Fresh From The Roaster….

My Coffee Fest Chicago Diary 2007

Coffee Fest day #1
I feel like I just competed in a Marathon. Coffee Fest was 3 days of non stop action (4 including set up). It was fantastic to see what was new in coffee culture and to meet our fellow independent coffee owners.

We went to Chicago a day early so we could set up our booth. I’m glad we had the extra time – the show floor was a madhouse of forklifts, electricians, decorators and exhibitors. Our booth was designed to be a “do – it yourself”. So, we carried everything up from the garage – the escalators and elevators weren’t turned on. It took a little longer than we anticipated assembling everything and making sure it looked “just right”.

The folks at Bunn provided the brewing equipment you see in our booth – the Axiom brewer was sweet. It has a ton of brewing features. Yet, it was so simple to set up and I had it up and running in 5 minutes. We weren’t able to check the brew yet because the water jugs hadn’t been delivered since it was getting close to 5pm it looked like that would be an early morning project.

Day #2
I tossed and turned all night thinking about everything that needed to be done I hoped I hadn’t forgotten anything. Mary and I got to the show floor early. The first order of business was to finish setting up the brewing and grinding equipment.

I adjusted the amount of water flow for the Axiom to help achieve the “Perfect Cup” or Gold Cup Standard. I then setoff to adjust the proper grind on the Bunn LPG-2E grinder. Simple and super easy to set up, just a twist of the adjustment key and we were dialed in. This would be a nice grinder to use in a restaurant or café. It has two hoppers so you can do a decaf and a regular. It’s dummy proof for the employees. They can’t accidentally change the grind setting.
Once I achieved the proper bean weight to water ratio – I checked it with our scale to ensure this. Our delicious brew of Savona came to life. Smooth and Chocolaty with a touch of acidic zip to tempt the tip of my tongue.

The second order of business was getting that first good pot of coffee brewed into Mary’s hands. She’s almost as bad as I am if hadn’t had a cup early in the morning. She got a little calmer when she sipped her first tasted the Savona, The calming factor of it all coming together was settling in. After she slowly downed that first cup, it seemed like she broke a world record on her second cup. Thank goodness the Insulair cups she was using were very sturdy. Barista Works gave us a case of cups to use for samples at our booth. It was a really upscale looking cup. It definitely got a second look from the folks who stopped by our booth to try our coffee.

The exhibits opened at noon and the rest of the afternoon went by in a blur. It was really great meeting everyone who stopped by our booth. I brewed a lot of coffee and enjoyed talking the biz with seasoned owners and people just starting out.

Day #3
Wow, I woke up this morning in a ball of pain – I think everything was finally catching up with me. Luckily Mary brought a full bottle of Ibuprophin. First order of business was getting to the exhibit floor and brewing up a batch of coffee. Did I mention the water was provided by Cirqua? They are the top water filtration and customized water companies in the business. I was really impressed with the quality of the water they were able to provide us even at the trade show – props all the way to David Beemans’ group. It definitely enhanced our coffee. Good water is one of the basics of brewing a consistently excellent cup of coffee. We continually battled the water problem in Indianapolis. This is a system that I would recommend if I was setting up a retail coffee business.

Today we had help in our booth. Our friend Mary Anne, Rew and Meade showed up. We took turns working the booth and being “walking billboards”. A lot of people came up and said they could see our Safety Green t-shirts from across the exhibit floor. Good!! We wanted to be noticed. We were surprised later when my brother-in-law Tim and his girlfriend Dorie stopped by. They flew in from DC to help us with the show. Mary gave them some t-shirts and sent them out on the show floor.

It was another super busy day. We handed out a ton of Torani, Big Train, Cappuccine and our samples of coffee. It was fun talking to people and explaining our “coffee philosophy”. We are proud to be a “fresh roaster”. This basically means we don’t roast the coffee until you order it. Nothing is pulled off the shelf – so our customers get the freshest coffee available. We weren’t quite as exhausted at the end of the day – it definitely was nice to have some help in the booth.

Day #4
Time Flies! I can’t believe this is the last day of Coffee Fest. We took it easy today – went to the Billy Goat Tavern (Cheezborger, Cheezborger, Cheezborger. Pepsi No Coke!) for a “pre-show” lunch with Tim and Dorie. They are going to help us today. It was a little slower today at the booth. I think a lot of people were concerned about the winter storm warnings and either stayed home or left early. In a way it was nice. We were able to spend a little more time talking to people who stopped by our booth. We met a lot of baristas and a lot of really nice people. It is so energizing to be around them hearing what they have to share. Their passion for good coffee really gave me hope on the growth of the Specialty Coffee industry.

4 pm came way too soon. Tim and Dorie were real troopers and stuck around and helped us pack up or booth. It was a lot easier carrying the boxes downstairs this time around. We got home around 10 pm to find out Mary’s parents in Iowa were without electricity and had gone to her Aunt Irene’s to stay until the power could be restored. I guess the storm was a little harsher than we realized. Guess we got luck in Chicago.