On 16 and 17 March, Producer Roaster Discussion board (PRF) – the world’s largest producer-focused occasion – returned to El Salvador for the primary time since 2016. The 2-day discussion board, which attracted 1000’s of worldwide trade professionals, happened on the Salamanca Exhibition Centre in San Salvador.
Alongside a sequence of participating lectures, panel discussions, and workshops, PRF El Salvador additionally hosted 4 competitions. These included the 2023 Salvadoran Barista Championship and Brewers Cup, in addition to the second instalment of the Toddy Chilly Brew Espresso Championship and the inaugural International Roasting Contest.
Furthermore, PRF El Salvador was additionally the stage for the first-ever version of the International Espresso Awards: a brand new trade awards programme recognising excellence and innovation within the espresso sector.
Learn on to seek out out what occurred at PRF El Salvador this yr.
Study extra about PRF El Salvador right here.
Bridging the hole between producers and roasters
PRF is a world-leading espresso occasion, every version of which takes place in a coffee-producing nation in Latin America. Its purpose is to drive inexperienced espresso gross sales and spotlight Latin America as a number one worldwide data centre for the espresso trade.
Firstly of PRF El Salvador, Henry Wilson, founder and CEO of PDG International, welcomed attendees to the two-day discussion board. He spoke in regards to the significance of holding world-class espresso occasions at origin.
“It’s a actual privilege to host an occasion like this in El Salvador,” Henry mentioned in his speech. “Every year PRF has grown and grown, with the imaginative and prescient of connecting and constructing significant enterprise relationships between a very powerful stakeholders within the espresso trade.
“We have been delighted to see folks travelling from Honduras, Guatemala, Colombia, the UK, Serbia, China, the US – folks from over 70 international locations are attending,” he added.
Lectures & panels
Over each days, in addition to an intensive commerce present, there was additionally a sequence of lectures that includes a number of the main specialists within the espresso trade. These included:
- It’s time to vary the requirements for the way we market and promote espresso (Martin Mayorga of PRF Diamond Sponsor Mayorga Espresso)
- Round financial system: Implementing scalable espresso packaging options (Mark Zhou of PRF Gold Sponsor MTPak Espresso)
- Curating inexperienced espresso: Matching manufacturing with consumption (Bram De Hoog of PRF Bronze Sponsor Ally Espresso)
Alongside insightful lectures, PRF El Salvador additionally hosted a number of panel discussions over the 2 days, which included:
- Successful the World Barista Championship with WBC coach Federico Bolaños, Carlos Pola of Finca San Antonio & Las Brisas, and 2011 World Barista Champion Alejandro Méndez as panellists
- The function of ladies within the Salvadoran espresso sector which featured María Pacas of Café Pacas, María Elena Botto of IWCA El Salvador, and Ana María Schmidt of Finca Montealegre
- How can we make specialty espresso much less elitist? with Jonathan Ethical of Café de Finca, Ingrid Olivo of Finca Montagu, and Rodrigo Giammattei of Café Caté
Workshops and cuppings
PRF El Salvador additionally included numerous workshops and cuppings throughout each days.
The workshops coated a variety of subjects and have been hosted by famend espresso professionals, together with:
- World Barista Championship: Find out how to develop your drinks & routine led by 2017 World Barista Champion Dale Harris
- How can we make pattern roasting extra related to producers hosted by ONA Espresso’s Sam Corra
- Academic roundtable for Mayorga Scholarship recipients (Becados) led by Martin Mayorga
Martin Mayorga is the CEO and founding father of Mayorga Espresso, PRF Diamond Sponsor.
“One of many issues that PRF is constructed round is together with producers within the dialog,” he says. “Nevertheless it’s not all the time life like for producers to have the ability to afford the logistics, the meals, and the lodges to return to those occasions.
“The Mayorga scholarship actually permits them to affix the dialog, which is vital to the way forward for espresso,” he provides.
Cupping periods at PRF El Salvador, which have been sponsored by Official Water and Cupping Sponsor BWT water+extra, have been run by a number of the most modern farmers and merchants in Latin America, together with:
- Café de El Salvador
- Café Pacas
- Finca Santa Matilde
- Café Tuxpal
BWT water+extra additionally offered the entire water used to brew espresso at each the Espresso Bar (sponsored by Mixing Group) and the Brew Bar (sponsored by Pirómano Espresso Roasters).
