In 2012 La Cimbali, the world’s largest professional coffee machine manufacturer, celebrated its 100th anniversary at The London Coffee Festival.  

As hosts of The Sensory Espresso Bar in the Hyde Park Zone, the Cimbali WCE GTHD machine was available to some of the UK’s top roasters and baristas who demonstrated their skills using signature blends as well as coffees used in the UK Barista Championships for visitors to sample.   

 

If that wasn’t enough, La Cimbali lauched the 'Sensory Sessions' a series of unmissable master classes run by well known coffee creatives Rob Dunne, Victor Frankowski and Alberto Galimberti,  held daily in the Lab area of the 
festival. 

 All these guys have made a name for themselves blogging top coffee tips and reviews and prove a hit with their quirky style, mind boggling coffee knowledge and unmatched enthusiasm.  Vic and Rob present an extravagant amateur’s guide to coffee perfection, which is sure to be one of the highlights of this year’s festival.

Matt Tuffee, UK sales and marketing manager at Cimbali says this year’s event “appealed to anyone who has a real passion for coffee who is looking to improve on their knowledge and brewing techniques.”

 

THE HOME BARISTA COMPETITION

This year La Cimbali offered up a Dafne semi professional coffee machine and grinder worth £1500 to the home barista with the most impressive coffee making skills at The London Coffee Festival.

Each competitor had 20 minutes in which to make as many coffees as they like and present their best espresso and cappuccino to the judges for assessment.   The judging criteria for the espresso included: consistency and colour of crema, taste and  balance whilst persistency and consistency of milk, foam and balance of taste are critical for the cappuccino.

The competition was won by Simon Edkins. He scored well across all elements, taking time to deliver the perfect espresso (with his personally selected coffee) and create a very evenly balanced cappuccino with great taste, texture and temperature.

The influential coffee creatives, Rob Dunne and Victor Frankowski, with their quirky style, mind boggling coffee knowledge and unmatched zeal were on hand to cajole, enthuse and judge the competitors, in between presenting an extravagant amateur’s guide to coffee perfection.

Matt Tuffee, UK sales and marketing manager for Cimbali UK commented  “We had a lot of interest in the ‘battle of the home barista’, especially as the new Dafne, which is being launched as part of La Cimbali’s 100th birthday celebrations, is an excellent bit of kit for the home enthusiast which is capable of producing high street quality coffee every time.”