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SCAA, PORTLAND, OREGON BY MICHELLE FOSTER Each April, the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) has a family reunion disguised as an industry convention. In some ways, the annual Event is better than a family reunion; everyone loves coffee and no one will ask why you work in the coffee industry instead of medicine or law. The Event is where we catch up with one another and hold a weekend long show-and-tell (origin stories, new coffees, roasting techniques, brewing techniques, new products). And we chat. "There is a conversation happening in coffee, '' Charles Babinski told his judges at the start of his United States Barista Championship (USBC) performance. Katie Carguilo, crowned 2012 USBC Champion by the close of the Event, could have begun with the same statement. In fact, all six of the USBC finalists created a conversation about coffee: Carguilo talked about the processing of coffee, illustrating bean refinement through screen size sorting. Second-place finisher Babinski illustrated the different kinds of service possible behind the bar and the power of the barista to create a tailored experience. Chris Baca, who came in third, redefined sustainability as a signature drink to mimic the waste-water reduction of Graciano Cruz by using all the parts of an orange (pith, juice, peel) and the cascara infusion of Panamanian Los Lajones. Fourth place finisher Devin Chapman explored one coffee's intricacies using different extractions: an espresso and two Chemex cups brewed through different filters, sipped in sequence to highlight certain flavors. Jared Truby, who took fifth place, brought processing to the table to discuss how the treatment of the bean affects the product, inching in a little molecular gastronomy to produce a faux coffee cherry. And sixth-place finisher Travis Beckett asked judges to recall their most memorable coffee experience, or "ah-ha" moment, in order to talk about what makes coffee unforgettable. Across the showroom floor other conversations started with rumors. Bill Guddick at the Toddy booth pointed me to the Steampunk machine, a new automated siphon brewer that produces four individually tailored cups of coffee. The machine has four chambers, each with its own temperature settings and changeable screen sizes for variable mouth feel (do you want your cup to taste more like a pour over or a French press?). I dashed over to see the unit, which won the Best New Product Award for coffee or tea preparation in the commercial category. Put simply, the machine by Salt Lake City's Alphadominche is a boiler hooked to four glass siphon chambers, easily controlled by a programmable LED touch screen. The machine looks a little like a lever machine with the programmable nature of a Strada and can brew four cups of coffee in four minutes (30 seconds per cup, one in each chamber, with a 30-second wash cycle between brews). After my visit to the booth, I continued the whisper campaign and physically brought others to see the unit. It won the product award for a reason. 34 barista magazine Elsewhere in the showroom were aggressive pastry salespersons, packaging companies, green importers, and various small products. One of these was Know Hope, a group of people repurposing burlap coffee sacks into messenger bags, purses and totes with all proceeds headed to hungry children in origin countries. With booths by Synesso, La Marzocco, Nuova Simonelli, and individual cafés, no one was left in shortage of espresso. Most of the time I passed these machines in a blur after reaching a fully caffeinated state judging the USBC. Sunday, however, I had the chance to try a single shot Ethiopia at the Synesso booth that rivaled the best shots had on the competition floor. Well-balanced, slightly fruity, full, round, ultra- smooth—my mouth is watering recalling the experience. I think I had one of Beckett's ah-ha moments. Sunday also afforded me the opportunity to catch up with my coffee peers between watching finalists. Patrick Pierce of Austin, Texas, educated me on the new project that has won his involvement. Briggo, a fully mechanized barista, is in pilot status at the University of Texas. It grinds, doses and tamps per online or touch-screen order. To insure quality, the robot measures extraction rate of the shot and adjusts the grind accordingly for the next shot to maintain a constant shot time. Imagine an espresso machine with controllable arms moving the portafilter and steam wand. While the idea of a robot (R2-D2 is making my coffee?) may frighten many skilled baristas, the robot is after the Starbucks and McDonalds customer seeking consistency and a have-it-your-way cup. The order form allows addition of milk to coffee by color (brown, tan, beige), and temperature preference. The machine is meant for places where speed of service is first priority and location is impractical for staffing baristas such as airports, medical centers, universities, and libraries. Briggo throws an additional element to the conversation around industry progress. The entire Event was larger in attendance and vendors than Houston's 2011 Event, but with what seemed like fewer lectures and classes. The pre-Event Symposium, a sort of TED Talks for the coffee world, was also consolidated into a large group lecture rather than individual breakout groups. Even with narrowed tracks, it was hard to see everything at the Event. The SCAA Event mobile app was a helpful addition to time management ability. The app was simple, but offered a great alternative to carrying a printed Event guide and allowed for easy scheduling reference. Physical space was managed more compactly as well. Some elements were packed neatly together, like the competition room, or Activities Hall A. The U.S. Cup Tasters Championship, a triangulation of coffee identification, was showcased during the USBC at hourly 10-minute breaks. The format of intermittently focusing on the Cup Tasters Championship made the competition less of a sideshow to the USBC, as it has suffered from being in past years. Stephan Bauer of Paragon Coffee Trading in New York won the FIELD REPORT GUATEMALA & EL SALVADOR JAPAN SCAA, PORTLAND, OREGON