Saturday, March 13, 2004


scaa conference update

recently had the most detailed talk about the consumer track at the atlanta scaa conference april 23-25 yet. it's seriously coming together!

the list of equipment is awesome. the tireless genius david haddock of counterculture has assembled all the bunns and technivorms you could dream of for the how-to brewing lab.

plus it seems like every single one of those brewers will go as door prizes to attendees! even the most casual coffee lover will be amazed at this seminar on perfect coffee brewing in the home.

the espresso lab with well-known altie / scaa consumer member jim schulman also seems amazing from the equipment list: unless disaster strikes, you will be putting your own hands on the la spaziale, new gaggia equipment, la valentina, isomacs, many others.

i'm aiming for 18 machines and may get 'em all! still rounding up extra grinders for that case. there should a wide variety of espresso blends available for this lab. scaa professionals are promising to deluge us with espresso samples!

look for the le'lit at least to go as a door prize there, thanks to jim p. of 1st line! so you all had better come with plans to deal with shipping home equipment just in case. . .

i know a lot of you are hot on the hands-on coffee homeroasting session with ken davids. it looks like we have quite a few rostos, swissmar toys, and other smoky stuff. there should be a door prize there as well!

not to mention the chance to talk to ken. the tour of the show floor with don schoenholt of gillies is new this year, different stops than last year. that should be really great too.

the "meet the authors" talk is a can't miss in my eyes, and should offer a great opportunity to talk to mark pendergrast, ted lingle, and others. finally you can pose the questions you've always wanted to ask about coffee!

and i shouldn't forget the coffee crisis and sustainability discussion either. or the consumer social reception. . .or the formal zen coffee meditation, which is going to be fun and really different!

most importantly of all, the coffee tasting (cupping) class with don schoenholt of gillies and lindsay bolger of green mountain. this class is already so hyped other coffee pros are working to crash it!

while the glorious cindy chang of counterculture, the efficient theresa macguire of scaa, my personal goddess kimberly easson of transfairusa, and others were pondering where the electricity goes in the room? how much water to order? will dish pans do as drains for the big espresso machines? all that, i couldn't help thinking: this is going to be just great.

if i can live through it!

most of these rooms only hold 30-40 people, so space will be limited. i hope you all make your plans to be there; i can't wait to meet you. but even if the workshops are crowded, it will be fantastic to be there!

i'll offer more information as it comes out! you can get the conference brochure and info at the scaa website.

remember this event is opent to all coffee lovers everywhere! just US$40 gets you a multi-day ticket to all consumer-track events and the exhibit show floor.

posted by fortune | 3:12 AM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 0 comments