Coffee Fest St. Louis Write Up

Friday June 6, 2014 // By Liam Bucher

Well, another show down, another successful and fun filled weekend! One week after Coffee Fest St. Louis began we are still talking about all of the wonderful people we met at the show. Thank you to everyone who was able to make it out to Coffee Fest and stop by our booth to chat!

Thursday morning was an early one, heading to the airport at 4:30 am to catch our flight into St. Louis. As soon as we arrived, it was straight over to the America's Convention Center in downtown St. Louis. Time to set up the booth and quick! As we hurried through booth set up, the early morning and hauling pieces from the van began to take its toll. The BPS® Team finished up and headed to the hotel for a quick cool down - and possibly a nap.

After a quick breather and some freshening up, we headed over to Plush, a night club located just outside of the city, for the weekend Kick-Off Party! Thank you to Fresh Cup Magazine, DaVinci, Monin, and Chauvin Coffee for putting on such a great event. It's always nice to see friends and meet new people, especially those exhibiting at the show. The night was filled with great tasting food and some excellent drinks served up by DaVinci and Monin. With Thursday being such a busy day, it was time to head back to the hotel and get some rest for Friday, Day 1!

Up and at 'em! The show starts today! The first day of the show is always exciting because we never really know what to expect. Each year, and city, bring a different crowd. We always try to arrive a few hours ahead of start time to make sure we have everything in place, and to build the first 50 BPS Schwag bags for the weekend (filled up with some goodies)! The first few minutes were a little slow, but it was not long before we saw the crowd roll in, and it would stay that way the whole weekend. We were happy to meet some current customers and some first time attendees at Coffee Fest, as well as those whom had never heard of Barista Pro Shop. All in all, the first day was fantastic and went by pretty quick, keeping the three of us quite busy.

After the show, it was off to dinner with our friends at Cappuccine at Dressel's Public House. If you have a chance to eat here, I suggest you do! We started with some great appetizers; pretzel with rarebit sauce, beef ribs with a rootbeer rub, and some mussels. On to the entrees, grilled pork with pickled veggies, and a fantastic sauce with a side of okra. I would also suggest any burger on the menu, cooked to perfection, or a Porchetta "Louie", it is a very large sandwich packed with lots of deli meats (just a warning)!

Before day two started, we went over and grabbed some breakfast at Rooster Cafe with some of our friends at Gourmet Source. A fantastic and filling breakfast, Rooster offers crepes as basic or as complex as you want, as well as a variety of hearty plates of the classics including eggs, pancakes, or just about anything else.

Day two brought an even bigger crowd at the show. I think everyone was hoping to grab schwag bags as the Yo-Yo's we handed out were talk of the show; other than BPS being such a great company to work with! I was glad to see the smiles on cafe owners when they heard about how many products we carry and how fast we can get those products to their doors... we aim to please!

After day two wrapped up we went back to the hotel to relax for a bit before heading off to Park Avenue Coffee for a Coffee Fest Party, hosted by Island Rose, Monin, Ann & Allen Baking Company, Ghirardelli, and KIND Snacks - sorry if I left anyone out!

Day 3, a sad day as it means the show is coming to an end. We arrived early on this day to catch the World Open Latte Art Competition to see the very talented baristas free pour beautiful designs (see below for the top three finishers). After the competition, it was off to the booth to talk to some more joyful attendees- Thank you to all of our wonderful vendors for all of the support and helping answer any questions from attendees and sending them over to talk with us as well.

After the last day had ended, it was time to break everything down and pack up. Luckily after a fast paced couple of hours getting everything loaded back into the van, we were able to head to Sugarfire BBQ and eat some authentic midwest BBQ. Thanks to our friends over at Monin for hosting us at dinner and showing us what great BBQ tastes like. Also, when you go out for BBQ in St. Louis, make sure that you get there before 4 o'clock or you will not get any ribs... seriously.

We truly had a great time at the show and had a lot of great conversations with attendees and exhibitors alike. Thank you to the team over at Coffee Fest, another succesful show and weekend in the books!

Congratulations to all of the winners from Coffee Fest St. Louis 2014

Coffee Fest Latte Art World Championship Open

• first place Cole McBride – Publicus, Las Vegas, NV
• second place Simeon Bricker – The Roasterie, Kansas City, MO
• third place Kazuma Ozaki – Air Café, Nagoya, Japan

DaVinci Gourmet America’s Best Coffeehouse

• 1st Place- Palace Coffee Company, Canyon, TX
• 2nd Place- Sump Coffee, St. Louis, MO 
• 3rd Place- Blacksmith Coffee, Houston, TX

America’s Best Espresso

• 1st Place- Sump Coffee, St. Louis, MO
• 2nd Place- Goshen Coffee Company, Edwardsville, IL
• 3rd Place- Thirty-Thirty, Peoria, IL

New Products/Non-Consumables

• 1st Place- Coffee Shop Manager for Coffee Shop Manager for Microsoft Surface PRO
• 2nd Place- America Barista & Coffee School for OnlineBaristaTraining.com
• 3rd Place- XTRA LLC for the Brewing Capsule for Kuerig K-Cup Brewers

New Products/Consumables

• 1st Place- Torani’s Sweet Heat Syrup
• 2nd Place- Island Rose’s Island Rose Tea Shandy Half Tea/Half Lemonade 
• 3rd Place- Cappuccine’s Lemon Velvet Mix

You can also check out this awesome video we put together (click here to watch on our YouTube Channel).