There will be a discernible, familiar scent wafting through Fort Mason’s Festival Pavilion this weekend. It’s the aroma of coffee, the focus of the seventh annual San Francisco Coffee Festival, where Bay Area roasters and coffee fans connect.
“It’s just booths and booths and booths of coffee and coffee-adjacent products. And because it’s kind of a trade show in a way, we get to see a bunch of our industry friends there as well,” says Chris Kornman, director of education at Royal Coffee, a family-owned and operated green coffee importer in the East Bay.
“It’s busy. It’s two days full of people that are very excited about coffee, which is nice. We get to interact with a lot of people, [from] high level enthusiasts to just coffee curious,” adds Kornman.
The festival caters to people of all levels of interest in and admiration of the beverage and its many forms, from the “I just appreciate a good cup of coffee in the morning” folks to the “I know a thing or two about beans and brewing methods” aficionados.
Most of the roasters are headquartered in California, including Chocolate Fish Coffee in Sacramento and Drink Coffee Do Stuff in Lake Tahoe, as well Bay Area companies Red Bay Coffee, Sightglass, Equator Coffees, Timeless Coffee & Bakery, Ritual, Heirloom Coffee Roasters, Red Whale Coffee, Peerless Coffee & Tea and Grand Coffee.
“For me, the excitement is always seeing the other professionals that are there—what it is that they’re doing that’s interesting and new, what they are excited to show the public,” says Kornman, author of “Green Coffee: A Guide for Roasters and Buyers.”
Founded in 1978, Royal Coffee, which has a corporate office in Emeryville and a warehouse and public space in Oakland called The Crown, connects roasters to suppliers, exporters, growers and farmers.
“We basically transport and warehouse the raw product and sell it to roasters so they can turn it brown in their machines and then serve it,” says Kornman.
At the festival, Royal Coffee will offer roasting demonstrations using a one kilo electric machine and serve a signature blackberry coffee tonic, which Korman calls “kind of our twist on the espresso tonic. We make a concentrate basically and then use a little bit of cold brew and tonic water to make a really delicious signature beverage.”
Royal Coffee’s menu also will include regular cold brew and espresso with coffee beans that are co-fermented with chili peppers from Colombia.
In addition to more than 80 roasters, the festival features live music and food for purchase from Third Culture Bakery and Avotoasty.
During Coffee Convos, experts speak about the history and science of the bean and beverage, the art of roasting and other coffee-related specifics, and attendees learn about brewing, production, flavor profiles and more.
“The coffee conversations are a highlight for me as well where panels of local experts will talk about their particular areas of influence,” says Kornman, who’s leading a panel on coffee genetics and history and the future of the coffee tree.
The Latte Art Competition, held both days, includes four heats, with a $1,000 prize, and artist Jarold Cadion, who paints with coffee (his subjects include Frida Kahlo, Kurt Cobain and Bob Marley), will be working on two portraits.
Throngs attend the festival, which often sells out.
Nick Castelli, president and roast master of the Sonoma County-based Wolf Coffee Company, says the company’s first time at the festival, which coincided with the return of in-person events following the pandemic, was “overwhelming, but in a very exciting way.”
The pavilion was packed with people excited to be out again. For Castelli, it was a learning experience in terms of how to cater to the many visiting their booth: “We’re getting to the point quicker. We tightened up our process and our presentation so we can be more efficient with each person so they’re still getting a quality experience with our company at the table, but we can still kind of move through the lines and make sure everybody’s happy,” says Castelli.
Wolf Coffee Company, which roasts both coffee and cacao, will have one of its holiday coffee and chocolate gift boxes on hand on Saturday and Sunday.
“People can look forward to being able to actually knock out some of their holiday shopping by getting information about the gift boxes … with really tasty, high-quality products,” says Castelli.
Wolf also will offer samples and sell cans of a cold brew beverage infused with cacao, raw sugar and sea salt, which Castelli says is probably the tastiest cold brew in the country.
“If you like coffee and chocolate, it’s incredible. We always have people that cannot wait to get on our line to try it,” he says. “And you know you’re onto something good when half the people in your line are from other coffee companies.”
The San Francisco Coffee Festival runs from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Nov. 11-12 at Fort Mason Center, 2 Marina Blvd., San Francisco. Tickets are $29 to $69 at sfcoffeefestival.com.