Future of Coffee Explored at CoffeeCon NYC

CoffeeCon may be the world's biggest consumer coffee tasting, which means each of those samples is custom brewed to the highest standards moments before you drink them. We offer onsite hands-on classes in every brewing method, and world coffee experts, even farmers giving us the skinny on all things coffee.

But our favorite of all just might be The Future of Coffee Panel, which features the top industry leaders answering hardball questions inquiring minds want to know about the world's favorite beverage.

1. Can Coffee be Sustainable? How are we going to address climate change, disease, and the bold fact that the average coffee roaster is now 60 years old and wants to get a real job next year?
2. Modernizing the brewing process Considering how important brewing is to equalize coffee to wine's complex flavors, what will the industry do to make it more intuitive and consistent cup to cup in the home? Coffee brewing with our iPhone? Controlled by your local roaster?
3. What comes after Third Wave? Second Wave = Seattle-style dark roasts and milk-laden espresso beverages, Third Wave = Sushi-light roasting and pour-over drip, What's next?
4. Should Milk and Sugar disappear? Are milk and sugar due to disappear from the consumer's taste requirements? Do you really think there's a market for coffee minus cream and sugar? Anyone also selling unsweetened chocolate?
5. Is Fresh Ground always better? Twenty years ago, most US consumers drank preground coffee from cans. Today, thanks to the specialty coffee industry's heroic stance to maintain their coffees' freshness by keeping it in bean form until moments before use, a large percentage of consumers grind their coffee. What can be done in the future to improve quality and consistency in home grinding?
6. GMOs are a fear factor in every industry that's incorporated them. Do any coffee roasters embrace the technology, or other technologies such as further hybridization?
7. Can coffee be green? What can be done to increase coffee's green footprint and reduce waste? From K-Cups to cafe paper cup waste, are there ways to go even further to make our age of great coffees environmentally sustainable?
8. Are we in an age of great coffees? Are we about to enter a greater one? Who's the coffee industry's Johnny Appleseed?

The Future of Coffee panel will take place 2 pm at CoffeeCon. Features George Howell (often called Father of Coffee's Third Wave), Cafe Grumpy's Caroline Bell, Oren's Daily Roast's Oren Bloostein. Moderated by Sprudge.com Editor Liz Clayton.