Elite Event: Backstage Pass to Brewing

It was a nice event on a lazy Sunday. I’m not a big coffee drinker so I didn’t get to fully enjoy myself on the coffee the offered. But like at the other Elite events, I enjoyed this. I got to meet my bro Phanzi here the first time. Also, James H. dances pretty well to the cool Jazzy sounds of Batdorf and Bronson.

This was a very unique event, and perfect for a beautiful Sunday afternoon. My friend and I arrived around 3pm and the brewing was in full swing. The brewers were clearly knowledgeable and dedicated without being coffee nazis. The brief tour was really interesting, and I enjoyed the opportunity to satisfy my curiosity about how coffee becomes decaffeinated.
When we got to the bar, the brewer nicely accomodated our request for cappuccinos made with coffee instead of espresso – I know we’re a pain, and explained each step in the process. Very professional! The Ethiopian blend was delicious and I could really taste the blueberry notes. Loved that the foam was swirled into heart and tulip shapes.
We od’ed on some sugar with the pastries and sweets, then took our coffees out to sit on the ledge overlooking the parking lot. Not much of a view, but a great spot to enjoy the gorgeous weather.
Thanks for the hospitality, Atlanta Unilocal and Batdorf and Bronson!

The coffee was excellent indeed, but my entourage and I found this Unilocal event to be underwhelming, compared to previous Elite events.
Recommendation: A larger variety of snacks would be great.

Who knew that entering a parking lot with a loading dock and warehouse exterior would open up into a world of caffeinated coffee connoisseurs! What a great event!
First, I got my espresso fix with a double-​shot cappuccino perfectly made and topped with a heart designed from milk foam. Super strong, tasty and smooth. It went perfectly with the chocolate dipped macaroons provided by Maison. Even though I probably dehydrated myself after that double shot, I didn’t stop there. I had to try the carefully crafted drip coffees. I had the pleasure of watching and listening to the barista explain the intricate steps of making the perfect coffee using the clever coffee aparratus. Generally, I add some milk or half and half to my drip, but not here. The coffee was so high quality and tasteful that I didn’t dare to alter the taste with any extraneous ingredients like milk or sugar. Perfect! There was also a good selection of PBR, Yuengling, sodas and water for those not coffee-​inclined or needing something cold to wet their palate.
The snacks were great too! Macaroons, chocolates and the dessert provided by Imperial Fez were awesome!
In addition to the coffee bar education, we also received a great tour of the warehouse with a nice description of the coffee roasting process. The staff were all incredibly friendly and welcoming. I was amazed at how encouraging they were for us to come back for additional tours and tastings.
The background music was great and really helped set the mood.
As always, thanks to Kathleen and Ken (and all the other behind-​the-​scenes folks) who planned this great event!

The best coffee I’ve had in my life, I’m almost sure of it! I mean my cup of _​_​_​_​_​_​ (insert big named coffee company here) tastes nothing like what I had at B&B! The guys there were very informative of what goes into brewing and roasting and I found it very interesting.
The sweets from Maison and the pastries from Imperial Fez (the chef was sooo nice!) were delicious. And where else can you dance to coffee roasters playing the bongo’s on a spring like day in February?

This event was totally like drinking Redbull and vodka. Except it was espresso and Yeungling. But basically the same effect. Holla!
I enjoyed the afternoon here at Batdorf & Bronson Roasters. Fun crowd, as usual (with video of Vanessa T. James H. shaking it to the live music to prove it); chill atmosphere; nice music; good coffee; cold beer. What’s not to love?
The open garage doors and 70+ sunny weather was the whipped cream on top of a great afternoon.

This event was wonderful. It provided me with a chance to catch up with new friends as well as relax and enjoy a cool, sunny day. This was also the most comfortable event I’ve attended. The mix of relaxing music, yummy petite desserts, and casual conversation was a welcome break in my usual Sunday of house cleaning and yard work.
All of the food was yummy, but I have to say a special thanks to Maison for those pieces of chocolate-​covered, coconut deliciousness. If I were a criminal, I’d have dumped them all in my purse and run off with them.
I don’t drink coffee, but I enjoyed our brief tour and explanation of the history of the company and how they roast their beans. I really enjoyed the explanation of how coffee is decaffeinated because I am a nerd.
That band was perfect for the event, providing a relaxing, yet upbeat background. I’m bummed I missed the dancing, but I had yard work to do.
And last but not least, I didn’t have to pay for parking. I think this is a first for the Elite events I’ve attended, and I was so pleased, little parking cheapskate that I am.
Thanks to all involved for a perfectly lovely Sunday afternoon!

