How to conquer the SCAA showroom floor?

[HB]

The SCAA showroom floor is huge. It spanned two cavernous rooms at last year's conference in Seattle. Last time my approach revolved around one question: Who is serving the best espresso? The previous year's conference in Atltanta was a wasteland of poorly prepared "Italian boat beans" (vacuum packaged with no expiration date). Seattle was the opposite extreme with numerous choices:

• Barista Guild - rotating selections every few hours, espressos pulled by the best in the biz.
• Caffe D'arte - a double-wide booth, nice macchiatos.
• ESI - reliably good and allowed plenty of hands on time to anyone who asked.
• Intelligentsia Coffee - a small booth, but good. I hope they get more space this time.
• Vivace - served by David Schomer himself. He'll even autograph his book for you.

I'm certain there are others that I've forgotten. The locale lended itself to such a stellar turnout, but I'm hopeful that many of the top cafes will trek out to Charlotte (e.g., Counter Culture Coffee, who had no booth last year, plans a 10x20 booth with espresso and cupping area). Beyond hunting for good espresso, last year I wandered the hallways with no particular agenda. This year I need to think about my visit strategy beforehand... suggestions?

[AndyS]

This year I need to think about my visit strategy beforehand... suggestions?

Don't miss Gimme Coffee's booth.

[luca]

This year I need to think about my visit strategy beforehand... suggestions?

If you want to be able to taste anything, I suggest that you stay away from the Australians the night before ;P

[HB]

Good suggestions gentlemen. I bet there will be a stronger presence of east coast roasters this year like Gimme, which by the way was listed as a top cafe in Food & Wine's An Obsessives Guide to Coffee. I also noticed Ken Nye's Ninth Street Espresso was near the top of the list (speaking of long-lost HB members, what ever became of him and Espressocraft tampers... ?).

OK, sounds like others do as I have, i.e., follow the good espresso. What about the hardware? There's a certain "gee whiz" appreciation for the industrial roasters and conveyor equipment that pack the halls, but I've never stopped to ask questions. Lemme see... last year I stopped by EspressoPart.com's booth several times to say hello to Devon, Brian, Dave, and TerryZ. They'll be back. I also swung by the famous Versalab booth a few times. Richard from Astra was happy to talk feeds and speeds all day, and didn't balk at taking the covers off his machine unlike most booths. Curiosity drove me to stop by the booths of some of the vendors of equipment I reviewed to see if they ever heard of Home-Barista.com ("Are you Mark?" was a common response ).

Thinking back on it, I would have gotten more out of the experience with some planning. For example, organizing my agenda items by theme:

• Espresso hunt - as mentioned above. To make it more interesting, I'll discreetly take notes.
• Barista training - there probably aren't many schools on the showroom floor, but I'd like to learn more about those who offer courses.
• Equipment - I noticed many of the "big box" company representatives were more salespeople than baristas. Elektra was the exception, hiring Luigi to serve latte art for a few hours a day. I'll focus on the one group espresso machines and home-friendly grinders. If the booth isn't setup for hands on, take a picture and move on.

I will ask Michelle if there is an advance program of the vendors that will be on the showroom floor.