As they come online, you'll find segmented links here to the relevant discussions of products seen at this years SCAA event.

1) "Famous" Faces -the big names of folks in coffee that I met, photographed and interviewed.

2) Roaster Round-up - in the roaster section

3) various other equipment in their respective section, etc. Mainly, the cool Compak Grinder Line Refresh

4) One, condensed recap of thoughts and messages, my favorite experience, etc that I'll close with here.

I want to make a brief summary of this intense, amazing experience of this years SCAA. Special specifically to me since it was my first. It was an incredible experience, from the moment I arrived in Seattle, seeing a wide swath of the whole city on their well laid out light rail, all the way to downtown, where I walked out of the station a whole 2 blocks from our wonderful hotel.

Next year, it will be in Seattle again, which is wonderful. If Dan is pleased with my photojournalism and reporting, I'll gladly do it again. I learned a few ropes that will pay dividends on the next SCAA, mainly, the press pass does in fact get you into Symposium. I heard so many conflicting answers from so many people (even SCAA reps). With that in mind, I'll spend a greater focus on some of the real "meat" of the SCAA, which is the far greater in my mind.

Shortly, I'll recap some of the excellent topics that were discussed at Symposium, and my "to hell with it, take a chance and jump into some dialogue" that paid off well.

This thread will get one more link that will recap some of the interesting grinders I saw from Compak, mainly because what they had their at Expo is still not even mentioned on their website. I had a great interview with one of their main reps and found some nice things coming out that folks here might like to know.

All in all, it was one of the greatest experiences of my coffee life. I'm sure every one here who's as passionate about fine quality as I am can remember the impact of their first SCAA. Now amplify that with a press pass and everyone wanting to talk to you, connect later, share thoughts and interviews etc. It was an overwhelming, wonderful experience. And it was made all the greater with Sherman at my side. His experience with the previous years SCAA helped us navigate thru things, and he's an all around wonderful, funny, good guy to be with.

Unlocked.

Thank you for all the kind words and comments. Feel free to add suggestions of what you guys specifically want more focus on. There's so much to take in, it's impossible to nail down details on everything, but I covered as much as I could. I don't want this blocking the top of the page any longer, but the threads I've posted in will likely get further updates as I inject them with a bit more detail.

The Loring Roaster specifically, I have an invite to come out and roast on them, and that will likely be a separate thread. I didn't want to just fill the roaster review with tons of pictures and not a lot of specifics, so I might flesh out a few things. I did separate interviews with Proaster, the Gene Cafe CBR 1200, etc.