Seminar Explores Coffee: From Tree to Bean to That Perfect Cup

BY GONCA ARAZ (MAN/I)

İstanbul-based representatives of Starbucks, one of the most dominant international companies in the beverage sector, were at Bilkent on Friday, March 22 to give a seminar about coffee. The event was organized by the Bilkent Tourism Club and held in the FADA building. As might be expected, given the number of people who enjoy drinking coffee, attendance was high.

The Starbucks representatives started the seminar by giving information about the origin of coffee: how it was found, by whom and how it has become so popular all around the world. They also talked about coffee trees, where the best coffee in the world grows and how the beans are picked carefully by hand. Coffee, they said, is the second most traded product in the world, after petroleum.

The speakers then turned to the subject of the Starbucks Company, relating how and where it started, where the innovative idea behind the company came from and what its emblems mean. As for the relationship between Starbucks and Turkey, it started on April 19, 2003, in Istanbul; there are currently 160 Starbucks coffeehouses in 13 cities in Turkey. The company cares greatly about Turkey as a good market, said the representatives.

The presentation also included information about the procedures it takes for coffee to become the beverage that we drink, and what the differences are between the various coffee drinks sold at Starbucks, such as caffe latte, cappuccino, caffe americano, caffe mocha and what the speakers called "the heart of Starbucks," espresso.

At the end of the seminar, the representatives answered questions from the audience. Then, after the explanation of a few points about coffee tasting, came what was probably the most anticipated part of the presentation: a special tasting of a new Starbucks coffee, Veranda Blend.