Sabah International Coffee Fest returns November 23-26
Published on: Monday, November 13, 2023
By: Lisa Aveline Rabenjoro
SICF2023 Organising Chairman Dick Lee posing with FSI President Richard Lim and others.
Kota Kinabalu: The Sabah International Coffee Festival – Expo 2023 (SICF2023) is returning for a sixth year with two brand new competitions – Borneo Chocolate Beverage Competition and Borneo Mixology Drinks Competition in collaboration with the Professional Coffee Athletics (PCA).
Its Organising Chairman Dick Lee said the two new competitions were introduced in a four-day SICF2023 on Nov 23-26 at Suria Sabah Shopping mall due to a trend and demand for the two drinks and competitions, especially in the peninsula.
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He said the latest contests were significant in the event this year as prior to this, people with an interest in chocolate drinks and mixology have to fly to Kuala Lumpur to join quality competitions, whereas they will now be able to experience it in Sabah.
“We aim to search for more baristas and young talent not only in coffee but also in the cocoa and mixology platform, too, as nowadays the chocolate drink and mixology is the latest and popular trend among the youngsters.
“PCA, with which we have proudly signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU), is one of the most prestigious international standard judging systems for coffee. Now participants can take part in an internationally-recognised competition without having to leave Sabah.
“By signing this MoU, we have become one of their Borneo representatives. By bringing them to Sabah, we strongly believe that we can increase our local human resources, particularly in terms of baristas.
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“The reason we have opened these two new competitions is because we hope they will improve our standard in the long run,” Dick said during a press conference at Monocolo Boutique Hotel, here, last Saturday.
The SICF2023 is mainly organised by Federation of Sabah Industries (FSI) and Kota Kinabalu City Hall (DBKK), and Borneo Coffee Alliance and co-organised by Sabah-China Chamber of Commerce (SCCC), Professional Coffee Athletics (PCA) and Sabah Employers Association (SEA) while supported by Ministry of Industrial Development and Entrepreneurship Sabah (MIDE). Its Department of Industrial Development and Research, Sabah Tourism Board (STB) and Tourism Malaysia.
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He said winners will be representing Borneo in the Shanghai finals and the SICF2023 is a resounding success in terms of participants, with 90 contestants marking a near double increase to last year’s 50.
“Minister of Industrial Development and Entrepreneurship, Datuk Phoong Jin Zhe will be officiating the festival on its opening day.
“The expo will see eight highlights namely the Borneo Latte Art Competition, Borneo Brewers Cup Competition, Borneo Chocolate Beverage Competition, Borneo Mixology Drinks Competition (alcohol-free), Sabah Coffee Short Video 2.0 Competition, Online Shopping Platform, Mini Coffee Workshop, and Unplug Music Performances that give a platform to Sabah Institute of Art music students,” he said.
Dick said there will be 50 exhibition booths consisting of industry players such as bean and tea traders, farmers and planters, baristas, café owners, machinery supplies and more. Vendors will be from China, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Brunei and Taiwan.
He said the event is a good platform for gathering coffee, tea and cocoa industry players to promote and sell their products, but also to conduct business and trade networking.
“Sabah International Coffee Festival – Expo 2023 is a platform which strongly promotes Business to Business and also Business to Commercial, thus it is a great opportunity for business matching and promoting products to the consumers.
“We hope through this bridge of network, we can bring the latest technology and info related to coffee industry to Sabah, securing a good business and trade between both nations, and also welcoming China industry players to come and visit Sabah,” he said.
Also present were FSI President Richard Lim, City Hall Deputy Director-Genera; (Finance) Lifred Wong and other officials.
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