The wait is over: we can finally announce our first confirmed speakers for PRF El Salvador. The lineup features industry-leading coffee professionals from around the world.
Some of these guests will host and take part in various panel discussions around the future of the coffee industry, while others will lead conversations around specific subjects with keynote lectures and micro-lectures.
Here’s a breakdown of who has confirmed their attendance and what they’ll bring to attendees at PRF El Salvador.
Panel discussions
Every PRF event features a range of lectures and panel discussions, which are led by global coffee professionals offering focused insight on each specific topic.
Here’s our first list of confirmed panel discussions and the coffee professionals involved:
How can we make specialty coffee less elitist?
Lead panelist: Jonathan Moral (Café de Finca, Spain)
Guests: Estella Zuleta Carmona (Deep Café and Roastery, UAE)
Rodrigo Giammattei (Café Caté, El Salvador)
Winning the World Barista Championship: who’s involved and how?
Lead panelist: Federico Bolaños (Alquimia Coffee, El Salvador)
Guests: Carlos Pola (Finca San Antonio & Las Brisas, El Salvador)
Alejandro Mendez (2011 WBC Champion, 4 Monkeys Coffee Roasters, El Salvador)
How to connect with the Saudi green buyer
Lead panelist: Miguel Candel (Saudi Coffee, Saudi Arabia)
Guests: Yousef Alzayer (Leanitai Coffee, Saudi Arabia)
Osamah Alawwam (Roasting House, Saudi Arabia)
The role of women in the Salvadoran coffee sector
Lead panelist: Maria Pacas (Café Pacas, El Salvador)
Guests: Maria Elena Botto (International Women’s Coffee Association & Women’s Coffee Alliance of El Salvador, El Salvador); Ana María Schmidt (Finca Montealegre, El Salvador)
Customizing coffee education and training for Central America
Lead panelist: Johanna de Rodríguez (Academia Barista Pro, El Salvador)
Guests: Jonathan Rodríguez (Academia Barista Pro, El Salvador); Carlos Guerra (Café San Rafael, Honduras)
What is a buyer looking for? How can you add value to both yourself and the buyer?
Lead panelist: Ryan Garrick (Watchhouse, UK)
Guest: Mohamad Merhi (Cypher Urban Roastery, UAE)
Are we defining coffee quality incorrectly?
Lead panelist: Tony Dreyfuss (Metropolis Coffee, USA)
Reviewing Middle Eastern specialty coffee trends
Lead panelist: Cleia Junqueira (Coffee Planet, UAE)
Lectures
Here are the individual speakers and topics that have been confirmed for PRF El Salvador:
Creating a pathway for selling ultra-premium coffees
Speaker: Jose Guzman (Kofra Specialty Coffee Roasters, UK)
Data & green coffee quality: why is it so important?
Speaker: Darina Onoprienko (Agrivero.ai, Germany)
Micro to macro: how to scale a specialty roastery
Speaker: Rodrigo Jaeger (Café Señor K, Chile)
What are the purchasing priorities of Chinese roasters?
Speaker: Lewis Harding (Coffee Exchange, China)
Exotic processing: leveraging biochemistry to produce experimental coffees
Speaker: Wilton Benitez (Varietales Finos SAS, Colombia)
Key steps for managing quality control
Speaker: Dulce Barrera (Bella Vista Coffee, Guatemala)
In March, PRF El Salvador will welcome producers, roasters, green buyers, and other coffee professionals at the Salamanca Exhibition Centre in San Salvador to listen to these lectures and panel discussions.
As well as those listed, however, we anticipate that we will be adding more lectures and panel discussions in the weeks to come, as well as announcing cupping sessions and collaborative workshops.
Tickets for PRF El Salvador are on sale now. Visit our ticketing page here to secure your place ahead of the two-day forum, which takes place on 16 & 17 March 2023.
To learn more about PRF El Salvador, visit our news page here, sign up for our newsletter here, or reach out to our team at this email address.