Caffeine Crawl Omaha 2016

~ Caffeine Crawl Omaha adds more smiles and cheers to Mother's Day weekend. ~ 

Omaha really stepped it up a notch this year for Caffeine Crawl, and it has been exciting to watch the city’s coffee and tea community grow each year. This was the third event in Omaha, and the first Friday night kickoff before a full day on Saturday. The weather also worked in our favor. A perfect way to spend Mother’s Day weekend for a coffee lover!

Four different roasters showcased their beans, and drinks based off of their sourcing and roasting. ​Hardy Coffee hosted us at their roasting facility with Bliss Bakery treats, served 3 hot brews - Ethiopia Guji, Peru El Cedro, and Brazil Criminosos. The roaster, Nick, presented on the journey of coffee from discovery to brewing. Brenna and Matt at Mug Life Coffee made two fabulous cold coffee drinks for the groups, including a new menu item - the cafe mojito with grapefruit and a Kenya brewed with the Filtron. Beansmith Coffee Roasters was led by Ian and Chad brewing the same coffee using different water - filtered, spring water and tap water - for a compare vs. contrast tasting. We each went home with a sample bag of Beansmith’s new Peru, and tips on brewing a better cup. At Archetype Coffee, Isaiah and Jason hosted a condensed cupping on coffee triangulation where we all tried three different coffees to find the one that was different than the other two. They explained details of roasting, and variables to get the most out of each coffee.

Each shop had a different sample, and overall a nice range of variety. Our only non-coffee shop, The Tea Smith, served a matcha on ice that a volunteer Crawler would help whisk on each route, and the second drink a carbonated mate with a fruit syrup. Culprit Cafe and Bakery used an earl grey from The Tea Smith, guava and lavender to make push-up tea popsicles for us. First time for a caffeinated popsicle on a Caffeine Crawl.

Aromas Coffeehouse also explored tea with their chai bar full of drink options. On their Friday night route, they were the last stop, and we enjoyed pretzels with samples of their collaboration brew through Hardy Coffee and Benson Brewery. Also in Benson, our bike experts, Omaha Bicycle Company, had a choice of a Toddy brew of Denver area based Sweet Bloom’s (active on our Colorado Crawls) Hometown Blend over ice, or OBC’s signature lavender fog. It was nice to see Accelerando Coffee House’s new space. Chemex’s were made using a PT’s Coffee (active on our KC Crawls), and bubble waffles were served, the only place to get this Hong Kong inspired snack.

After all 5 routes wrapped up, baristas, ticket holders, and a few new faces gathered at Premier Blends Group for a Saturday evening After Crawl Party. Premier hosted the city's first coffee mocktail competition with snacks and a homebrew from one of their South Dakota accounts that was visiting for the weekend activities. Archetype's Isaiah Sheese took first place winning a nice chunk of change and some other take home gifts.

From the presentations, drinks, and sweet goodie bags (packed with coffee, gifts from Wholesome!, Yelp - Omaha, and several of our local shops) year 3 in the O was a good time! We all went home with new coffee and tea knowledge, and caffeinated smiles. 

---