COFFEE GROUNDS

Austin Coffee festival just wrapped and I am (as always) filled with thoughts.

The lineup this year featured a solid mix of big Austin players and smaller shops, with a few bonuses from out of town [1]. Most were roasters, but I'd estimate that just under half were representing some form of brick and morter as well.

Espresso and pour overs abounded, but the name of the game this year was definitely cold brew. There were very few stands that didn't have some available. In a convention setting like this it is by far the easiest to server, but I still would have loved to see more espresso machines!

Cold brew isn't my thing, but I did have a couple interesting experiences. In terms of actual cold brew taste, I thought Merit's was the best on the floor. I was enticed to try Trianon's due to their new machine on show which could produce a batch in only 30 minutes, though I think the final results fell a bit flat on the finish. Still, for such a short brew time, the intial flavors were definitely on show - and it didn't have the stale notes that I tend to get in most cold brews I've tried.

Cold brew aside, Greater Goods came to play with a creative latte featuring toasted star anise syrup, mandarin foam, and a sprinkle of salt that I thought was just superb. Sightseer had a bourbon and orange zest espresso that they very kindly ended up giving me the full recipe for. And Medici featured both a mango and pineapple co-ferment that I could smell without even walking up to the stand.

I have to call out a couple of surprises on the floor as well: the first being Comeback's Coffee Sodas [2] - these are something I normally wouldn't try, but honestly they were excellent. The Lemon and Thyme flavor we tried had this smooth yet bright punch that danced around the coffee. Then there was the father/son duo from Trippy Buck [3] who served what might have been my favorite drink of the day: a half-washed, half-honey processed medium roast grown at their farm in Ecuador. This coffee stood out at the convention in the best way, and I brought multiple friends back specifically to try it.

Lastly, the speaker session. The first day's event was a group interview of four local shop owners: Trianon, Sightseer, Barrett's, and Medici. The interview itself was fine - really, I wish we had seen a few more hard-hitting journalistic questions, but it was overall a good discussion with some very knowledgeable industry people. In general, all panelists seemed to agree that the prices for shop coffee drinks needed to go up. However, the actual reasons we're a bit vague: most cited general increased demand for specialty coffee like single-origin and sustainably farmed beans as a catalyst, but none specified which part of the chain needed the additional funds. I'd love to follow up and get more information on who they would actually see that money - the farmers? Roasters? Sourcers? I think this was a critical point that was missed.

Overall, the festival was a solid showcase of the Austin coffee scene. Personally, I would have liked to see more shops making an appearence to balance out the slightly roaster-heavy roster, but the event seems to be mainly targeting those in the coffee industry, so this distribution is not entirely surprising. Additionally, this event is still relatively small in comparison to other coffee events in the country, so mainstream awareness is still brewing.

I look forward to seeing what next year has to offer!