• Is CoffeeCon a trade show? No, CoffeeCon is a consumer event. After years of going to trade shows as the world’s consumate coffee consumer I realized how much a trade show is wasted on me. I am interested in tasting coffee, finding out about great coffees, and coffeemakers, home roasters and grinders. I have no interest in bagging/packaging machines, cash register software, inventory control, retail space pest control etc. CoffeeCon is not a trade show. When someone contacts me looking for trade information, I send them to CoffeeFest, the Specialty Coffee association of their respective country or the International Housewares Show.
• What’s unique for consumers at CoffeeCon? CoffeeCon features are lot of consumer tasting. But, there’s more. Consumers can learn specific processes. Coffee is a cooking art and as such, there is much to learn to master it. CoffeeCon also features members of the coffee industry who will be there to observe and listen to you. Consumers lead the specialty coffee world as well as drive environmental and labor fairness issues. It’s your chance to be heard, something no trade show has to-date advanced.
• Is CoffeeCon a Coffee ‘Wine’-tasting? Yes, it is about tasting coffee. But, unlike wine, coffee must be prepared fresh each time it is tasted. A wine connoisseur need not be a wine vintner, but a coffee lover must learn to brew coffee. Our event covers both tasting and brewing.
• Is CoffeeCon a US-only show? No, coffee is produced and enjoyed world-wide. There is much to share and it is our intention to provide dialogue between consumers and industry, but also a forum for consumers to meet each other. Some of the exhibits will feature how coffee is enjoyed in other cultures and regions. Come and taste around the world, not just beans, but brewing and serving styles. An example is Southeast Asian espresso coffee combined with condensed milk, a treat you might never have had before. Come taste the world of coffee at CoffeeCon.
• Are there activities for children? CoffeeCon is family friendly. While children typically do not drink coffee beverages, they can if their parents allow it. There will also be plenty of food and beverages for everyone. Some of the classrooms may have restrictions for safety reasons.
• How about non-coffee drinkers? It’s called CoffeeCon, so of course the emphasis is coffee. But, we will have treats such as specialty chocolates and other beverages. Coffee connoisseurs are gourmands and foodies by nature, so expect lots of variety.
• Will coffee and coffeemakers be available for purchase at the show? Yes, exhibitors are permitted to sell products. Items will be available for purchase at the show, often at special lower-than-retail show prices.
• Cost? CoffeeCon entry passes are free to those who preregister at our web site. The exhibits, seminars and labs are free with pre-registration. The only reason to bring your wallet is possibly to eat lunch. Food vendors will be there. If you wish to purchase any beans or brewing equipment, that of course would be subject to whatever fees the sellers charge.
• Alcohol? We have been approached by wine sellers who are interested in exhibiting and offering wine samples. We are open to this, but of course, just as a supermarket, it would be up to them to serve it only to adults. Most coffee beverages are alcohol-free.
• Is this a bunch of coffee snobs? No, this is not a bunch of snobs. Most coffee aficionados are simply passionate enthusiasts, who are equally inviting and enthusiastic that anyone who shows and interest in their hobby.
• Can I take cream and sugar in my coffee or will I be asked to leave? No worries. Serious coffee lovers know how different everyone’s palate is. 80% of coffee consumed in the world is taken with milk and/or some sweetener. You will be welcome to add any you wish and it will likely be provided. The exception will be tasting labs as it is part of the tasting and evaluation process to take the coffee black with no added ingredients.
• How do I handle drinking all this coffee without staying up all night? Pace yourself. If you’re evaluating coffee, spittoons will be provided. It is considered very proper to taste coffee and spit it out during a tasting (also called a “cupping”). Eat some food and drink water between tastings to cleanse the palate. Of course, decaffeinated coffee will be available. Those sensitive to caffeine may be surprised to learn how good some of them are when brewed properly.
• I’m traveling to attend. Are there special hotel deals? Yes, contact us for more information.
• Anything else I should consider? CoffeeCon is an informal event. We want you to come relaxed and have fun, just like you would a café. One note: strong perfumes are not recommended as they can mask subtle coffee aromas.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Nice article, Alejandrina. I’m always up for a good, civil argument. Goes with the love of coffee.
