July 2018

Over the past very troubling 18 months, America has become increasingly hostile toward refugees and their families seeking to start a new life without living under the threat of violence. For its part, the coffee industry at large has pushed back on these encroaching hyper-nationalist tendencies in an attempt to show that a country of immigrants still welcomes immigrants. Efforts have ranged from nationwide fundraisers for the ACLU and ASAP to simple gestures of making it explicit that their cafe is a safe space for everyone.

And now Berkeley, California’s 1951 Coffee Company is looking to continue the conversation by exploring what it means to be a refugee in coffee in America. Taking place Tuesday July 24th, “Refugees Welcome? Perspectives on Inclusion in Specialty Coffee” will dive into what it means to be a refugee in America and the role the coffee industry has played in the process of resettling.

According to their website, 1951 Coffee is “a non-profit specialty coffee organization seeking to promote the well-being of the refugee community in the San Francisco Bay Area by providing job training and employment to refugees and asylees while educating the surrounding community about refugee life and issues.” For Refugees Welcome?, 1951 Coffee teamed up with the Bay Area Coffee Community (BACC) to host a panel discussion on “employing refugees in the coffee industry.” Panelists will include graduates of 1951’s barista training program that have gone on to find jobs at Blue Bottle, Dandelion Chocolate, and Mazarine Coffee who will be sharing their experiences as new baristas and new Americans.

After the panel discussion, 1951 Coffee and the BACC will “review some practical ways to implement more inclusive hiring, on-boarding, and training practices.”

Refugees Welcome? Perspectives on Inclusion in Specialty Coffee is free to attend but due to its limited capacity, 1951 Coffee asks that only coffee professionals come to the event. To register for the event, visit the Refugees Welcome? Eventbrite page. For more information, visit their Facebook event page.

Zac Cadwalader is the news editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.

Top image via 1951 Coffee.

The post Refugees Welcome? A Panel On The Perspectives Of Refugees In Coffee appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

How many times have we all fantasized about the day when we might pick up our life, pack it in a trailer, and drive towards our dreams? That’s exactly what Eighthirty Coffee Roasters founder Glenn Bell did in 2010. Finally prepared to pursue his long-held ambition of coffee roasting, and ready to move on from the cafe he was running in Wellington, it was time to head towards the land of New Zealand coffee opportunity—Auckland—and open a business all his own.

Eight years ago, Auckland was very much a city with traditional tastes—an espresso-based culture looking for consistent, full-bodied, dark chocolate long blacks and flat whites. Bell and his business partners set up a cafe and roasting space on the city’s famed K-Road (Karangahape), with the goal of building a community-based, values-centered business serving great coffee.

“I want our spaces to have a sense of discovery,” says Christy Tennent, general manager and co-owner of Eighthirty, and indeed, discovering each Eighthirty shop has its own sense of newness and wonder, with every cafe very different from the next. Eighthirty’s design team, led by architect Dominic Glamuzina, has allowed the bones of the individual spaces to shine through. Eighthirty’s branding and color palette are worked tastefully into each setting, sometimes providing the only stroke of color in rooms otherwise dominated by bare wood or black and white. Yet the main accents of beauty in each shop are still the spaces themselves—as in the cement floors and industrial windows at their High Street location, or the vaulted ceilings and crossbeams in the 1920’s Tasman Building on Anzac Avenue, or the huge exposed brick walls at K-Road. The vibe within these spaces is a perfect fit: great music playing, open concept, clean, modern coffee bars proudly and straightforwardly displaying their equipment. There is a youthful energy present at each one of their cafes and it is a breath of fresh air in a city where consumers are still a bit stuck in their old ways.

One glance around the roastery shows a view peppered with some of the best equipment on the market. Espresso is being served on a La Marzocco Strada MP and ground through a Nuova Simonelli Mythos. Move further down the bar past a Mahlkönig EK-43 and you find New Zealand’s first Modbar, serving up pour-overs on V60’s. But as Tennent excitedly points out, the true showpiece of the room is the company’s sparkling Loring S35 Kestrel roaster, which produces their cafes’ rotating selection of blends and single origins to please a wide range of flavor preferences—from traditional Aucklanders’ to those of a newer school, all under the purview of Eighthirty’s Head of Coffee, Jessica MacDonald. “After returning from London where I was working for Square Mile [Coffee Roasters] I realized Auckland’s coffee felt a bit stagnant in comparison,” said MacDonald. “Customers were choosing consistency and darker roasts over experimentation. Locals were set in their ways.”

