It felt inevitable that we’d meet over coffee, given that coffee was the main point of the conversation. Bonnie Mann ordered first—a cortado—which she described as two ounces of espresso and two ounces of steamed milk, also known as a Gibraltar. She learned about it from a Kaldi’s barista who swore it was a barista favorite.

I followed her lead. When you’re sitting across from the queen of coffee, you pay attention. Mann doesn’t bill herself as a coffee scientist or a roasting expert, but she has mastered something arguably more important: the art of listening. She notices what people love, what brings them together and how to build an experience that feels both intentional and inviting—one cup at a time.

That instinct is at the heart of STLCoffeeFest, which Mann founded and runs, and which returns this year bigger than before. After drawing roughly 1,000 people in its debut last year, the festival is expanding from one day to two, a clear signal that St. Louis’ thirst for all things coffee is only growing.

“I was turning vendors away. I was turning customers away,” Mann said of the inaugural festival. “That’s when I knew I had something that was worth repeating and expanding.”

The Coffee Fest returns to 18Rails at City Foundry STL on Saturday, Feb. 28 with an additional half day on Sunday, March 1. The decision to extend the festival wasn’t about ambition as much as logistics. With roughly 7,000 square feet to work with and no ability to add more vendors to the footprint, adding a second day was the only way to meet demand.

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Last year’s biggest takeaway, Mann said, was the sense of collaboration that defined the event. Rather than competition, local roasters and cafés worked side by side, creating a welcoming atmosphere that drew attendees from across St. Louis and beyond. About 20 local coffee businesses are returning this year, joined by a half-dozen or so new vendors offering coffee syrups, portable flavor packets, matcha, chai, tea and locally made food, including espresso- and cappuccino-flavored cheesecakes.

But this year’s festival isn’t just bigger — it’s deeper.

New for year two are how-to demonstration sessions, responding to a growing trend Mann has noticed: people are investing in good beans and brewing more at home. Rising café prices have made consumers curious about how to replicate their favorite drinks in their own kitchens, and Coffee Fest is leaning into that curiosity.

Demos will feature everything from cold brew basics — which can be as simple as a mason jar and the right ratios — to elevating the entire at-home coffee experience. Thirty-minute workshops will explore topics like what it really takes to open a coffee shop, and the broader state of the coffee industry, including pricing trends and what’s ahead for local cafés.

For those who want to go hands-on, small-group classes in the venue’s commercial kitchen will offer instruction from baristas at Blueprint and Upshot Coffee. Attendees can learn pour-over techniques (a style of brewing) or participate in cupping sessions — the professional method of tasting coffee to evaluate flavor, consistency and roast profiles.

There’s even a workshop devoted to coffee cocktails, reflecting the growing interest in espresso tonics, coffee-infused spirits and creative nontraditional pairings. “It’s not just espresso martinis,” Mann said. “There’s a whole realm.”

All of it fits neatly with how Mann sees coffee itself — not just as fuel, but as a social connector.

“There’s a social side to coffee, which is why coffee shops are so popular. They’re a destination,” she said. “People go to meet, to talk, to study, to write. That environment is like a warm hug.” The festival, she added, is about taking that feeling and amplifying it. “Everywhere you turn is something adjacent to coffee. I call it coffee heaven.”

Mann’s path to creating that heaven was anything but direct. She spent 25 years in corporate America, working in marketing, event production and corporate philanthropy, all while nurturing a quiet love for food and coffee on the side. After her husband, John Mann, died in 2011 from brain cancer at the age of 45, Mann found herself a single parent with two young daughters. In that role, she admits, she wasn’t much of a risk-taker. Stability mattered.

That changed after a layoff in February 2024. With her daughters grown — now 19 and 22 — and her corporate chapter closing, Mann decided it was finally time to pursue what had been simmering for years. A trip to the country’s largest coffee trade show in Chicago that April proved catalytic. The event drew 30,000 industry professionals. Mann came home giddy.

“I kept telling people it was like coffee heaven,” she said. “But that show was purely for the trade. As I was describing it to friends, a light bulb went off. I thought, ‘Why don’t we do this for consumers?’”

She discovered similar festivals existed elsewhere, but that only strengthened her resolve. St. Louis, she believed, had the community to support one of its own. With her background in large-scale event planning, she felt confident she could pull it off. The first STLCoffeeFest took place exactly one year to the day after her layoff — a milestone that felt both deliberate and full-circle.

Today, Mann, 56, and a member of Central Reform Congregation, also works at Kaldi’s as a bakery specialist, grounding her festival work in the daily rhythms of the coffee world. She’s clear-eyed about the future, too. While she’s open to growth — perhaps a summertime cold brew event or a festival farther west — she’s careful not to oversaturate. “It’s not an event you do too frequently,” she said.

For now, the focus is on getting it right. Creating something warm, communal and distinctly St. Louis. One cup at a time.

For a schedule of events and tickets, which start at $40, go to stlcoffeefest.com.

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