Charleston Coffee Cup

The weather was perfect and chilly for a coffee festival. After being around a few minutes i felt a little out of place with all the exotic choices for coffees and tastes. I tend to like plain old coffee and learned alot about coffee that I never knew existed.
Definitely a learning experience.

Pretty fun event, the layout worked to keep the crowd moving. Plenty of coffee to try with some tasty eats scattered about.
I feel like they could have benefited from some tables with some packets of sugar or creamer for us that don’t like coffee black. Im not a huge coffee person, but I enjoyed the event. Getting to taste coffees that had different flavor profiles made for a fun event.

What better way to beat the doldrums of a windy, cold and overcast day in the Holy City! Why not sampling 40+ different coffee beans and roasts while rubbing elbows with other people passionate about their caffeinated brew?! This is one Coffee Cup I could spend the day buzzing around in!
I attended the 2015 ‘Cup and found it to be worth the price of admission and then some. The old Cigar Fictory was an ideal venue– the space was open but warm and well-​lit with old wood floors and large windows throughout. The space alone was a treat to be within. About 20+ different roasters were set up and tables ricing around the space with 2 – 5 different roasts that they were busy grinding and turning into pour-​overs to fill simply cups as quickly as they could. What a great chance to really explore the differences in beans and roasts and even their drying methods. Everyone got a ticket to use to vote for their favorite.
In the center you could find latte art pourings done with live video stream onto TV monitors at all corners. There were also demos offered every half hour by a different roaster to show off different methods of brewing and the equipment you could own to do so.
Endless samples of coffee were included with admission, but you could purchase snacks and foods. But my one complaint was that not many foods were offered– mostly pastries and cookies that were on the expensive side. I’d like to see some more savory options in future years, to help slow some of the caffeine absorption if nothing else and help to clear your palette. Brunch in Charleston is a bit of an arty anyway, but it would have been clutch to have such an option on site as well, especially since the festival ran until 3 PM.
Still, I hope to see this one return in future years. What a great time to get coffee people together and learn from one another and explore these different beans and roasts. I’d gladly buy my ticket to come back again.

I attended the 2015 Charleston Coffee Cup and really enjoyed it. It was cloudy and drizzling rain, so perfect day for coffee and the Cigar Fictory was the perfect venue. The building is absolutely beautiful. I tried a lot of coffee samples from different roasters– some local and some from NC and GA, and I now have a few coffee shops nearby I want to try out! We voted for our favorites and purchased some cold brew to take home.
The samples of coffee were included with the price of admission, but you could purchase snacks and foods. Not many foods were offered– mostly pastries, croissants, and waffles. I do think more brunch-​like foods would be a good addition for the event, especially savory options. We ended up just going out to eat afterwards, but the prices for the food and for coffee to take home were very fair considering the location/​type of event.

Loved the venue! This was a great opportunity to sample lots of different products from a large number of regional and local roasters. Everybody working the event was friendly, informative, and obviously passionate about their products. My husband was really looking forward to the latte art competition but it kept getting delayed and we had to leave, so that was disappointing.

I loved the venue, and even though it was pretty crowded all the baristas were smiling and friendly. There seemed to be a lot of vendors and a good mix of coffees, even including some cold brews. There were also plenty of snacks for purchase to go with the coffee, from waffles to pastries, and I think even shrimp and grits?
Despite the crowds I didn’t have to wait long at any one station. I liked that they also had a craft tent with some things for purchase, thought it was a little small. I would love to see this part expanded in future years. Overall, a very pleasant way to spend my morning.

As one of the first in the door, I received a Unilocal shwag-​bag which included some free samples of coffee. almond milk (chocolate), and other assorted goodies. The bag was large enough to be used as my carry all for the other random free stuff I gathered from the vendors. Sampled coffee from almost every table, and a few food items as well. Shrimp n Grits after a round of Belgian Waffles (dessert first). A very educational event and a lot of fun. Event was at the old cigar factory, and although it was a little cramped at times, everyone was really good about it and looked to be having a good time. How could you not when caffeine is involved?

