people of Ljubljana and what would you recommend to the tourists?
The Festival will feature more than 60 lectures and tastings of the highest international level in the field of the coffee industry. The events which will stand out include the lecture by Wilford Lamastus from Panama and tasting of the most prestigious coffee variety from the Lamastus Family Estate farm, a workshop with the world champion in preparing Turkish-style coffee, Konstantinos Komninakisz from Athens, a lecture on water and coffee extraction by the scientist Dr. Sam Smrket (ZHAW University of Applicable Science in Zürich, Switzerland), a lecture on the Cascara coffee beverage (Uschi Zimmermann, Panama Varietals) etc.
