Colorado Coffee Takes Center Stage at New Event This Weekend

Colorado has a thriving coffee scene, and now a group of local coffee lovers have come together to celebrate that. The inaugural Colorado Coffee Show will take place on Saturday, September 14, at the Gaylord Rockies Convention Center in Aurora and will feature workshops, demonstrations and competitions geared toward local and national roasters, cafe owners and distributors, and any coffee enthusiasts.

David "Travis" Rodriguez, one of the event's organizers, began roasting coffee in 2008 before going into consulting for the industry. He says the idea behind the event was simple — to bring the coffee supply chain, start to finish, to one place, and to put the focus on Colorado.

"It's an opportunity to showcase all that Colorado has to offer. The thought is that we are going to use this as a chance to bring local distributors to the show that can be used by coffee shops and grocery distributors who are looking for local coffee," says Rodriguez. "We want to make this a national spot where local brands have an edge up to move all of their stuff nationwide, to put quality local brands front and center and make sure they're front of mind for these big chains — airport merchant, grocery buyers and drive-throughs."

More than fifty roasters from across the state will participate at the trade show portion, while presenters will host workshops on how to make matcha the right way, how to create latte art, how to buy green coffee and more.

There will be something for everyone. "At-home enthusiasts are the fastest-growing sector," Rodriguez notes."New coffee shop owners and ones who are thinking about opening their shop and coffee enthusiasts are going to gain the most from this." In addition to coffee, there will be an emphasis on tea, baked goods and other food, with lots of samples and demonstrations throughout the day.
Two competitions are scheduled as well. The latte art throwdown has 64 slots in the bracket, making it one of the largest competitions of its kind; the show will also host the first-ever Cold Brew World Championship. Both offer a cash reward of $10,000 for the winner.

"Cold brew definitely has been trending up," says Rodriguez. "There's not a predominant cold brew competition, so we said, let's do a competition to spotlight the beverage that’s emerging." Toddy, which is based in Loveland and is one of the leading producers of cold brew, is one of the event's sponsors. Others include coffee equipment and service provider Colorado-based Brew Grind Water, which is supplying its futuristic Armede Stylus espresso machines for the throwdown.

As if that wasn't enough, the show will host the Colorado Coffee Awards, with a lifetime achievement honor going to the founders of Pueblo's Solar Roaster for their contributions to the industry and bringing specialty coffee to that part of the state. "They harnessed the sun to roast [specialty] coffee with green technologies," notes Rodriguez. More categories will open up in coming years, he adds, with the intention of making the awards a big part of the show in the future.

Although this is the inaugural event, Rodriguez and his team hope it will become an annual tradition. "We wanted to do something that rivals the Great American Beer Festival," he says.

The Colorado Coffee Show is Saturday, September 14 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at event Hall C at Gaylord Rockies Convention Center, 6700 North Gaylord Rockies Boulevard in Aurora. Tickets start at $65 and are available at coloradocoffeeshow.com; use code WESTWORD for 30 percent off general admission or VIP tickets. For more information, call 303-854-7411 or coloradocoffeeshow.com.