Southwest Chocolate and Coffee Fest
March 17, 2019: When my sister sent me a photo from a magazine that was advertising the Southwest Chocolate and Coffee Fest at Expo New Mexico in Albuquerque, we immediately cleared our schedule for the event. Chocolate and coffee is definitely on the list (at least ours) of famous duos, you know things like eggs & bacon, salt & pepper and peanut butter & jelly. Having been in Albuquerque for three months already, we had found oursevles impressed by the strong coffee game the city plays. Having all those great coffee purveyors under one roof, along with local chocolatiers to create a festival of over 150 vendors, it is an understatement that we were looking forward to the day. Believe me, it did take some planning, breakfast was limited to the bare minimum and while it goes against our normal mantra of not leaving the RV before caffeinating, we did skip our morning cup of joe. We arrived before they opened, snagged our tickets and jumped right into sampling both the sweets and the sips. We were quick to search for some of the already familiar favorites and were delighted to be introduced to some new small culinary businesses.
The Southwest Chocolate and Coffee Fest was founded in 2009 and continues to grow attracting over 18,000 chocoholics and coffee aficionados, which according to their website, makes them the largest chocolate & coffee consumer festival in the country. Russ and I were more than willing to help contribute to those stats. The vendors did near or exceed 150 and iit has grown to include other food artisans with baked goods, craft cheeses and such. Despite our believe that we could never burn out on just chocolate and coffee, we did reach that point and these other vendors provided a nice contrast to ease us off the sugar and caffeine high we had quickly developed.
Along with providing a place for these chocolate and coffee vendors to promote their wares and fares, the mission of the festival is to educate consumers of the “back-story” of the beans, both chocolate and coffee, or what might be called the farm-to-cup and farm-to-tongue of the novelties. A little before noon, we headed to the “Kitchen Stage” area for a presentation about new coffee techniques called “Cold Brew to Nitro” by the marketing manager of New Mexico Pinon Coffee, Drake Miller. New Mexico Pinon had quickly become one of our favorites after a few months in Albuquerque, so it was good to learn right from the source. We couldn’t leave without a few cans of their cold brew which Drake gave us some special tips to give them the fresh off the tap taste right from the can.
After sitting hearing about lots of good brews, we had to try something we had never seen before and yes it did involve coffee. The Brew partnered with DrinkRipples.com to take latte art to a new level, not with artistic skill per se, but with technology. We each had our picture taken and then it was “printed” on top of each of our lattes. Seems like it should have been something on a coffee-themed bucket list, but we didn’t even know it existed until our visit to the festival. Guess we got to check it off before it even made the list. If you think Russ is looking a little green, don’t fear it was St. Patrick’s Day and he opted for the festive latte choice.
We tried to catch another coffee seminar, but unfortunately it was cancelled, but we did catch a good one about chocolate, called “Bean to Bar” and were shocked by how much we didn’t know about chocolate. We finished off the day with another lap around the expo center purchasing some goodies from some of our favorite vendors. We had really enjoyed the festival and were feeling quite full and ready for a sugar-induced nap despite being hopped up on caffeine. If in the area, we would likely attend again, but still probably prefer the idea of frequenting the coffee and chocolate vendors at their physical locations and get to experience the atmosphere they have created for their brands. With Albuquerque’s festival being deemed the Southwest Chocolate & Coffee Fest, can anyone give us directions to the Southeast, Northwest, Northeast or Central versions?? What’s your favorite food/drink duo?
