Coffee Expo 2017 - See You Soon, Seattle!
Later this week, throngs of coffee professionals and enthusiasts will descend upon Seattle - and no, it's not just because it's Seattle on a Friday. The 2017 Global Specialty Coffee Expo (popularly referred to as simply "SCAA," or is it just "SCA" now?) is upon us, and you can bet that Prima will be joining in all the fun and festivities out in Seattle. But there's one big catch this year: we're going boothless!
That's right, Prima Coffee Equipment will be going mobile this time around. You can still catch us around the show floor, at the US Coffee Champs arena, around the city grabbing coffee, and of course, catching the parties after the Expo closes down for the evening. Why the change this year? Really it's just to try something new on for size. Sometimes we feel we miss out on a lot by working a booth all day; it's fun to teach people about coffee and Prima, but it can be exhausting stuff! And since we spend a bunch of time dialing in coffees to make sure we're serving our best shots and brews, we sometimes feel a little coffee'd out and don't get to enjoy the local cafe culture as much as we'd like. So this year we're going to try the attendee experience on for size and we're going to get out and see as much of the floor, the competitions, the cafes and the events as we can - and we're going to share all those moments with you, dear readers.
What to Watch For:
We're going to post a couple more blog posts after the show to give you some great summaries of new products, the coolest stuff at the show, and our favorite cafe experiences in town. You'll also want to stay tuned to our social media channels for daily coverage from Seattle - and be sure to let us know if there's anything specific you'd like us to get on photo or video for you! In the weeks following the show, we'll also be uploading a fresh crop of new videos to our Youtube channel, with product highlights and a show summary to get you a feel for the most exciting and interesting things that went down in Seattle.
Oh, and if you'll be around for the Expo and want to meet up, just give us a holler and we'll find a way to say hello! We'll have stickers and a few other goodies to give away as well. See you in Seattle!
What We're Looking Forward To:
Going without a booth this year means we get to pick a more extensive list of cool things to see and try out, so here's a short list of some of the things we're most excited to get our hands on this week:
Baratza Sette 30
We've gotten plenty of hands on time with the new Sette 270 and 270W grinders, but the 30 is a pared down version featuring their new coarse burr. We're super eager to check it out in person and try the coffee it produces. Stay tuned for our thoughts!
Nick Cho's December Dripper
Nick has teased some info on his new variable-aperture dripper and we caught a peek at an earlier version at the Knoxville Coffee Champs, so we're champing at the bit to get a closer look at the finalized version at the Acaia booth this year. Nick will be doing brew demos and showing off the dripper, which is currently up on Kickstarter if you'd like to support his project.
Uppers and Downers
Coffee and beer are a time-tested power duo, and the Uppers and Downers area at the Event in Atlanta last year was a really cool experience. We'll be back at it again this year, this time with more tastings and reviews of the samples on offer. Trying a handful of delicious beers is the least we could do for you, our darling fans and followers. ;)
La Marzocco Cafe
La Marzocco's flagship cafe at KEXP is currently featuring coffee by Nordic coffee legend Tim Wendelboe, and they'll be offering talks and classes all weekend at the space. We'll be swinging by once or twice to check everything out, so keep an eye on our social media for shots of the space and maybe some quotables and takeaways from a talk.
US Coffee Champs
We usually can't catch much of the competitions (except that time two years ago where we shot a documentary about the World Barista Championship!), so it'll be a nice change of pace to go watch some stellar baristas get on stage and slay their routines and serve up some deliciously unique coffee experiences. Schedule permitting, we'll try to get some insights into what goes on for competition prep and post about a few performances. And we'll definitely be cheering on our friends and customers who are up there kicking butt at coffee.
Have any suggestions for other stuff we should check out? Sound off in the comments or hit us up on social media. We're here to be your eyes and ears if you can't make it to the Expo this year. See you soon, Seattle!
