Jason and I recently had the immense pleasure of attending the 2018 Baltimore Coffee Fest trade show! Keep reading to find out about some of the event highlights and what new coffee brands are on our radar.

Welcome to Baltimore Coffee Fest 2018!

The Coffee Fest trade show is designed to help connect coffee & tea professionals both big and small from all over the country. While I don’t own a business that sells coffee or coffee products, I was still super eager to learn about all of the great companies out there consistently creating and innovating.

The event also hold several exciting competitions including America’s Best Espresso, America’s Best Cold Brew and one of my favorites to watch – the Latte Art World Championship. Watching baristas from all over the country go head-to-head in a timed Latte Art battle was such a treat. Take a look at a few snapshots from the event:

The bracket style competition pits two competitors head-to-head in a sudden death style elimination round.

Participants have three minutes to make one free-pour drink for the judges using only milk and espresso.

Then the cup is moved over to the judging table for scoring.

Judges included Chris Deferio from the Keys to the Shop podcast, Terika Raak from La Marzocco, and Michael Harwood, director of coffee at Ceremony Coffee Roasters.

This was a particularly close match-up!

Photos of every pour were carefully taken and then displayed on monitors around the room for everyone to see.

The competition space was filled with individuals favorite personalized coffee tools.

Congrats to all of the fantastic competitors! A special shout out to the Baltimore series winner Lance Hedrick – who you can follow along on Instagram.

Now onto the vendors! Jason and I became thoroughly caffeinated checking out all of the exhibitors at the show. A few of our local favorites were there including:

Chesapeake Bay Roasting Company

Fun Fact – Through the Chesapeake Bay Roasting Co give back program, the company donates money to the Oyster Recovery Partnership which helps plant new oysters in the Chesapeake Bay 🙂

Their chemex pour of Bird Friendly Guatemala was so smooth.

Another local favorite – Ceremony Coffee Roasters

The team was showcasing their new nitro cold brew cans which I’m very happy to report, tasted just a good as their package design looked.

The best part of the Fest was discovering new tasty brands. A few of our favorites included:

The Black Dog Coffee Company from beautiful Shenandoah, WV. Take a look here if your interested in checking out their lovely roasts.

The delightful Lone Oak Coffee Company from Winchester, VA warmed my caffeine loving heart with their delicious roasts. (Make sure to check out all of their options here.)

& if you are looking for something light & smooth, look no further than the blends at Orinoco Coffee out of Jessup, MD. (I am also absolutely obsessed with their package design.) Check out their polished roasts here.

Overall, we had a blast attending the event and chatting with all of the incredible, passionate people. I’m looking forward to seeing how the Fest evolves and hopefully checking it our again in the future!