BPS® Blog

Meet The Producers 4.0 roundup

Monday May 23, 2016 // By Samuel Goldring

The booths are shutterd and peace has descended. A broom is wearily sweeping up the remnants of yesterday’s excitement. Meet the producers has closed out once again. Time to say goodbye to old friends and new, whilst taking stock of all that we’ve accomplished.

This year has been particularly noteworthy in that we’ve delivered our most ambitious show to date. This has been the first year that we opened our warehouse space for vendors to set-up so they could truly stretch their wings, and stretch they did. Attendees were visibly affected by the cornucopia of wonders on offer, many leaving laden with a veritable bounty of treats and samples, generously donated by our brands.

A high point of the show for me was the incredible “Urnex challenge” which involved a taste test comparison between espresso pulled through one cleaned and one uncleaned grouphead of our semi-automatic espresso machine.

Pacific Foods once again exceeded expectations demonstrating the versatility and natural goodness embodied in their Barista Series line of alternative milks. Almond, Coconut & Soy were all on offer to demonstrate how adeptly they yielded a luxurious microfoam when applied to a steam wand. We can’t wait to experiment with their new Barista Series rice milk when it launches this summer.

It was also wonderful to welcome our new compatriots Cocomels Coconut Milk Caramels from Boulder, Colorado to the BPS family. Purveyors of the finest lactose free confections available, they are deeply passionate about their products.

Torani were on trend with the launch of their new liquid chai concentrate, available in Traditional and Spicy. A wonderful addition to the torani range, it was a real treat to get our paws on this much anticipated new product.

This year we had the proud honor of offering classes facilitated by a select few of our most esteemed vendors. Attendees were eager to participate and imparted as much knowledge as they gained. This was the unanticipated theme of our show, collaboration in the purest sense. We have been fortuitously reminded of what a privilege it is to work with such knowledgeable and astute customers and vendors.   

When the sun goes down, BPS cafe is where the wild things are.

Our Latte art throwdown, known forevermore as “Master The Pour”, brought northern Colorado’s hippest baristas out to play. Sponsored by Brew Global, Morning Fresh Dairy and High Hops Brewery, sixteen contestants battled head to head in this high stakes competition. The winner, Derrick Wessels of beagle coffee got to claim the top spot and walked away with a BPS t-shirt, Barista Magazine hat, plus a 1-year subscription and a skate tamper from Brew Global.

Also adding mechanical flare to our throwdown was the temporary addition of a brand new Stella Di Caffe espresso machine leant to us by Unic. This beautifully designed machine inspired our competitors to a whole new level of excellence. We were holding back the tears when it was time to send it on its merry way back to the West Coast, just in time for Unic’s Barista Guild of America’s Barista Camp.

The sumptuous meet the producers grand prize, consisting of lower bowl rockies tickets, a lavish meal at Denver’s finest French eatery Bistro Vendôme, and an evening's board at the palatial Art Hotel, was claimed by The Haunted Game Cafe of fort collins.  

Bringing larger than life personality as well as delicious meat on a stick was the stick-it-to-ya food truck. Operated by the inimitable Jas Kasten, he brought his A-game to provide complimentary catering for attendees, vendors and BPS.

In closing, this time around has been quite the adventure. We brought happiness and treats into the lives of some of our favorite people, our customers and our wider BPS family. Also our vendors have been an absolute pleasure to work with over the course of our preparations for our show. Follow us on Youtube, Facebook and Twitter to stay informed about our future events.

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