Coffee and community are two things that for me have always gone hand in hand. Bustling cafes, diverse in their patrons, have long been known as places to get work done, create art and most importantly, enjoy a good cup of coffee. What often gets forgotten is how much work goes into the that cup you're enjoying. 

  From farmers diligently checking their cherries, importers selecting the highest quality cup, roasters stretching the flavor profile of the green beans they get in, and baristas preparing that perfect cup; many livelihoods all revolve around coffee. Being surrounded by many coffee professionals serves as an inspiration for myself personally as well as the rest of the Utica Coffee staff. Whether it be new flavors to try, equipment to look into or merchandise that will be coming out soon (hint,hint) we wanted to share a couple of quick takeaways from the SCA Expo of 2019 in Boston.

   1. Sustainability Is Key

Unless you've been under a rock for the last ten years I am sure you hear about climate change relatively frequently. While there is much that we cannot personally control, reducing your waste and trying to minimize your carbon footprint as a business is important. Coffee shops across the nation are ditching plastic straws and rewarding customers for bringing in re-usable travel mugs. Soon we will be saying goodbye to our styrofoam cups that we've long used for frappes and will continue to look into how we can say goodbye to disposable plastic straws once and for all.

   2. Synesso

Cats out of the bag, we are now an official distributor for Synesso! With this comes a couple changes to how we operate. We have purchased a three group head S300 machine which will allow for us to make our espresso and espresso based drinks even better with new settings and greater control on the variables that effect espresso. As a distributor, we are now able to also sell espresso machines to our wholesale customers. If you are in fact a wholesale customer reading this, feel free to reach out to your sales representative today for more information.

  3. New Flavors

Walking into this show, I had no idea how crazy people were about tumeric. Walking away from this show, I am now aware that people are CRAZY about tumeric. So expect to see some tumeric in our shop shortly. Additionally, we have sampled new seasonal coffee flavors but we aren't giving any hints as to what those may be quite yet!

  4. Pretty Colors

For quite a while we have stayed in safe shades of grays, blacks and other neutral colors but while walking around the show floor, my eye was constantly drawn to color. Bright, vibrant mugs; pastel brewers; and flashy packaging; color is appealing and evokes emotions. If there is any color in particular you are dying to have a mug for drop a comment below! 

  5. Coffee & Good Company

You see it on a daily basis in either of our cafes. The movers and shakers of our city coming together and collaborating over a good cup of coffee. It's a sight to see. So for our team to be surrounded by the movers and shakers of the industry we are in, it not only puts our jobs in perspective as to how much more we can learn; it makes us feel like we are a part of something much larger than ourselves. The coffee industry is changing constantly. We look forward to continuing to learn as a company and to share the knowledge we pick up along the way with our customers.