Portland's sunshine on a morning jog

I’ve enjoyed more than a few trips to Portland, Oregon over the years, but this trip might have been my favorite. I’ll secretly admit it’s likely because the smell of coffee may have actually drowned out the smell of other familiar Portland odors, including patchouli, rain, & sweaters that haven’t been washed in days.

Ok, ok, Portland, I’m sorry. You really are hip, fun, and, quite honestly, accepting of everything and anyone, including the random collection of thousands that landed on your doorstep for the Specialty Coffee Expo last week.

Sparkly shiny coffee things - Espresso machine from Nuova Simonelli

Hario syphon brewer. Shiny, sparkly, and flaming!

The whole event is about producing an amazing experience in that final cup that we all love to sip. Classes, lectures, events, and products, plus people in the supply chain from growers, to importers, to roasters, to café owners mingle together to learn and share.

Opening night included a speech by the president of Honduras (wait, what?) gushing about the pride his country has in sharing its coffees with the world, to a latte art “throw down” of baristas going head-to-head with stage-poured drinks. None of it stopped there, of course. This caffeine fueled weekend included numerous events featuring liquids by Portland’s best breweries and distilleries, blow-up-suit sumo wrestling, Portland’s famous food trucks, and very little sleep.

Green Coffee Grading - learning what we don't want in Specialty Coffee

Attention to the daytime classes was thankfully fueled by the Barista Guild coffee bar – a free to sip-as-much-as-you-wish coffee stand in the middle of the show that featured different coffees brewed by some of the best baristas in the country. Anyone could sit to watch the U.S. Barista, Taster, or Brewer competitions, or taste the Coffees of the Year, just to name a few side-shows happening that this 3 ring circus of coffee.

Cupping Course - you haven't lived until you hear a room of 40 slurp and spit

Only one painful memory lingers between the fun and learning, which I soon hope to erase: I found myself trapped in a 3 hour course on coffee decaffeination, with nothing in the room but decaf. Not that decaf isn’t lovely, mind you, but the timing was terrible for me and my partially hung-over, sleep-deprived self. I got through the class, test and all, but I’m going to hold that grudge for a while.

Rounding out the morning scene was my husband, enjoying his coffee next to me, while we taunted our tweenage son who was trying to pinpoint the much anticipated electronic device that he was really praying the man in a red suit had delivered. In about 30 minutes we’d all be heading off for our Christmas morning ski runs– a tradition in our family.

Gliding up the chairlift for our first run of the day, this hit me in oddly cool way –I realized at that exact moment that all across the country, people were enjoying their morning cup of Lizzy’s.

I’m pretty sure at least one other person was sipping their latte wearing some freaky 80s socks or PJ bottoms that are never allowed to be seen in public. I pictured a family that was up WAY too early, thanks only to their extra spunky 5 year old twin girls, and the grandpa who lingered in the kitchen, strategizing how to sneak another piece of bacon that his wife now forbids him to eat.

Of course I also pictured all the custom coffee labels that were being opened as gifts, and imagined all the people who would be sipping our coffees for the first time.

Yes, I had you all sipping your coffees in your frosted holiday postcard scenes….

A few days later, this picture landed in my email in box.

Rob Landis, enjoying his morning cup of Lizzy's while climbing Aconcagua "Some things are just too important to compromise on."

Not only did it make me feel like a big sandbagger for using my home espresso machine to make my coffee, but it also drew my attention to the fact that on Christmas morning I was actually getting a motor driven ride UP the mountain, which made me a double sandbagger.

Why? Well, this picture was taken on the route up Acongogua. For those of us needing a nudge on our 5th grade geography, that is the highest peak in the Americas. Yes, sissy friends, that’s 22,841 feet of mountain in Argentina, all of which Rob Landis and his friends climbed over the holidays.

December 26th at an elevation of 19,100 feet, Rob enjoyed his morning cup of Lizzy’s, as he’d been doing every morning of his climb.

His friends on the trip looked at him oddly when he first unveiled his 12 oz bag of coffee, as they were a little stumped. What kind of mountain dude ever packs an ounce more than necessary! Maybe all those years of mountain adventure had finally pushed him to the side of crazy. Or, maybe just the opposite happened.

When his climbing mates asked him in disbelief, “You brought coffee?”
Rob’s reply to them simply says it all. “You didn’t?”

Rob, you definitely took the prize for best holiday sipping moment.

We have to give a big shout to all the cool photographers who have shared a sliver of their lives with us on the coffee labels this year. Not every picture we receive is lucky enough to make it to the coffee labels (boo hoo) but it really is the best part of every month when we get to unveil the new month’s collection of winning pictures on our coffees.

Nothing makes us more happy than hearing that a cup of our coffee made someone’s day great. The coolest part is that our photographers are right there with us, in kitchens across the country, bringing a little giggle to everyone who gets a bag of Lizzy’s Fresh Coffee. That just rocks.

At year’s end, we leave it up to all our customers and photographers, and their friends and family to vote for the favorite cover shots from the year’s featured pictures. As a last goodbye to the year, these best of the best pictures are on the coffees one last time during the month of December.

So, without further ado, here are the winners you’ve voted Best of the Year for 2011. Congratulations!

Photo: Tara Reifenheiser
Now get out of bed and let's go play!

Photo: Joy Elizabeth Effie
She's been training for this day.

Photo: Waisan Cho
If only my tongue were just one-more-inch...

Photo: Joy Elizabeth Effee
What, mom, you GAVE me the cake.

Photo: Joy Elizabeth Effie
Uhg, these makeup artists just don't know how to get my gloss right.

Photo: Marco Martinez
Swinging with some serious style

++++++++++++ All winning photographers, plus 3 lucky voters have won a coffee gift box of 2 oz coffees, featuring each winning label, and a Lizzy’s mug.

Do you want to enter one of your pictures for a chance to be featured on our coffee in 2012? Do it here: Lizzy’s Fresh Coffee Label Contest