But over the last few years, customers have become more curious and aware of different origins and are requesting to try coffees from different countries, rather than just those they are used to, MacDonald says. Still, the company aims to have a little something for everyone. “We value our community and we want people to feel valued when they visit our cafes. That they can feel they are a part of something. Everyone is treated the same whether you are a hipster, homeless, or wearing a suit,” said Tennent. To that end of serving the community, Eighthirty has partnered with a number of organizations including a local male prison where they will be providing barista training to inmates.

It is exciting and inspiring to witness a business that after eight years still hasn’t lost the fire. Looking ahead, Eighthirty has plans to increase training initiatives with their community partners in the months and years to come. And as part of an upcoming renovation to their K-Road space, the company has hired head chef Maxine Woodnorth to create a more extensive food menu for that location, with plans to expand to the other shops soon after. In a time when Auckland’s coffee culture is now rapidly advancing, and when the world is in need of a sense of community, Eighthirty is providing beautiful spaces where people can come together for a thoughtful coffee.

Peter de Vooght is a freelance journalist and photographer based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Read more Peter de Vooght on Sprudge.

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Source: Coffee News

China is shaping up to be the next battleground in the big coffee chain wars. In the past week alone, two major developments—backed by some serious investments—have been announced as two brands are making big pushes to challenge Starbucks in the world’s most populated country.

The first brand is homegrown. As Crunchbase reports, Chinese startup Luckin Coffee has raised $200 million in investment capitol, putting their total valuation at a staggering $1 billion. From the article, Luckin is “working to provide an upscale experience at a reasonable price point… using a mass-store model to compete with Starbucks in China.” Starbucks currently has over 3,300 stores in China, its second biggest market outside of the United States.

The next competitor comes from North America—Canada to be specific—with Tim Horton’s announcing plans to open 1,500 stores in China. According to The Guardian, the stores are scheduled to open over the course of the next decade, adding to the Canadian coffee chain’s 4,700 locations.

With a population nearing 1.4 billion, China makes sense as the next big coffee brand frontier. These two brands alone may soon combine to eclipse the number of Starbucks stores in the country. The winner in this heavyweight battle—should there be a winner, and let’s be honest, there’s probably room for all three to thrive—remains to be seen. But for now we know that a lot of money and a LOT of coffee are coming to China.

Zac Cadwalader is the news editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.

The post Starbucks Is About To Have A Lot Of Competition In China appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

There have been more than a few times in my life where I had maaaaaybe just a little too much to drink when I would perhaps be better suited to be wide eyed and bushy tailed, like the night before finals in college, say. And in those times, I’d find myself looking for any magical elixir to cure what ails me; calculus is hard enough as is without seeing double. I would of course chug a lug of as much coffee as I could get my hands on, hoping for the best. But these efforts it seems were in vain as science has concluded that caffeine won’t sober you up.

In theory, coffee as an antidote for alcohol makes sense: alcohol makes you cloudy and unable to focus and coffee gives you focus. They should cancel each other out, right? Not so says The Independent. Based on the research of Professor Tony Moss of London South Bank University, the article notes that while coffee will make you feel more alert, it doesn’t do anything to curb alcohol’s effects on your hand-eye coordination and motor skills.

To test his theory, Professor Moss got five college students equally drunk (calculating the amount of vodka tonics to serve them based on body weight) and gave them each a hand-eye coordination test where they had to “guide a metal hoop around a wire without touching it.” They all failed. Each of the participants were then given a cup of coffee and asked to perform the test again. They all failed again.

The results jibe with a 2009 study where instead of using college students as lab rabs, lab rats were used as lab rats. In that study, drunken lab rats and drunken and then caffeinated lab rates performed equally poorly—and far below the levels of sober rats—at finding their way around a maze.

“Taking coffee is a stimulant that will reverse that feeling of being slightly tired as your blood alcohol is coming down,” Professor Moss stated, but “the only thing that’s going to sober you up in that respect is a bit of time.”