Great event, so happy that the coffee culture continues to grow in Charleston. I have to say I love the venue itself, the cigar factory building is absolutely stunning. Coffee cup does a great job introducing awesome coffee from around the world from different roasters in our area. Hopefully this will help some of the more casual coffee drinkers realize there is much better stuff out there than «Charbucks». Can’t wait to go back again.

If you’re a coffee lover than this is definitely the event for you! $ 12 for student or military for as many samples of coffee as you can handle plus free demos and a latte art competition. Sounds like a great way to enjoy coffee right? Well it is! But there are a few minor things I wished were different, maybe for next year.
The first would be the food vendors, although the ones present were good there were only three and most offerings were small pastries and very few savory items. It would’ve been nice to see more hot/​savory items or items like bagels, scones and brunch style items, not just coffee cake and cookies.
The latte art competition would be my next minor complaint. The original competition was to begin at 11 but kept getting pushed out. Then when the competition actually began there were a couple technical glitches getting all tv’s to show the competition. The demos, or presentations more like it, while we waited were insightful though.
The artisans market outside was great also. And I think as The Charleston Coffee Cup grows each year there will be more vendors wanting to be a part of the action.
I also loved that they had a bar set up for Bloody Mary’s and Mimosas when you needed a coffee break. And the venue in general was gorgeous! I’m very happy I finally got a taste of what’s coming to The Cigar Factory.
Overall I think the event was a success and can’t wait to attend next year! Hopefully back at The Cigar Room!

The Charleston Coffee Cup is a great event for coffee lovers to unite and appreciate the craft and passion that goes into facilitating caffeinated consciousness. It’s nice to see so many people gather and support local coffee companies and what they stand for instead of giving into the commercial swill.
My wife and I arrived half an hour after the official start time. The entrance was a little crowded and chaotic at this time, but we made it in without a whole lot of hassle. Upon stepping inside it was awesome to take in the fantastic venue which was the Cigar Factory. It all took place in a huge open room that easily accommodated the fairly large crowd.
Despite the amount of people in attendance it was pretty quick and easy to get any of the lovely samples of the black stuff. The room was lined all the way around with people slinging their brews, and everyone seemed genuinely excited to be there and represent their brand. I got to talk to many of the brewers and learned a lot about their different techniques. It was a real treat to sample some of the company’s limited and rare batch stuff.
There was an artisan market out back featuring handcrafted goods, and there was even a bar for non coffee alcohol breaks. The only areas needing improvement were the food selections and the latte art competition. The food was pretty limited and sparse, and the competition really struggled to get going. All in all this was a great event though, and I look forward to next year’s Coffee Cup.

So, at an event like this, I think you need to pick and choose… so either have people buy food and drink tickets OR an entry fee, but to do both seems excessive… so you’re telling me I need to pay $ 10 to get in AND $.50 per dixie cup of coffee… I heard the lady say to the guy selling food and drink tickets, «So, I pay $ 10 to get in and I don’t even get a cup of coffee?» I’m with you lady, I totally get it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to be cheap, but to pay $ 10 to get in to an event that has a limited number of vendors and pay on top of that for each sample… yeah, I wouldn’t recommend this to friends or anyone. While I did meet some vendors that were interesting to talk with and had some good coffee, I also had some not so great coffee (I mean, bad enough to throw it out rather than drink it and I LOVE good coffee). One was so bitter I added cream to it… then realized the cream had probably been out all morning as it was a bit sour. I went back and told the guy and he said «Oh, thanks for letting me know.» Not that I even really wanted it, but it would have been nice if he offered to make a new one since his creamer was bad… I think the weather may have gotten to him by then, he had been complaining about weather etc earlier. My two favorites were Papagayo Coffee and Coastal Coffee Roasters. On another note, the best thing I got at this event was the Unilocal gloves… #YelpLife

