Caffeine Crawl Oklahoma 2016

~ Caffeine Crawl Oklahoma was statewide fun for coffee, tea, and chocolate lovers. ~

We’ve always bragged about OKC’s coffee scene, but how much better could it really get? We added Tulsa to this year’s annual event creating two days covering Caffeine Crawl Oklahoma. To answer the question above, Tulsa, OKC, Edmond, and Norman proved that there’s more to highlight locally when it comes to coffee, tea, and chocolate.

Tulsa got it started on Friday with 6 shops participating in 4 different routes. Foolish Things Coffee Company and Hodges Bend, represented by Topeca Coffee, led each route as the starting point. Justin at Foolish Things presented on their new bean to bar chocolate, Middle West Chocolate, and one of their guest roasters with a Chemex brew of Onyx's Ethiopia. Tyler with Topeca, alongside Jamie of Hodges Bend, passed out the new espresso blend on nitro fresh off the tap, and talked about Topeca's business, plus the variety of offerings at Hodges.

Mod's Coffee & Crepes used their housemade gelato to serve up affogatos. Rusty pulled each shot for every stop. Chimera Cafe mixed it up during the day. Two groups got a coffee mocktail using ginger beer and spices, and the later groups received shots of Oddly Correct’s Doom Loop espresso with a choice of chaser - sparkling or Clown Shoes coffee brown ale.

Dwelling Spaces with Joebot's Coffee Bar also had a cold drink waiting for us, but they used the Toddy method for their custom blend, Bigfoot, that Topeca roasts. Elemental Coffee’s roaster, Rachel, made the trek and presented for Antoinette Baking Co. The baristas at Antoinette’s put together a refreshing coffee mocktail using a cardamom syrup, orange and Elemental’s coffee.

Topeca Coffee hosted an After Crawl Party at their main training and roasting facility following the Crawl routes. We had Marshall beer, a latte art throwdown, Ian from Topeca DJing, and a good crowd. 

The 4th annual Oklahoma City Crawl, which includes shops in Edmond and Norman, produced another memorable event. In Norman, Gray Owl Coffee had the 2 routes starting at once with a presentation on the importance of water and the right grind while we enjoyed baked goods with coffee from Topeca. Second Wind Coffeehouse offered a choice of drinks starting with a cold brew using a Mariposa Coffee Ethiopia and the choice of lime or lemon as the main compliment to the coffee. At syrup Mary Beth covered the details on their vanilla-maple cold drink using Stumptown’s bottled cold brew, and mini chai doughnuts (using Hugo Tea chai) from Holey Rollers. Teaming up was Hugo Tea, which has been on several KC Crawls, and a lavender earl grey tea they shared. This stop was a winning combo.

Each year we have at least one new shop on the Crawl, and this year the excitement was to visit Clarity Coffee’s place. Steve, who previously presented as Elemental’s roaster, gave an educational demonstration on using the Chemex to brew with. The coffee used was from Novel Coffee as we tried it just right, over-, and under-extracted. Mariposa Coffee Roastery was set up at The Refuge with tables of plates, one with oranges and marshmallows and the other with prunes and grapes. We received a plate with each coffee to explore the flavors in the coffee and in the food items to compare.

Junction Coffee’s double decker bus played host to us on the top floor with affogatos using Mariposa’s Coffee, and a tasty snack from a local baker. Down the street Elemental Coffee Roasters was the starting point for a few routes. Trent, and Rachel, who presented at both the Tulsa and OKC Crawls, had an iced cascara drink waiting for us using cane sugar, apple cider vinegar and sparkling. Awesome along the lines of tea was matcha served traditionally made at t an urban teahouse. Kristy covered a lot of ground with us on tea, and we loved her energy and passion towards what she does for a living. Another OKC stop was Cuppies and Joe. Elizabeth and team had a lemon cream tarts and a cold brew with a rosemary simple syrup, and fresh strawberry puree waiting for groups.

Later in the day Edmond’s shops hosted Crawlers at Cafe Evoke, ​White Bison Coffee set up at Cupcakes To Go Go, and Compass Coffeehouse. Cafe Evoke put together an iced caramel cappuccino topped with smoked salt and honey. Delicious! As a mobile coffee business it was nice to White Bison set up at Cupcakes To Go Go with coffee, cupcakes, and homebrewing tips. Compass Coffeehouse added their own approach to the hype behind butter with coffee by using a local, grass fed butter from Kerrygold, coconut oil and a coffee from Topeca.

The weekend capped off with an After Crawl Party hosted by Coffee Slingers Roasters. Some light eats, beers from Black Mesa Brewing and 405 Brewing, and a latte art throwdown - one bracket for baristas and another for non professional coffee people. A lot of learning and drinking took place on the Crawl with each stop adding their own specialty touch to the coffee, tea, and chocolate we love.

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