Last night I had the opportunity to attend the launch party for Hanna Neuschwander’s new book Left Coast Roast by Timber Press here in Portland. The event was held at a bar named Spirit of 77, and if you spent any time in Portland for this year’s SCAA Event, you probably went for a party or three there. Certainly last night it returned to form for those days in April as coffee folks from around the city converged for drinks, coffee and conversation with each other and Hanna to celebrate her new book.
On hand were offerings like a White Russian made with Stumptown cold brew and a beer from Migration Brewing featuring Batdorf coffee. Again you could be forgiven for thinking you stepped a time machine set for four months ago. It’s always fun though to see folks from different companies getting together to talk about coffee and socialize over drinks. Heart Roasters was there as was Extracto. And of course there was the coffee media who quickly fell into a battle (of Pop-a-Shot).
All in all, the event was also reflective of Hanna’s book. Her book is a look at the coffee scene (from a consumer’s perspective) from Northern California up the Pacific Coast to Washington. Really if you know someone who loves coffee and is doing an I-5 roadtrip, get them this book! It’s a great guide (with fantastic graphics) that not only will help educate people about coffee from growing, harvesting, processing, roasting, and serving, but also acts a handbook that you could use to set up a coffee crawl anywhere from San Francisco to Seattle. Her book is also a reminder that we here on the West Coast are awfully lucky to live in region not only with tremendous coffee, but with an active and involved community.
Now I can’t wait to see what Hanna can do with the rest of the country!
You’re right, Steve! The place was packed! My camera battery, however, was not up to the task of capturing it. It gave out on me, so I only had pictures I had taken earlier in the evening with my phone during the press period of the event.
Those photos don’t do the event justice-Spirit was absolutely packed to the gills! Thanks to them for hosting and Hanna for producing such an awesome tome!