This last week Coffee Fest Seattle came to town, bringing coffee insiders and lovers together for one great weekend at the Washington State Convention Center in downtown Seattle.
With seminars, classes and training opportunities to an exhibit floor filled with vendors for coffee shop and café owners to check out the latest products, Coffee Fest Seattle was another success for show manager, David Heilbrunn, and his team.
A number of intense competitions were also held as part of the annual event. The Latte Art Competition, America’s Best Espresso, and America’s Best Coffee Shop had drawn much of the weekend’s attention.
In a March-madness style face-off, the competitors of the latte art and espresso competitions came from around the world to compete for the $2000 purse and bragging rights.
Coffee Fest has been in Seattle 21 times over the years, but will be moving indefinitely to Portland, OR. The show is also in New York, Chicago, and will be in St. Louis, Mo.
Personally, it was great to have many of the great coffee roasters and café teams together under one roof. The Specialty Coffee industry is made up of passionate and friendly people – and to have many of them together in spirited competition was awesome to see.
Here is the list of competitions winners:
America’s Best Espresso
1st place – Winning Championship first place trophy: Tony’s Coffee, Seattle, WA
2nd place – Winning second place trophy: Kuma Coffee, Seattle, WA
3rd place – Winning third place trophy: Olympia Coffee Roasters, Olympia, WA
Latte Art on the judges’ plate at Coffee Fest Seattle.
Latte Art World Championship Open
1st place – Winning $2,000 and a 1st place trophy: Cabel Tice, Thinking Cup, Boston, Massachusetts. Cabel has had a great year having also won the championship at Coffee Fest New York.
2nd Place – Place – Winning $1,000 was Nobu Shimoyama, from Olie & Ari Cafe, Melbourne. Australia.
3rd place – Winning $500 and a 3rd place trophy Junichi Yamaguchi – FORC Yokohama Japan.
Behind the judges at Seattle Coffee Fest.
America’s Best Coffee House Competition
1st place – Winning $2,500 and a first place Trophy: Slate Coffee Roasters Seattle
2nd place – Winning $1,000 and a second place Trophy: Dog River Coffee, Hood River OR
3rd place – Winning $500 and a third place Trophy: Caffe Ladro Coffee & Bakery, Seattle
Seminars and classes dominated the mornings at Coffee Fest. Above, Coffee Talk Publisher, Kerri Goodman-Small discusses marketing.
