The Specialty Coffee Association of America held the second half of its first ever two-year exposition (The Event) in Seattle last week. This year’s event, like last year’s, brought 10,000 attendees from more than 75 countries to Jet City. They came for expositions, lectures, latte art throwdowns, skill-building workshops, tours of local roasteries and coffee shops, networking and far more. They were growers, importers, wholesalers, roasters, culinary professionals, café owners and baristas.
This year’s convention was also held in conjunction with the World Barista Championship, a relatively rare occurrence as the two events are put on by different entities. National barista champions of 50 different countries arrived with their teams, coaches and supporters in tow to compete before a packed arena and panels of four judges. In 15 minutes (set to music), each barista must make four espressos, four cappuccinos, and four original signature drinks, all the while narrating their coffee selections and processes.
The competition went on for four days, with semifinals held all day on Saturday and finals on Sunday. Canada, France, Hong Kong, the U.K., the U.S. and Australia were all represented in the final round: Australia’s Sasa Sestic beat out U.S. national champion Charles Babinski for the title of World Barista Championship on Sunday night, to a full crowd and with tens of thousands more viewers watching online.
With a majority of the world’s most talented coffee professionals in town for the event, and many of the world’s best roasts represented, there was no shortage of great coffee drinks to be found in Seattle from Wednesday through Sunday. The following were three of my personal favorites.
1) Counter Culture Coffee’s Idido Special Preparation Lot No. 2 Espresso at MmmHmm Coffee – All week saw pop-up cafés setting up shop inside the Washington State Convention Center and all around the city. MmmHmm Coffee, accustomed to operating as a pop-up for the past several months, used the week of SCAA to show off their new permanent location inside Hilliard’s Beer in Ballard. During their Saturday morning “Hangover at Hilliards” event, attendees snacked on biscuits from Morsel, sipped breakfast cocktails and enjoyed this bright, fruity Yirgacheffe espresso. MmmHmm is one of only three locations in Seattle trained to offer Counter Culture.
2) Great Coffee Cappuccino by Denmark National Barista Champion Søren Stiller Markussen – As the 12 semifinalists crafted their coffee drinks onstage at the World Barista Championship on Saturday, a large coffee bar set up near the entrance to the arena was manned by four different countries’ national barista champions at once, each pouring espresso after cappuccino after macchiato. National Barista Champion of Denmark Søren Stiller Markussen was using his own coffee, Great Coffee, brought all the way from his home country. It was a sweet, nutty El Salvador Finca Santa Patrona, which made a fantastic cappuccino with milk from Lynnwood, Washington’s Twin Brook Creamery.
3) Cascara-Infused Blonde Ale by Caffe Ladro and Counterbalance Brewing – Sometimes after hours upon hours of single-origin espressos and pour-overs, all you want is a beer. Seattle’s Caffe Ladro worked with Georgetown-based Counterbalance Brewing to concoct one light and one dark ale infused with cascara, the fruit of the coffee cherry. In the blonde ale particularly, the cascara’s refreshingly bright citrus notes played with the suds’ subtly aromatic hops. Kegs were tapped and well-deserved pints were raised after SCAA on both Friday and Saturday.
