CoffeeCon Los Angeles 2014 - planning
Southern California coffee drinkers! CoffeeCon makes its first ever stop in Los Angeles, taking place this Saturday, November 8th at Mack Sennett Studios on 1215 Bates Ave. It is open from 9 AM to 4 PM. I'm excited to attend yet another CoffeeCon event, having attended the inaugural event in Chicago last year, and the event in San Francisco this year. CoffeeCon is THE event for coffee drinkers. Not a coffee industry trade show. This is an event of workshops, presentations, and coffee tasting that is geared specifically for the coffee lover. If you live in Southern California and you love coffee, be there!Read: Trip Report – 2014 CoffeeCon San FranciscoRead: Trip Report – 2013 CoffeeCon ChicagoRead: Official CoffeeCon websiteBelow is the schedule for the Los Angeles event. As was the case with the previous two CoffeeCon events that I attended, it's impossible to be everywhere at once, and the key is to decide in advance what to experience. Here's what I'm going with...
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My focus in going over this schedule is different in this case than in the previous two. I will be purchasing a six-pound coffee roaster, and roasting coffee here in San Diego. More to come on that, but in the meantime, I want my class selections to be helpful to my future coffee roasting.
Even with that focus in mind, it still isn't easy! At 10 AM, I'm looking at Introduction to 8 Basic Flavor Descriptors. To help develop my skill as a coffee roaster/taster, I have become very interested in the flavors and descriptors of coffee. This workshop will certainly help attendees understand the wide world of coffee flavor. A shame that it's at the expense of seeing Kenneth Davids' panel on the Future of Coffee.
At 11 AM, I'll attend Butter Coffee. I wasn't originally interested in seeing this, but I am curious only because of the current fad of putting butter in coffee to help with digestion - I don't know if it's hooey yet. I'll learn more.
George Howell's presentation For the Love of Coffee Tasting runs for half the day, and is a staple at the CoffeeCon events. I attended his entire presentation the first time, and only caught part of it the last time. This time, it's been moved from the morning to the afternoon, but otherwise the same decision as in the previous two CoffeeCon events - do I spend the second half of the day in George's presentation (which I know is incredibly informative on all aspects of coffee)? Or, do I attend three other workshops in its place? After much thought, I've decided to attend three workshops that are new to me, rather than attend George's presentation, that was amazing, but that I've already seen.
At 1 PM, I will attend the Chemex Lab. I own a Chemex and understand the directions pretty well, but I've never had formal training like this. I still remember visiting my first coffee roasters that would only serve a cup of coffee by pourover. Planet Bean in Guelph, Canada, and Coava Coffee in Portland, Oregon both come to mind.
At 2 PM, the workshop on Championship Winning Coffee sounds very interesting, and a great fit for my plans to roast coffee. It is hosted by Klatch Roasting.
Finally at 3 PM, Building a Direct Trade also sounds very interesting. I have been on coffee origin trips to Guatemala, Honduras, and Hawaii, and I'm very interested in learning more about direct trade coffee, that is coffee sourced through a direct relationship with the farmer.
Wow, that's a big day, and a lot of notes. Stay tuned because as always, what I learn there, you'll learn about here!