Flywheeel siphon sample 4CoffeeCon has taken on a life of its own. I created it as something I simply wanted to attend. It has its own following, and its presenters creating their presentations. My role is goal setter, overactive attendee and tinkerer. I am constantly urging, cajoling and watching our presenters rise to new heights. Often their finished presentations are better than I imagined. Still we are a comparatively tiny-budgeted event. I had a last-minute cancellation at last-month’s Seattle event due to not being able to fund a presenter’s travel.

I hope you will be able to attend CoffeeCon, the reason I keep taking it around the country, and hope one day beyond.  Here is a rundown of our upcoming LA event, which has the benefit of being an established venue (a big advantage) and a good nearby source of presenters. Let’s go.

CoffeeCon LA is the only CoffeeCon featuring US grown coffee. Yes, coffee not only grows in California, we have California coffee grower Jay Ruskey, who will be sampling his 100% Made in Mainland USA beans and offering coffee plants for sale you can take home. Who knows? Maybe you’ll grow enough beans for an AeroPress.

Beanscorp, the Korean entrepreneurs who seem to live on coffee as they tour the world will be again at CoffeeCon LA. In addition to their innovative Cafflano Klassic grind and brew one-cup travel drip maker, they’ll be sampling from their new Press device. Is it a manual espresso or a step beyond the AeroPress? Taste it and tell me.

Chemex is coming to every CoffeeCon event this year. They’re innovating with customer personalization collars and ties, giving the Chemex yet another advantage over any other brewer. They’ll also be bringing some historic artifacts from the Chemex archives to give you a mini-tour from the Chemex museum I keep telling them they should create.

Bonavita’s Marcus Boni came up with an idea so close to my own heart my only disappointment is I didn’t think of it. Marcus will brew the same excellent coffee in four difference brewing methods: An automatic drip maker, a Chemex, a full-immersion dripper and the new Rattleware cupper. Tastes will be shared with the audience to demonstrate the difference brewing makes.

Mokhtar Alkahnshali’s got the oldest story in coffee. One of a magical bean, one that for some years all but disappeared until he started a one-man crusade to restore its prominence and availability to the world. It’s a compelling story. You’ll be on the edge of your seat, as I was when I first learned of it.

While we’re on an oldest kick, the oldest method of making coffee is almost unknown in mainstream US of A. It’s the ibrik (pronounced ee-brick). It’s the way everyone brewed coffee since that fake news-created dancing goat got high chewing berries. We have Turkish Coffee World ibrik champion Turgay Yildizli on traveling half-way around the world to demonstrate his techniques, which are different from any other ibrik make I’ve ever before seen; hence I reached out to him to bring his art to our event.  chemex-ottomatic

Everyone’s got an artist inside them, and Klatch Coffee’s champion barista, Heather Perry will show you how to create artistic latte art in your home espresso. Just in case you thought, oh it’s easy because she’s using a giant commercial machine like a café does, Ms Perry does her magic using a home machine, albeit a fine one.

Local San Diegan roaster Marc Wortman of Make Good Coffee will teach a home roasting class. This is a first for us here in LA. At our Chicago events, our home roasters are virtually a separate event within the event. Marc is both a skilled professional and someone who started roasting as a fun pastime. His knowledge and enthusiasm are infectious. If you’ve ever wanted to create your own first crack, but haven’t known where to start, now’s your chance.

What do you know about the 98% of your coffee beverage, water? Too hard or too soft, water can affect your beautiful cup of coffee, so much so that new companies are offering mineral-enhanced waters designed for brewing. We’ll warn you right now. We’ve asked a water expert who’s a strong advocate for such waters to come and preach it to you. But we think the arguments are strong enough to let them be heard in our classroom. Use your own judgment, but be prepared to learn about coffee’s number one ingredient. Our expert will be

All this presumes you have already spent time on our tasting exhibit floor, the most important of all reasons to attend. No one, not even our visiting expert presenters and professional tasters, can coordinate the giant array of coffees brewed seconds before tasting. This is more than simple cup differences due to growing regions, farms and lots, but also through idealized roasting and brewing. I do well at home, but there’s no better way to enjoy coffee for me than to attend CoffeeCon.

I wanted this to be an easy read, and mimicked the phone call I’d give if you called the night before and told me you wanted to see everything, impossible really, but at least now you can come close. See you soon.

 

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