About 20,000 people get their caffeine fix at the Singapore Coffee Festival

About 20,000 coffee fiends got their fix and more at the second edition of the Singapore Coffee Festival, which ended yesterday.

The four-day event featured more than 90 exhibitors including coffee purveyors, equipment distributors and cafes, as well as workshops, talks and live entertainment at the Marina Bay Cruise Centre.

Exhibitors and visitors who attended last year’s festival praised this year’s edition for its more spacious layout with 11,500 sqm spread over two floors, and greater variety of products on offer. Last year’s event was held at the F1 Pit Building.

Many vendors reported brisk business at the weekend, with festival favourites such as The Coffee Academics’ Coffee In A Cone, cream muffins by bun-maker Hattendo and coffee-roasted pork chop buns by patisserie-restaurant chain Antoinette drawing long queues.

Hattendo was left with just 100 cream muffins after yesterday’s brunch session, and had made about $3,000 in sales a day, said Hattendo Singapore chief executive Daisuke Ishioka.

“We prepared more than 1,000 every day, and every day it has sold out. We are selling more than we expected to,” he said.

Splitting each day into two sessions – brunch and sundown – helped with crowd control and gave vendors time to replenish stocks.

Antoinette’s pork chop buns, created specially for the festival, proved so popular that they will be added as a weekend menu item at its restaurants soon, said its sales and marketing manager, Ms Wong.

A repeat participant at the coffee festival, Antoinette has seen a doubling in sales this year, with up to 2,000 buns sold over the four days.

A Barter Market, live music and fireworks displays at Sunrise Wharf on Friday and Saturday were among other highlights of the festival, which also hosted the 2017 Singapore AeroPress Championship by Common Man Coffee Roasters on Friday.