coffeecon

A Bunch of New Stuff – Cup of Joe 3-6-17

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17tpINDc2AI

My Cup of Joe episodes lately have been a bit erratic.

For those of you new to these videos, they are my sort of ‘behind the scenes' of what's going on with Coffee Lovers Magazine and other coffee related stuff. Sometimes I talk about just stuff in coffee that's on my mind, other times – like this one – I'm catching y'all up on what's going on with the business.

I was trying to think of a way to show you a bit of how it all goes down. I know many people think the magazine is run by a big ole team, but for the most part it's just me, along with my friend and colleague Michael Mage who handles the designs of the issues.

The end of 2016 and the beginning of this year was all about CoffeeCon. We had the show in Seattle – check out that video – and then another one down in LA.

For these shows we made a bunch of new merchandise, and also took a step forward in expanding the Coffee Lovers brand. For some time now I've wanted this to be more than just a magazine. One of the main goals is helping people like yourself explore the world of coffee, and so it became obvious

One of the main goals is helping people like yourself explore the world of coffee, and so it became obvious that providing coffee had to be part of the equation.

You can now order coffee through the Coffee Lovers online store here. To start off with I am working with Jesse Nelson at Conduit Coffee. Having traveled many places and tried coffee from all over the world, I see him as one of the top roasters anywhere. He has fantastic artistic vision for roasting coffee, and it's a privilege to offer that coffee to you as well. In the future, through The Coffee Explorer (take The Coffee Quiz and learn more about that soon) I'll be able to provide very customized single origin and blend roast offerings based on your specific taste in coffee.

Coffee Lovers - Colombia Finca La Fragua - Roasted Coffee

For the CoffeeCon shows, I also have had some new merchandise made. In the video there you can see our new Mug and Beanie. We also have shirts available through the store.

Check out our new merchandise here.

There's a lot more to come – this is just the beginning and a little preview for you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

CoffeeCon Seattle 2017 Video Tour with Coffee Lovers Magazine

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnmDI4vjKQQ

CoffeeCon Seattle 2017 (a consumer-focused coffee festival). What an exciting undertaking to help bring them to Seattle! About a year ago, as I write this, I happened to be sitting in with a local non-profit – Northwest Space Agency – as they talked about their plans for the year’s events.

NW Space Agency focuses on helping local businesses in Seattle connect with their customers and the community by giving them agency through space and events (basically finding space to host events to promote local businesses).

Throughout last year NW Space Agency hosted numerous coffee-related events – cup tasting challenges, brewing challenges, etc. They are all aimed at connecting coffee and the people in coffee with everyone else. While the group is new, they have done a great job of bringing the casual coffee drinking just a bit deeper into the world of coffee locally.

So about a year ago, I heard them talking about putting together a larger event at the end of the year. A little festival of coffee where local businesses could show off what they are doing and the people in the community could enjoy all that.

Queue my enthusiasm.

First though, turn back a couple years, where I ran into Kevin Sinnott and his show, CoffeeCon. I think my attention was turned to this via my friend Michael Allen Smith, who runs I Need Coffee, shortly after he attended the CoffeeCon San Francisco show in 2014.

I recall realizing immediately the similarities in the goals Kevin and I had – to bridge the gap between the average coffee drinker and the vast fascinating and exciting world of specialty coffee. I knew I wanted to do some kind of consumer facing coffee event (having attended many industry shows), but I personally lacked the resources necessary to go it alone.

Kevin is also an incredibly generous person – from the get go he has strived to help Coffee Lovers Magazine get more exposure through the work he is doing. We did a joint project together, featuring Kevin and CoffeeCon in one of the issues. You can actually view that issue free here – one of the few I have set up to enjoy on any device (tangent: the experience is not as great as the app, but I can do things like embed it in this article).

Ok fast forward, Jan/Feb 2016. It’s been a year + of me encouraging Kevin and CoffeeCon to bring their show to Seattle. The people of Seattle clearly enjoy these kind of events (looking at the many food and culture related events that happen around the city, quite notably The Northwest Chocolate Festival). And NW Space Agency wants to do one themselves.

So, we put two and two together.

The course of 2016 was a great opportunity for all of us – learning how to gather many businesses around this idea, and bring coffee drinkers from around the region to enjoy what the pacific northwest coffee scene has to offer.

And of course, we got to show off what we are doing right smack in the middle of Seattle Center.

Coffee Lovers Magazine, in Seattle Center! Yea that was pretty awesome.

This show is just the beginning. The world is hungry for this kind of connection, where it’s about the people, the connections, and celebrating the best of what we do.

Check out more coffee-related videos at Coffee Lovers TV on Youtube.  Subscribe and join the fun!