Something’s brewing at the 5th annual New York Coffee Festival
The fifth annual NYCF took place this month and it was bigger than ever before, with over 11,000 attendees. I I Photo credit to Serena Tuomi
“As an individual who fell in love with coffee 20 years ago, I set up a research business that watched the trends in coffee. The company was advertising the future of coffee. I wanted to bring this research alive to events and summits. That’s when the coffee festival was born in London,” said Jeffery Young, founder of The New York Coffee Festival (NYCF) during a pre-festival interview.
Fast forward a few years––the fifth annual NYCF took place this month and it was bigger than ever before, with over 11,000 attendees. The venue spanned across four floors of the Metropolitan Pavilion where coffee lovers had plenty of coffee to sip, treats to eat, and experiences to be apart of.
“This was my third year attending the festival. The first two years I attended with friends and this year my mom and sister came into town and attended with me. Having them there was so fun and special because my mom was really the one who instilled a love for coffee in me,” said Hannah Swain, an alumni of The King’s College.
Walking into the venue, countless coffee vendors were all uniquely set-up, each their own style. At every stand, attendees were greeted by smiling baristas who were excited to chat with them about their products and offer uniquely-crafted beverages. The aroma of the pavilion reflected that of a handful of freshly ground beans and the energy in the room was at a high.
“My favorite vendor was Variety Coffee,” King’s student Virginia Noyes said.“They had their entire station set up like a campsite, with a fake campfire and everything. They were handing out “S’mortados”, which were so delicious sweet. It was a mocha cortado with a toasted marshmallow on top, and the rim of the cup had been dipped in milk chocolate and graham cracker crumbs. It was a little sip of heaven.”
This year, the festival hosted over 100 vendors over the duration of the weekend, many who contributed to live events. Among the many opportunities for attendees to watch and interact with were Latte Art Live, The Lab, Roast Masters, The Kitchen, Brew Bar, Breezy Masters, The Cold Brew Cocktail Bar, Street Food Market, The Chocolate Factory, Coffee Music Project, The Movie Room, Coffee Art Project, Project Waterfall, The Village, and more.
Throughout the competitions, Elixr Coffee’s Rodrigo Vargas and Brian Lam were named winners of Roast Masters-North America. Liv Bread’s Dylan Klymenko was named New York’s Best Barista after endless rounds of coffee pouring and roasting where judges deliberated each round of competitors.
On a mission to serve coffee with ethical sourcing, Partners Coffee Roasters was a vendor for the NYCF. I I Photo credit to Serena Tuomi
One of the highlights for attendees was The Sensory Experience. Attendees use their senses to walk through different experiences with coffee. The experience begins with a small meditation, followed by multiple experiments. One of the experiments tested whether a person could determine a good coffee bean that has been roasted both well and poorly. Another tested how different musical tunes a person was listening to changed the way one cup of coffee tasted on their palette.
Bluestone Lane, Chameleon Cold-brew, East One Bkln, and Partners Coffee Roasters were just a few of the hundreds of coffee companies that were there, However, there was a large amount of non-coffee companies as well such as Swoon, Oatly, and Two Hands.
“Oatly is always one of my favorite vendors and they make the most delicious oat milk lattes. We sampled 3-4 different oat milk lattes, but theirs was by far the best!” Noyes said.
“I loved the white coffee that Dr. Smood handed out. I have never had anything like it. You can smell the spices before even tasting and wow it’s awesome. After I had like five samples. I asked the barista where I could get more of the ‘spicy coffee’ in real life because I was hooked,” Swain said.
Swain found it interesting that there was such a large emphasis on milk alternatives, bakeries, tea, alcohol, coffee beverages, and coffee products this year, versus booths dedicated to just coffee. She found it interesting to see the progression from prior years, and how the coffee festival and coffee market itself is expanding.
The festival raised over $250,000 for Charity: Water to support water-projects located in coffee-growing regions around the globe.