Latte bubbles and the world’s premier coffees were brewing at Royal Garden Plaza as the mall again hosted the International Coffee & Bakery Show.
The July 3-7 exhibition saw baristas compete to see who could create the most-creative latte bubbles and students compete in “coffee painting.” Royal Garden Plaza and Entertainment Vice President Somporn Naksuetrong and Teerawat Wongworratat, president of the Coffee and Tea Association awarded prizes.
Attendees got to taste some of the world’s rarest and expensive brews, including Geisha from Columbia, Pacas from Honduras, Typica from Bolivia, and Maracaturra from Guatemala.
Trevi Mountain by Thanakorn Sueb-am, winner of the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! coffee painting in the higher education category.
The regular coffee showcases, most recently held in November, let Thai artists prove coffee is for more than just drinking as they turned dark roasted blends into pictures for 200,000 baht in prizes.
Poonpong Pipathpollakai won the latte art competition, taking home 30,000 baht. Thidarat Maksri won the 7,000 baht second-place prize and Suriya Sutakhan won third and 5,000 baht.
Poongpong said he planned to keep the trophy in his shop as inspiration to improve his skills.
(Back row, L to R) Aj. Banluu Wiriyapraphas from Rajamangala University of Technology Ratanakosin, Asst. Prof. Nawin Biadklang from Silpakorn University, Somporn Naksuetrong, Deputy Director of Royal Garden Plaza and Entertainment, and Asst. Prof. Sompot Thongdaen from Chulalongkorn University, congratulate the winners of Ripley’s Believe It or Not! coffee painting competition in all 3 categories (front row, L to R) Thanat Phrometta, Piyaphorn Homrod and Thanakorn Sueb-am.
In the “coffee painting” contest, open to students and general public, Piyaporn Homrod won first place, 10,000 baht and an Apple iPad in the Mattayom category. The higher education bracket was won by Thanakorn Sueb-am from Silpakorn University who took home 20,000 baht and an iPad. Students had to draw important world destinations.
Thanat Phornmetta won 30,000 baht and an iPad for taking first in the general-public category, in which contestants had to draw temples.
“I was shocked when I heard the results, as I participated last year and did not win anything,” Thankakorn said. “This year I decided to join in just for fun and gain more experience. I did not expect to win any prizes.”
Outside of the competition, the public enjoyed 2,013 free cups of coffee, free tastings and lots of shopping for coffee and bakery products.
