Vilnius Coffee Festival 2020

Coffee, coffee, coffee

Both, bigger and better known coffee roasters and smaller roasters were present at the festival, with their all best coffees. Coffees for every taste were available; those who love a darker roast and those who prefer light roast coffee. There was a separate 'Espresso bar' where you could try different espresso blends, both just espresso and milk based. There were a total of 10 different coffee roasters in the Roaster Village area. Once again, the best known coffee producing countries were represented - Brazil, Colombia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Costa Rica, etc. My personal favourite, the most exciting tasting experience this year was Indonesia, which tasted juicy and sweet. It was also noticeable that the 'Anaerobic fermentation' processing method was more present in the coffees than in previous years. Read about different processing methods in Jori's post. In our own stand, we were brewing a coffee from Honduras, roasted by our own mini roastery Paulig Kulma.

Competitions

There were three competitions at Vilnius Coffee Festival. The best cup taster was chosen and this time it turned out to be Miglė lukoševičiūtė from Caffeine. In addition, there was a latte art competition where the winner was Ieva Šuopytė from Vero Cafe. And the Lithuanian Barista Championship was Eleonora Zanevičienė from Huracan Coffee, the winner will go to represent Lithuania in Melbourne, Australia, where The 2020 World Barista Champonship will be held May 4-7. 

So the women did a great job on National Women's Day and took all three first places, well done! ?

Education and workshops

Education area offered coffee lectures and workshops. It was an honor to be the speaker on the second day and privilege to share my experiences in Kenyan coffee farms and meeting the farmers. In addition, our Lithuanian coffee trainer and flavor specialist Ieva organized a two-day workshop on taste paring. She did cheese and coffee pairing with Donatas Vaitkūnas, Masters of Cheese shop representative and cheese enthusiast. We made 6 cheese pairings with 4 coffees – Robert Paulig Roastery Kajo, Kuulas, Kipina and Paulig New York -  all prepared with French Press. Ieva wanted to make this pairing because it‘s fun, educational, tasty and makes everyone stop for a moment, meditate over coffee and cheese and dig deeper into the flavors in one‘s mouth. It‘s a way to experience food and drink in deeper sense, to add more pleasure as well. Also she made coffee and bread pairing. Together with baker and pastry chef Greta Janulyte. We chose 4 traditional lithuanian breads to go with Kajo, Sydney, New York and Kipina coffees. Greta baked french brioche with craqueline and made some delicious and matching toppings to go with bread.

The Market

In addition to coffee, there was much more to see at the festival. Different tea‘s and flavors, cocoa, fresh juices, lemonades and smoothies, kombucha was a big hit and had many producers at the festival, plus a variety of bakery products, both sweet and savory. Of course, the festival was also full of chocolate and ice cream. So there was something pleasing for everyone at the festival.

Vilnius Coffee Festival 2020 in LOFTAS was a great event where cheerful, beautiful and interesting people meet. You can be sure there is no shortage of good coffee, exciting competitions to watch and the festival atmosphere is always great.