This would be my first Coffee Fest and I was curious what the feel was like.
PTs going for Best Coffee House
We made it to the Navy Pier in downtown Chicago around noon and walked into the winning announcements of the highly acclaimed latte are competitions. From there we went into the trade show and walked up and down each isle while bumping into a couple people we knew. Compared to SCAA, Coffee Fest is a little bit smaller and tight knit while seeming to focus more on coffee houses than companies and supply chain as a whole. The top booth by far was Slayer, due to the beauty, crowd, and rotating roasters.
Tonya capturing the Metric Roasting Facility
We got to check out the finals of both the best espresso competition and the best coffee house competition which are so different than SCAA, but still high energy and fun. It was great to see two groups of people we had visited earlier in the trip competing in those events. Sump ended up getting first in best espresso, Blueprint got second, and PTs got second best coffee house.
Xavier and Jon of Metric
After all the announcements, feedback, and walking around downtown we hung out in the hotel room of the PTs guys and decided where to hit up for dinner and a drink. We took the blue line over to Wasabi for some sick ramen eats and then to Violet Hour for some speak easy cocktails. It was so much fun hitting the Chicago area with friends we had made in Kansas City!
Ozzie killing it for Best Coffee House