What a nice change of pace from Masquerade. I enjoyed the cozy utilitarian confines of Batdorf & Bronson. The space reminded me of Red Brick Brewing Company because we were inside a warehouse/​brewery in Westside. The loading dock garage doors were open — perfect for the great weather we had yesterday.
It was fascinating to watch the Ethiopian coffee being manually brewed. What a meticulous process it is. I’m not a huge coffee drinker (I drink one cup each morning at work), but I really savored the cup I was served at B&B. I sampled their espresso as well. High quality stuff. The sweet fruity bites from Imperial Fez were an appropriate complement to the caffeine. With this being my late and unhealthy breakfast, I’m surprised I didn’t get jittery. The tour of the brewery was fun and getting an up-​close look at the machinery behind the brewing and roasting processes was interesting. Kudos to the live musicians and Vanessa T. and James H. for gettin’ jiggy with it!
I liked the small venue because it made for a more intimate event and I was able to catch up with many of my fellow Elites. I was also able to meet some Elites I’m friends with online, but had never met in person. These include Michelle B, Christopher P, and Bobbin W. Thanks to Broderick S. for photographing and thanks as always to Ken T. for interning and Empress Kathleen for organizing a fantastic event!
#Yelp365 — ⁵⁹⁄₃₆₅

I completely agree w everyone, I enjoyed the relaxing, laid-​back atmosphere of this event. It was a really pleasant way to spend a part of my Sunday afternoon. The coffee was EXACTLY what I needed after a Saturday night escapade. I am not a coffee aficionada, but I gained so much appreciation for the process that goes into making coffee. It was very interesting to learn about the process, technique, and logic behind brewing coffee. Even the coffee filter was rinsed w/​boiling water before preparing the coffee. Holy shite! I really admire the effort and conscientiousness of the brewers. Thank you Batdorf and Bronson so much for taking your time to share your knowledge w us. It’s very refreshing to see how passionate you are about coffee!
The sweets from were a great compliment to the coffee. And $ 20 off discount!!! HOLLA!!! I really enjoyed the great music as it got James H., Vanessa T., the young Adam E. and his mama, and others on the floor.
As always it was great to catch up w Unilocalers, in particular, Christopher P., Laurie P., Cynthia N., future Unilocalers in the making Zinnia and Adam, and I guess Tom C.
Thank you Batdorf and Bronson, Kathleen, Ken, and others for another great event. YOU.ROCK.MY.TOESIES.

I have to agree with David K. those tiny mugs were adorable.
This was the first time I’ve drank coffee black and was very happy for the dark and milk chocolate available. Using the cheese technique I learned for wine tasting/​pairing helped cut the bitterness and allowed for the undertones to shine for me.
I tried both of the roasts in drip coffee and various espresso formats. I started out with a macchiato using Ethopian roast which I found to be a little bitter but went very well with dark chocolate. I didn’t like the drip coffee of the Ethopian roast but I think it would go well with the spices used in the Ethopian coffee ceremony. For that matter, any of the spiced coffee’s would work.
The Colombian surprised me since I am not usually a fan as it’s usually a very dark roast. This one is mild and both the latte and drip coffee I had were excellent. The manual brewing technique was intriguing and took surprisingly little time. I found I could drink the drip coffee sans chocolate if I wanted but both the milk and dark chocolate when well with it.
The tour was cool & it was interesting learning about the roasting process. I will be back to check it out during the week to see it action. I enjoyed the music and chocolate but wasn’t able to try anything else. Will see if the Moroccan place has GF options as it would be cool to have a 5 course meal there. It was definitely a coffee house vibe with the music, chocolate, pastries, and good conversations. Thanks Joe L for getting me to come out to this and brunch before hand.

I didn’t know you could get drunk off coffee. guess I wasn’t drinking the real stuff until now :)
Amaaaazing coffee, and those coconut sweet treats were all the rage. I am jittery out of my mind, but so happy I came.
Thanks Elite for spoiling us once again, I had a great time!

I’ll keep it short and sweet today.
Great event: Helpful and informative coffee roasters. Delicious Coffee. Tasty chocolate + coffee option. Unilocal Swag. Add it together and it equals awesome.
Why 4 stars? Some jerk (hopefully not a fellow Unilocaler!) parked their car less than 4 inches away from ours on the drivers side while leaving him or herself ample room on his or her driver’s side. Not the fault of the event but annoying none the less.

Hitting Batdorf and Bronson was a great followup to a heavy brunch. While I’m not much of a coffee drinker, learning the background of the roasters and seeing all the effort the folks from B&B was a grand time. Many thanks to Kathleen, Ken, and the crews from Imperial Fez and Batdorf and Bronson!
More people needed to dance, though.

I like to dance in warm warehouses to the barefoot jams of coffee roasters who moonlight as world jazz assassins.
As a blasphemous Colombian, I can’t speak to the coffee. I hate that shit. But everyone was really attentive and lovely. I enjoyed the Imperial Fez and Maison Roberts treats, meeting Zinnia, catching up with some people, making new friends, and shaking it with Adam.
I just like small spaces full of shiny Unilocalers and this event delivered.
5 sweaty, chocolate coated stars.

