Beyond the Science: A Taste of Spain
Music, coffee, culture, and a virtual journey through Spain

Although VCCA 2026 is a fully virtual conference, this year’s edition is being organised from Spain by teams based in Granada, Seville, and Salamanca. We thought it would be fun to share a small glimpse of Spanish culture with our international community and help create a welcoming atmosphere throughout the conference.

In this page, you will find a selection of Spanish music to accompany your coffee breaks, a simple recipe for preparing a refreshing alcohol-free sangría at home, a short introduction to Spain’s growing speciality coffee culture, and a collection of virtual Zoom backgrounds inspired by the cities hosting this year’s conference.

Of course, none of these are required to enjoy VCCA 2026—but if you would like to join us virtually from Spain for a few days, we invite you to explore the resources below and bring a little Spanish flavour to your conference experience.

We hope you enjoy them, and above all, we hope you enjoy the conference.

¡Bienvenidos a España!

The official VCCA 2026 Spanish Playlist

A country is often best understood through its music.

To help set the atmosphere for VCCA 2026, we have created a Spotify playlist featuring a selection of Spanish artists spanning different musical styles and generations. The playlist includes everything from traditional flamenco-inspired sounds to contemporary pop and indie music, with a slight personal preference from the organisers towards Spain’s vibrant urban music scene.

You will find internationally recognised artists alongside local talents, offering a small sample of the musical diversity that can be heard across Spain today.

Whether you listen while preparing for a session, enjoying a coffee break, or exploring the Poster Gallery, we hope this playlist helps bring a little Spanish flavour to your conference experience.

After all, there is no better way to start a conference than with good music and positive energy.

How to Prepare an Alcohol-Free Sangría

There is nothing quite like a refreshing sangría to help cope with the summer heat currently affecting much of the Northern Hemisphere.

At VCCA, we neither promote responsible nor irresponsible alcohol consumption, so we thought we would share a simple alcohol-free version that everyone can enjoy while attending the conference from home.

The YouTube video below shows a quick and easy recipe for preparing a delicious non-alcoholic sangría using readily available ingredients. A simple way to bring a small taste of Spain to your VCCA 2026 experience.

¡Salud!

Discover Specialty Coffee

Coffee may not be uniquely Spanish, but it is difficult to imagine a scientific conference without it.

If we are going to drink coffee, we might as well drink good coffee.

Have you heard of third-wave coffee? That is what is commonly known as specialty coffee: high-quality beans, carefully sourced, expertly roasted, and prepared with the same attention to detail that researchers bring to their work.

Our recommendation is simple: leave supermarket coffee behind and take your first steps into the world of specialty coffee—a journey with no return ticket.

The video below provides an excellent introduction to specialty coffee and the ideas behind the movement. We recommend watching it in Spanish and enabling the automatically translated subtitles in your preferred language.

Forget supermarket coffee, find your local roaster, and discover the fascinating world of specialty coffee.

Join VCCA 2026 from Spain

Although VCCA 2026 is a virtual conference, you can still experience a small part of the host cities from your own home.

We invite you to download and use the Zoom backgrounds below, featuring some of the most iconic locations in Granada, Seville, and Salamanca—the three cities represented by the VCCA 2026 Organising Committee.

Whether you are presenting, chairing a session, or simply attending, feel free to join us virtually from Spain and help bring a little extra atmosphere to the conference.