A rockin' party was held last night... and no, it wasn't the SCAA opening festivities party - it was the bash at Hines Public Market Coffee - a party thrown by La Marzocco, complete with all the super rock stars of the espresso world, and a bevy of super cool, super vintage machines. No more words for now - check out the photos.

Jay Caragay Jay working his magic on Hines' 5 grouper LM machine. Popular guy! Kent Bakke is a man in demand! ;) Champs Ryan Dennhardt and Sammy Piccolo at the Hines Party

Luscious A vintage 4 group La Marzocco GS2 with the paddle wheel group. Ground Breakers All ground breaking machines, including the Gaggia Crema, the first true espresso machine. ROCK Star Paul Bassett, pouring out maximum tude! Poster quality! ;)

Inny and Jack Instaurator and Jack, a seasoned Aussie legend with an up and commer. Taking to school Sammy takes the kids to school, showing latte art style. Hearts The results...

Sammy and Bronwen Canadian Champ and last year's US Champ having a moment. Kent and my Sister Kent posing with my faux sister, Jennifer Prince... Oh my God Paul Bassett gets John Hornall, one of the best Baristi in the US, to admit Paul's shot is the best espresso he ever tasted (true!)

Aussie Tude Yeah, Aussie tude and theory on espresso was ruling the night. Once and for all Once and for all Bassett sets the standard on how to pull a shot. Everyone agreed, and there's the finger to not updosing ;) Nice ending Can't end on Bassett's finger, so instead we have Jim Schulman one of our most respected moderators, posing with CG's News editor Jean.

How to Make Sure Your Label is Compliant with the National Organic Program is a seminar title that left me with some serious reservations. I mean really, does that title sound remotely interesting? My original answer was no, not at all; but I was surprised how interested I was in topic by the end of the seminar.

The seminar was given by Jake Lewin, Director of Marketing and International Programs for the California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF). Mr. Lewin explained in great detail how suppliers and roasters must comply with the NOP (USDA) and what steps need to be taken for this to happen. I was impressed with the detailed slide show explaining what I thought would be a boring topic.

He brought up how costly mistakes can be prevented by having your labels checked by the certifier before having the labels printed. The headaches of reprinting labels, additional costs, and time lost can be avoided by doing this.  

For small and large suppliers, this seminar would be very informative on how to avoid the pitfalls and ensure their growers, buyers, and as well as they themselves comply with the NOP (USDA) regulations on labeling.

Finding a seat at Kerri Goodman's A World Tour of Cafes seminar wasn't an easy task. Have to do my zigzag move in the dark in order to find a good comfy seat. I was amazed how well the crowd involved with the speaker during the whole seminar. Hey, I don't blame them, it was a very entertaining and educational seminar!

The slideshows were informative and amusing; it shows how different cultures blend into the world of coffee. For example, Goodman covered the country of Scotland and showed one cafe where they used an old police box and converted it into a coffee bar on the street. The area of the "police box" coffee bar is approx. 15 sq. ft. with one espresso machine and one employee. They managed to run their business very well by operating during peak hours and the Barista wore funny long scarf that attracted a lot of attention.

We got a differing view of a place with an entirely different culture: Saudi Arabia, and how its coffee businesses have mainly moved to major city malls. In their country, the coffee bars are usually divided into two sections: one section for male customers only and the other which is called the 'family section'. This section is the only area where women and children can stay for their coffee. I was surprised that cafes are laid out this way.

In the most interesting part of the seminar, Kerri Goodman showed us how American coffee drive-thru come in all shapes and sizes. With twelve years of history before them, he found pictures of coffee drives thru made out of an old yellow tug boat, and others made out of hand made sheds.

The virtual tour was a great event and the packed house really showed the interest people have in seeing cafes and cafe culture from around the world.

About to run back to cover Sammy Piccolo and Hazel's performances, but here's Kati Kljukina (Estonia) and Carl Sara (New Zealand) to wet your appetite. Will fill in the comments later.

Here's some random photos I took today during the SCAA Trade Show. Mark (and Lily too!) too more, but I thought these were pretty interesting!

Cupping Lab The cupping lab was absolutely fascinating... I will have an entry on it later. Cup Layouts Cuppings ready to go for the dozens of participants. Issat a Spitter? Yep, and more, set up at the table.

Shock and Awe Lily Lui, one of our on-the-scene reporters at SCAA, caught at a good time ;) CG Girls Lily Lui, Beata Siwinski, and Bonnie Chow, three of CG's reporters at the show. No, Lily is not evil ;) Moooooo! We first found a little cow, then we found this machine! (See Lily's photos for the cow).

Tea, Baybee Yes, this is a coffee site. But isn't this photo cool? Rock on! David Halburn of CoffeeFest (right side) mugging with Lily and another 70's supah pimp ;) Rick Peyser Rick Peyser moments before cutting the opening ribbon for the SCAA Trade show floor.

I managed to take some photos during the day as well, but I had my stupid camera set to low resolution, so I apologise for the mistake! But this show is so neat and has so many things to see, I had lots of space on my camera to snap away. I hope you still enjoy these, and tell me what you'd like to see photographed tomorrow!

Sign right up! The registration booth at the show. Buy me! Cool t-shirts, and more. I heard Mark Prince actually bought the nez du cafe kit - it costs $275! OMG! The view Nice view of Pike and 8th (or is that 9th) outside the convention centre.

Speech Time. The SCAA people talking before using the biggest scissors I've ever seen. Snip! Okay, the show's over. Nothing to see here. The hall's open. Move it along. Busy! Busy crowd for sure!

Moo! I used my charm to actually get one of these cows. And so did Jeanette! And there it is! Not a few minutes later, we found a machine that matched up with my cow! Lots of goodies! I know Mark is planning a big Consumer Posting of stuff tomorrow, but here's one busy booth!

Luigi! Did you know our news editor has a crush on this man? And why not - he's very handsome! Mark! Mark Prince gets a lesson from Luigi Luppi on pouring macchiato hearts! Tamper Wow. Space. The final Frontier. These are the voyages of your 58 millimeter tamper. To press strange new coffees. To seek out the unbevelled...