Seattle Coffee Fest

The Seattle Coffee Fest was something to witness. All kinds of booths hawking all kinds of coffee related items strewed the fourth floor the of the Seattle convention center. Bakeries, coffee suppliers, coffee roasters, cafe designers, tea suppliers, smoothie people, energy drink people. Ugh. It was endless. There was even a glycerin insole booth. Everywhere one turned there was a smiley person with some sort of energetic pitch ready to accost.

At first the experience was freakish―too many happy people in one place is unnerving. We soon understood why the energy in the place appeared endless―several booths were handing out free shots of espresso. Ugh. Needless to say, we soon joined in the sickening glut of energy. What fools.

One booth had an aura of listlessness, though. And ironically, it was some energy drink booth. Amusing. A bleary eyed fellow with silver hair to the shoulders and a short beard stood behind the booth. "You wanna try this natural energy drink, dude?" His torpid appeal would have lulled a rabid dog to sleep. He was a stereotype straight from the seventies.

"Sure." We might as well try it. One can never get enough energy, right?

His left eye, half covered by a droopy eye lid, twitched as he handed us a sample. I don't recall his exact words as we took the samples, but I'm sure it went something like, "This is healthier than blueberries. It makes you feel better than a Guns & Roses concert. And it grows on a fifty foot tall tree, dude." Or something like that. Whatever it was, I'm sure it was informative.

There were two things we did while at Coffee Fest that were especially useful. First, we watched a documentary on the history and reason behind Cafe Feminino―the place Shawna wants to buy our coffee from. It was very interesting and nice. The coffee may be more expensive than others, but I'm sure the fuzzy feeling that comes from helping out impoverished folk is worth the cost.

The second useful thing we did was taste My Chai's blends. The teas were fantastic. If the syrups are half as fantastic then we made a great decision for a supplier.

As was mentioned, we sucked down shots of espresso, smoothie mix, and chai tea all day long. And through necessity of perusing all booths before leaving, we also managed to skip lunch. Too much coffee and too little food is a great combination for crankiness. We were all a bunch of cranky-pants by the time we finally began the journey home. Thankfully, everyone slept the three hours home. Well, except for the driver. But he enjoyed the peace and quiet.