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CoffeeCon is a festival for coffee enthusiasts. CoffeeCon travels to major coffee cities in the United States. It was created by coffee author and video producer Kevin Sinnott,[1][2] who wrote the book The Art & Craft of Coffee and produced a how-to video called Coffee Brewing Secrets.
History
While working on specialized projects, Sinnott noticed several industry business-to-business coffee events such as the Specialty Coffee Association of America and the National Coffee Association. While some local coffee shops were holding brewing seminars, there were no large scale festivals exclusively for coffee consumers. He decided to turn his book and his video into a live event. He created CoffeeCon as a place where coffee enthusiasts could taste samples from regional coffee roasters side-by-side, learn about coffee from national and local coffee experts and attend coffee topic classes on almost every brewing method.[citation needed] He began hosting live events, called coffee meet-ups.
The first CoffeeCon was held on February 25, 2012, and started with a grant for the local tourism commission in Warrenville, IL.[3][4][5] It attracted over 1,000 consumers. The second event was held on May 4, 2013, again, in Warrenville, IL [6][7][8] In 2014, CoffeeCon expanded to other cities and states. On April 12, 2014, it was held at the Zhou B Art Center in Chicago, IL.[9][10] Art elements and a Writer's Roundtable Panel to discuss the topic of new media writing were added to the event. Another event was held in San Francisco on July 26, 2014, at Terra Galleries.[11][12][13]
CoffeeCon LA was held on November 8, 2014, at Mack Sennett Studios in Silver Lake. Mack Sennett was a silent movie director and produced the KeyStone Cops. Kevin Sinnott stated "It was like a coming home."[citation needed] I believe Mack would be proud that another Sinnott was at work in his studio.
