Coffee is much more than a warm beverage for Croatians. It is a part of daily life, an excuse to leave the office, a stolen moment of relaxation, and a ritual that creates memories. GR8 Coffee Festival has recognized this and celebrates this connection over three festival days, from April 10 to 12 at Lauba.
A month before the start of the second edition of the festival, all details of this unique event were presented at a press conference, attended by Silvana Fanjek, the festival organizer, Ivan Tota, last year’s winner of the Latte Art Battle and coordinator of this year’s competition and Specialty Coffee segment of the festival, Laith Hardy, an expert in coffee innovations and sustainable business, CEO and co-founder of WellBean World, and Ivan Divjanović, a representative of the craft gastro scene and founder of the Brachatella brand, which brings a new dimension to this year’s festival.
Special guests and attractions throughout all three days of the festival
The GR8 Coffee Festival offers visitors a tasting of rare Nepalese coffee, the opportunity to discover traditional preparation methods, such as cooking on sand or in a Japanese siphon. There will also be a Latte Art Live Show, numerous lectures and panels on the mastery of coffee preparation, workshops and tastings (Cupping, Brewing, Coffee Masterclass), the Barista Challenge competition, Coffee Cocktail Show, and Cooking Show with coffee. Did you know that 98 percent of a cup of coffee is made up of water? How does water affect the quality of coffee and why is it necessary to filter it for preparing a premium beverage? FISTI, an authorized BRITA distributor, will answer these questions and present a water fountain.
Organizer Silvana Fanjek emphasized that last year’s GR8 Coffee Festival proved to be a hit among coffee lovers and that this year young faces, the bearers of the future, are involved in the organization. A sustainable approach is an important segment of the Festival, as demonstrated by Nestlé, which, through its brand NESCAFÉ, brings premium espresso coffee beans to the Festival, while committing that by 2025, 100 percent of the coffee will come from certified sustainable sources. This is part of the Nescafé Plan, which promotes regenerative agriculture and improves the living standards of coffee growers.
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– With this Festival, both in content and in the choice of partners, we are definitely moving towards quality. That is why we have Stow – the most respected specialty coffee roastery in Slovenia. Petar Ševič will present not only top-quality coffee but also the Stow Academy. This year, our partner country is the State of Qatar, so attendees will have the opportunity to try their spiced coffee, as well as enjoy delicious pastries. We believe that guests from the Kingdom of Morocco will also join us with their specialties, and what proved to be a hit last year is the Cooking Show by David Skoka, who will again, every day, pair delicious dishes with coffee – Fanjek stated, adding that the Festival will host two prominent professionals in the coffee world, known for their outstanding achievements in barista competitions, namely Carmen Clemente from Italy and Agnieszka Rojewska from Poland.
Rojewska made history in 2018 as the first woman to win the World Barista Championship 2018; in addition, she is the world champion in the Coffee in Good Spirits category 2022, and a 14-time champion of Poland in 5 different categories. Agnieszka is a true professional competitor in the coffee world, and her victory was not only a personal triumph but also opened doors for greater visibility of women in the coffee industry. Carmen Clemente is known for her passion for Latte Art, and together with her partner Manuela Fensore, she runs the Barlady Cafè Academy in Milan, where they teach the art of making Latte Art. After years of dedicated work, Carmen won the World Latte Art Championship in 2022 and 2024, confirming her expertise and creativity in Latte Art (World Latte Art Champion 2022 & World Latte Art Champion Gold Jug Latte Art Grading System 2024).
