Flavor, Culture + Experience at the World Coffee Leaders Forum

Under the theme ‘The Architects of Gastronomic Experience’, this year’s World Coffee Leaders Forum focused on those who bring joy in every sip & bite.

Article and photos by Kenneth R. Olson

From November 19-22 at the COEX in Seoul, South Korea, more than 5,000 coffee professionals gathered from around the world for four days of coffee education, tastings, networking, and more at the World Coffeee Leaders Forum (WCLF). Attendees at the WCLF have access to a number of educational tracks, including hands-on training and Specialty Coffee Association (SCA)-certified courses, which unfold over the course of the event.

Attendees had their choice of pathways at the WCLF. For example, they could attend sessions with barista champions like George Jinyang Peng, Misun Lim, and Georgius Audrey Teja. Or, they could follow the Origin Adventure Session and taste coffees from India, Bolivia, and beyond while learning about coffee production around the world.

The Plenary Session

On the first day of the WCLF, attendees packed a large auditorium for the Plenary Session, where they listened to experts from around the world discuss how design choices can influence consumers, brands, and ultimately coffee. The session was subdivided into three sections: Flavor, Culture, and Experience.

Flavor

The Plenary Session started with a presentation by Esben Piper and Mikeel Selmer of La Cabra. La Cabra has cafés in Denmark, the Mideast, New York, and Korea. Esben and Mikeel spoke about the importance of the design of each café’s space in creating the right environment for customers, which reflects the neighborhoods where they are located. Light, temperature, and textures can all affect the customers and must be meticulously planned for, they said. Each La Cabra café is unique in its design, but all of them strive to create a memorable experience.

Kim Elena Ioescu, the SCA‘s chief strategy development officer, participated as a last-minute replacement speaker via Zoom, and she spoke about the SCA’s new Q grading program and the development of the new coffee evaluation scoresheet. Kim described the new coffee evaluation scoresheet as a way to provide more data points and information about each coffee to potential buyers and to strengthen connections between coffee producers and roasters throughout the process.

Culture

Eiichi Kunitomo, founder of Tokyo’s KOFFEE MAMEYA and KOFFEE MAMEYA Kakeru, took the stage after lunch to share his journey in coffee. He said that he came to coffee later in life than most but took to it immediately. He’s spent more than 25 years now in coffee drawn to always learn more about it and fascinated with its variety. He brought up a common refrain in the presentations, a demand that coffee be treated with as much care and professionalism as with any other high-end culinary item. Eiichi’s efforts to do just that are highlighted in the design of his whole-bean coffee shop, where customers must order from a barista, they cannot just pick up a bag on their own. And his implementation of the first coffee omakase.

Hee-Young Noh, one of Korea’s leading brand strategists, talked to the audience about the importance of remaining authentic even if their brands grow. She worked on projects like the launch of Bibigo into the U.S. market where it quickly became the best seller, and the expansion of A Twosome Place, a café-dessert chain in Korea. No matter the size of the endeavor, she said, you must keep in mind the brand’s mission and make sure your decisions align with it. Decisions made out of step with each other will damage the brand’s intrinsic value and the bottom line.

Experience

The Hyundai Department store in central Seoul has a massive Christmas display that is so popular, customers need an appointment and ticket to visit. Thousands of people line up daily throughout December to visit, take photographs, and buy exclusive merchandise. The person behind the exhibit is Minkyu Jung, and he told the WCLF about his work building the display and what he looks to for inspiration, which turned out to be cafés around the world. He had slides from the hundreds of cafés he’s visited, along with the design elements he found particularly compelling in each.

The last presenter of the day was Morgan Eckroth, the 2022 United States Barista Champion and digital content creator. Morgan talked about their background in coffee and their first visit to a café. The way she was treated by the barista, with kindness and compassion, she said, made an indelible mark on her, and that spirit of inclusivity and openness is what drives her work.

After each of the presentations, audience members were able to ask questions, and at the end of the day, the presenters formed a panel for a discussion and to take more questions from the audience.

In addition to the WCLF at the COEX, the Cafe Show took place in the huge exhibition hall over two floors where tens of thousands of people visited daily to see the latest coffee gear, sample coffees, and see multiple coffee competitions. Also the COEX Mall Starfield Library had a special display of coffee books, as part of the Seoul Coffee Festival.

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