Specialty Coffee Association Expo '25
PART 3/4: Non-stop all-day, all-night coffee partying.
Editor’s note: This is part 3/4. Click here to check out part 1. Click here to check out part 2.
It's hard to recap an intense week of coffee exploration in a few hundred or even a thousand words, but I will try. First, what is Expo?* The Specialty Coffee Association puts on an annual event bringing together coffee roasters, vendors, farmers, tech companies, and more for a convention. The event includes a very large vendor floor, competitions for coffee skills, educational seminars, presentations, and networking events. There is also a very healthy party scene that takes place after Expo hours. This year's Expo occurred at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas.
*It was recently announced that next year, the event will be rebranded as World Of Coffee! The exclamation point is theirs.
HOUSTON: DAY 3
The drive-in.
I wake up refreshed. I know where I'm going. I get there early. No morning work traffic. I'm at Expo well before even the security guards are set up. Life is good.
Pregame
The building is open. A technician is dialing in an automated commercial machine in the lobby. His name is Ryan, which is a great name, and the coffee I chose at random is from Olympia Coffee. It's pretty good, and I brew a few extra cups to bribe the security guards if needed. I don't, though. They know me now. I leave my gear in the press room and look for a more appealing environment to catch up on my notes and plan my day.
In the front of the convention is the Executive Business Lounge. According to the sign, it is where important business meetings are held. There is a velvet rope, but no one around. I take a seat in one of the comfortable white chairs. It isn't long before I'm joined by the room's host, Jen.
We bond over the well-documented crazy that is the catering business. I used to work catering at various hotels during my halcyon days of hospitality. She lets me stay and even invites me to return later in the morning. As I walked out to get back to the floor for the morning interviews, I ran into past Coffee People guest Miranda Caldwell, who is part of the team managing all the important business meetings.
The interviews
Editor's note: Each of these shorts will be part of an entire Coffee People episode in the near future.
Nick Schmitt from Roastar curated a great guest list. We planned two interviews each day at the Roastar booth. Day two featured Brandon Ivan Pena, a coffee farmer, cafe owner, and entrepreneur from New York. His company, 787 Coffee farms in Puerto Rico, suffered great losses during Hurricane Maria. It was a reset for Brandon and his coffee family.
Our second guest was Orgullo Coffee Roasters Co-founder Brigid Shaw. She and her husband Marco have been working to turn their coffee side hustle into a full-time career. At Orgullo, they focus on Honduran coffees.
Finally, it was time to sit with Coffee People’s potential (I hope!) Executive Producer Nick Schmitt to thank him for setting up all the interviews, and record an episode of Nick and Ryan Drink Coffee. We moved into the Executive Business Lounge because this was clearly a very important business meeting.
OTHER THOUGHTS FROM DAY 3
When all of my commitments for interviews are done, I decide to walk the convention floor row by row. I’m looking for new concepts, future podcast guests, and old friends. There are about 30 rows to peruse in total, and it takes about 45 minutes to make it through the first five.
I run into past guests Pablo Lara and Chris (Scooby) Dennis near the competition tables. Kayla at PourTa fills my bag with samples for the road, and I have to make a few trips back to the press room to drop off coffee samples later.
I’ve still only made it a third of the way through the floor when I get a text from Carole at Talking Crow Roasters. She and her husband Eric were Coffee People podcast guests several seasons ago, but we’ve run into each other at each of the past SCA Expos. I skip the middle section to give her a hug at the Roastar booth.
It is late afternoon when I finally get into the Roaster Village. Roaster Village consists of about a dozen four-sided booths with different roasters brewing and pouring coffee on all sides. It is a great way to get uber-caffeinated and/or really explore different styles and regions of coffee side-by-side. For many, it is a highlight of the event and a place to sample coffees from some great roasters from all over the world.
It is here I feel the exhaustion starting to set in. My eyes start blurring, and that jumpy feeling that comes after 48 hours at Expo hits me hard. A woman waves at me from behind a table in Roaster Village. I instinctively offered her a barista towel from my swag bag and asked if the coffee was decaf. My processing has slowed way down, and it takes me another few moments to realize the person I’m talking to is none other than Stacey Lynden from Swiss Water Decaf, a past Coffee People guest and someone I KNOW IN REAL LIFE!
I’m mortified, but she is ever the bastion of grace and lets me off the hook. We acknowledge the wear and tear the convention can take on a person who is working the aisles. It is then that I say what has been running through my mind for the past hour. I think I’m going to skip the last day of the event.
The lights flicker, and the end of the day is announced for five minutes. I wander past the glassy-eyed for the door.
Post-show
I find a third wind! I throw on my best Houston-style button-down and make my way around the corner to The Rustic for the InterAmerican/Neumann Kaffee Gruppe happy hour hosted by none other than our friend Pablo Lara. There are nachos and margaritas. The Roastar team has already changed into casual clothes. It is a happy, happy hour. I make the loops once, twice, and a third time before heading for the door well before the open bar ends. I’m committed to more events, but with age comes wisdom…or at least the realization that nothing productive will come from a few more free cocktails. The goodwill I’m feeling is at an all-time high.
We’ll be back with more on Houston Day 4/Back On The Road tomorrow.
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