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Coffee Fest with Espresso Martini Bar and Live Music Coming to Kips Bay

By Shaye Weaver | September 4, 2015 2:11pm | Updated on September 8, 2015 8:50am
 The inaugural New York Coffee Festival comes five years after it began in London and two years after it expanded to Amsterdam.
The inaugural New York Coffee Festival comes five years after it began in London and two years after it expanded to Amsterdam.
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Allegra Events

KIPS BAY — Coffee junkies, baristas and enthusiasts will be able to spend an entire weekend getting their fill of joe at the first-ever New York Coffee Festival.

The new event — which will be held at the 69th Regiment Armory at 68 Lexington Ave. on on the weekend of Sept. 25 — will feature more than 70 coffee, food and brewing equipment vendors, an espresso martini bar, live music and a "coffee masters" competition, among many other activities.

"One of the best things about it is that it is not the traditional kind of show, where you're wandering around. It's quite interactive and quite hands-on," said Michaela Clement-Hayes, a representative of Allegra Events, which is organizing the event. "And you can drink as much coffee as you can possibly cram in."

Coffee roasters from Bluestone Lane Coffee, Brooklyn Cold Brew, Counter Culture Coffee, Gregory's Coffee and more from across the country will be brewing drinks for the event.

The festival begins with talks and presentations about the specialty coffee business on Friday, Sept. 25 for those within the coffee industry.

Then on Saturday and Sunday, the festival opens to the public. Those who attend will be able to try their hand at latte art, taste and learn about different brews and brewing techniques and take home some new skills, like how to create non-dairy beverages and pair coffee with alcohol.

Coffee experts will vie for the "Coffee Master" title, Chalait will demonstrate how to concoct a matcha hot chocolate, and Alpha Dominche will show how to create its "Steampunk Coffee" using its "Steampunk MOD²" machines.

The festival started in England five years ago and expanded to Amsterdam two years ago. Now is "the right time" to expand to the U.S., according to Clement-Hayes.

"I think the coffee scene in New York is sort of catching up," she said. "We thought 'We got London and a European city, it's time to head west to the States.'"

Doors open at 9 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday, and half of the revenue from each ticket sold will go toward Project Waterfall, an Allegra initiative that aims to bring clean water to coffee-producing countries like Tanzania and Rwanda, she said. Tickets begin at $20 and $10 for children.