When it’s not competition time, check out these events happening around Kansas City during the 2019 United States Coffee Championships.
BY ASHLEY RODRIGUEZ
BARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE
As the United States Coffee Championships get closer, we’re putting together all the events, parties, and panels you need to know about!
THURSDAY, MARCH 14
Nourish Community – A Cowtown Potluck
7 p.m. at Messenger Coffee
Free to attend – KC residents are encouraged to bring a potluck item to share with others
Get to know the KC coffee community with Pacific Barista Series and Messenger Coffee. KC-based folks will be bringing treats for hungry travelers (if you’re traveling from out of town you don’t have to bring a treat), and then the party will shift to putting together boxes of food to help hungry folks in Kansas City.
FRIDAY, MARCH 15
Free Yoga at the Convention Center
Two sessions – one at 7 a.m. and one at 8 a.m.
KC Convention Center – Room 2500
Stretch out and warm up with your coffee pals before the day begins with a yoga session led by Heather Rama and sponsored by Unbakery Juicery. Heather will be bringing extra mats, but they are first-come, first-served.
Chopped – Barista Edition
6:15 p.m. at Quay Coffee
Free to attend – prizes for competitors
Even if you’re not competing at the Big Game this weekend, you can still get your hands dirty. Quay Coffee and Hugo Tea will host a Chopped-style competition, based on the popular television show, challenging folks to make the best drinks they can with a mystery basket. Everyone who participates will walk away with a prize!
A Coffee Community Celebration
7-10:30 p.m. at Monarch Coffee
Donation-based entry toward Cultivate KC
Have fun and dance with your coffee friends at this gathering at Monarch Coffee! You don’t have to RSVP to attend, but there is a suggested donation with all proceeds going to Cultivate KC.
USCC Night at The Roasterie
7 p.m. at The Roasterie
Free to attend
Spend a night exploring The Roasterie, one of KC’s hometown roasters. Sip on a cocktail as you explore and tour the roasting space!
SATURDAY, MARCH 16
The 2019 Campfire Coffee Cookoff
8-11 a.m. at Splitlog Coffee Co. Drive Thru And Café
Free to attend / $50 to compete
Combine your love of coffee, breakfast foods, and the outdoors in this cooking competition, where folks are challenged to cook and pair food with coffee. The catch? Everything has to be cooked (and brewed!) outside without electricity!
“The 2019 Campfire Coffee Cookoff is a competition where coffee professionals prepare breakfasts over open fire, pairing their entries with coffee that is brewed without electricity,” their Eventbrite page states. Teams will come together to prepare one of four meals (from the website):
- CLASSIC AMERICAN BREAKFAST: A hearty meal featuring meat, eggs & a vegetable or starch.
- BREADS, BISCUITS & CAKES: A flour-based meal with batter or dough, i.e., biscuits & gravy, flapjacks, fritters, etc. with optional side item.
- VEGETARIAN: A plant-based meal featuring at least two menu items.
- COFFEE-ORIGIN INSPIRED: A meal celebrating the people’s cuisine in a coffee-growing country.
All meals will have to be paired with a coffee of the team’s choice. This will run from 8 to 11 AM at Splitlog Coffee Co. Drive Thru And Café. More details here. REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED.
Breakfast of Champions Coffee Tasting
11 a.m. at Monarch Coffee
Free to attend
We’re teaming up with our friends at Monarch Coffee to host a cupping with the Alliance for Coffee Excellence (if you can, stick around for another event happening at Monarch later that day).
Here’s more on the event from the team putting it together: “All the way from Portland, Ore., Cup of Excellence’s education coordinator Alex Pond (himself a past regional barista champion) is bringing a suitcase full of the best coffees from the 2018 Cup of Excellence auctions to share at a public cupping at Monarch Coffee in Kansas City at 11 a.m. on Saturday, March 16. Come taste some of the best coffees in the world from the 2018 harvests in Central and South America, and East Africa. Barista Mag’s Sarah Allen will be on hand serving mimosas, as well! Round that liquid breakfast out with quiche and breads from Lawrence, Kan.’s award-winning 1900 Barker Bakery + Cafe, and you’ve got yourself a morning to remember.”
This event is free to attend.
The Coffeelebrity Sports Slowdown
Noon-4 p.m. at a park TBD
Free to attend but registration required
We’ll always welcome a chance to go outside and enjoy sun and sport, which is exactly what you can do at the Coffeelebrity Sports Slowdown, hosted by Caffeine Crawl. From their website: “With coffee professionals from all over coming to Kansas City for the U.S. Coffee Champs, March 14 – 17, Caffeine Crawl is presenting this first ever fun sporting event. Invites to play are open for all coffee and tea professionals that will be in Kansas City during COFFEELEBRITY SPORTS SLOWDOWN on Saturday, March 16. Everyone is welcome to attend this free event. There will not only be games going on, but event sponsors will be set up with products to check out and sample.”
This event is free, but registration is required.
Anti-Racism Workshop for Coffee Professionals
2:30-4 p.m. at Monarch Coffee
$25 per person (space is limited)
This workshop, which will be hosted and led by folks from the Open Table KC, is aimed specifically at coffee professionals to understand how racism plays out in our industry, and what we can do to dismantle it. From Monarch’s Instagram: “It is a 90-minute transformative educational training that is interactive and facilitated by both people of color and white folks together.”
Registration is required—sign up here.
CoffeeChamps Party
6 p.m. at Anthem Coffee
Free to attend
Wander from the Convention Center to this shindig for free snacks and drinks courtesy of Anthem Coffee—and perhaps stay for a minute to enjoy free music.
Paper Cup Throwdown
6:30 p.m. at Blip Coffee Roasters
There’s no flyer on this one, so we’d recommend following the folks at KC.Coffeecow for more info!
USCC Warehouse Bash
9 p.m. at 2125 Washington St., KCMO 64108
Free to attend
Have fun with your friends at this warehouse bash! From Hugo Tea’s Instagram:
“Hugo Tea Co., @blueprintcoffee, and @quaycoffee invite you to join us at @thephotobuskc warehouse in the Crossroads on Saturday for an evening of infused booze, specialty cocktails, photo booth shenanigans, and Mexican bites from Kansas City’s best new eatery @kcpoio. Bartenders from @jriegerco, @meanmuledistillingco, @cranebrewing, and @2ndshiftbrewing will be pouring all night.”
SUNDAY, MARCH 17
Jurassic Park Situation hosted by #shestheroaster and Coffee People Zine
10 a.m.-2 p.m. at The Roasters Village at the Convention Center
Tickets required
From @coffeepeoplezine: “If you’ll be in KC for US Coffee Champs, come support #shestheroaster by purchasing a ticket (or 4) to taste the tasty tastes collaboratively crafted by these 8 amazing womxn. Urnex is MATCHING all funds raised, so make your money count! Purchase tickets at shestheroaster.org, or on-site in KC at the Coffee People/Urnex booth in the Roasters Village.”
Infused-Booze Blowout
7 p.m. at Lifted Spirits Distillery
Free to attend
Close out competition weekend with a blowout celebrating St. Patrick’s Day courtesy of Hugo Tea and Lifted Spirits and Distillery. From Hugo Tea’s Instagram: “Lifted has always celebrated tea’s potential as an ingredient in countless culinary applications; Sunday night we’re showcasing a few of their finest infusions which embody that spirit (pun very much intended). Infused booze seems to be the theme of the weekend, doesn’t it?”
