Tucson’s First Coffee Crawl
Sparkroot. Photo by Ryan Trayte
Much like a fine wine, coffee is a complex concoction that contains hundreds of flavor profiles that can be detected by a refined palate and appreciated in a way that most morning drinkers overlook. The sheer process of roasting the beans that go into your mug is an exact and often strenuous science that takes many years for a roast master to perfect.
To shine light on this process and the first rate coffee scene here in the Old Pueblo, Saturday, November 10th welcomes the inaugural kick off of Tucson’s Coffee Crawl. The event will showcase six local roasters who will open their doors to unveil the process of roasting beans and cupping coffee to the public.
“I’m self-employed, so I often work out of various coffee shops around town. I realized that while I love coffee and drink it regularly, I know next to nothing about it and what goes into roasting it,” says event organizer and creator Laura Adams. “Befriending baristas, I became really aware of the specifics of coffee and how much goes into the science of crafting it and the world of flavors that exist within coffee. I decided it would be neat to learn more about it and I assumed that others would have a similar interest in it as well.”
The event will feature six local coffee makers that are all located within a five-mile radius of each other. Cartel Coffee Lab (2516 N. Campbell Ave.), Café Luce (943 E. University Blvd.), Sparkroot (245 E. Congress St.), eXo Roast Co. (403 N. 6th Ave.), Yellow Brick Coffee (cuppings served on the back patio of 47 Scott), Adventure Coffee Roasting (who will be cupping out of Brewd, 39 N. 6th Ave.) will all be part of the celebration.
“This event is really going to revolve around coffee education in a very similar way that wine tastings are conducted,” says Adams. “These tastings can open people up to new blends and flavors that they might not have known they liked. We’re going to have a lot of cuppings, which is the proper way to compare coffees against each other and get a feel for their flavor profiles. We’re going to have demonstrations and workshops on all things coffee. Each shop will have at least three scheduled events for the day.”
The event is free with the exception of a $1.00 cupping fee per shop, but the educational showcases and samples of pastries and goods are offered to all that attend. Attendees are asked to RSVP on the event’s website to secure a place. The cuppings will last 45-minutes to an hour each and will be staggered so that participants can enjoy the unique showings from each coffee house in order to build their palettes.
“I have a lot of friends who are transplants to Tucson from places like Austin, Portland, New York and other places and they started raving about the coffee scene here and saying that it rivals the scenes where they’re from,” says Adams. “It’s great because we have many local coffee shops all so close to each other, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to open Tucson’s eyes to this amazing scene in their own backyard.”
With the exception of Cartel Coffee Lab, all of these coffee houses are located within the downtown/university area of Tucson, so attendees are encouraged to ride a bike or park in a central location in order to walk to each venue. A map will be posted on the event’s website to show the best area to arrive to get the most out of the day’s events.
“A lot of people still go to Starbucks or chains and might not necessarily know that we have such amazing local coffee. These coffee aficionados at these shops all geek out over coffee and they take great care in how they roast their beans. They even have recommendations on how to brew their coffee at home. Their passion is very contagious.”
Photo by Ryan Trayte
9:00am Cupping: taste and compare Cartel’s different roasts (45 min)
10:30am Home Brewing Class: a hands-on look at how to brew Cartel’s coffee in your own home (45 min)
1:00pm Comparative Tasting: In this class, you’ll take 1 kind of bean and brew it several different ways to taste how different brewing methods effect the coffee. (1 hour)
10:15am Home Brewing Class: a hands-on look at how to brew coffee using the pour-over method
11:45am Blue Bottle 101: Sparkroot is the only coffee shop outside SF and NYC that serves and sells Blue Bottle Coffee. Listen to baristas chat about what makes Blue Bottle’s beans special.
1:00pm Cupping: taste and compare Blue Bottle’s different roasts
YELLOW BRICK COFFEE (@ 47 SCOTT RESTAURANT)
11:30am, 1pm, & 3pm Cupping: taste and compare Yellow Brick’s different roasts (45 min)
10:00 am: Comparative extraction analysis between two metal filtration systems, the French press and the Synesso, using the same single origin coffee.
1:00pm Cupping: Terra Coffee cupping; comparative taste analysis of grade 1 Arabica Typica coffees of similar roast profiles from three continents.
2:15pm Lecture: Ethical sourcing of EXO’s bean portfolio: roasting to accurately represent the high quality green coffees of the developing world.
TBD
Coffee samples: From 9am-2pm, Raging Sage will feature samples of freshly-roasted coffees from various regions (India, Indonesia, Africa). Each bean is roasted to bring out the best characteristics of that particular bean, from full-city (their lightest roast) to french (their darkest roast).
Adventure Coffee Roasting (@ BREWD)
9:00am Home Coffee Roasting: an interactive session using a vintage hot-air popcorn popper to roast small batches of coffee (45 min)
10:45am Aeropress demo: learn how to use the Aeropress to brew an awesome cup of coffee at home (30 min)
12:45pm Cold Brewed Coffee demo: learn the secret to making perfect cold brewed coffee. Samples provided! (30 min)
Visit www.tucsoncoffeecrawl.com to RSVP for the event or visit them on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TucsonCoffeeCrawl
Category: DOWNTOWN / UNIVERSITY / 4TH AVE, FOOD & DRINK
