Saturday, Jan. 24 & Sunday, Jan. 25, 2009
10 am – 4pm

Celebrate the opening of Coffee: The World in Your Cup and learn about the people, plants and processes that collaborate to make that perfect cup of coffee!

Saturday, January 24, 2009
Throughout the day there will be informal coffee tastings with Fidalgo Bay Coffee, Finca Vista Hermosa, Victrola Coffee Roasters, and Pangaea Organica, as well as exhibit tours with Ruth Pelz, a Burke Curatorial lead on the Coffee exhibit. Also, talks with Edwin Martinez, a third generation Guatemalan coffee grower with Finca Vista Hermosa; David Griswold, the founder of Sustainable Harvest; and Max Savishinsky, leader of numerous Exploration Seminar courses to Costa Rica and Nicaragua.

Schedule for Saturday

• 10:00 am – Tasting with Fidalgo Bay Coffee


• 10:45 am – Exhibit Tour with Ruth Pelz


• 11:15 am – Tasting with Pangaea Organica


• 11:30 am – An hour with Edwin Martinez
  Edwin Martinez is a third generation coffee grower with Finca Vista Hermosa, U.S. Cup Tasting Champion and co-founder of Onyx Coffee, a seed to cup consulting firm. The United States purchases more specialty coffee from Guatemala than any other country in the world. The Martinez family plantation, Finca Vista Hermosa, is situated in the highlands of Huehuetenango, Guatemala, where the coffees are among the most desired from Guatemala. Finca Vista Hermosa is ecologically sound and healthy, a model for many shade grown and organic plantations.


• 12:30 pm – Exhibit Tour with Ruth Pelz


• 1:00 pm – An hour with David Griswold
  David Griswold, founder of Sustainable Harvest, will talk about the role a specialty coffee importer plays in creating direct, transparent connections between organic and fair trade coffee growers and coffee roasters. He will discuss the business model his company pioneered called "Relationship Coffee," a transparent trade model for which Sustainable Harvest received the Specialty Coffee Association of America's 2008 Outstanding Achievement Award. Sustainable Harvest sources and imports specialty coffees from the finest producers around the world, while creating transparent and sustainable supply relationships, investing in training for farmers, and ensuring that the highest quality coffee arrives to roasters.


• 1:15 pm – Tasting with Finca Vista Hermosa


• 2:00 pm – Exhibit Tour with Ruth Pelz


• 2:30 pm – An hour with Max Savishinsky
  For the past three years, Max Savishinsky, Director of the UW Exploration Seminar Study Abroad Programs, has led an Exploration Seminar course in Costa Rica and Nicaragua titled "The Consequences of Coffee", which takes UW undergraduates to coffee growing regions of Central America to study the processes and polemics of the coffee industry and commodity chain. He will discuss some of the complexities and challenges of politically (and environmentally) correct coffee production and consumption. He will also talk about the experience of having people from the capital of coffee consumption (Seattle) teach and learn about coffee in one of the cradles of coffee civilization.


• 2:45 pm – Tasting with Victrola Coffee

Sunday, January 25, 2009
A day filled to the brim: formal coffee cuppings with Stephanie Backus and Marie Franklin from Portland Roasting, plus informal coffee tastings with Caffe Appassionato Coffee Co., Trabant Coffee and Chai, Starbucks Coffee Company and Caffe Vita.

Schedule for Sunday

• 10:00 am – Tasting with Caffe Appassionato Coffee Co.


• 10:30 am – Formal coffee cupping with Stephanie Backus and Marie Franklin from Portland Roasting. Cuppings are limited to 10 persons per session. Registration is at the door on a first come first served basis.
  Stephanie and Marie will take you on a half hour journey into a deeper appreciation for the variety of flavors and aromas to be discovered in coffee. Cupping is the practice of observing the tastes and aromas of brewed coffee by sniffing the coffee, then loudly slurping so it spreads to the back of the tongue. The goal is to measure the coffee's body, sweetness, acidity, flavor and aftertaste. Stephanie Backus is the Purchasing Manager for Portland Roasting and one of only 488 people in the world Q Certified as a professionally accredited cupper by the Coffee Quality Institute. Marie Franklin is the National Sales Manager of Portland Roasting with over 25 years of experience roasting, retailing, and marketing NW coffees.


• 11:30 am – Tasting with Trabant Coffee and Chai


• 12:00 pm – Formal coffee cupping with Stephanie Backus and Marie Franklin from Portland Roasting. Cuppings are limited to 10 persons per session. Registration is at the door on a first come first served basis.


• 1:00 pm – Tasting with Starbucks Coffee Company


• 1:30 pm – Formal coffee cupping with Stephanie Backus and Marie Franklin from Portland Roasting. Cuppings are limited to 10 persons per session. Registration is at the door on a first come first served basis.


• 2:00 pm – Tasting with Caffe Vita


• 3:00 pm – Formal coffee cupping with Stephanie Backus and Marie Franklin from Portland Roasting. Cuppings are limited to 10 persons per session. Registration is at the door on a first come first served basis.