DURBAN - Durban has played host to the inaugural Creative Coffee Week that has turned the city into a coffee hub.
From the 26th of July, coffee professionals have been converging at the Durban promenade and the Point waterfront.
The event was organised by the Coffee Magazine in partnership with the eThekwini Municipality and sponsors like FNB, Selati and Innovate Durban.
The coffee event which ends tomorrow is set to drive local commerce, create employment amongst the Durban youth as well as share global insights into the coffee industry.
According to Iain Evans, the organiser of the event, the drive behind the coffee week was to celebrate the blossoming coffee culture emerging across Durban.
On how the event will benefit the city of Durban Evans said that the dialogue at the coffee week is around stimulating growth, commerce and training within the coffee industry in Durban and South Africa.
Evans said, "There are people from all through the coffee production chain attending, from Coffee farmers, producers, importers, roasters, cafe owners and baristas".
Two of Coffee Magazine's owners and operators are from Durban so it was really important that South Africa and the rest of the world see that Durban is a world-class city not just from a coffee perspective but from a commercial and trade perspective too.
Durban also has a growing speciality coffee scene and the point of this week is to connect people together so they can share experiences and stimulate more coffee trade.
Evans said, "We decided it’s time to celebrate the culture and the fantastic people that make up the industry, while looking at ways to carve the South African niche in the global coffee arena".
The festival is being used to people that coffee is a relatively easy way to give skills to youth that are unemployed. Evans said, "Already in the few days of the festival we have met people aspiring to open coffee businesses".
Around 250 of the leading coffee professionals in South Africa including roasters, baristas and coffee owners will be present at the various workshops and training sessions.
The sessions will be hosted by nine international guests including Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood, competitive barista owner of Colona Coffee as well as Ben Weiner, the owner of Gold Mountain Coffee Growers.
In addition, Selati and Coffee Magazine have worked together to change the lives of 12 individuals including three deaf people through coffee.
Through the Selati Barista Education Programme, the selected candidates will receive:
1. UNISA Barista Short Course in Coffee, that is the SCA Level 1 Barista Course,
2. Three-month long internship under the mentorship of café partners