Earthlings Coffee Workshop

After more than a decade, we are back in Beijing. This time, we were invited by what is considered one of the oldest coffee associations in China “China Coffee Association Beijing (CCAB)” to give a talk on the Coffee Consulate system and cross-species perspectives in coffee.

At the same time, representing Coffee Consulate (Germany) and Earthlings Coffee, we signed two educational collaboration agreements with the association, and were subsequently offered a formal three-year appointment.

The coffee scene in Beijing is very vibrant. It is a rare opportunity to introduce Malaysian Liberica to the local coffee community. After tasting it during our “Sarawak Liberica Cupping Session”, the first thing people asked was when they could visit Malaysia.

With senior members from coffee associations across China present, I expect to focus today on a topic I have long wanted to explore: the standardisation of taste versus the nihilism of taste.

Right at the beginning, I heard representatives from Ethiopia and Uganda in China each declare their countries as the birthplace of coffee and the origin of Robusta, respectively. It feels like the discussions in this forum will only become more interesting.

In addition, this event also includes cupping sessions with CEOs from Taiwan and the ASEAN Coffee Federation. The scale of the national cupping competition here is also very impressive. I heard that as many as 200 people have made it to the finals alone, and I can hardly imagine how many participated in the nationwide preliminaries.