The brainchild of coffee experts Diana Mnatsakanyan-Sapp and Matt Dudley, Charlotte’s first ever coffee festival, Pour, will provide the community with the opportunity to celebrate and get to know the specialty coffee culture of the Southeast.
It all started with an idea. After visiting Dallas and stumbling upon Dallas’s Coffee Day Festival Dudley decided he wanted to do something similar in the growing community of Charlotte. He enlisted the help of Specialty Coffee Association Certified Barista Diana Mnatsakanyan-Sapp.
“I called Diana, who I had met through the Charlotte Coffee Collective, and she has really taken off with the idea,” Dudley shares. “So that was kind of our inspiration behind it, bringing something to the Charlotte community that really highlights our local speciality coffee scene, and how it differentiates itself from your everyday coffee.”
Pour will include over a dozen local and regional coffee roasters, educators, craftspeople. The festival owners hope to leave festival-goers with more knowledge of coffee than they came in with.
Dudley and Mnatsakanyan-Sapp aren’t just talking about change—they are making change. In collaboration with WINCC: a coffee competitor resource library and fund that supports those not traditionally represented, Pour hopes to help continue to make the coffee profession accessible to people from all walks of life.
“In coffee there are organizations that exist that have lots of momentum and a lot of support,” Mnatsakanyan-Sapp says. “I don’t think that happens in a lot of other industries. That’s why I’ve chosen to stay in coffee, why I’ve chosen to make it my career, and why I am committed to making it great.”
The festival is also partnering with Pure Intentions to compost all of its coffee waste and reduce paper waste by providing tasting mugs.
Pour isn’t just a coffee festival—it’s the coffee festival, and its foundation is full of heart. Whether your looking to enjoy endless coffee with your friends or learn about specialty coffee in a fun way, Pour is the place to be.
Update: Pour is now sold out!
