2013 Caffeine Crawl

Are you a coffee fiend? Do you know someone who is?

Maybe you like coffee but only know how to make it in your BUNN – no problem.

This week we’ve got an event for all kinds of caffeine lovers that is sure you help you out – the 2013 Caffeine Crawl presented by the LAB. The Oklahoma City Caffeine Crawl takes place this weekend on the 16th, along with the event in OKC, the LAB also host similar events in St. Louis and Boston.

“The Caffeine Crawl was inspired by two things,” Jason Burton from the LAB told us. “The pub crawl concept and this type of event missing with coffee and chocolate, but basically we thought there was a void with the connection of high end coffee and consumers. Our goal was to break down that barrier.”

We’ll be honest, this kind of event was new to WeHeartOKC too, but we were intrigued.

This Crawl will stretch from Edmond to Norman, the home of the University of Oklahoma. All six participating shops have a focus on community and quality products while delivering a great experience. Each shop brings a unique approach to what they do. If you are into amazing coffee, tea and chocolate, then you will not want to miss this event. This might be the biggest quality focused coffee-related event in the state’s history.

The Crawl is set up with three different routes visiting each stop at different times. Each route will be divided into groups of 30-35 ticket holders to keep the Crawl intimate and organized. This way shops can manage the crowds and give each attendee the best behind-the-scenes experience possible. You will know your route when you purchase your ticket and receive a follow-up email. You can only participate in the Caffeine Crawl if you have a ticket.

“I’m a real upfront person and not to hurt feelings in other cities, but this Crawl has so much excitement building from ticket holders,” Burton said. “That gets our team pumped up and I personally love putting extra energy to heighten the experience when the crowd is pumped. These 2nd tier cities don’t get the attention they deserve, and there’s an amazing amount of food and beverage talent at these 6 stops. What will make OKC so special is the diversity, coffee, tea and chocolate – plus, two places pairing foods.”

The event kicks off at 11am, sharp, and concludes at 4pm at Cafe Evoke with a group get together and raffle for industry prizes that immediately follows. Proceeds from the raffle go to the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma.

“This is an area I wish we could get the whole city involved,” Burton said. “We don’t make much on the Crawls, but invest about an average of 120 hours per Crawl. We want to give back through these events and we found this to be the best way and the money goes directly in the charity’s donation funds. Angie Gaines of RFBO approached us and it was a no-brainer. We hope to have 10-15 fun raffle items and the high-end grinder company, Baratza has donated a $550 coffee grinder (nicer than the one I have at home) for this event – Can’t say enough about companies that do that. Every Crawl ticket holder receives a ticket in their goody bag, but can purchase additional ones.”

In case you can’t make it this Caffeine Crawl don’t worry, Jason assured us there will be more opportunities to take part in this unique experience.

“We have 8 scheduled for 2013,” Burton concluded. “We produced 5 last year, which was our first complete year. Our plan is to go international in 2014 and hopefully have a Crawl a month. We’ll see. That’s up to sponsors, profits and growing our team. And for the record, our team is awesome, a great cast.”

*Tickets are sold out, but come out to support Regional Food Bank of OK, Cafe Evoke and the community on Saturday at 4p. Giving to RFBO has nothing to do with us, but it’s a really good thing for people to do; add coffee, chocolate, good odds on prizes and Cafe Evoke’s offerings to that and it’s a no-brainer.