So coffee isn’t going to sober you up. Only time and a healthy amount of water will do that. But coffee is like 98% water, so while you are waiting to get right, you might as well enjoy a nice warm cup of mostly hydration.

Zac Cadwalader is the news editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.

Top image via Morbotron.

The post Coffee Won’t Help You Sober Up appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Moving your headquarters from one location to another can often galvanize a business and create a stir of excitement. However, moving from a small space to a (much, much) larger space can present new challenges. Portland, Oregon’s Sterling Coffee has built quite the following as a shop known for cozy, intimate locations. Their previous space was shared with a wine bar and could fit just ten people comfortably. But in late 2017, it opened the doors to a new location, which is nearly ten times the size of the last shop.

Naturally, the fear that quality of service would decline was a worry. The former space provided a close consumer connection—would it be possible to retain that chemistry in a larger space? Co-owner Aric Miller and his team quickly quelled these worries, and Sterling appears to be thriving in its new home, right across the street from its former location. Miller says Sterling tried to retain the same sense of intimacy the old shop’s smaller footprint necessitated. “It still feels the same,” Miller says—largely because the customers are still the same.

Aric Miller

Originally from the east coast, Miller jumped into the specialty coffee scene after working in the restaurant industry for some years. He originally wanted to get into coffee roasting, and started working at Coffeehouse Northwest, off NW Burnside Street, with his current business partner and co-owner, Adam McGovern. Fast-forward to 2010 when McGovern and Miller opened Sterling Coffee, an espresso stand in an alley next to Trader Joes on NW 21st Avenue. From the moment they first put on their signature vests and ties, their objective was to provide customers with a great coffee experience and outstanding service to all customers.

Despite the formal attire, Miller “didn’t want to be known as the coffee shop that is like the old-school record shop with the condescending record clerk,” he recounted, “where we come off as know-it-alls.”

The community has fully embraced Sterling’s narrative as they’ve hopscotched around NW 21st Avenue. Sterling has great coffee, but the relationships they’ve built through customer service have seemed to be the key to their success.

The staff of baristas at Sterling are sharp. They quickly remember your drink order after a couple of visits and often present it to you tableside. If their customer service isn’t memorable, their wardrobe just might be—the suits are a  departure from Portland’s casualwear norms and an ode to old school Italian coffee culture.

Miller is focused on every detail. If he himself is not dialing in espresso, he can be seen around the shop conversing with everyone in attendance. “At the end of the day we just want to be a good neighbor. It’s important because I am a neighbor, I live in the area,” says Miller.

Miller attributes Sterling’s high quality to a prized six-kilo Giesen roaster, is located a couple of miles away in their roasting facility. In the shop, baristas pull shots on their Synesso Cyncra two-group espresso machine. They also have three Mazzer Robur E Grinders, and a Mahlkönig EK 43 for bulk grinding. Rounding out their gear is a Wilbur Curtis brewer and water tower.

Aside from square footage, hospitality has also expanded beyond normal business hours Sterling has begun hosting socials on Monday nights that highlight other businesses in the area. These socials range from wine tastings to a slew of pop-up events coming this summer. Sterling is now leveraging every square foot of event space—something that was not possible in their former location. Some might say Sterling has transcended from their initial goal of being a part of the fabric of the community to become the blueprint of what businesses strive toward.

Giovanni Fillari is a social media manager and the publisher of @coffeefeedpdx. Read more Giovanni Fillari for Sprudge. 

The post At Portland’s Sterling Coffee, The Space Is Bigger But The Intimacy Remains appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

The people have spoken and a resounding majority of the coffee industry, despite a Gear Patrol article to the contrary, do not want you to put turmeric in your espresso. Using the most technologically sound scientific methods (a Twitter poll), we were able to say with 100% certainty that 355 out of 408 people do NOT want turmeric anywhere near their espressos.

Does the coffee industry want people to put turmeric in their espresso?

— Sprudge (@sprudge) July 10, 2018

For some, a mere vote wasn’t sufficient to express exactly how much of a big nope the turmeric espresso combo dombo was, including David Jameson, a two-time UK Coffee in Good Spirits champion.

Most of specialty coffee doesn’t even want you to put sugar in your coffee, let alone turmeric.

— Dave Jameson (@DavidJamesonUK) July 11, 2018

Others were… more succinct.

No. Simply No.

