The 2007 Coffee World, organized by the Taiwan Coffee Association (TCA) and Chan Chao International Co., Ltd., runs through Nov. 26 as part of the Taipei Tea, Coffee & Wine Expo.

"For the first time this year, we have invited a guest country to the coffee show, the world-famous coffee producer Honduras," remarked Simon Hsing, chairman of the TCA, during the opening ceremony.

Attendees will have the rare treat of learning the techniques involved with coffee cupping, or coffee tasting, the art of evaluating flavors and aromas of brewed coffee from Honduran experts, who will also share their views on the Central American country's coffee quality and competitiveness.

Marlene Villela-Talbott, ambassador of the Republic of Honduras in Taiwan, described her visiting compatriots as "the best delegation from Honduras" who are in Taiwan to share "the flavor of the best coffee in the world, the Honduras coffee."

As a token of appreciation for being chosen as the first guest country representing the coffee industry in the expo, Villela-Talbott announced that Honduras has in turn invited Taiwan as a partner in next year's Cup of Excellence world competition to be held Central American country.

On behalf of the Honduran delegation, Antonio Young, executive vice president of Honduras-based Foundation for Investment and Development of Exports (FIDE), said the exhibition would allow Taiwanese consumers to get acquainted with the quality of Honduran coffee. "It's not for me to say that Honduras has the best coffee in the world; it's for you to realize it through this exhibition."

"One of every three jobs is related to coffee in my country," remarked Ulises Sevilla, regional manager of the Honduran Institute of Coffee (IHCAFE), adding that the bean has a "huge impact" on his country, both economically and socially.

"When my family first started producing coffee in the late 19th century more than 100 years ago we didn't expect that we'd come all the way here -- so far!" Sevilla delivered the double-entendre with a laugh.

"What we would like to share with you (not only) the coffee experience, but also the ... friendship experience," said Sevilla, and stressed that he hoped the show would be "the beginning of a long-term friendship."Besides Honduras, the show features world-class coffees that hail from all corners of the world, such as Singapore, Hawaii, and Africa; and counts with the participation as well of global organizations such as the World Alliance of Gourmet Robustas (WAGRO).

"Indeed, this year the show is more international than ever," noted Hsing, who also doubles as the director of the Central America Trade Office (CATO) in Taiwan.

Participating for the first time in the show, Pierre E. Leblache, founder executive of New York-based WAGRO, said that "the Taiwanese coffee market is becoming extremely sophisticated and extremely demanding."

"This is a trend we see all over Asia. The precursors have undoubtedly been Singapore, Japan, and South Korea. Taiwan has been number four but now is very quickly passing Singapore and South Korea. The market of course is bigger than Singapore and now it's getting more on a par with the Western consumers like Germany and the United States, and therefore it was the obvious place for us to be," explained Leblache.

"What we have seen is very encouraging and we'd be very pleased to come again," he continued. "We see that (Taiwan) is such a vibrant dynamic market that there's no reason for (it) to be ignored."

Hsing agreed with Leblache: "For the first time, big companies are also recognizing the importance of Taiwan," he said, pointing out the debut participation of coffee giant Starbucks in this year's expo. "We are connecting to the world and the world is connecting to us as well."

Coffee is an important industry and through it Taiwan is also creating economic power for other industries such as the service industry, noted Hsing. "Coffee no longer is seen as simply a beverage but as a business."

While Taiwan does not produce large amounts of the raw material, green coffee, its strength lies in the application of know-how and processing of the imported bean for value-added re-export, observes Hsing.

Among the latest innovations in this year's Coffee World international expo is QY-Coffee's "Fox Dung Coffee," made under a laboratory-controlled fermentation process that took six years to develop, according to Khanh Dinh, owner of the Vietnamese company.

Traditionally, Fox Dung Coffee is made from berries which have been excreted by the animals, in the same way that the rare Kopi Luwak or Civet Coffee -- the most expensive coffee in the world -- is produced.

Dinh explains that QY-Coffee's proprietary process produces virtually the same flavor (with 95 percent similarity) as its animal-produced counterpart and at one-fifth the cost. What is more, the process can be applied to any good quality ripe berry, he adds.

The coffee expo will also host the final competition to select Taiwan's representative to the World Barista Championship (WBC) next year in the Danish capital of Copenhagen.