The 2022 World of Coffee is moving to Milan, Italy. Originally scheduled to take place in Warsaw, Poland in June of this year, the Specialty Coffee Association announced early this morning that the global trade show, along with all the World Coffee Championships slated to take place there, will be relocated 1,500km southwest, to Italy.
In the statement penned by SCA CEO Yannis Apostolopoulos, the organization cites the Russian invasion of Ukraine, whose border is but a three-hour car ride west from Warsaw, as the primary mover of the change. The Russian siege has led many to flee Ukraine for safety, and per the SCA, has impacted Warsaw’s ability to host one of the world’s largest specialty coffee expos: “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has forced thousands of Ukrainians to seek refuge in Poland, including at the PTAK convention center where World of Coffee was scheduled to take place.”
Editor’s note: that figure is more accurately counted in millions, and some experts are calling the Ukrainian migration, most of whom are fleeing to Poland, “the fastest growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II.“
While the SCA is still ironing out many of the finer details for such a colossal shift just three months before the event is scheduled to kick off, the statement lays out some concrete facts. World of Coffee will take place June 23rd through 25th at the Milano Convention Center and will host five World Coffee Championships: Latte Art, Coffee in Good Spirits, Cup Tasters, Cezve/Ibrik, and Roasting. This is the second year in a row Milan has hosted World of Coffee as well as the World Coffee Championships; in 2021, the city hosted the World Barista Championship, Brewers Cup, and Cup Tasters.
Though the event is shifting locations, in the statement the SCA reconfirmed their commitment to donating “100% of the revenue from World of Coffee ticket sales to Ukrainian coffee businesses and professionals.”
This is the second time Warsaw has been scheduled to host World of Coffee but was unable to due to global circumstances; Poland’s capital city was slated to host the coffee world in 2020, before all events that year were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The full statement from the SCA can be found here. For more information, visit World of Coffee’s official website.
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