Competitions at PRF El Salvador
This yr’s discussion board hosted a number of outstanding espresso competitions. In partnership with Café de El Salvador, PRF held the 2023 Salvadoran Barista Championship and Brewer’s Cup. That is the first-ever PRF occasion to host official nationwide espresso championships.
Throughout each days, opponents obtained help from 2017 World Barista Champion Dale Harris and 2017 Australian Brewers Cup champion Sam Corra.
On the second day of the occasion, Carlos Cubias was introduced because the 2023 Salvadoran Barista Champion. Alejandro Méndez additionally positioned first on the 2023 Salvadoran Brewers Cup. Each opponents will go on to symbolize El Salvador on the World Espresso Championships in June later this yr.
Moreover, alongside the 2 nationwide espresso championships, PRF El Salvador additionally hosted two extra competitions. These have been the second version of the Toddy Chilly Brew Espresso Championship and the first-ever International Roasting Contest.
Toddy Chilly Brew Espresso Championship
First held at PRF Colombia in 2022, the Toddy Chilly Brew Espresso Championship happened over each days at this yr’s occasion. Hosted in partnership with the official Chilly Brew and Chilly Brew Bar Sponsor Toddy, on day one, opponents ready their chilly brew and have been scored by a panel of technical judges.
On day two, opponents offered their drinks in three codecs:
- Pure focus (minimal 30ml)
- Diluted focus (minimal 30ml, ratio at competitor’s discretion)
- Designer non-alcoholic drink (should include competitor’s focus)
The winners of the 2023 Toddy Chilly Brew Espresso Championship have been Juan Aristizabal from Colombia and Julia Dziadevych from Hungary.
International Roasting Contest
For the primary time ever, PRF additionally hosted the groundbreaking International Roasting Contest. Its distinctive judging format is unprecedented within the international espresso trade – permitting all occasion attendees the possibility to interact and participate within the competitors.
Julio Guevara is the Director at PRF.
“We need to spotlight the significance of pattern roasting – a talent that nearly everybody working with inexperienced espresso must study, together with producers, Q-graders, exporters, importers, and roasters,” he says.
On the primary day of the occasion, all opponents had half-hour to roast one 500g pattern of inexperienced espresso equipped by official roasting sponsor !FEST Espresso Mission. Eduardo Choza, Director of Espresso at Mayorga Espresso, additionally mentored and offered help to individuals.
On 17 March, three judges chosen the 4 highest-scoring samples to proceed to the subsequent spherical. These 4 coffees have been then served on the Brew Bar.
As a part of the competitors’s distinctive last evaluation spherical, all PRF attendees have been invited to style all 4 samples on the Brew Bar and forged their votes.
The winner of the first-ever International Roasting Contest, who obtained an Aillio Bullet Roaster R1 V2, was Shaun Aupiais from South Africa.
The inaugural International Espresso Awards
Lastly, this yr’s occasion in El Salvador additionally hosted the International Espresso Awards – a brand new awards programme recognising and celebrating key innovators and leaders within the worldwide espresso trade.
As a part of the primary version of the International Espresso Awards, 4 judges evaluated entries over numerous classes and chosen a winner for every. This yr’s judges included María Pacas, Dale Harris, Nicole Battefeld-Montgomery, and Tony Dreyfuss.
The winners of the PRF El Salvador International Espresso Awards 2023 are:
The awards ceremony happened on the second day of the discussion board within the devoted Competitors Zone. Every winner obtained a digital and printed certificates outlining their respective award.
Following the success of PRF El Salvador, the occasion will return to Colombia later this yr. On 14 and 15 September 2023, PRF Colombia will happen at Plaza Mayor in Medellín, and is predicted to welcome 1000’s of worldwide attendees as soon as extra.
To search out out extra about tickets for the Sourcing Journey Expertise in Colombia, a separate bundle which additionally features a ticket to the two-day PRF occasion, discover extra info right here.
You possibly can keep updated with all bulletins for PRF Colombia right here, or by subscribing to the e-newsletter right here.
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