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Coffee-Fest Del Rio was a great success. We had 18 participants over the course of two days and I hope everyone had a great time and got to drink some great coffee. I'm not sure when we're going to do this again, but if there's interest, and people want to learn even more about coffee and its preparation, I'll be sure to put something together.
What was Coffee-Fest Del Rio?
Coffee-Fest Del Rio is an opportunity for people who really love coffee or who want to learn more about coffee and its preparation to get together and share ideas and experiences.
If you've never made more than a pot of Mr. Coffee before Coffee-Fest, you probably won't leave Coffee-Fest with the skills of a professional barista (coffee maker person). You will leave with a greater appreciation for GOOD coffee and the knowledge to make better coffee at home to enjoy every day.
If you're a coffee professional or connoisseur, your attendance will not only add to the overall experience for those less informed, but you'll most likely learn something that you can bring with you to make your coffee even better.
While Coffee-Fest is being run by and geared toward the average coffee lover, everyone is welcome.
How to sign up?
All you need to do to register is click here (Fred@herculescoffee.com) and let Fred know you want to attend. He will return your email, let you know how to make payment, and tell you where to be on February 9th (you can always contact Fred in person too).
What to expect:
Several events are planned. They include:
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How to make espresso - a hands-on approach
We'll start at the beginning. What is espresso and how is it made? What makes an espresso machine an espresso machine? We'll discuss all of the factors involved in making espresso: grinder setting, the amount of coffee used, how to prepare the ground coffee for extraction, water pressure and temperature, and different types of espresso shots. This is going to be the main emphasis of the day's events. If you've never even tasted espresso before or even if you've made it for a long time and you're not sure if you've been doing it right, there will be something in this segment for you.
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How to make different espresso based drinks (latte, cappuccino...)
Once you've learned how to make espresso, the next logical step is to learn how to make espresso-based drinks involving milk. We'll go through the milk steaming or frothing process; the do's and don'ts of steaming milk and how much milk of what consistency you need to steam to make yourself a latte or a cappuccino.
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How to pour latte art
This comes after the milk steaming portion of the day. Though latte art isn't a requirement for a latte or cappuccino to taste good, you need good milk consistency to make latte art. So, of you can pour art, you can steam milk and your drink will probably taste pretty darned good.
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Different brewing methods
We'll use different grinders and brewers to make coffee by several different methods of varying costs. We'll make press pot coffee (these start at $20), pour-over coffee (starting at $2), Aeropress coffee (around $25) and infused press coffee (about $20). Again, this will be very hands-on. This segment may be useful if you'd like to drink better coffee at home, but don't want to spend a lot of money on equipment.
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Cupping
We'll do a cupping (or tasting) session of coffees. We'll have one variety of coffee roasted to different levels of roast to show the differences roasting can make in the cup.
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A roasting demo
We'll hang out in my garage for a little bit and roast some coffee. I have a very small-time operation, but you may be interested in the process. This will take about a half hour.
There will be plenty of free time to practice your coffee making skills and ample coffee to drink. I'll have snacks available to keep everyone from getting too jittery and there will be lunch provided.
If you have any suggestions or there is something you'd like to see, let me know.
See you there...
Our list of event sponsors (hey if you're going to have just one sponsor, at least it's a good one):
