For three days in mid-June, the World of Coffee Budapest 2017 filled and fueled the Hungexpo fair center. Coffeemeisters and coffeelings from around the world united, celebrating the drink in ways old and new, traditional and millennial, literal and sartorial. Here are 10 of my very favorite highlights from a memorable event.

Starsky & Hutch

You may recognize theย Loveramicsย Egg as the official cup of the World Latte Art Championship, though this year marked the brandโ€™s first on the expo floor. Debuted was the brand’s new Starsky & Hutch series, evoking a โ€œmid-century designโ€ and โ€œAmerican diner-style,โ€ according to sales manager Jenny Cheung. Like their eponymous plainclothes detectives, the cups appear pretty ordinary, albeit colorful and with a body โ€œso thick and strong,โ€ as per Cheung, they can take on high-pressure situations (like direct AeroPressing, microwaves, dishwashers, and who knows, perhaps bashing an escaping crook over the head).

etzMAXย 

โ€œYour caw, caw, caw-ffee can still be good!โ€ Etzingerโ€™s crow logo seemed to be calling. The Liechtenstein-based burr manufacturer (say that three times fast) premiered a prototype of its on-demand grinder designed specifically with short-staffed restaurants in mind. โ€œWe wanted to reduce it all to the essentials and make it as small as possible, as simple as possible, so even if youโ€™re not a barista you can get a good shot,โ€ said Andrea Schoech, who works for the company and is married to its founder, Christian Etzinger (also the engineer behind Baratzaโ€™s Sette burr technology). Expect the etzMAXโ€”with its 32-millimeter conical burrs, digital control panel, and removable 1000-gram hopperโ€”to be available by yearend.

Black Sheep

No need to clutch your pearls: that pristine white Giesen W1 was not vandalized. The graffito is part of recent rebranding by Black Sheep, one of at least 16 Hungarian micro-roasters represented at the World of Coffee. Black Sheep senior roaster Gรกbor Tรณth explained that his Debrecen-based business recently updated its โ€œold-fashionedโ€ logo to coincide with the opening of a second cafe and roastery. The venue will house the little lamb of a Giesen along with a similarly customized black W15, helping fulfill a corporate mission to provide โ€œa bridge between the new wave of fruity coffees and the classic, darker roasts.โ€

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Prรชt-ร -pour-over

New Zealandโ€™s Nara Lee may not have won the 2017 World Brewers Cupโ€”that honor went toย Chad Wang of Taiwanโ€”but the contestant still wore a fitting crown. Off the competition floor, her copper dripper-turned-cocktail hat glistened in the Hungarian sun.

Brewista Artisan

If Punky Brewster bought a kettle, surely it would be this rainbow Brewista Artisan. The limited-edition 600-milliliter gooseneck brewer with variable temperature is already available in most of Asia and will follow in August for Europe and the US. Other new hues include rose gold, flash black, and pearl white. And speaking of pale pleasures, Brewistaโ€™s potentially game-changing NutraMilk nut milk machine will be launched in October, said Carolyn Chen, marketing director at parent company Smartco.

Ironheart

Comandanteโ€™s C40 Ironheart first showed off its silvery tattooed cylinder this past spring in Seattle. But in Budapest, the Munich manufacturers started selling their handmade manual grinder with a carbon steel burr set. It is ideal for fine-grinding Turkish coffee (while leaving Comandanteโ€™s C40 nitro blade for espresso). As company co-founder Raphael Braune noted: โ€œCarbon steel has a 66 Rockwell hardness, so thatโ€™s basically like a Japanese sword.โ€

Ethiopian Women in Coffee

In a separate building, out of earshot from competition roars and arena anthem interludes, the World of Coffee gave space to slower-paced, more intimate gatherings. In this spirit, 10 representatives of the Ethiopian Women in Coffee association held two cuppings of 28 washed and natural coffees. The event was sponsored by SheTrades, an initiative โ€œproviding market competitiveness training and services to benefit women in coffee,โ€ as host Andrew Hetzel of Coffee Strategies put it. I personally attended this event, a highlight within my list of highlights from the showโ€”if you get a chance to check out this programming at upcoming coffee events worldwide, do it.

Coffee Socks

Uri Wollnerโ€™s main job is running Cophi cafe in Warsaw, but his side-hosiery-hustle gained some traction in Budapest. โ€œYou get up in the morning, put your feet down, you see this,โ€ he said of the coffeehouse quips and barista flair stitched onto his Coffee Socks. โ€œStart the day positive and remember what youโ€™re here to do, which is spreading love.โ€ Your opinion on a baristaโ€™s goodwill ambassador role notwithstanding, you can design your own socks and order 100 to be produced on a six-yarn โ€œold-school machineโ€ in Lodz, Polandโ€™s historical textile town, where Wollner has family roots.

BOB Coffee Lab

The BOB Coffee Lab stand presaged the same-named cafe and roastery due to open this summer in Bucharest. Behind it are Romanian triple Coffee in Good Spirits champion Paul Ungureanu, 2016 World Coffee Roasting champion Alexandru Niculae, and two other co-founders. But what about Bob, you ask? โ€œBob is a man who one day woke up as a dog,โ€ offered Ungureanu, referring to their corporate mascot: a Kafka-reading shaggy canine. Meanwhile, said Niculae: โ€œโ€˜Bobโ€™ in Romanian means โ€˜bean,โ€™ like a coffee beanโ€ฆ But it can be anything. You could be Bob if you wanted to.โ€

Arcade Attire

These Pac-Man screen-patterned trousers were worn by multi-title-holding coffee champ Davide Berti as he judged the Cezve/Ibrik Championship. Perhaps they got the famously fashion-forward Berti (cf. Sprudge Sunday Magazineโ€™s Edizione Italiana) in a gaming spirit. Regardless, Pac-Man was an apt sartorial metaphor for the World of Coffee, which can leave a visitor feeling like a mouth-led head consuming its way through a life-strengthening maze and occasionally reaching that especially fruity bonus.

Karina Hof is a Sprudge staff writer based in Amsterdam. Read more Karina Hof on Sprudge.ย 

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