Caffeine Rush!
"Oiii mathana third wave coffee cha free coupon se, challaka?",'I have third wave coffee's free coupon, shall we go there?' asks my brother, Anuraag while he was doom-surfing. That sounded as a good plan until my mother told us about WCC happening at the Bangalore palace. Hearing the term WCC sounded so fascinating that I felt that was my destination for the day. On the contrary Anuraag lead himself back home though he was also equally excited initially, conceiving it as WWE. WCC was not his priority as he had to meet his friends but any event regarding WWE would have drawn him there. Still him backing-off didnt matter to me as Coffee, Tea is bae. I did some quick research about WCC while my auto was 3kms shy of the venue. No wonder the astonishing facts hypnotised me into the world of coffee. It was the 5th World Coffee Conference set up in the Silicon City of India from 25th to 28th September,2023. The theme for the conference was 'Sustainability through circular economy and regenerative agriculture'. The spectrum of the conference included International Conference, B2B Meetings, World Coffee Exhibition, Skill Building Workshops, Buyer Seller Meet, Plantation tour, Growers Enclave, CEOs-Global Leaders Forum, Competitions and Awards. By the time I enlightened myself with these facts it was time for me to de-board.
The venue was ostentatious at my very first glance, one would actually wonder if they had reached the wrong destination seeing the place all glammed up. Seeing numerous delegates walking in and out of the conference was a cherry on the cake. It's hard to put in words but such a pompous conference where Bangalore welcomed coffee aficonados and connoisseurs, industrial big bulls, CEO's, decision makers from over 80 countries was indeed a matter of pride. But the vibe of the entrance seemed as if it was telling "Yeh toh trailer hai, Picture toh abhi baki hai mere dost". Though my outfit was apt for the occasion, others' clothes at the place definitely made me re-evaluate my dressing sense for once, but then my clothes spoke for themselves and the bold self in me patted my back for carrying a sense of simplicity amidst the gala event. If anyone tags along with me or not, my camera never fails to sling itself hugging my neck for sure, whenever I attend such unique events. Moreover my camera is a reason for some of my many good memories. It is that friend who helps you to re-capsulate the sweet incidents. It could not let me have all the fun alone so it had to tag along flexing it's existence.
I had to take a short walk from the entrance to the main event arena. During the course of that brief walk I made sure to utilise every minute of mine to read up on the boards put around. The boards presented the pictures of their majestic biodiversity ambassadors of WCC 2023 which were Bee +Cassia Fistula, Elephant + Bird of Paradise, Indian Hare + Marigold, Peacock + Neelkurunji and Civet + Dahlia. The whole idea behind dwelling upon understanding all the facts was just not to waste time asking the same questions while interacting with the representatives rather to utilize that time for some qualitative discussions to enrich intellect and to suffice the room for doubt.
As I reached the event arena the volunteers stopped me asking for my entry card. My expression upon hearing it spoke aloud for them to direct me to the on-spot registration desk. The process was quite professional, me who drives joy out of little things was amused when the ID cards had each individual's name printed along with the logo of the central government. No sooner did the registration process end, I was absolutely confused having no clue where to start with, as there were massive tents each having more than 200 counters. Being an Indian my senses led me to the Hub of Indian coffee first followed by the coffee museum, international coffees, conference hall, competition arena lastly the cafes of India. My buddy captured the spectacular range of coffee varieties marking it's presence which resulted in some representatives perceiving me as a journalist who was on-duty to cover the event. Not to disappoint them I took their footage while they spoke for the richness of their product. The museum had a depiction of coffee bean's journey from germination to the cup. Latte, Cappuccino, Mocha, Americano etc you name the kind of coffee you had it all there. Representatives from Gayathri Coffee to the representatives of Papua New Guinea were there promoting their preferred beverage. Not to disappoint Coffee's cousin Tea, there were many stalls set up exhibiting some of the exotic tea across the globe. There were also some of the finest authentic produces other than coffee put up there.
Civet coffee being quite popular also the most trolled coffee also graced the event. One of my dearest relative(Hari) had an exciting start-up plan while he checked the civet coffee price. Oh yeah, he is going to feed his pet named Subbu (Indian Billi) some coffee beans exactly like the civet is fed but with milk and sugar. Then he would collect the excreta of Subbu, process it and sell it as instant coffee under the brand "Subbu Beans" levying high charges on each unit. The added advantage is the additional milk and sugar making it as an icing on the cake for this innovative coffee. The idea sounded too disgusting but his innocence while narrating the plan certainly split my sides. Well if his idea hits then let's expect "Subbu beans" in the 6th WCC. By the time it was already quite late so I had to wrap up for the day. Trying different coffees resulted in my coffee madness getting a level higher. I returned home high(on coffee)!! I mean when you get to try so many varieties of coffee at the cost of nothing, why not?
Aapti Patwardhan
Nice...
ReplyDeleteThank You!
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