KUALA LUMPUR, 21 June 2022: The International Café & Beverage Show (ICBS) 2022, one of the first international exhibitions to return to Malaysia in the wake of the pandemic, repaid the faith of its organisers with a better-than-expected attendance and positive feedback from exhibitors.
Despite the challenging environment in the lead-up to the event (which had resulted in several postponements), the show eventually went ahead at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre in May and exceeded the organiser’s expectations by achieving over 6,000 visitors from 35 countries across its three days.
Show organiser Montgomery Asia managing director Christopher McCuinthe said: “Before the show, we were confident that there would be enough interest to support the event as the Malaysian café and coffee industry is increasing, but we were still not sure, following the pandemic, to what level people would be comfortable to travel and attend an event like this. Fortunately, it seems that many people are positively enthusiastic about being able to meet up in person again. Of course, it helps that this show was all about coffee and food. People want to savour the aroma and taste for themselves. They can’t do that online.”
Feedback from visitors was also very positive, with many praising the ‘buzzy’ and friendly atmosphere, the wide range of products (over 150 brands from seven countries attended) and the multitude of new and innovative ideas, equipment and products for the café owners and operators to take back with them and potentially implement in their own businesses.
London Tea Company, managing partner for Thailand and Malaysia Ansar Syed commented: “ICBS has been a fantastic opportunity for us to reach out to our target audience. We have had a lot of visitors, and the calibre of clients we have met has been high and resulted in many fruitful discussions.”
ICBS was organised in collaboration with the Malaysia Specialty Coffee Association (MSCA), which hosted the semi-finals and finals of the 7th edition of the Malaysia National Coffee Championship (MNCC) at the event.
This year’s winners
Malaysia Barista Championship (MBC) 2022
Champion – Rain Lee Sook Wei, KITA Coffee
1st Runner Up – Ang Wei Liang, One Half Coffee
2nd Runner Up – Jewel Ting, 103 Coffee Roastery
3rd Runner Up – Lee Tar Chen, Super Dough Bakery
Malaysia Latte Art Championship (MLAC) 2022
Champion – Ryan Liew Wei Jet, 103 Coffee Workshop
1st Runner Up – Nicky Voon Pei Xin, 103 Coffee Workshop
2nd Runner Up – Siow Chai Jing, Brew & Bread
3rd Runner Up – Lim Zi Yuan, Tiffz Coffee Gallery
Malaysia Brewers Cup (MBrC) 2022
Champion – Tong Wing Jun, 103 Coffee Workshop
1st Runner Up – Ong Ming Sheng, The Alley 5
2nd Runner Up – Dennis Cheah, Tongue Mission Coffee Roasters
3rd Runner Up – Tho Kun Jing, Independent
These newly crowned ‘national champion’ baristas will now represent Malaysia at the World of Coffee Championships (WCC) 2023.
Commenting on the show, Malaysia Specialty Coffee Association president Yip Leong Sum said: “After two years of full or partial lockdown, the Malaysian economy is opening again. At this ICBS we saw a lot of new blood joining the competition, which was great to see as this event was designed to encourage young professionals to showcase their talent, skill and creativity in the speciality coffee industry. We hope the coming year will see more and more people venture into the F&B business and look forward to hosting an even better competition at the next edition of ICBS in 2023.”
ICBS 2022 also hosted the ASEAN Coffee Federation (ACF) Board Meeting. This mini-event welcomed delegates from Laos, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Myanmar, the Philippines and Australia – in the process of contributing to the post-pandemic renewal of the Malaysian business events industry.
Anyone interested in visiting or exhibiting at ICBS 2023 should visit www.intl-cbs.com.
