AppDynamics - Coffee Tasting Event
Following from the drastic changes that 2020 brought to the world and the events industry as a whole, AppDynamics decided to host a second version of the Virtual Coffee Tasting event in April of 2021.
GEM once again worked with AppDynamics (a Cisco Company) to create an interactive and fun experience for their clients in Saudi and the UAE. The goal was to interact with some of their clients in a virtual space and to introduce some exotic and delicious coffee flavors from around the world, utilizing Cisco WebEX calling software.
GEM worked with one of the oldest and most successful coffee roasteries in the UAE to introduce 3 new coffee flavours along with their history and taste breakdown by sending out a coffee kit with 4 flavours, alongside a “cheat-sheet” with a breakdown of the different coffee flavours, their geography and history too, also included was a French press machine and a bag of the Kenyan favour to use after the event, this was an hour-long event headed by two of the leading coffee connoisseurs in the Middle East.
This event differed in the sense that we had participants in Saudi to include, so we worked with a logistics company to ensure that the packages were sent within plenty of time to arrive in both Riyadh and Jeddah.
On the 6th of April everyone logged into the Cisco WebEX room and began introducing themselves and discussing what impact, if any, coffee has in their lives. Each coffee flavour was numbered but the participants weren’t told which number correlates to which flavour on their “cheat-sheet”, this added another level of interactivity whereby the participants got the chance to guess which flavour it might be and why they think that. The proper brewing method was explained and demonstrated, whilst participants followed along at home.
Amongst the new flavors was one that we used in our previous event given it’s history, the Ethiopia (Harrar Gerawa), we also had new flavors such as the Costa Rica SHB Las Lajas, the Nepal Mount Everest Organic Bean and the Jamaica Blue Mountain Grade 1. Each bean has a fascinating history and unique taste.
In summation the event was very interactive and sociable despite everyone being in their own home, most participants chose their favorite flavors and admitted that they learned things that they didn’t know before and a few even pledged to start drinking their coffee without milk to experience the flavor in it’s fullest.
The AppDynamics team expressed their gratitude for the event and complemented the continuity of detail and production value from the previous event, we are now exploring other interactive “stay at home” events that we can host including activities like exploring new cooking styles and dishes on the BBQ.
