By Lisa Pacini For nearly 27 years now, people have come to the Specialty Coffee Association of America’s Annual Exposition, The Event, looking for new and innovative ideas. The best place to encounter these products and services on the cutting edge of specialty coffee is the show floor. New coffee brewing equipment, preparation techniques, packaging, …
By Christopher Schooley Over the past few years, SCAA staff has been working closely with sponsors and volunteers in order to transform the way that we approach coffee service at the annual Exposition and other SCAA events throughout the year. The goal has been to create true specialty coffee experiences; setting a proper stage for sponsors …
By Mike Ebert Coffee production has long been pushed aside in the world of food safety. Having run roasting plants for almost 30 years, I learned early on that any health inspector, from any level–local, state or federal–did not know what to look for with coffee, thought it was a waste of their time, and …
By Michael Sheridan I have been living at origin and working with coffee growers since 2007. I started blogging about my work in the coffeelands on behalf of Catholic Relief Services in 2009. The next year, I began publishing an annual review of “origin content” of The SCAA Event, under the title: “The view from …
By Danny Pinnell, SCAA Our coffee talk from this week’s staff meeting was a sort of team effort between Peter Giuliano and Ric Rhinehart. While working as a coffee buyer at Counter Culture coffee in 2004, Giuliano received a phone call from Rhinehart, co-owner of Groundwork Coffee in Los Angeles at the time. He called …
By Lily Kubota, SCAA On Tuesday morning, thousands of coffee professionals around the world woke up to the news that Coffee Kids, a non-profit NGO supporting a wide variety of projects in coffee farming communities would be suspending programming and seeking “an appropriate organization with which to merge.” This announcement spurred a lot of conversation about …
By Danny Pinnell, SCAA Walking into the conference room for our weekly staff meeting, our fearless “coffee talk” leader Peter Giuliano asked us to smell three different coffees, which were presented in cupping glasses as dry grounds, and note their fragrance. One of these coffees was Huabal, a “washed” coffee from San Ignacio, Peru. The other …
Ian Bersten spent 37 years traveling throughout the world to bring together a unique collection that is now The Bersten Antique Coffee & Tea Collection & Museum. Recognized within the industry as one of the largest and most significant collections of coffee and tea makers in the world, it reflects Bersten’s lifelong passion as a …
By Danny Pinnell, SCAA As we begin gearing up in preparation for The Event in April, planning meetings become more frequent to make sure we’re ready for you all to join us in Seattle. This week’s staff meeting was entirely devoted to the show, but it wouldn’t be complete without our weekly coffee talk. This coffee …
By Peter Giuliano, SCAA Baristas have the best job in coffee. They get to experience that magical and important moment in coffee’s lifecycle, that final moment of truth, when months and years of work by farmers, millers, exporters, importers, roasters, and the myriad other professions in coffee comes to fruition. That moment, when a harried …