Reflecting on the Specialty Coffee Industry’s Covid Response
It’s trade show season! This won’t be Loring’s first time back in the ring since the Before Times (we attended SCA Boston and WOC Milan in 2022), but 2023 feels different, somehow. The Covid-19 pandemic did a number on hundreds of businesses within the specialty coffee industry alone. This year feels like the first real breath we’ve been able to take in a long while. While we’re never going to return to the way the world worked before 2020, we’ve started to adjust to the new normal.
Which means a return to community and partnership.
It’s difficult to talk about how lucky Loring was to thrive during the height of the pandemic, mainly because luck really didn’t have all that much to do with it. Times were hard, not only for us, but for our friends and loved ones. We all watched the world change and how hard-working and capable people had to fight to maintain their livelihood. As a manufacturer, we didn’t know if we’d make it through those first few tough months.
The production floor went quiet, our beloved staff stayed home, and everything seemed to stand still. But we persevered – we all did. Pivots were made and the world spun madly on. Turns out the world continued to need its coffee. Not only at the consumer level, but all the way down the line to the baristas crafting beautiful cups, the roasters maintaining their craft, the production managers ensuring operations continued as best they could, the global shipping system, the farmers caring for their land, and the workers harvesting the coffee cherries.
A wealth of skill and knowledge waiting in the wings.
Everyone needed to keep feeding their families, so we did. More than that, we needed the comfort of the familiar, and for many of us, coffee is the most familiar thing in the world. Even when we had to stay apart, we could still share a cup.
As the curve flattens and social events without a major outbreak are a viable reality again, we’re more than ready to share that cup in person. All this to say… we’ve missed you, and we’re thrilled to see our friends and coffee family again.
With the sappiness out of the way, let’s get down to the good stuff. The “good stuff” in this case being our show schedule for the year.
Specialty Coffee Trade Shows Loring Will Attend in 2023
In 2023, Loring will be attending:
- Coffee Fest New York (Booth 2208)
- Specialty Coffee Expo – Portland, Oregon (Booth 1319)
- World of Coffee – Athens, Greece (Booth 3-D25)
- Coffee Fest Anaheim (Booth 2616)
- Melbourne International Coffee Expo (Booth C07)
- NoLa Coffee Festival – New Show! (Booth TBD)
- Coffee Fest Orlando (Booth 738)
Needless to say, we’d love to see you if you’re attending any of these shows. You may also find our representatives occasionally popping up at other shows or teaching master classes. Some of the shows will have a roaster on display or demos available if you’ve been itching to see one of our machines in person. All will have friendly Loring faces ready to say hello.
2023 feels like an entirely new world. In many ways, it is. For our part, we’re looking forward to seeing where the future takes us.
As long as it takes us back to you. What can we say, we’re feeling sentimental. See you soon!