Sintercafe 2004 review.

Despite the uncharacteristic rainy coldspell taking place, turnout at this year's Sintercafe in San Jose, Costa Rica was as large as ever. Around 500 producers, exporters and brokers, amongst others, attended the conference, which was held at the Herradura Hotel November 6th-10th.

The theme of this year's Sintercafe was "A Look Toward the Future." This concept influenced all events of the conference, as discussion of the coffee crisis shifted to talks about how the crisis has decidedly passed. This did not mean however, that the coffee world is back to the point it was in the 90's; rather that finally, things are slowly but surely on their way up.

Conferences were held on topics such as "Why Costa Pica," where Arnoldo Leiva, president of the Specialty Coffee Association of Costa Rica, discussed the trends of current coffee production in Costa Rica. He mentioned that Costa Rican registered producers have dropped a bit as producers have been switching to other crops and occupations. However, roaster amounts have not changed much, as there has become an emphasis on drinking not more, but better quality coffee.

Other topics discussed at this year's show included discussion on the challenges of finding high quality coffee to meet specialty growth, proper steps for preparing specialty coffees, which was held by Dr. Ernesto Illy, and a presentation by Judith Ganes-Chase the multi tiered coffee market. Ms. Ganes-Chase, president and founder of J. Ganes Consulting, discussed how both gourmet coffee and soluble coffee use are on the rise, and how coffee in general is becoming worldwide a positive aspect of a person's daily life rather than just an occasional indulgence.

The guest host of this year's conference was the country, of Taiwan. In a talk given by Robert Hsin-Min Leng, the economic counselor to the Embassy of the Republic of China in Costa Rica, trends in Taiwanese coffee consumption were discussed. The current prevailing trend, said Yi-Ling Wu, secretary general of the Taiwan Coffee Association, is RTD drinks, which have found a huge niche with busy workers and students. Wu said she expects to see a greater interest in soluble coffee within Taiwan as well. The country of Taiwan also hosted a large cocktail reception at the event, which featured Taiwanese entertainment and food.

Other highlights of this year's conference included sponsored field trips to the Aquiares Estate, the largest coffee farm in Costa Rica and CATIE, home to one of the biggest coffee germplasm collections in the world.

Next year's Sintercafe will be held November 12th-16th, 2005 in San Jose, where the featured guest will be the Eastern African Fine Coffee Association.