001: Coffee Tasting with an Award Winning Local Barista

We’re almost at 500 Coffees & Conversations in the Comox Valley, and we’d love to celebrate with you at our very first group event!

Over all those coffees, we’ve been discovering how much the people around us have to share. We thought: why not give our members a chance to share something they love with a whole room of neighbours?

So we’re trying a new seasonal event series called:Taste. Teach. Talk.

The idea is simple: for every event we want to:Taste something.Learn something.Talk to someone.

The first member we asked to share was Vladimir, an award-winning barista, a fellow Coffee & Conversations member, and now the person behind the coffee at Gladstone. He’s worked around the world and spent the last five years in Dubai and before that Egypt and France.

When we asked what he’d love to share with our community, he offered to host a tasting: five coffees, stories from his travels, and a chance to discover what we’ve all been drinking.

What better way to kick things off than with the thing that brought us together?

Join us at Gladstone on Saturday, November 14, from 10–11:30 am.

Here’s what’s in store:

☕ TASTEExplore five coffees from five different worlds of flavour, from rich and bold to sweet and fruity.

We’ll slow down, breathe in the aromas, and notice what changes from cup to cup. What can we smell? What can we taste? Does it feel light and smooth, or rich and full? Which one makes us want another sip?

🧠 TEACHVladimir will help us build our palates or, simply put, get better at noticing flavours and finding what we like.

Learn how where beans grow, how they’re processed, and how they’re roasted shape what’s in your cup. You’ll also learn what to look for when buying beans and hear stories from Vladimir’s journey from Dubai to the Comox Valley.

💬 TALKWe’ll ask everyone two quick questions before and after the tasting. So we can see how much better you can spot flavours, and how much clearer you are about the coffee you love, before and after the event. We will compare tasting notes, ask Vladimir your questions, and get to know what the locals around us think too.

You might taste something someone else missed. You might love a coffee they don’t. That’s part of the fun, discovering something together.

The details

When: Saturday, November 14, 10–11:30 amWhere: GladstoneTickets: $25 for members · $35 for non-members

Just 25 tickets. First come, first served!

We’re keeping this one small. If there’s enough interest, we’ll host a second tasting for sure.

Special note: All ticket money goes toward paying our local hosts and covering event costs. And coffee is just the beginning. We’ll explore other topics in future events and ask you what you might love to share. A skill, a passion, something you could talk about for hours? We’d love to hear it.

Love,Maxine & Marie-Clowww.comoxcoffees.world

P.S. A big thank-you to Gladstone’s owners, Alexandra Stephanson and Daniel Sharratt, for helping us host. We’re excited to welcome Gladstone as an official community partner!