Worldwide Coffee Expo Success

Hamburg played host to the second Tea, Coffee and Cocoa Global Industry Expo (COTECA) over the weekend with over 3000 people in attendance.
Event organisers from Germany’s largest port city noted a high level of participation from international attendees and a professionalism across the board from the audience.
Bernd Aufderheide, President and CEO of Hamburg Messe und Congress GmbH, was full of praise.
“We are really pleased at how COTECA has developed since its launch in 2010,” Mr Aufderheide said.
He continued, “the 125 exhibitors we welcomed here in 2012 is an increase of 20 per cent. Instead of 20 countries, 30 were represented among the exhibitors at this second COTECA, which makes us very positive about the future.”
COTECA aims to provide best practice at every level of the process chain, from raw commodities to the finished product, and as such the trade fair attracted representatives from across the industry – roasters, growers, traders, equipment suppliers etc.
The weekend’s running sheet included numerous tastings, workshops and roasting seminars.
The coffee sector was particularly successful this year with organisers and exhibitors creating a ‘coffee campus’ for the entire trade fair.
“The coffee campus at COTECA was very well received. The interactivity and being able to work on the machines themselves were the crucial factor for visitors. It gave them a place for learning and interacting. We are really very satisfied,” said Holger Rehorik, General Secretary of the German Roasters Association.
Not one to rest on his laurels, Mr Aufderheide is already looking ahead to the next expo.
“The feedback and encouragement we’ve received this year is an incentive for us for COTECA 2014,” he said.