— Joe Bearden (@GrayHairJoe) July 11, 2018

NO

— titty valet (@juicycaturra) July 10, 2018

Others still, doctors even, said yes but we are pretty sure they meant no.

Voted yes because this isn't the craziest thing I've read on coffee twitter today.

— Christopher H Hendon (@chhendon) July 11, 2018

But what about the 13% that said yes? If the comments are any indication, their opinions are a bit more nuanced than a binary yes/no can handle. Turns out, they weren’t so much on the turmeric train as they were proposing that “you do you.”

Why would the coffee industry want to control people. I would never put ketchup on steak but if you want to, hey it's your life. However you may not be invited to the potluck.

— Dominic Taylor (@undergalaxies) July 11, 2018

Personally I don't. However if a customer would like to, I don't see why not.

— Adam (@DoseAndTamp) July 11, 2018

Ever the pontificator (or puntificator as it were), Adam JacksonBey got real existential.

The coffee industry really doesn’t want people to put milk or sugar in their coffee but we do because coffee is personal and that’s what people want.

So the answer is that if it’s personal for enough people we do.

— Memenspro Mori (@ditriech) July 10, 2018

And Sprudge features editor Michael Light, now on indefinite suspension for not at all related reasons, is pro-turmeric, full stop.

i voted yes. i want it https://t.co/Bo04k6BqwV

— Mikey Light (@MichaelPLight) July 11, 2018

So we’ve settled it. Despite this baffling headline, the coffee industry doesn’t want you to put turmeric in your espresso. But what they do want above all is for you to enjoy your coffee in whatever manner it is that suits you best. Turmeric, no turmeric, sugar, cinnamon, butter, whiskey, served in a shoe, hot, cold (though some have some pretty normative claims about cold brew), however. When it comes to coffee, you do you. The coffee industry is here for it.

There’s only one last mystery to clear up. How the hell do you even say turmeric? Luckily, we’ve put together this lovely pronunciation video to help. Case closed.

Zac Cadwalader is the news editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.

The post No, The Coffee Industry Does Not Want You To Put Turmeric In Your Espresso appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Avocado toast has become a bit of a punchline these days, going so far as to be named the reason why Millennials can’t afford to buy houses. But these people have never truly experienced the simple bliss from a perfect piece of sourdough toasted just right with a healthy smattering of ripe avocado and just a pinch good quality salt. It is, in a word (and a bite), perfection. And though a ubiquitous staple of the third wave coffee shop, it is seldom done right.

But Ironsmith Coffee Roasters in La Jolla, California has found a way to ensure their toast is above reproach: opening a cafe inside a bakery. And not just any bakery. They have teamed up with Wayfarer Bread, whose owner Crystal White has spent time honing her craft at the famed Tartine Bakery in San Francisco. Pair a hearty hunk of high quality bread with some of Ironsmith’s delicious caffeinated offerings and you’ve got yourself one hell of a breakfast. Or lunch or dinner or whenever it is that you find yourself inside their beyond lovely cafe. It is a feast for the eyes, the taste buds, and if you’ll allow me a moment of grandiosity, the very soul itself.

As told to Sprudge by Alden Hozouri.

For those who aren’t familiar, will you tell us about your company?

We founded Ironsmith Coffee Roasters in 2014 as a space in the community that offers an unparalleled cup while also supporting local business wherever possible. Leaning heavily on our name, Ironsmith stands for love of the craft and that each cup served is the cumulative sum of our knowledge, efforts, and skill. Our team is comprised of three owners: Matt, Alden, and Kai, as well as a host of incredible team members and baristas.

Can you tell us a bit about the new space?

The new shop is a joint/collaborative effort with new bakery and local phenomenon Wayfarer Bread. The owner, Crystal White, has a long history in the baking industry, including her most recent tenure at Tartine Bakery in San Francisco. Recognizing the demand for better bread options in San Diego, she bought a one-way ticket down and began baking out of a rented kitchen, offering her wares pop-up style each Sunday morning at our Encinitas shop. She was an instant hit and we all knew she was onto something unlike anything San Diego or southern California has ever seen. Fast forward a year, a successful Kickstarter campaign, and several dozen more “pop-ups,” she secured her own brick-and-mortar in Bird Rock, La Jolla and asked us to take residence as the coffee bar/program inside. We couldn’t say yes fast enough. We launched June 3, and the response has been completely overwhelming. From local news stories to Eater publications, we count ourselves fortunate to be welcomed into a community so enthusiastically! We offer a panel of food and pastry options, including breakfast items, sandwiches, salads, croissants, galettes, scones, tartines, and more, alongside a full Ironsmith Coffee espresso bar identical to what you’ll find at our first location.

