Kota Kinabalu: The Sabah International Coffee Festival (SICF) is making a return for the fifth time this year with more activities awaiting coffee lovers from Sept 26 to Oct 2 at Suria Sabah Shopping Mall.
Formerly dubbed the “Borneo Coffee Festival” over three days, this time the programme will run for one week, due to an encouraging response from the last festival in 2019, which saw some 20,000 visitors.
Jointly organised by the Federation of Sabah Industries (FSI), Sabah Employers Association (Sea) and Sabah China Chamber of Commerce, the dual event will be divided into two zones – an expo and a carnival, which will run concurrently during the festival.
Sea President Yap Cheen Boon said the expo will run for three days and showcase coffee-specific offerings while the carnival will exhibit local entrepreneurs and various businesses.
Yap explained that the carnival aims to link the upstream and downstream coffee industry, and will also include entrepreneurs doing tea, cocoa and other foods, as well as food and beverage.
Workshops and seminars on the coffee industry and e-commerce will also be held during the carnival.
“Both the expo and carnival combined will see a total of almost 90 booths and kiosks,” he told a press conference at a hotel here, Saturday.
Also present were FSI President Richard Lim, Expo Organising Chairman Dick Lee, Carnival Organising Chairman Chew Heng Hock and City Hall (DBKK) Director of Valuation Department Lifred Wong.
The carnival will begin on Sept 26 until Oct 2 on the eighth floor, while the expo will start later on Sept 30 until Oct 2 on the ground floor.
SICF will also host the annual Latte Art and Brewers Cup competition, which will be participated by local baristas as well as baristas from Thailand and Indonesia.
Yap said the SICF is a stepping stone for the festival to go fully international, with hopes of putting Sabah on the global map with the support of the Sabah Tourism Board (STB).
“We plan to make this festival a month-long event by next year and make it a signature event of Sabah, like Penang’s George Town Festival and the Rainforest World Music Festival.
“Then STB will be able to put this programme on the map, whereby international visitors can make it a point to visit this event every year,” he said.
The SICF is supported by DBKK as part of “Vibrant KK” under the DBKK Love KK Network, for emphasis on encouraging economic activities, regenerating and restoring businesses in KK.
It is also supported by Industrial Development Ministry, Industrial Development and Research Department and Youth and Sports Ministry, with various agencies involved, such as STB, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Sabah Economic Development and Investment Authority (Sedia) and the Sabah Agriculture Department.
