April 18 and 19 -- SCAA Conference in Portland, OR
Arrived Wednesday afternoon in Portland. The Hilton where the Symposium was taking place was downtown not far from the Willamette River. Started meeting people I know (Christian Schaps from Guatemala) as I walked up the sidewalk. It is fun how over the years so many people from all over the globe become friends!  Another great spontaneous meeting was when I saw Michael and his wife from Berlin Germany! Michael and I met coincidentally at the BGA Championship at SCAA Houston (2011).

Portland World Trade Center

During the Welcome reception on Thursday evening, I visited with a QGrader instructor and friend from Korea. Also picked up a few insights on the topics discussed at the Symposium. Apparently the editor of the New York Times food page said that specialty coffee as an industry should stop comparing themselves to wine.  In his opinion the best wines are so much better than the best coffees, that they're not even comparable. Wonder what our industry said to that?!