This weekend, Seattle hosted the Specialty Coffee Expo 2018. The annual event brings in people from all over the world to showcase their coffee, products, equipment, service, and coffee skills such as brewing, roasting, and serving. They are well stocked with eco-friendly coffee shop inventory and supplies.
It was a high-energy weekend that even saw the sun even come out (and stay out). In what has been the wettest April on record, visitors to the SCA Expo enjoyed relatively nice weather.
At this year’s Specialty Coffee Expo, the positive energy seemed, well, fueled by some great coffees that laid the groundwork for a number of incredible events and activities.
If you haven’t heard of the Expo before, it’s the premier industry event offering a number of coffee-skills programs and courses (roasting, tasting, and barista training).
From dipping your toes in coffee to totally geeking out, you can find a class that suits you.
But aside from the courses, the Expo offers a number of lectures and talks on a variety of topics impacting the coffee industry today. Additionally, they have seminars on coffee roasting, coffee farming, environmental concerns with coffee. For those of you interested in retail coffee, they offer seminars on how to open a coffee shop.
In addition, the Expo offered:
Roaster’s Village – featuring coffee produced and roasted by some of the best in the coffee industry. This year featured a wonderful array of coffee roasters who warmly served up their profile. There were coffee roasters from everywhere including California and New York.
Further reading: Start a Coffee Shop in Los Angeles
The Exhibit Hall – featuring industry products, equipment, and services. It was quite overwhelming that I didn’t get to even see it all despite wondering for a couple of days.
The Competitions:
U.S. Barista Championship
- Cole McBride – Independent, Seattle, WA
- Ben Fischer – Elixr Coffee Roasters, Philadelphia, PA
- Kay Cheon – Dune Coffee Roasters, Santa Barbara, CA
- David Castillo – Joe Coffee, New York, NY
- Andrea Allen – Onyx Coffee Lab, Springdale, AR
- Sam Neely – Switchback Coffee Roasters, Colorado Springs, CO
U.S. Brewers Cup Championship
- Rebecca Woodard – George Howell Coffee, Boston, MA
- Justin Goodhart – Sweet Bloom Coffee Roasters, Denver, CO
- Kaley Gann – Messenger Coffee, Kansas City, MO
- Jennifer Hwang – Klatch Coffee Roasters, California
- Tyler Duncan – Topeca Coffee, Tulsa, OK
- Emmeline Wang – Equator Coffee, San Francisco, CA
U.S. Tasters Cup Championships
- Ken Selby – Visions Espresso, Seattle, WA
- Zayne Dietterick – Keffa Coffee, Baltimore, MD
- Tommy Tae U Kim – Balrog Coffee Roastery, Los Angeles, CA
U.S. Roaster Championships
- Ian Picco – Topeca Coffee, Tulsa, OK
- Evan Schubarth – Switchback Coffee Roasters, Colorado Springs, CO
- Mark Michaelson – Onyx Coffee Lab, Springdale, AR
- Hugh Moretta – La Colombe, Philadelphia, PA
- Eric Stone – Mudhouse Coffee Roasters, Charlottesville, VA
We love it when SCA’s Expo comes to town. It’s a lively, positive, and future-leaning event that draws thousands. For more information on the Specialty Coffee Association, visit SCA.coffee
To get affordable Barista Training, Visit Barista Training Academy.
