A few weeks ago I went over to Atlanta with some friends for a trade show called CoffeeFest. We attended some classes... I chose business-related subjects because I think it would be fun (and scary) to start a small business. I had no idea how much capital investment is required to get a coffee shop or small cafe going, but the speaker dude said somewhere around $200-300K. I see why the failure rate for businesses serving edibles/potables is so high.

That was the kind of boring part. The EXCITING part was the expo. I assumed we would be walking around trying samples of various coffees and teas. Then I find out that the CoffeeFest is joined with the Great American Dessert Expo. YEEE-HAAA!! I had died and went to heaven.

The expo started at noon. I skipped lunch to save room for the myriad of samples offered at the expo:

Gelato, various chocolates (coffee-flavored, dark, milk, fruit fillings, etc), smoothies, candies, creme brulee, custard, ice cream, various cakes, biscotti, mints, cookies, pastries, coffees, espressos, teas, flavored sodas and beverages.

By three o'clock I was in a drunken sugar haze, and had a serious craving for salty foods. (So we visited the sushi bar that evening for dinner.)

I tried some things that weren't good, but most everything was tasty. Some of the more interesting items:

• almond milk made by Pacific Natural Foods (very good)
  
• maté (tastes like tea)
  
• matcha green tea
  
• Dr. Smoothie (which has no added sweeteners and tasted better than any other blender drink offered at the expo)
  
• Hint Mint - These mints are POTENT. The way mints should be.
  
• Wine ice cream - High quality ice cream, and it does taste like wine, and has 5% ABV. I tried all four flavors.

All in all, loads of fun, and I brought home samples to try to get people to like me. Ha ha.

This weekend I went on another food adventure and I'll write about that soon.