It’s time to bloom again! It’s been a while since the Specialty Coffee Association has held a Bloom event in the United States—over five years, by our count—but that’s set to change later this month, ANSWER:BLOOMthe latest edition of the educational and networking event held in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Announced on Friday, August 30, RE:BLOOM continues the mission of Bloom events, seeking to “elevate access to coffee knowledge, education, leadership opportunities, and collaboration in the specialty coffee industry.” That means “curious consumers, passionate coffee enthusiasts, representatives from coffee shops, roasteries, universities, research centers, coffee nonprofits, equipment manufacturers, technicians, and related businesses.”
The majority of the scheduled programme of activities will take place on Saturday, September 28th at 6:00 p.m. Carrboro Coffee Roastery and will feature panel discussions, presentations, workshops, and cupping sessions. The event will cover a wide range of topics, including: An Introduction to Sample Roasting, The Evolution of Coffee Competitions in the U.S., Economic Justice and Career Development, Novel Models for Sustainability, Water for Coffee, Choosing Espresso, and Sweetness and Acidity in Coffee.
The training sessions will be led by industry leaders including Dr. Nancy Cordoba of Westrock, SCA Chief Sustainability Officer Andres Montenegro, Charles Nick of Third Wave Water, Nora Burkey of The Chain Collaborative, competition head judges Scott Conary (World Coffee Championships) and Ashley Whelan (US Coffee in Good Spirits), and SCA USA executives Brandon Bir, Lane Mitchell and Jess Ross.
The festivities will begin the day before, on September 27, with a kick-off party at 7:00 p.m. Caffe DriadeThere will be food, drinks, live music and guest DJs.
The entire RE:BLOOM program is open to everyone and completely free. To sign up, simply register via Eventbrite Page. For more information, to see the full list of events and speakers, or to register, visit the RE:BLOOM website official website.
