On the strength of interest in our Barista Bibles and other Perfect Espresso training products at our first USA event in Boston, we headed back for the 2014 event. It was a proud moment to see the second edition Barista Bibles and our other Perfect Espresso products now on the shelves in the SCAA Store.
Starbucks city
This year the ‘big event’, as it’s sometimes called, was in Seattle – the city where 3 local college students, Jerry Baldwin, Gordon Bowker and Zev Siegl opened a business selling freshly roasted, good quality coffee beans. Called Starbucks, their first shop opened in 1971 with a bare-breasted green mermaid as an unlikely logo for a coffee business. A second store followed in 1972 and a third in 1973. Even when 6 stores were opened Starbucks didn’t sell coffee beverages – just good quality freshly roasted beans. They’d identified what coffee drinkers wanted and coffee was about to experience its third revival, worldwide. Over 40 years on, Starbucks has tens of thousands of stores worldwide and was the major sponsor for the 2014 SCAA Event. Their story represents one of the most phenomenal business successes the world has ever seen.
Erna Knutsen
The biggest highlight by far was to meet Erna Knutsen and hear her speak at the Grand Opening Ceremony. Erna birthed the term ‘specialty coffee’ way back in 1974. Now at 93 years of age, Erna graced the stage at the opening ceremony with her enormous sense of humour and story of being the first woman allowed into a cupping room, buying a business and sacking all the male decision makers – and she goes on in that vein. I was fortunate to have the opportunity of chatting to her a few nights later – an elk BBQ, a charity event on Vachon Island.
Elk BBQ on Vachon Island
With a lot of others from the trade show, we took a bus and a ferry ride across Puget Sound in freezing cold winds, to arrive at a coffee roastery where a BBQ Seattle style was underway. This was a rare treat for a couple of Aussies who’d not eaten elk before. We had met up with an old friend from Australia working in the USA. A coffee enthusiast, we took him along for the ride.
A Film About Coffee
We also attended the inaugural screening of A Film about Coffee, which takes viewers on a journey across the supply chain – from farms in Rwanda and Honduras to coffee shops in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and New York – and to Tokyo where 66 year old Katsuji Daibo has been brewing coffee for 38 years. The film explains the concept of ‘specialty coffee’ and the enormous effort that goes into producing the best quality beans. The information is conveyed documentary style, interviewing Peter Giuliano, George Howell, Katie Carguilo, Michael Phillips and other well-informed coffee professionals from the USA, some of whom were on stage afterwards to answer questions. Referred to as ‘a love letter to, and meditation on, specialty coffee, on the website, it was a very thought provoking film.
On the trade show floor
On the trade show floor, we noticed everything seemed to be getting more ‘techie’. Weighing and measuring are taking on new meaning. The equipment innovators are embracing bluetooth and automation like never before. And there are Apps, lots of Apps. La Marzocco was showcasing the new features of its domestic espresso range. Even the humble coffee cup and its lid have acquired fancy new features. Amid all this technology was the Ethiopian stand where time stands still as Ethiopian ladies prepared coffee in the traditional way. Reminiscent of this were the various brewing methods demonstrated, where slowly steeping and stirring fly in the face of ultra modern machinery and methods.
US Coffee Championships
Some of the US Championships took place in another section of the Convention Centre with local barista Laila Ghambari taking out the top spot as the US Barista Champion. She’s from Cherry Street Coffee, A family owned business with several locations. You’ve never seen a prouder Dad! Dillanos Coffee were as proud, being the roasters for her coffee. She’d made us some espressos at the Dillanos stand the day before she became famous! Todd Goldsworthy from Klatch Coffee in Los Angeles, won the US Brewers Cup, Amanda Juris, a green bean buyer from Starbucks won the US Cup Tasters competition and Simeon Bricker, from the The Roasterie Cafe in Kansas City, won the US Latte Art Championship.
Finally, a snapshot of some familiar and not so familiar faces we met.
