Pennsylvania Chocolate and Coffee Festival Review (9/28/2024)

How’s it going? Hope the coffee is flowing! Let me tell you, the coffee sure was flowing this weekend in Oaks, Pennsylvania. Today I am going to talk about my experience at the first ever Pennsylvania Chocolate and Coffee Festival, held at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania.

I attended the festival the full day Saturday with my mom and daughter, and let me tell you, the event ran like a well-oiled machine. If the festival organizers themselves didn’t market it as the first year for the event I would never have guessed. With over 100 vendors, including tons of delicious coffee and chocolate, of course, there was something for just about everybody at this event. There were 2 types of tickets available this year; a standard ticket that granted access for a single day at a cost of $16, and a VIP ticket that granted you access to both days of the event, along with a bonus hour just for VIPs on Saturday morning at a cost of $35. We opted for the single day ticket, and were able to get them for $13 during the event’s early bird special. Honestly, even at $16 dollars the price is a steal as from start to finish the event was a ton of fun.

When we arrived I was a little nervous as we got there about 15 minutes before the doors opened for general admission and there was already a pretty long line. This was the first time we saw the organization of the event in action, as instead of everyone waiting at the 2 ticket booths inside the venue they sent several staff members out to scan and check tickets in the line. This meant once the doors opened everyone could just walk directly into the event without any hold up. A job well done. We took a brief detour to get photos with the festival mascots, more on them later, but despite that and the long line we were on the festival floor within about 5 minutes of it beginning at 10 AM.

The event is organized in several rows with various types of vendors set up at tables stretching the length of the event hall. Initially I hoped that the vendors would be organized by type, but this was not the case. Each row was a mix of different types of vendors. This turned out to be another sign of great planning, as the coffee and chocolate tables tended to draw the largest crowds. If these vendors were right next to each other it likely would have caused a huge crowd and made it hard to navigate or get any samples. Again, kudos to the event organizers and staff for a job well done.

My tip for those attending is to avoid the tables in the 1st row until later in the event as we noticed the tables in the rows furthest from the door were the least crowded. The very last row also included a gluten free food truck, a mobile coffee shop, and a food stall that the event center operated.

We decided to start in the first row anyway, as one of the vendors I was specifically trying to visit, Semilla Coffee Roasters, was in that row. I will be doing a full review on their coffee, but I have to say I was glad we started there. I was able to have a great conversation with the very courteous and knowledgeable owner, and she even shared a sample of her José Giraldo pink bourbon coffee, a relatively rare coffee variant. Read more about pink bourbon coffee here. Talk about starting the event on a high note!

This is a great time to mention that despite the crowd and each table being busy, the vendors were so pleasant and almost every vendor was willing to stop and chat for a while. I will have write-ups for several of the vendors, but I also need to give a shout out to the folks at B-Cups Coffee. B-Cups Coffee donates 5% of every purchase to the Susan G. Komen foundation, what an awesome mission. They provided the other wow moment of the event for us. My incredibly strong mom is a breast cancer survivor, and she stopped at the booth just to thank them for what they are doing. The person she spoke with told her he had something special for her and stepped away to give her a box with one of their mugs in it as a gift. It was such a cool moment, and to me it showed just how much each employee cares about their mission. I cannot wait to share my review of their coffee I purchased!

Aside from those two experiences, there were a few other vendors I want to mention. Pear Tree Coffee Roasters is a company that also operates a coffee shop called 260 Bridge Cafe both of which were created to help individuals with developmental disabilities by giving them jobs. Similarly, Third Horse Coffee is currently working on raising money to open up a coffee shop with the mission of providing jobs for individuals with developmental disabilities as well. Both vendors also have great coffee! There were three veteran owned roasters there with some excellent coffee as well, shout out to Barracks Baristas, El Viajero Coffee, and Cleona Coffee Roasters, each of whom had some great offerings! Honestly, my biggest regret with the event is I can’t give each of the awesome shops the attention they deserve in my post.

The festival did a great job of creating a family friendly atmosphere as well, with activities and vendors that appeal to kids. The best of these, at least to my 20 month old, was the photo opportunities with the mascots, Chunk and Bean. As a coffee blogger, I have had a lot of proud dad moments the past few weeks, as my daughter was frequently saying how excited she was to meet Bean, a large coffee cup. No offense to Chunk, as chocolate is great, but Bean stole the show for her and any time we saw Bean she needed to go say hi. Another shout out here is to Mad Catter Coffee Roasters for giving my cat obsessed daughter a cat sticker after seeing her decked out in a cat outfit. I just had to end the event by going back and getting one of their drinks, and let me tell you they make an outstanding Americano. Check out their mobile espresso bar for your next event, you won't be disappointed.

The only downside I found with the event was that there were quite a few vendors not offering samples. This included coffee, chocolate, and other consumable goods vendors. Of course, this is not the festival’s fault at all and there were plenty of vendors offering samples which made up for it. However, I think it is bad marketing for those vendors who did not offer samples. We avoided those tables and it was clear that most other attendees avoided them as well, as most of those booths had few, if any, visitors. To me it made more sense to reward those who were willing to offer even just one sample of their product.

If you like coffee and chocolate, the Pennsylvania Chocolate and Coffee Festival is an absolute must-attend event. Honestly, there is so much to do and so many other booths that for the price it would be worth it even for those who do not like chocolate and coffee. From crafts for children, delicious snacks and baked good, to non-alcoholic (and some alcoholic) there is something for everyone to enjoy! The event is so well run and organized with an extremely fun atmosphere. We were there for over five hours and the time seriously flew by. Even if you paid the full ticket price of $16 you will get so many samples it is well worth it, just think of it as trading one Starbucks latte for 20 plus samples of actually good coffee! I didn’t keep track of how many different blends I sampled but I lost count around 25. I can say without out a doubt that I will be back again next year and am already looking forward to attending and seeing how this incredible event grows.

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Me shortly after hanging out with the awesome guys at Barracks Baristas Coffee