THE 2024 Otley Coffee Festival is taking place on Saturday, April 27th April at Otley Parish Church.

The public announcement that the second Otley Coffee Festival was confirmed took place this week - appropriately National Coffee Week; establishing the festival as a biannual event is a significant boost to both the coffee-lovers’ and Otley calendars.

The festival exhibition is already full, with several months to go. Amongst roasters, 2022 favourites Casa Espresso, Dark Woods, North Star and Rounton are returning after their great experiences last time. They will be joined by Grumpy Mule, Harmony, and York Emporium. Coffee Care are also making a welcome return. The coffee tasting and conversation is going to be brilliant!

Roasters have already expressed their delight to be back at the festival. North Star Roasters said: “We are delighted to be back at the 2024 Otley Coffee Festival, especially as this year's themes of fairness, sustainability and quality in food and drink fit so well with our business ethos."

Casa Espresso agreed saying: “We attended the first Otley Festival back in 2022 and it was one of the best ones we have ever attended in terms of the quality of visitors. For us, being a local roaster, it was a fantastic opportunity to meet face to face with a lot of our online customers, and to put a face to the name. We absolutely enjoyed doing it, and we can't wait to do it again!”

To add variety to the drinks’ lineup, Hebden Tea and Low Springs Farm are also returning from the 2022 line-up.

A bigger creatives exhibition is a response to the popularity of this part of the day in 2022. Several of brilliant Otley-based makers - Chilli Glass and Nina Wright Ceramics will complement the painting and prints of Sarah Hughes and Jeanne-Louise Art and the watercolours of Martha Taylor – whilst from slightly further afield the festival is thrilled that Sarah Harris will be exhibiting her prints, and will be joined by Crafts and Bubbles soaps and natural cosmetics.

Otley Coffee Festival is a not-for-profit organisation and once again, the main recipient of any surplus monies will be Farmers’ Voice Radio, who will have a stall to allow them to explain the important work they do helping farmers (including coffee farmers) in Africa. The Otley Oxfam shop will also have a stall and will receive support from the festival.

Ian Agnew, from the Lorna Young Foundation, which runs Farmers’ Voice Radio, said: “A great event, with a lovely, warm feel to it - very relaxed and friendly. The festival team did a fantastic job, and you had a brilliant team of volunteers.”

All the exhibitors are Yorkshire-based, but the 2024 theme is outward-facing: The World in Your Cup. Both the talks programme and the exhibition will be based on that theme, considering how what we drink, eat, and buy can be better for us and the wider world in which we live.

Richard Hughes, the Festival Director, said: “Prices are once again a bargain, with tickets available in advance for £7 and, on the day, for £9. Tickets will be available in the new year via Otley Courthouse - online or in person. In the meantime, put the event in your calendar; we will love to see you there."