What happened at MICE stays at MICE.

Not really, here’s what happened at MICE:

A lot (really a lot – record numbers) of coffee professionals and enthusiasts and tourists had a wander around the Melbourne International Coffee Expo sipping spros and tinkering with new gadgets and planning kitchen bench extensions to accommodate a Modbar for their home coffee set up. 

But if we were going to see MICE a bit more philosophically, as I am wont to do, I would say the MICE is a physical, tangible embodiment of the coffee supply chain in one room. A friend recently was marvelling at how wild it was to be at a stall, drinking a coffee brewed by the team who roasted it, while shaking hands with the man who grew it! And round the corner were the people who manufactured the coffee machine, and an alley over were the milk (and mylk) farmers, and down another aisle were anything inbetween, round the sides and up ahead.

Events like this are special for that reason – bringing people from all over the world together, sharing ideas and knowledge, building relationships and connections. It’s a time of challenging each other to learn more, push further, be kinder, break boundaries, and all the motivational terminology. These events are special because it’s a reminder that you picked a good industry to be in, not because coffee is great, but because real change on a global level happens through it. 

If you did go, Let us know! What did you learn? What tickled your fancy? 

If you didn’t, here are a couple of highlights: 

Anthony Douglas is the best barista in the world! Here’s an interview and a quiz (for which I got 5/5 and only guessed twice and cheated once!)

Shih Yuan Hsu (Sherry) from Taiwan took out the title of World Brewers Cup Champion, beating the United States and Singapore. “I’m still feeling nervous, the reality hasn’t set in yet. But I really enjoyed the stage and had a lot of fun. I’m still in shock,” says Sherry. (MICE newsletter)

New gadgets. Expensive gadgets. 

Keep riding the caffeinated high till the next expo! Hopefully see you there.