What’s your approach to coffee?

Ironsmith approaches each day with intent to demystify black boxes on the way from seed to cup. From sourcing to roasting and through to extraction, we’re focused on understanding what impact we can have in not only delivering a better experience, but why these behaviors have the effect they do. From here, we work hard disseminating this knowledge to both customers and other members of our community, always collaborating wherever possible to create something amazing.

Any machines, coffees, special equipment lined up?

Yes! We’re jazzed to rock on a La Marzocco Linea AV, a Mahlkönig Peak and EK43, and a Mazzer Robur, among other necessities like a Nimbus RO system, and FETCO XTS. All our coffees are direct trade, and we’re looking forward to sharing some Colombians, Ethiopians, and Guatemalans from our most recent trips, on both drip and espresso.

What’s your hopeful target opening date/month?

We officially opened June 3!

Are you working with craftspeople, architects, and/or creatives that you’d like to mention?

Yes! Huge shout outs to:
-Raul Macias for the all the benches, counters and shelving
-Charles Pennes of White Bark Workwear for the aprons
–Aesthetic Union for the art prints
-Allie Chen for our ceramics
-Tiffany Hohmann for the mural
–Solutions Espresso for helping us get all our equipment!

Thank you!

Thank you too! We’re thrilled about what we’ve built here, and appreciate the opportunity to share it with an even wider audience.

The Build-Outs Of Summer is an annual series on Sprudge. Live the thrill of the build all summer long in our Build-Outs feature hub.

The post Build-Outs Of Summer: Ironsmith Coffee Roasters In La Jolla, CA appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Breaking news here exclusively on Sprudge, as Ozone Coffee Roasters International have completed an agreement with Has Bean Coffee to combine ownership of the two companies. Has Bean founder Steve Leighton along with longtime colleagues Dale Harris and Chris Glover-Price will now join Ozone as shareholders in the combined group. The move was finalized on June 29th, 2018.

Ozone Coffee was founded in New Plymouth, New Zealand in 1998 and expanded to London, UK in 2012. It currently operates two cafes—one in London, the other in New Zealand—and services a network of wholesale cafe partners in both countries. A third cafe will open later this year, bringing some 4,000 square feet of curated coffee retail to the city of Auckland. Has Bean was founded in Stafford, United Kingdom in 2002, and as a roaster operates exclusively as cafe wholesale and direct to consumer subscription.

In a statement provided to Sprudge, Ozone Coffee Roasters International Managing Director Craig Macfarlane writes, “Like Ozone, Has Bean has worked hard, over many years, to grow a successful business—one that is built on a family culture and honest relationships. And maybe that’s why this new relationship feels so genuine.” Elsewhere in the statement, Macfarlane outlines that Ozone Coffee and Has Bean will continue to operate as independent brands, with Leighton taking on a new Executive Director role at OCRI, while Harris and Glover-Price maintain their current roles at Has Bean. “We’ve both been operating within the specialty coffee industry for years,” writes Macfarlane, “and in that time the two businesses have developed complementary strengths and expertise. Together, we have some very exciting plans in the pipeline and we’re now in the position to make them a reality.”

In a separate statement also provided to Sprudge, Has Bean founder Stephen Leighton addressed the news, writing, “As of 29 June, Has Bean has become part of the family of Ozone Coffee Roasters International (OCRI) based in Both New Plymouth, New Zealand and London, UK.”

Leighton continues, mentioning his humble roots launching Has Bean at the early dawn of third wave coffee (“I remember the first time I was roasting in the back of my garage and the chimney caught fire…”), and outlining the length of courtship between the two brands. “We have been talking for eight months now,” Leighton writes, “and during that time I have got to know the Ozone team. This has given me the reassurance that we are similar companies in the same market but with different skill sets and different strengths, but most importantly we share the same values. This partnership opens new doors, to projects and new opportunities that we’ve been dreaming about for many years.”

