Early bird tickets are now live for the 2020 Melbourne International Coffee Expo (MICE2020).
Across four days from 4 to 7 May 2020, coffee roasters, farming countries, equipment specialists, milk and dairy alternative producers, and ancillary suppliers from around the globe will showcase the best of what the coffee world has to offer.
For the first time in seven years, Melbourne will host premier coffee competitions the World Barista Championship (WBC) and World Brewers Cup (WBrC) at MICE2020.
“MICE is the biggest coffee-dedicated event in the Southern Hemisphere and really demonstrates what makes the Australian scene so revered around the world,” MICE Show Director Lauren Winterbottom says.
“I encourage visitors to maximise this early bird opportunity in order to explore everything MICE has to offer at the best price possible.”
MICE2020 visitors can purchase tickets at an early bird rate of $30 for a one-day pass, $40 for a two-day pass, and $50 for a four-day pass, until 31 October. These tickets include access to the expo and viewing of the WBC and WBrC.
“The four-day pass is the best value and ensures that none of the action is missed on the expo floor or on the competition stages,” Lauren says.
According to Julia Swanson, Acting CEO of the Melbourne Convention Bureau, international visitors will gain a unique experience exploring the blend of cultures that make up Melbourne.
“The city is a mixture of the old and the new, where creativity and innovation come together,” Julia says. “Melbourne is perfect to explore on foot and is easy to navigate. It is certainly a city where you can immerse yourself in all that it has to offer.”
She adds that Melbourne is an ideal city to host the World Coffee Championships, and toAustralian Barista Champion Matthew Lewin of Ona Coffee, the WBC is much more than a competition.
“Barista competitions are innovation platforms where people can share the latest way of thinking and technology on speciality coffee. Eventually these things shared will trickle down into cafés,” Matthew says. “For example, scales were first introduced in a competition setting. Before then, they weren’t a thing in cafés.
“[The WBC] shows the industry has a future on so many fronts, from barista equipment to how coffee can be enjoyed. Without it, the industry would not have pushed forward at the pace or the degree of development it has, so it is incredibly important.”
MICE2020 will take place at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.
To buy tickets, visit www.internationalcoffeeexpo.com/ticket-purchase
