TEDx Grand Rapids: Recap
On May 10th, Madcap had the pleasure of sponsoring a coffee service at TEDx Grand Rapids. What a day, the skies were blue and TED attendees were full of energy and curiosity.
The coffee service was a true coming together of some of the very best baristas in Michigan. We couldn’t have done it without the positive attitudes and bright faces of these hard-working coffee pros. Some baristas drove 3 or more hours across the state to make it to the service on time. Thank You, Thank You, to all the effort from our coffee brewing volunteers.
We had four coffee brewing stations at TEDx — one inside a tent outside the event, one inside a shipping container, one outside the lecture hall, and a fourth interactive brewing station located at Kendall College down the street from the event. Baristas rocked out Chemexs of Madcap coffee through four coffee services throughout the day, rotating from station to station.
At the interactive service, baristas walked attendees through the finer points of espresso and aeropress brewing, teaching them how to make coffee. We’ve seldom seen so many people enjoying the taste of espresso as we did with attendees brewing their own — often for the first time ever. There were lots of nervous and excited first time brewers who were turned on to the aeropress especially.
The highlight of the day for us was one of those moments in specialty coffee that stokes our fires. One of the final talks of the day was given by our good friend Edwin Martinez. We’ve had a relationship with Edwin for several years now and served coffee from his Guatemalan farm Finca Vista Hermosa in years past. Edwin has also helped us forge relationships with coffee growers across Guatemala.
In an eye-opening talk, Edwin spoke about the many facets of specialty coffee, including some brief coffee history, coffee as a tool for social change, and grower-roaster relationships. At one point he held up a rather large bag of coffee cherry, explaining that this much fruit yielded only one bag of coffee. Edwin told the story, near to our hearts, of Las Aguas Altas, a farm name given by one of our roasters. These farmers tasted their own roasted coffee only recently when Edwin brought some back from Madcap and brewed it for them. We had this delicious coffee at the final coffee service, and needless to say, we were overcome by TED attendees rushing to taste it and hear more of the story behind Las Aguas Altas.
After a long day of brewing, we hosted baristas for pizza, beer, and cocktails courtesy of barista, roaster and budding mixologist Ryan Knapp. Naturally there was a latte art throwdown featuring an exciting finale in which Madcap roaster Ben (in his first ever throwdown) faced off against and defeated Colin in the finals.
Huge Thanks, again, to all our volunteer baristas:
Washington, DC
Trevor Corlett MADCAP
Colin Whitcomb MADCAP
Grand Rapids, MI
Ryan Knapp, MADCAP
Miranda Johnson, MADCAP
Josh Dunigan, MADCAP
Stacey Wieck, MADCAP
Courtney Vaquera, MADCAP
Tory O’Haire, The Starving Artist
Alison Horn, Sparrows Coffee and Tea
Brian Murphy, MADCAP
Rachel Knapp, MADCAP
Patrick Brodeur, Rowster Coffee
Ada, MI
Dylan Jobson, Ninth Bridge
Lowell, MI
Abigail Johnson, Ella’s Coffee
Holland, MI
Max Mills, JP’s
Matthew Scott, Lemonjello’s
Kalamazoo, MI
Seth Chapman, Water Street Coffee
Traverse City
Cara Nader, Cuppa Joe
Erica Starr, Cuppa Joe
Petoskey, MI
Chuckie Grooters, Roast & Toast
Ann Arbor, MI
Sandy Bledsoe, The (Espresso) Bar
Detroit, MI
Josh Longsdorf, Anthology Coffee
Dusty Sheldon, Anthology Coffee
Brighton, MI
Evan Cooper, Two Brother’s Coffee
Chicago, IL
Talya Strader, Intelligentsia Chicago
All photos property of TEDxGrandRapids.
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