Leighton’s new role with a jointly operated Has Bean + Ozone exists outside his ongoing work in the speciality coffee industry. That includes a co-owner role at Drop Coffee in Stockholm, Sweden (reported here in 2015), as well as an investment in Dublin’s 3FE, the growing coffee brand founded by Colin Harmon that now includes multiple cafes and a roastery. “Both of these [3FE + Drop] will not cross over to the OCRI,” Leighton tells Sprudge, “and will remain 100% independent and follow their own path.”

In reporting this story Sprudge spoke at length with James Gurr, Director of Projects + Brand for Ozone Coffee Roasters in the United Kingdom. Mr. Gurr offered clarity for us on a variety of points:

• Has Bean and Ozone will continue to operate as independent brands, post-merger, with both brands maintaining their own current lines of packaging and sourcing.
• As to what exactly this was—a merger, an acquisition, or some melange of the two—Gurr offers some clarity. “The whole of the company was acquired but the deal was structured in a way that Steve Leighton, along with two of his long-standing colleagues, Dale Harris and Chris Glover-Price, now join existing Ozone Coffee shareholders as owners of the combined group. Steve will also join the OCRI Executive Team in a newly created role of Director of Coffee.”
• Has Bean’s global subscription service will continue under the new arrangement, and Leighton will continue producing original content for his subscribers in the form of his groundbreaking In My Mug video blog (now on episode #504!) and in Has Bean’s proprietary Has Blog website.
• There are at the moment no plans for a physical Has Bean cafe location under the new ownership agreement.

“As the UK specialty coffee market is maturing an increasingly competitive business environment is emerging,” Gurr tells Sprudge. “During our discussions over the past eight months we’ve found that Ozone and Has Bean share some exciting long-term goals. This collaboration provides a level of scale that means we can act on these opportunities much sooner than would otherwise have been possible. This move will allow both businesses to get better at what we already do as well as providing the opportunity to diversify and build on what has been created to date.”

Today’s news heats up the coffee mergers and acquisitions beat here in 2018, and puts our focus for future news of this stripe squarely on the United Kingdom’s white-hot specialty coffee market. Are you sitting on coffee merger news in the UK, or anywhere else for that matter? Get in touch.

Visit HasBean’s official website.

Visit Ozone Coffee Roasters’ official UK and NZ websites. 

Jordan Michelman is a co-founder and editor at Sprudge Media Network. Read more Jordan Michelman on Sprudge.

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The post Breaking: Ozone Coffee Roasters Acquires Has Bean Coffee appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Gear Patrol—Hearst Magazines‘ “gathering place for guys who want to make the most of life”—are going hard on coffee coverage here in 2018, authoring authoritative-ish listicles on top roasters, SCA approved coffee brewing gear, coffee subscriptions, instant coffee, and much more. Yesterday’s feature—ostensibly about the SCA giving awards to turmeric latte blends—contains some curious advice as it originally appeared (emphasis added):

This statement ran in an article titled “The Coffee Industry Wants You To Put Turmeric In Your Espresso“, which is quite a headline! The post has since been updated to reflect that the SCA does not, in fact, recommend any such practice (see below for an official statement on the matter). But that headline, which remains unchanged, sent us here at Sprudge down a profound path of ponderous wonderment. Does the coffee industry really want you to put turmeric in your espresso? Has anyone actually tried it? And who, exactly, is the *you* in this question? Is it the royal you, meaning all of us with the ability to drink espresso and peruse websites? Or is it a command for me, specifically?

Who is you? Who am I? Maybe Gear Patrol is on to something. I would never deign to make such a claim on behalf of an entire industry, but what do I know? My abilities as a guy just making the most of life have long been questioned. Nevertheless we want to hear from you, dear Sprudge reader—both specifically from you and from the unwashed masses of the royal you—as we ask our readers to weigh in on this, the pressing coffee issue of our time.

Does the coffee industry really want you to put turmeric in your espresso?

Take our Twitter poll. Sound off in the comments below. We’ll update with our findings in the next 24 hours. In the meantime, below please find an official statement from SCA Communications Director Vicente Partida:

Jordan Michelman is a co-founder and editor at Sprudge Media Network. Read more Jordan Michelman on Sprudge.

