The Prague Coffee Festival is Coming to Franz Kafka’s Birthplace

From the 2015 Prague Coffee Festival. All images courtesy of the Prague Coffee Festival.

The 5th annual Prague Coffee Festival is taking place this Oct. 22-23 in the Kafka House, the birthplace home of famed writer Franz Kafka that has since experienced a metamorphosis into a cultural center and events venue in the city’s Old Town district.

Based on the venue alone, the event is like a double shot from a coffee tourism perspective. For those visiting from outside Prague, we also offer this roundup of some of the city’s best shops.

From the 2015 Prague Coffee Festival.

The event itself is geared toward coffee professionals and serious consumers from throughout Europe, with an impressive list of speakers including World, European and Czech barista champions, roasters and coffee producers. There will be multiple espresso and filter brew bars operating throughout the two days, along with competitions, debates and workshops for home brewers.

“The great location at the heart of the magical city of Prague is the best place to meet coffee lovers and professionals from around the world,” said Daniel Kolsky, founder and director of the Prague Coffee Festival. “What makes the festival special is moreover the personal approach and very personal contact between guests and visitors, many lectures, workshops and lot of coffee.”

From the 2015 Prague Coffee Festival.

On Saturday night the event will spill over into a party at Café Jedna at Prague’s Trade Fair Palace (www.cafejedna.cz) and enjoy some of the historic city’s famous craft beer. For those seeking more great coffee from Prague and beyond, the local coffee consortium Coffee Embassy is using the event to release its fourth edition of “Kniha Kavaren/Book of Cafés,” a guidebook with vouchers to 43 cafés throughout the Czech Republic.

From the 2015 Prague Coffee Festival.

The list of speakers for this year’s Prague Coffee Festival includes (descriptions courtesy of the festival):

• Paulo Cesar Toledo Campos (coffee farmer from Franca, Brasil)
• Jose Manuel Velásquez Betanco (coffee specialist from Nicaragua)
• Gwilym Davies (World Barista Champion 2009, WCE Certified Judge, SCAE trainer and co-owner of Prufrock Coffee in London)
• Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood (co-owner of Colonna and Small’s and Colonna & Hunter in Bath, England. U.K. Barista Champion and world finalist in 2012,2014 & 2015)
• Patrik Rolf Karlsson (coffee roaster and barista)
• Zuzana Cerna (three times Czech Republic cupping Champion and director of Coffee Embassy coffee project in Nicaragua)
• Michael Truksa (coffee nomad between Indonesia/Czech Republic)

For more info, check out the Prague Coffee Festival event site.