SCA Dubai Decision Brews Controversy
World Coffee Events, the competition subsidiary of the Specialty Coffee Association, moved two 2018 world events to Brazil in the wake of recent controversy.
In today’s announcement, World Coffee Events said the World Brewers Cup and World Cup Tasters Championship will take place Nov. 7-9 during International Coffee Week in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The competitions will be paired with the World Latte Art Championship and the World Coffee In Good Spirits Championship already planned for the Brazilian event.
Meanwhile, the 2018 World Coffee Roasting Championship, still does not have a home. World Coffee Events said in the same statement that the roasting competition will be moving to a new location to be announced once details are finalized.
The shuffling comes about months after SCA and World Coffee Events were criticized in September 2017 for selecting Dubai as the host city for the 2018 championships. SCA members said the laws of the United Arab Emirates’ and its human rights record involving members of the LGBTQ community could put competitors in legal jeopardy.
SCA quickly hit pause releasing a statement later the same day suspending their plan and saying, in part, “We have followed the response to the announcement and have heard from many in our community today about this decision. It is clear that the UAE’s human rights issues were not taken into consideration in the selection process. This is a serious problem that shows that our selection process was not broad or inclusive enough and we at the SCA intend to correct it.”
That correction came this week when SCA first announced on Wednesday that a new event, an annual World of Coffee Dubai, would take place beginning in March 2020. Competitions in Dubai would be canceled, however, and new locations would be determined. Two of those spots were announced today.
The new World of Coffee Dubai, staged in partnership with the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC), will be part of the GulfHost Show. The event is being scheduled in addition to SCA’s World of Coffee show that takes place each year in Europe.