Starfish Junction Productions, producer of Coffee & Tea Festival:  NYC, is getting ready to pump caffeine into the veins of Philadelphia area residents at the 1st Annual Coffee & Tea Festival: Philly.  This international extravaganza is being held on Saturday and Sunday, November 2nd and 3rd, 2013 at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center.  Producers are planning for more than fifty local, national, and international exhibitors.

The Coffee & Tea Festival: Philly is modeled after the successful Coffee & Tea Festival: NYC, which was featured on the Food Network’s hit show Unwrapped and has been running annually since 2006.  “The Coffee & Tea Festiva

 l is a celebration of everything related to coffee and tea,” said Kristyn Noren, event manager at Starfish Junction.  “It is quite a unique show in that it is open to the public and the trade.  We’ve had a sold out show the last few years in New York City so we’re expanding the show into another great east coast city where the coffee and tea culture is strong and growing,” she added.  The lineup of exhibitors, including national and local key players, is sure to delight all attendees.  Like the New York City show, the Philly show hopes to become the area’s premier tasting event. “Helping exhibitors turn attendees into customers is what we do best,” boasted Noren.

The event will include both free and fee-based programming sessions each day.  “There is something for everyone, both coffee addicts and tea lovers, at all levels,” added Noren who is hard at work finalizing the event programming.  Some of the most popular programming sessions in New York covered topics as varied as Home Roasting, Green Tea 101, Cooking with Coffee and Tea, Starting a Coffee & Tea Business, The Health Aspects of Tea & Coffee, Pairing Tea and Honey, Coffee and Chocolate, and Creating Coffee and Tea Infused Cocktails.  Programming details will be announced shortly and posted on the event website.

The event will help raise funds and awareness for Cup for Education, a non-profit group that provides help to the poor rural coffee communities of Central and Latin America.

Tickets, which include tastings from the international lineup of coffee and tea exhibitors as well as attendance at select programming sessions, can be purchased at the event website for $20 each. www.CoffeeAndTeaFestival.com.   Goodie bags will be distributed to the first 1,000 attendees each day.