The post Does The Coffee Industry Really Want You To Put Turmeric In Your Espresso? appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Specialty coffee and art have always worked hand in hand; artists of every stripe have long gravitated towards coffee work for the flexible hours, the freedom of expression, and, of course, the free access to their favorite caffeinated beverage. As specialty coffee culture has brewed over time with the artists who populate its coffeehouses and roasteries, it’s become deeply marked by the presence of the arts, a relationship which is visible in every detail of the specialty movement, from the expression of perfect microfoam as a fluid rosetta to the obsession with aesthetically flawless roast graphs that showcase a rainbow of flavors on the cupping table and in the espresso machine. The newest tribute to this is the Coffee People zine, coming out of Denver, Colorado. It’s an ode to coffee people who are artists, as well as coffee as an art in itself.

For creator Kat Melheim, Coffee People was inspired by her friends and coworkers in coffee who are also artists. Melheim, who roasts coffee at Logan House Coffee and baristas at Amethyst, went to an art show featuring the work of fellow Denverite Breezy Sanchez of Crema Coffeehouse and had a *click* moment. “She’s one hell of a barista and everyone knows her behind bar, but lots of folks didn’t know she did rad art, design, and graphics. At her art show I had this a-ha moment of ‘everyone should know about this,’” said Melheim. Inspired, she started thinking about all the other baristas, roasters, and productionistas who work in coffee but also have creative projects on the side, and, with the support of a tight-knit group of Denver coffee friends including Elle Jensen, Emily Orendorff, Johanna Hirschboeck, Kristyn Wade, Melissa Vaiden, and the aforementioned Sanchez, she worked to create a platform where everyone could showcase their art. The first two issues are available for purchase online. Rather than releasing new issues on the fiscal quarter, zine releases align with the two solstices and equinoxes that occur each year, which means issue two dropped June 21.

Coffee People Zine creator Kat Melheim.

Content-wise, Coffee People has a lot going on. First off, Melheim donates a portion of each zine sale to charities that benefit coffee people—and, since proceeds from the first issue went to the Coffee Too project, a nonprofit that focuses on fighting harassment and discrimination in the coffee industry, a lot of content in the first issue focuses in that direction. The zine’s inaugural Know Your Rights segment, which will focus on a different workers’ rights topic each issue, breaks down workplace sexual harassment with a digestible infographic, and there’s also a Coffee Too fact sheet, followed by a helpful and hilarious guide to mansplaining.

Peppered throughout are poetry, photography, and graphic art from coffee people, including an exquisite corpse drawing on a hot sleeve and a scratch and sniff with coffee flavor notes (there’s a surprise involved here, but I don’t want to spoil it). The zine also features notable new coffeehouse openings and a locally focused but internationally reaching events calendar, including a section on recurring events—many of which are free.

It includes some Coffee Championship-related content, but doesn’t shy away from substantial critique. It focuses on the inequities in coffee competitions, including interviews and statements from queer competitors on their response to the Specialty Coffee Association’s scheduling of world coffee championships in Dubai, a country where queer identity is heavily criminalized (the event has since been rescheduled). It then delves into an admittedly “informal and unscientific” breakdown of gender demographics at the Coffee Champs Denver preliminary based on local survey results.

In addition to providing a platform for coffee creatives and connecting the community through the events calendar, Melheim wants to advocate for and uplift people who work in coffee, especially baristas, as the specialized and skilled professionals that they are, rather than people who are just working in coffee until they get higher-paying jobs. Melheim was drawn to the zine format to do this work because many artists and coffee people alike enjoy physical materials they can hold and keep. She also wants to maximize accessibility, so she plans to make a lot of content available online as well, including online Know Your Rights pdfs that reinforce the material in the zine.

Issue two benefits Prodigy Coffee, a local shop with an apprenticeship program for youth in the neighborhood. To snag the first two issues, pick up a tee shirt, or submit content (including art, articles, photography, doodles, letters, short stories, comics, and more), visit their official website and follow their progress on instagram @coffeepeoplezine.

RJ Joseph (@RJ_Sproseph) is a Sprudge staff writer, publisher of Queer Cup, and coffee professional based in the Bay Area. Read more RJ Joseph on Sprudge Media Network.

Photos courtesy of Andrew Horton.

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Source: Coffee News