What is MICE and why you should care?

MICE stands for the Melbourne International Coffee Expo which started a few years ago in 2012. The first year was viewed as a testing ground for the 2013 World Barista Championship which was held in Melbourne as part of the MICE event the following year. MICE is now known throughout Asia Pacific as the largest and most exciting coffee event with about 10,000 coffee professionals and fanatics attending each year. Typically the first two days are for the industry and the third day is open to the public. There’s so many wonderful things to do and see at MICE, some of my favourite things are

1. A showcase for local coffee roasters

Local coffee roasters from all over Australia showcase their best coffee to the industry and general public at the Roasters Alley. This year for the first time we have our own White Horse Coffee stand - which is a sizeable portable cafe we purpose built for the event, where we will be showcasing our coffee by making thousands of brews for the industry and the public.

2. International coffee producers

Coffee growers from all over the world visit and it's a great opportunity to attend public coffee tastings. This is a great way to fast-track learning about coffee tastes and flavour.

3. Special events

The incredible amount of special events such as Australian Barista Championships, Australian International Coffee Awards, PURA Latte Art Championship, Cup Tasters Championships, Product Innovation Awards, plus this year there will also be the Australian International Tea Expo. There are so many great events to choose from. As well as my favourites, there are lots of other interesting things to see ranging from new products, specialty suppliers, to pretty much anything associated with the coffee industry. Apart from showcasing our coffee, in our own separate stand we will also be promoting ACME cups which we use in all our stores and sell throughout Australia.

Why we love going to MICE

Here are the main reasons why we love going to MICE and why we make such a large commitment to making the event a special part of the White Horse calendar.

1. It keeps us sharp and inspired

Presenting and brewing our coffee alongside some of the best in the world keeps us on our toes. Every year we are inspired by the impressively high level of the Australian Specialty Coffee scene. It’s inspiring and like iron sharpens iron, we are better baristas because of it.

2. We learn a lot

Even though we have been in the industry for a long time we always learn something new that we implement to improve our cafe and roasting offerings. If you’re a coffee professional or a passionate home barista and you want to grow in your knowledge there are great events such as

• Developing sensory tasting skills, foundation and intermediate skills
• Developing an understanding about green coffee
• Brewing coffee, foundation skills

3. It’s fun

MICE is not only a great place to sharpen our skills and deepen our knowledge as coffee professionals, it is also a lot of fun meeting new people, catching up with old friends and drinking a lot of coffee. Yes, we drink a lot of coffee! If you get the chance to attend you will have a lot of fun too. You can find out more here.

Our Opening Hours During MICE