Photo by Clifford Lucas
Uppers & Downers is a festival about coffee and beer, exploring the intersection of cultures, processes, makers and communities.
At Uppers & Downers we relish the diversity and deliciousness in each category, be it coffee, beer, wine, chocolate, whatever. But as people immersed in it, we often find the most enjoyment when craft is taken out of its original context and intersects another. An unexpected taste of something delicious, a space that blurs the lines between cafe and bar, a combination that exceeds the sum of its parts, or a conversation that shifts your perspective.
Uppers & Downers started as an experiment bringing together craft beer and coffee culture, exploring the process, technique, and even origin of these ingredients. Since then it’s gone on to include cross-overs from a variety of other craft cultures, including cocktails, chocolate, and the culinary world.
This series includes events in Chicago, London and for the first time, Berlin.
We’ve assembled an incredible selection of Europe’s best roasters and brewers, and invited them to serve beautiful coffees, beers and if the urge takes them, coffee beers.
Attendees will be given a custom glass on entry, theirs to use for sampling everything at the event (no disposables). All samples are free from this point on, though our friends at Motel will have some refreshing pilsners available if guests need to take a break from the sensory assault.
Coffee Equipment Partners
For the first event in Berlin we’ve partnered with our friends Ruth Bartlett and Cory Andreen. Ruth works in interiors, set design, fashion, experience, and food menus. Cory is head of coffee at Motel Beer and in many ways an embodiment of what this series about—a brewer, and a roaster—taking technologies, markets and ingredients from each world and mixing them together.
You’re gonna have the best time.