Completely agree with you Dave, the consistency & cup qutliay from a correctly dialed in batch brewer is hard to match when compared to single cup pour-over. There are simply too many variables to manage when brewing single cup pour-overs to expect a barista to ensure they are kept consistent for every brew. This is only exacerbated when the bar is busy or when different baristas are brewing the coffee.My own dilemma in this area is that batch brewers have an unfortunate stigma attached to them. For most consumers they have come to represent the rancid, stewed hotel style coffee that’s been served to them in these brewers for several decades. Whilst we in the speciality coffee community know what we’re serving in these batch brewers is certainly not this coffee, until we can entice the customer to taste our coffee, it’s hard to convince them otherwise. What single cup pour-over offers is something visibly different, that gets customer’s attentions, giving the impression that something different is going on here and extra care and attention is going into their cup. We know that this may not necessarily be true, but visibly that impression is being made. Asides a slow patent process of rebuilding that trust in batch brewers, can we present batch brewers in such a way that they look more visibly attractive to the customer and break the hold this stigma has? a0Batch brewers do however only offer one particular filter style cup profile, with the only optiosn really being to adjust dose/grind. Whereas pour-overs are just one of many single cup brewing methods available that are all capable of producing quite different cup profiles. In this regard I’d say batch brewers and single cup brewing should not be mutually exclusive of each other but should/could co-exist. The batch brewers are there to offer people that ready-to-go cup of great coffee and the other single cup methods on the brew bar are for those that have the time to wait, thus maintaining that element of theatre and offering extra dimensions to the cup profile that batch brewers cannot.
Let me start out by saying that I love my Keurig bwerer. It brews a great cup of coffee (GMCR Dark Magic is my fav) and the convenience can’t be beat. However, I’ve always felt a little guilty every time I throw out a used K-Cup. It seems like they’re not only completely UNrecycleable, but totally UNbiodegradeable as well. Enter the My K-Cup reuseable filter. Yes, it takes a little practice to fill up the mesh filter with grounds without making a total mess, and sure it takes a few seconds of rinsing when finished. But the result is a great cup of coffee and no guilt trip about filling the landfill with punched out K-Cups. And if you’re feeling reckless, it’s an easy switch back to those good ol’ prefab cups. I’d recommend this to anyone with a compatible bwerer. It’s not that much more of a hassle to use, the results are excellent, and there’s no waste. Oh yeah, it’s also a whole lot cheaper to fill these with your favorite pre-ground GMCR blend (Dark Magic baby!) than to buy the equivalent number of cups. The only negative that I’ve seen is a tendency for more sludge to get through to the bottom of your cup. Watch that last sip, it’s a doosy!
Although I agree with much that is said in this post and the comments peucodrd from it, I feel like there is a lot of blame going towards the equipment (or single cup brewers). The reason batch brewing is more consistent is because we are removing human interaction from the process. I may be mistaken, but it seems to me that the solution isn’t to simply rely on batch brewing because of its consistency or fix single cup brewers. Why not instead do we focusing more attention on the education of people interacting with the process? Ultimately, I think it would be a much better investment (time and money). Not only would it have better effects on single cup coffee brewing but it would also hugely increase the amount of knowledgable people able to transmit what we are trying to accomplish as industry. In summary: My intention is not to discourage batch brewing or the improvement of single cup brewing equipment, but I just don’t think that the problem lies in the technology.
After reading many rwieves about the problems with the My K-Cup and experimenting on my own, I have found an easy solution to the problem of weak coffee using this filter. As others have noted, the water goes through the My K-Cup way too fast as compared to the K-Cups. My solution was to take apart a K-Cup and use the outer plastic shell with the My K-Cup filter. Here’s all you need to do: Take a used K-Cup and cut the top foil off of a K-Cup. Cut the paper filter out of the K-Cup. It’s okay not to cut it all the way off of the rim of the K-Cup because you will need to cut the top of the K-Cup (where it gets wider at the top). You need to cut the top of the K-Cup off because you need to fit the K-Cup shell into the My K-Cup holder. Once you slide the bottom shell of the K-Cup into the holder, you can add your coffee into the My K-Cup (tapping or gently pressing the coffee so that it is not loose inside the filter). Then place the My K-Cup filter into the holder and cover as normal. When brewing, the K-Cup shell surrounds the My K-Cup filter and slows down the water by making it pass through the punctured hole that the prepackaged K-Cup normally uses. The great thing about this is that you can re-use the K-Cup shell that you cut apart over and over so once you have cut one apart you don’t have to worry about it again- use the My K-Cup as you normally would. I’m hoping Keurig will have figured this out in the near future and add a premade piece that is included the My K-Cup, but until then, I have found that this solves the problem of weak coffee.
{ 1 trackback }