Caffeine Crawl San Diego 2016

~ Year three in the caffeinated sunshine. ~ 

Year three in San Diego was every bit as fabulous as expected. Kicking off with two walking routes along the North Coast, Crawlers shouldered swag bags from San Diego Coffee Network designed by local artist Mary Juhn, filled with goodies from Wholesome!, Earnest Eats, Yelp San Diego, Urnex, Bird Rock Coffee and David Bacco Chocolatier.

Lofty Coffee Co. pulled all the stops with a geisha cold brew and a Kenya chemex pourover, served along steamed housemade almond milk and house-made flourless chocolate cake with espresso buttercream.
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Coffee Coffee (formerly Cafe Ipe) welcomed us to the bar for a roasting demo and pourovers of several different house roasts. Pannikin Coffee & Tea served the same coffee roasted for the same amount of time, but at varying temperatures.
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Ironsmith Coffee Roasters took us on a detailed journey through the molecules of steamed milk, letting us taste the differences in taste and texture that temperature makes. Banana Dang Coffee joined us from Oceanside to educate us on the similarities between bananas and coffee and served up delicious banana espresso smoothies. 
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​Saturday morning kicked off two walking routes at InterAmerican Coffee with Chemex brews and a presentation on the Mpanga washing station in Burundi with owner Jean Clement, founder of Burundi Friends International. Such a great experience! 
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​We continued the conversation with Jean and discussed direct trade with Chuck at Bird Rock Coffee Roasters while sipping Burundi and Panama brews.
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​Cafe Moto served Rwandan Nitro cold brew alongside 'the best cinnamon rolls in San Diego,' and we watched a video on Sustainable Harvest’s initiative in Rwanda to assist women farmers with better farming and business practices.
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Cafe Virtuoso served cortados while we watched a roasting demo, and sampled the freshly roasted coffee alongside a batch from several days before for freshness comparison. 
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​Ryan Bros. Coffee gave us a roasting demo as well, and we sampled several different roast samples (and aromas! Crawlers left happy with a logo mug, lanyard and a bottle of cold brew.
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To celebrate one year of business on Broadway, ​The WestBean Coffee Roasters served up nitro cold brew floats and recapped the highlights. 
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 James Coffee Co. served up pourovers and good vibes in their great space, and Coffee & Tea Collective took us through the color change of beans at various stages of a roast.  Caffe Calabria raised the bar with an assortment of delightful coffee cocktails and flatbread, and sent everyone home with a coupon for a free pizza (the team definitely took advantage of that alongside another round of stellar cocktails!)

The new Copa Vida cafe rocked their route stops with a taste-your-way tour through their motto, “Go. Enjoy. Experience,” and Bean Bar rolled out their new coffee cart for sparkling cascara samples and Portland vibes. 
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​Dane Coffee Roasters set up outside Subterranean Coffee Boutique for samples of mint Sumatran cold brew (which was awesome!), homemade lemon poppyseed scones, and an intro to their company plans, and Dark Horse Coffee Roasters gave us some down time with nitro cold brew floats and the motto “we take coffee seriously, but not ourselves.”​ ​Eclipse Chocolate welcomed us to their event room for an drinking chocolate and an overview of their confectionery assortment of offerings.
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Bay Park Coffee served several types of tea as a wind down from the caffeine high, and route three posed for a group selfie afterwards! 
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The team got around in a snazzy red Zipcar (and we’re now huge fans!), and recapping the weekend wouldn’t be complete without a shoutout to Pia Piscatelli of San Diego Jumble for her fantastic bike route tour guide skills. San Diego, we <3 you - can't wait for two events annual starting next year! 
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