A Brew-ti-ful Night At Yelp’s Brewed Awakening

 

 

Guests at the event were treated to free samples from over 30 different vendors, and only encouraged to bring donations for a group behind CreativeMornings/Buffalo! This volunteer-run group does fantastic work celebrating creative minds in Buffalo. Each second Friday of the month, they host a free breakfast speaker series to encourage developing new connections amongst every walk of creative life in the city!

 

Some would say the main attraction was the coffee – and with such a great selection of samples to choose from, it’s no wonder we didn’t get any sleep Monday night! Coffee roasters at the event included Public Espresso, Tipico, Grateful Grind, Undergrounds Coffee House and Roastery, Perks Cafe, Caffeology, SpoT Coffee, Roots Coffee & Tea, Ashker’s Juice Bar and Steamworks Coffee. Guests were raving about Public Espresso’s dark roast coffee, Grateful Grind’s nitro coffee, Undergrounds’ peppermint hot chocolate, Perks Cafe’s mint coffee shake, and Steamworks’ Ethiopian Coffee. Hardly a plain roast in the house, and so many unique samples!

 

There was something for everybody at Yelp’s Brewed Awakening – not just the coffee lovers! We invited local tea brewers, top-notch bakers, liquor sellers, and artisan crafters to show their stuff at the event! Tea vendors included Aera Tea, Big Norwegian Kombucha, Snowy Owl Kombucha, and The Soul In Bloom – Tea Apothecary. Aera Tea brought teas from all around the world to the festival! Euro Cafe Imports came to support the coffee and tea community from Rochester with some fantastic chai and information.

 

The desserts were delicious! We enjoyed sweet and savory treats from Genevieve’s Cheesecakes, Biscotti For Everybotti, Jeca Bars, Lewiston Jellies, Power City Eatery, The Sweet Whisk, and What’s Pop-in’ Gourmet. Genevieve Cheesecakes’ Loganberry Cheesecake was the talk of the festival, few were brave enough to try Lewiston Jellies’ Ghost Pepper Jelly, and Power City Eatery’s delicious bagel spread tantalized taste buds!

 

On the opposite side of local brews, we also invited a couple of alcohol vendors to sample during the event, which included Buffalo Distilling Co., Lockhouse Distillery, and Cardinal Spirits. Buffalo Distilling Co.’s seasonal vodkas were super popular for the holidays, including Peppermint Vodka and Krupnik. For the taste of coffee with even more of an extra zing, Lockhouse offered up samplings of their Coffee Liqueur. Cardinal Spirits, an Indiana-based distillery, showed off their canned cocktails and sampled shots of their spirits as well, including a well-regarded coffee liqueur.

 

With the holidays coming up, it wouldn’t have been a winter festival without some local artisans! Alpine Made, Splash on Canvas Art, StudioHue DIY Parties, Sasmita Batik Indonesia, and ShopCraft also made an appearance at Yelp’s Brewed Awakening.

 

We also invited Common Roots Urban Farm & Farmer Pirates Compost to collect composting during the event, and spread the word about local farming in Buffalo’s East Side! RPSS Publishing, a local book publishing company, also made an appearance during the event

 

Musical entertainment throughout the night came from White Hot Brass Band, filling Yelp’s Brewed Awakening with New Orleans-style street music, as well as Elmwood Village Entertainment, DJing the night away!

 

The big event during the festival was the Latte Art Throwdown! Guests were able to sign up and compete against one another to be the top Latte Artist of Yelp’s Brewed Awakening! A huge thanks to the sponsors of the event, Whole Latte Love for the machines and second place prize, SpoT for the beans, Elmhurst Milk for the non-dairy hemp milk, and Rainbow Air for providing the first place prize – a helicopter ride over the falls for two! Phoenix from SpoT Coffee took the title with pride! Congrats, Phoenix!

 

Yelp’s Brewed Awakening was an absolute smash hit! If you’re sad you missed out, or you want to relive the night of coffee-filled magic, then check out the Yelp reviews and photos from the event!