First-Timer's Guide: Making the Most of a Coffee Festival

Never been to a coffee festival? Here’s how to do it right — from someone who’s been to a few.

Pace your caffeine

This is the most common first-timer mistake: drinking full cups at every stall and feeling wired (and then unwell) by 21:00. The coffee festival version of drinking is tasting — small sips, one or two ounces, compare and move on. Alternate with water. You’ll enjoy far more of it.

Do one hands-on session

The Amman Coffee Festival runs three:

• Coffee Cupping Lab — tasting and comparing multiple origins guided by a roaster
• Be-The-Barista Lab — pull your own espresso shot
• Coffee Roasting Experience — watch the green-to-roasted transformation live

Pick at least one. Reading about coffee teaches you vocabulary; doing teaches you everything else.

Talk to the roasters

They’re there to be talked to. Ask “what’s your most interesting bean right now?” and you’ll get a five-minute story about a farm in Ethiopia or a cooperative in Colombia. Ask “what’s the difference between this and that?” and you’ll get a tasting. Roasters at ACF are some of the most generous educators in the city.

Then stop for the music

Stake out your lawn spot before the headline set starts. Cairokee on Saturday will fill the grounds — the earlier you claim a spot, the better view you’ll have. Keep your coffee exploration to the first couple of hours, then settle in.

The overall rhythm

1. Arrive early — explore the roasters’ village before it gets crowded
2. Do a Lab session
3. Eat something — there are food vendors across the grounds
4. Find your lawn spot
5. Let the music carry the rest of the night

Come curious, leave a little obsessed. Your first festival starts at amman.coffeefestival.me · @acoffeefestival.