I got there around 1pm, which apparently was the perfect time to go because the clouds parted and let in some sunshine, it stopped raining and it was pleasantly cool outside.
For a first time event, I thought they did a great job. I had a fun time getting to try some coffees/​espressos I normally wouldn’t, reuniting with my new obsession (wat up La Gaufre belgium waffles!), trying the Stars’ biscuits and accoutrements (ha, that’s a word I never say out loud) and watching the latte art smackdown.
And now for the constructive criticism…
I think the admission price is a bit steep. I didn’t know about the goodie bags being given out at the beginning of the event, so if I got one of those, I might feel a little differently. I think to charge $ 10 just to get in and then you have to purchase additional tickets for samples is a bit of a rip off. I don’t know what kind of deals were made between the vendors and the Joe, so I can get that they need to make money somehow. However, I honestly think you’ll get a better turn out if you maybe reduce the admission price to $ 5 and/​or at least include a couple of tickets with the admission fee.
Also, I agree with TJ in that the vendors should’ve offered a regular-​sized coffee option in addition to the sample sizes. And since a surprising amount of vendors didn’t provide sugar or creamer, maybe the event organizers can designate a table or two with all that stuff? I didn’t feel right going to another vendor and trying to stealthly pour some creamer into my coffee that I just purchased from somewhere else.
Almost done here but one more suggestion: encourage the vendors to bring beans to sell! I was kind of shocked that very few vendors had products to sell. My friend bought a bag of beans from one vendor who told her that they were surprised at how much they were selling. I wasn’t surprised, their coffee was awesome and it only makes sense that people would come to a coffee event, find their new favorite coffee and want to leave said coffee beans.

Fun event with great goodie bags for the first 150 attendees. Mine included a full sized bag of coffee, a box of dandelion tea, a few ground coffee samples, and an XL tshirt from Collective Coffee. I enjoyed sampling the various coffees and espressos, as well as the good eats. Loved the fresh belgian waffles and the biscuit bar from Stars. My only complaint is that only a few vendors had sugar and creamer.

Aside from the weather, I loved this event!
There were so many different types of coffee and they all smelled amazing. I don’t drink coffee, but my spouse LOVES anything and everything to do with it, so I knew we had to go to this event. No worries though, because I found the most incredible Belgian waffles and some fantastic shrimp and grits to enjoy while he sampled all of the coffee. We got these great goody bags when we arrived that were stuffed with some business cards, coupons, charleston city paper, and a magazine!
My only complaint was that some of the booths we’re very spaced out. I’m not sure if it was that some vendors didn’t show or it was just the first annual learning experience. Overall, this was a great experience and I can’t wait to attend in the future!

Free face painting, and dang does it look good. Great coffee and good people, would definitely suggest to go. I will be attending again next year

This event was held in the Joe Riley stadium. It was cold and rainy but I love coffee so much it made it all worth it! A variety of vendors set up tents offering delicious coffee, pastries, and other goodies for purchase. Since it was rainy me and my husband tried to hit up as many vendors as we could as fast as we could.
Stars restaurant had a booth wit some delicious biscuits with a variety of jams, honey, and even coffee butter to try.
At Mosaic we tried this egg frittata type dish with arugula salad and fried oysters on top. The egg was a bit rubbery, but everything else was yummy and it was a pretty good tasting portion for $ 5.
For the non coffee drinkers the juice joint was there with wraps, hot cider, smoothies, juice and other goodies. I had the Radio Flyer juice which had beet, cucumber, ginger, and apple. I’m a big juicer so I loved it. It wasn’t too sweet which is fine for me, but if you want it sweeter just ask for more apple.
The Orange Spot from Park Circle was our favorite. I do prefer french press over pour over coffees because it is more rich because of the oils left over. They not only had delicious french pressed coffee but they also did food pairings with them to compliment the coffee. The Ethiopian brew had fruity notes in it so it was paired with dark chocolate and blue berries. It was such a lovely touch and enhanced the coffee tasting experience even more! I also sampled their ginger snap cookies, and their pumpkin bread. I am also a big fan of their thai iced tea or cha yen which was there for sample as well. Everything was so yummy and I found myself circling back to them even after trying others.
I had a great time! If the weather was better I probably would have stayed allot longer to see the latte competitions and such. I can’t wait until next year!