Coffee, chocolate festival kicks off in Turkish capital

ANKARA - Anadolu Agency

A four-day coffee and chocolate festival kicked off on May 3 in the Turkish capital Ankara.

The festival at the city’s Ankara Congresium will host 30 seminars, more than 10 workshops, contests, concerts and shows. It will continue through May 6.

Local and international coffee, iced tea, chocolate and desserts are being offered to visitors, accompanied by a live jazz quartet.

A workshop for children with Down Syndrome has been held, where award-winning chef Hakan Doğan taught children how to make chocolate lollipops.

In addition, Gürkan Kumak, Starbucks 2015 European and Middle East and Africa Barista Championship winner, has narrated “the story of Turkish coffee” to a jam-packed hall.

Atilla Narin, founding member of the non-governmental organization Baristas Foundation, pointed to the importance of coffee in Turkey’s history at a seminar called “the lost coffees of Anatolia.”

Narin said exquisite coffees, such as those which use nigella seeds and chickpeas, should be introduced to the world.

The festival, expecting to host some 60,000 people, has the theme: “Two tastes, five senses.”