What a great change of pace to match with the nice spring afternoon. Sampling coffee, coconut biscuits and mingling with great Unilocalers is awesome!
Thanks Unilocal Empress!

I am so utterly flattered to have a Unilocal event custom-​made for *me*! Or at least it felt that way even before I met the people of Batdorf & Bronson. Now I *know* it was custom made for me.
I remember reading many vehement discussions about establishing a «consumer class» membership to the Specialty Coffee Association of America. I was a poor grad student, so I was only reading then. The push to open membership to us home folk was difficult, and Mike Ferguson was a champion for the idea on the SCAA board. I honestly had forgotten about much of that until *MEETING HIM TODAY*! WOO-​HOO! Then as now, he’s a voice for us lowly «pro-​am» consumers, and he’s Batdorf & Bronson’s business development director right here! (Little late edit: I didn’t recognize him. This came up while we chatted. And all y’all know *I’m* not the one who started up a conversation. He invited me to look around the roasters when he saw me peeking.)
And then the roasters and brewers… Many of those who went on the tour may not have realized what they offered. Aaron Shively opened their cupping sessions to the public, even when they’re experimenting with roasts. That shows both confidence in their own abilities and an honest interest in the community at large. I’m looking forward to visiting one when I can (possibly teaming up with Heather N’s husband for courage). Jason Dominy showed his hard-​core, award-​winning brewing method. The other brewers (I apologize for not catching names!) also were excellent and very, *very* open to explaining their methods and their reasons.
Being this open is, um, not entirely common; many people want to keep their magic to themselves.
I loved being able to compare a single origin Yirgacheffe in two utterly different ways. They’re right that this roast via an espresso brew would make an amazing cappuccino. I tend to prefer a really, really light hand on my Yirgacheffe and Harar roasts, but I also roast only for myself and can risk screwing up my tiny batches. I expect the espresso brewing, however, would only work this Full City (–ish, I’m splitting hairs) roast.
Another little thing that I didn’t hear otherwise mentioned: B&B supports Coffee Kids (
), a charity working to improve the lives of coffee-​raising families through health care, education, and even microloans.
So this Unilocal event accomplished perhaps one of the most difficult aspect of these events: putting people in contact with each other. Other cool coffee bit of which I learned indirectly today:
, a card that encourages trying many different coffee shops. Love the idea…
On the non-​coffee side: Imperial Fez’s pastries go wonderfully with a fruity coffee. Maison Roberts is Maison Roberts: well-​executed chocolate work that’s appropriate for a wide range of tastes. They’re well-​known for that, and this is what you’d expect. The little plain cookies that weren’t eaten up served as pretty good palate cleansers between coffee tastings, too.

I thought the event was great. Not because I hosted it, but because there were SO many people interested in learning more about coffee. Also, it wa a more laid back vibe than the other events, so there was more talking, and people actually got to get to know each other better. Plus, there were kids, which was cool to see. Also, the Moroccan food was awesome, as were the other snack foods. So great to meet and make coffee for so many great Unilocalers. I have to say, it made me especially more proud to live in Atlanta. So many awesome folks came out.
Kudos to all! Hope to see you again soon, I guess I should start working on getting more reviews down! :-)

What a lovely, chill way to spend the afternoon: delicious coffee, cappuccino, and espresso brewed by gracious hosts, accompanied by decadent sweet treats, accented by live music, all shared with some pretty awesome people. I agree with Zack E. in that I prefer the smaller scale elite events because I think they provide a better opportunity to catch up with fellow Unilocalers.
My elite friends in other cities were jealous when I told them about this event earlier in the week, and they’ll be even more jealous when I tell them the execution was even better than the anticipation. Five stars all-​around. Thanks Kathleen and B&B!

I come from a family of insane coffee addicts (from people that roast and discuss crema to my Dad who would take coffee over food), so I do appreciate serious coffee.
Love all the sweet, beautiful Unilocalers, with everyone in especially good moods from the perfect weather, coffee, chocolate, pastries, beer and music.
It was great to have espresso, cappuccino and drip choices, and I sampled them all. Might not sleep this week.
Cheers~

I ordered one of the espresso shots because I liked the tiny coffee mug. Truth be told, drinking it was like sucking on a coffee bean. It was like liquid crack. Well, not the liquid crack you get these days. The good stuff…
Later in the afternoon while sharing my observation I learned that I should have eaten chocolate along with every sip (kinda like cheese to wine… thanks, Natasha O). Having all the chocolate there makes more sense now. I really enjoyed the delicious desserts from Imperial Fez. It was like candy, but actually fruit. Yum!
I liked this event because it was a little more low-​key and people could bring their kids. I finally got to meet Zinna (Heather N’s prodigy child) and I got to see Adam again (of Zach & Rachel E. fame). Also, it was really easy to talk to people. The band playing also roasts the coffee and they were the perfect coffee and beer sipping accompaniment.
Thanks to Kathleen M. and Ken T. for a lovely Sunday afternoon!