Glasgow Coffee Festival 2018

Last weekend, Dear Green Roasters hosted the annual two-day Glasgow Coffee Festival at the Briggait in the city centre. For coffee professionals, enthusiasts and lovers alike, this festival was a huge celebration of the ever-growing coffee culture here in Scotland.

During the event, there were coffee exhibitors, cafes, roasters and baristas featuring their best coffees alongside hosting workshops, masterclasses, cupping sessions, presentations and demonstrations in the space. They were also giving away Glasgow Coffee Festival totes and Dear Green lanyards to all visitors. Scooooore!

One of the most amazing things about this year's festival is the banning of use of all disposable cups! Yes! You either need to bring your own cups or borrow one from the team, and I think this was an AMAZING decision! A bold move towards zero-waste! And honestly, I think it went brilliantly.

I saw plenty of people bringing their own KeepCups (like myself) and even ceramic mugs and Thermos to the event. They even had washing stations for your cups! It was so great to see people enlightened by this positive move towards a potential culture shift in the city, especially for coffee lovers.

Well done to the team for this bold decision! During the whole event, they saved almost 20,000 disposable cups by banning the use of them! INCREDIBLE!

During the festival, the UK Brewers Cup finals had professional brewers competing to represent the United Kingdom in the next International Brewers Championship in Dubai. We also got to witness the brewers and baristas in a super intense competition.

Visitors were also invited to meet all the passionate coffee professionals, while sipping all the amazing different coffees from local roasters and cafes across Scotland.

​There were also retailers selling handmade ceramics, books and also a vintage corner with awesome vintage coffee pieces like syphons and German porcelain grinders from the 1900s! I got a DRIFT Magazine, Volume 4 about coffee and food in Stockholm, Sweden for only £5! And I also got a bag of Unorthodox Roasters coffee, with coffee beans from Yunnan, China; the first time I've ever seen coffee beans from Central Asia in Scotland.

There were also plenty of presentations you can attend and listen to for free during the whole festival. I attended two, one by Chris Baker from KeepCup about The Reuse Revolution -- talking about their KeepCups and their mission to reduce waste and educate about reusing materials as opposed to disposable products; and the second being by Nicola Turner from Keeping Scotland Beautiful -- about the process of recycling and why it's not the most effective measure to take to reduce excessive waste.

If you're a coffee lover, Glasgow Coffee Festival is one to attend every year! At £16 a ticket, you'll get to try so much coffee, meet so many interesting coffee professionals, listen to very informative and education presentations and do some shopping while you're at it!

Website: http://www.glasgowcoffeefestival.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheGlasgowCoffeeFestival Twitter: https://twitter.com/glascoffeefest Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/glasgowcoffeefestival/

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