MAS o Menos

I was able to receive free passes to the 2007 SCAA Conference in Long Beach yesterday. Endless rows of coffee gadgets and as many espressos as you could drink. And boy did I drink a lot of espresso. The companies that setup booths at trade shows tend not to be slackers. These are some of the best coffee companies in the world.

My favorite espresso was from 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters of Canada. Sadly their web site doesn’t have a shopping cart. What year is this? My second favorite espresso was from Caffe Vita of Seattle. I’ll have to stop by there when I visit Seattle next week.

Even though I run a coffee web site that gets more traffic than 99% of the coffee professionals in the room, I decided not to mention INeedCoffee. They are coffee professionals. I am just a coffee hobbyist. There is a lot I can learn from them.

Back in my Florida days (1994-1998), I frequented a coffee house in Clearwater ran by my pal Terry. Before I moved away from Florida they were just starting to build custom roasters. That company is now Ambex Roasters and they are very successful. Usually I see Terry and his wife at Guavaween, but I missed them last year as they were at another coffee show. It was nice to meet up with them.

I also met up with San Diego home roast pioneer Joe Behmer. He debuted his 1 pound home coffee roaster at the show. Going back to 2004 I watched demo versions of this product evolve and even got to see some of my feedback turn into product features. When I got to Joe’s booth I saw my name and endorsement on his board. What an honor. Joe got the biggest honor by winning the product of the year award. This is the product that will bring home coffee roasting to the masses.

Lura’s 2007 SCAA Conference Photo Gallery

Tags: coffee