Top Ten Tuesday ~ Caffeine Crawl KC

~ Reliving a weekend of caffeinated magic in the city that started it all ~ 

The Roasterie kicked off a weekend of coffee, tea, chocolate and community with a latte art throwdown at their factory cafe. Libations, caffeinated and otherwise, were available to sip while mingling, and Simeon Bricker took home a Baratza Encore Grinder for first place, with Ashtin Bryde coming in a close second. On the Crawl, Mike and Ashtin served up coffee pairings - a Kenya pourover with peanut butter pretzels, Guatemala french pressed with aged gouda cheese, and drip brewed Sumatra with fudge brownies. Delicious and intriguing! 

Parisi took us a tasting adventure while blindfolded, pairing Rwanda with fig newtons & raisinettes and Ethiopia with Juicy Fruit gum for a trip down memory lane to childhood favorites and flavor focus. 

Blip Coffee Roasters opened their eclectic space in the West Bottoms to Crawlers as a thunderstorm rolled in over head. Amidst the motorcycles and exposed brick, we sampled Guatemala Lake Atitlan pourovers from Ian and cold brew from Alchemy Coffee in Lawrence, and Ian and Conrad provided insight into Blip's connection to the West Bottoms vibes and their plans. 

Thou Mayest welcomed us with a limited-release whiskey barrel aged coffee and a Torn Label Cafe Dubbel paired with espresso. Contrasting flavors woke up our taste buds as we "blurred the lines between AM and PM." 

Messenger Coffee ushered Crawlers into the freight elevator of their soon-to-be roasting facility in the crossroads, and took us on a tour of every floor and it's potential. We sipped cold brew and took home whole bean coffee samples. At The Filling Station, we tasted Messenger espresso pulled ristretto style, served over soy coconut ice cream for a delicious affogato. 

We gathered on the patio deck at One More Cup and munched granola samples while we listened to Stacy explain their neighborhood place in the community. Sipping iced chai from Hugo Tea was a refreshing coffee "break" while Tyler from Hugo shared his vision. 

Second Best served up their latest offering - nitro cold brew! We sipped and savored the unique flavors. 

Chai was the theme at Crows Coffee - house made chai and a DIY take home chai bar - we left with spicy-sweet afternoons in store. 

We played a game of true or false at Shang Tea, and all learned a little more about the ancient beverage as we sipped house made chai and oolong. Mud Pie served a host of delicious pastry samples, paired with pourovers and a cashew or hemp milk "Dirty South" (chicory au laits). 

The Caffeine Crawl chocolate fix certainly didn't disappoint - Elbow Chocolate served samples of coffee ganache and house made mocha with their signature drinking chocolate. At Andre's, we received a production room tour and mochas to sip with foil wrapped chocolate hearts on the side. 

KC was amazing as always, and we couldn't have done it without our awesome sponsors. We're already pumped for Caffeine Crawl KC 2015 - Fall Edition! 

~ Join the Conversation ~