Quick Hits from Coffee Fest-Day 1

A few observations from the first day of Coffee Fest:

  1. Smaller companies tend to be more interested in talking to a writer who doesn’t work for a major publication than some of the larger, more established companies. Not always, but it’s the impression I get.
  2. There are coffee nerds from all over the world.
  3. The Carraro booth is a good place to practice your Italian.
  4. Cherry cupcake is not a flavor I would recommend for a smoothie.
  5. If there were a competition for “Sexiest Espresso Machine,” Nuova Simonelli would win, hands down.
  6. If you want to be popular at a coffee trade show, bring your espresso bar and give away free drinks. People like chocolate too.
  7. If you don’t want to be popular, bring a selection of wooden stirrer sticks. The guys at that booth looked really bored.
  8. If you tell someone you work for Caffeinated PDX, they say “Oh!” and nod politely.
  9. The worst location for an exhibitor is the booth opposite the flashing LED sign exhibit. The guy working there probably has “Open” burned onto his retinas by now.
  10. Not everyone who works a booth needs to be extrovert, but they ought to at least be able to maintain a conversation.
  11. People can get excited about anything if they try hard enough. I got into a very engaging conversation with a woman about the effectiveness of single-direction de-gassing valves in barrier-type coffee bags. Go figure.
  12. My kids don’t know it yet, but it looks like they’re getting coffee swag for Christmas this year.
I’m starting off day two with an 8am class on “How to effectively compete with larger chains.” It better be good—I got up at 6:15 on a Saturday to get here.

 

What's Happening

Coffee Fest

Road trip! This weekend I am headed up to Seattle for Coffee Fest. Coffee fest is a trade show that combines educational activities, networking opportunities and new product demonstrations. I plan to attend some classes, meet some people, see what’s new for 2011 and drink lots of coffee. When I’m not at the show, I plan to explore Seattle a little bit and check out some of the Emerald City’s better cafés. Right now, I have a list of seven places that people have recommended. Hopefully there will be time to see them all! I’ll be posting updates on Twitter (@CaffeinatedPDX) throughout my time in Seattle and will share the stories that I just can’t fit into 140 characters here at caffeinatedpdx.com. It’s going to be a fun trip and I look forward to telling you all about it.

Coffee Fair

Next weekend (November 6-7) is the Coffee Fair at the World Forestry Center in Portland. It is an opportunity to check out several local roasters’ coffees without traveling all over town to do so. The fair is open from 10am-3pm each day and there will be tastings and demonstrations of various brewing techniques. I’ve never attended the event, so if any of you know what is a can’t-miss event at the fair, please share it with all of us. If you see me be sure to say hello!

Chasing the Black Cat (Red E Café)

In multiple conversations with people around Portland, I have been told that one of the best espresso blends on the market is Black Cat—an espresso blend from Chicago-based Intelligentsia. In hushed tones, people discretely tell me that it might be better than Stumptown’s Hair Bender blend. It can be hard for a Portlander to admit that there is an outsider’s coffee that beats the hometown hero, but many do say they love Black Cat.

Since I heard about it so much, I knew I had to try it. The trouble was that Intelligentsia doesn’t have a café in Portland, at least not under its own name, so Black Cat is hard to find. Asking around, I was told that Crema used to have it, Barista has it some of the time and that Red E is the only café in town that consistently carries it. I hadn’t been able to make it to Red E yet, and  my Black Cat dreams kept getting stronger and stronger until I finally went to North Killingsworth to find the Red E and its magical brew.

Ready for the Red E

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Higher Coffee Prices Coming?

It looks like you might have to pay more for your morning fix pretty soon (Starbuckians have already felt the pain). The price of coffee hit a new 13-year high today. Arabica (the highest-quality coffee) bean prices keep rising, due to fears about the upcoming crops in Colombia, Costa Rica and Brazil. As you can see from the chart below, coffee prices, up 48% over prices a year ago, are about double what they were five years ago.

Figure 1. From the Financial Times. Prices have been volatile, but mostly rising

If you look back a little farther (Figure 2), you can see that coffee prices are not the highest they have ever been. Coffee prices spiked sharply in 1994 and 1997 due to supply problems (weather events in South America). Fortunately for coffee drinkers around the world, after each price spike there was a fairly rapid drop. This time, however, the increase in prices has been more gradual, possibly reflecting a more stable trend. It’s something to watch over the next couple years.

Figure 2. Headed for a new high?

(Note: If you want to play with the interactive chart, click on the Figure 2. Your browser will send you to the Financial Times page that looks like Figure 1. Click on the Interactive Chart link in the top left corner of the chart. A pop-up window with the interactive chart will appear and you can change the parameters and add trend lines to the chart.  It’s great fun if you’re an economics nerd like me.) 

Spella Caffè

When I left the house on my way to Spella Caffè, it was one of those crisp fall mornings when you can see your breath. It started out sunny, but before long a cold fog had rolled in and it looked like it was going to be one of those gray days that drive Portlanders to drink lots of coffee. Fortunately, we have lots of options to help us deal with the grayness. Spella is one such place. I had heard good things about it from a barista friend and wanted to see if he knew what he was talking about.

As I walked down through the city, I had visions of stopping in, having some espresso and sitting down for a while. When I got there, I found that to be impossible, since Spella doesn’t have any chairs. In fact, the café has barely enough room to stand up if there are more than five customers inside, which there were when I arrived.

Spella

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