{"id":1360,"date":"2018-10-16T04:00:56","date_gmt":"2018-10-16T14:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thecurbkaimuki.com\/2018\/10\/16\/12-incredible-moments-from-the-2018-new-york-coffee-festival\/"},"modified":"2018-10-16T04:00:56","modified_gmt":"2018-10-16T14:00:56","slug":"12-incredible-moments-from-the-2018-new-york-coffee-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecurbkaimuki.com\/2018\/10\/16\/12-incredible-moments-from-the-2018-new-york-coffee-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"12 Incredible Moments From The 2018 New York Coffee Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It’s really something to witness Chelsea’s distinguished Metropolitan Pavillion transform into a patchwork quilt of New York City’s finest coffee companies. This is our fourth year as media partners of the New York Coffee Festival<\/a>, a younger sibling of the game-changing London Coffee Festival<\/a>, which by all counts is one of the largest attended consumer-facing coffee events in the world. What surprises us most about the festival is its ability to keep surprising us\u2014booths seem to up the ante each year with attention-grabbing and crowd-pleasing design and programming. It’s a thoughtful blend of experimental exhibitions, unexpected vendors, and tried-and-true events-within-events.<\/p>\n Here’s a collection of some of our favorite moments and details from the 2018 New York Coffee Festival.<\/p>\n T-Shirt Canons & Booth Design<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n For a moment on Saturday, La Marzocco USA<\/a> and Variety Coffee Roasters<\/a>\u2014two prominently featured exhibitors at the event\u2014took part in a heated t-shirt canon battle royale. Perhaps the first of its kind at a coffee tradeshow, the companies, each armed with compressors and canons, shot t-shirts to the crowd (and, reports suggest, each other). Projectiles aside, La Marzocco’s booth at the festival drew oohs<\/em> and ahs<\/em> all weekend long, featuring a vintage sports scoreboard theme and a live “shot counter”\u2014each guest was invited to pull a shot of espresso, then entered to win a La Marzocco Linea Mini<\/a>.<\/p>\n Vendors Large and Small<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Roxanne Royce, the inventor of the BevBag<\/a> (pictured left), exhibits with her mother at the New York Coffee Festival. The insulated bag holds four coffees in a reusable 3D-printed carrier. Royce invented the bag after experiencing the pitfalls of delivering coffees\u2014namely the spills and the heat loss. The bag, Royce tells us, sells big with corporate clients and with folks on Amazon<\/a>, where it holds a strong four-star rating. And while the fashion hits did not stop all weekend long, Mother Royce’s lewk was one of the very best at New York Coffee Festival.<\/p>\n Chai Marshmallows<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n There’s no shortage of snackables at the New York Coffee Festival, but our personal favorite was the chai-infused marshmallows on hand at the Dona Chai<\/a> booth. Paired with their herbal ciders and chai-spiked hot cocoas, these lovely treats were like little cozy hugs in marshmallow form.<\/p>\n Pyschic Energy<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Spiritual guide Angelina\u2014practicing Palm, Tarot Card, and Crystal Readings in New York City<\/a> for over 20 years\u2014offered special readings for attendees all weekend long. “There’s a great energy here,” we were told by one of the many on hand at the booth. It’s great to see folks like Angelina at coffee festivals, and there was plenty of interest from attendees. Maybe we’ll see Angelina and their crew at the Specialty Coffee Expo in Boston<\/a>?<\/p>\n Living Booths<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The plant story was strong at the Sey Coffee<\/a> booth over the weekend. Marco SP9s serving delightful coffees by co-owner Tobin Polk were practically hiding behind a wall of plant-life. Prominently placed at the entry to the show floor, and beautiful in its simplicity, this was a strong showing from the Bushwick based brand.<\/p>\n CBD Everything<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n We have entered (or perhaps about to enter) peak the age of cannabidiol-in-everything. Azuca, a New York-based company specializing in sweeteners infused with CBD and THC<\/a>, are marketing the legal non-psychoactive CBD products to cocktail bars and coffee companies alike. We’re watching this space as we continue to see CBD show up as an upcharge on upscale cafe menus across the country.<\/p>\n Virtual Reality<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n