Conscious Cup hosts open house with brewing demos

Conscious Cup Coffee Roasters will host an open house from 4 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 29, at its Coffee Roasting Lab, 110 W. Woodstock St., Crystal Lake.

Whether you’re a coffee enthusiast, just curious about specialty coffee, or you’ve been visiting us for years and want to see behind the scenes, stop by the open house.

“We want to invite all the friends we’ve made over these past 18 years and visit and share what we’ve been up to,” said co-owner Michael Shipley. “It’s a great opportunity for people to go behind the scenes with specialty coffee and see how we source, sample, roast and serve all these unique coffees.”

The open house will include food, fun, and a drawing for registered attendees to win a Rancilio Espresso Machine and Grinder. Winner must be present at 6 p.m. for the drawing to win and have registered online at consciouscup.com/blogs/events/roasters-lab-open-house.

The event includes a 5 p.m. roasting demonstration led by Conscious Cup’s expert roaster, Dennis Jackson. Jackson is a former board member of the Specialty Coffee Association and Roasters Guild and has visited coffee farms around the world, including as a judge in prestigious Cup of Excellence auctions.

Other activities include coffee brewing demonstrations and coffee tasting, touring the production kitchen, where Conscious Cup prepares scratch-made syrups, chai, confections, and tests seasonal syrups and sauces, and more.

Conscious Cup Coffee Roasters, an Illinois Maker, is a micro-coffee roaster sourcing and roasting ethical and environmentally sustainable coffees since 2006. They have five retail cafes in Crystal Lake, Cary, Barrington, Palatine, and Libertyville, as well as a robust wholesale, catering, and online business. The company’s coffee roasts have achieved 20 professional ratings of 90-95 points, like wine ratings, and has twice had its roasts listed among the world’s best.