News

June is Pride Month, and for a rad coffee expression of all that’s good about Pride (and not just another free shipping code), look no further than Boston. That’s where QC: Queer Coffee Events has teamed up with the Boston Intersectional Coffee Collective (BICC) for QC: Boston, “a panel discussion on being queer + coffee + Boston.”

Taking place Sunday, June 24^th at Counter Culture’s Somerville Training Center, QC: Boston is the work of BICC founder Kristina Jackson and 2018 US Brewers Cup champion Becca Woodard. The evening is billed as “[discussion] and [celebration of] the queer coffee experience in the greater Boston area,” and for Jackson, it’s a chance to bring an event back home. “After I spoke at Queer Coffee in New York, I got some feedback and messages saying that a bunch of younger coffee workers were excited to come to something that was more for them. I wanted to bring something like that to Boston,” Jackson tells Sprudge via email. “I want it to be a celebration. But I also want it to be a reminder that there is a vibrant and diverse queer presence in this city.”

For Woodard, whose Brewers Cup win came during the most controversial times in the competition’s history (you can read all about it here), QC: Boston is a chance to celebrate the community. “We have a beautiful bunch of people coming together to make this event happen,” Woodard tells Sprudge, “to speak about being LGBTQIA in the coffee industry here in Boston, and to celebrate! There are so many different faces that make up the Boston coffee community and I’m so glad I get to celebrate with all of them.”

QC: Boston gets started at 2:30pm with some snacks, beverages, hangs, and music from DJ MATH3CA before moving into the featured event, a discussion hosted by Jackson with a panel of local coffee professionals including: Mea Johnson, Montana Gulbrand, Ciara Ventura, and Amanda Swaney. After the talk, there will be more mingling, snacks, and drinks.

QC: Boston is free to attend, but the organizers ask that those looking to join in on the celebration RSVP via Eventbrite, which can be done here. For more information, visit the QC: Boston Facebook event page. And get ready to celebrate. No promo codes needed.

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 QC: Boston

The post Celebrate Pride Month, Coffee, And Community At QC: Boston appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Whether you’ve worked in coffee shops or simply patronize them, it’s not rare to witness the amount of waste created.

Not only does your favorite to-go coffee spot most likely employ single-use plastic cups and straws for iced drinks, but the packaging used to ship these items to spaces is incredibly wasteful as well. According to the LA Times, “Half a billion plastic straws are used and discarded every day.”

Some lawmakers are finally taking this more seriously. So far, Malibu, Berkeley, San Luis Obispo, Seattle, Miami Beach, and Fort Myers, Florida are all cities that have banned or limited the use of plastic straws. According to The New York Times, “It’s not just happening in the United States. Scotland plans to be rid of plastic straws by 2019, and Taiwan is banning single-use plastic items, including straws, cups and shopping bags, by 2030.” Additionally, some restaurants are donning a straws-on-request-only format.

And in the coffee world, companies have emerged with creative strategies for sustainable straw alternatives.

Photo courtesy of Hay! Straws.

Some places such as Austin, Texas’ in.gredients is the country’s first zero-waste grocer, sell in bulk and requires customers to bring their own bags. Imagine if a coffee shop decided to operate under this model how much plastic we could save? Stores, such as Brooklyn’s Package Free Shop sell insulated coffee cups for under $20. Financially, it would be incredibly cheap business to run with onus on the customer but would obviously take a marketing hurdle to remind consumers to always have their reusable straws and cups on their person.

There are straws made out of cornstarch, hay, and even coffee grounds. Straws made by Oklahoma’s Hay! Straws are currently being used by Fair Fellow Coffee, in Tulsa, and are under experimentation by cocktail expert Arley Marks for a new menu item at New York’s Lalito restaurant. Hay! Straws are “a byproduct of wheat production. Once the wheat is harvested the stems are trimmed and made into hay for animal feed or, in our case, straws,” according to the company’s website. In May, Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group in New York (which has an interest in Joe Coffee Company) announced that all the group’s related restaurants would eliminate plastic straws and switch to biodegradeable options in 2018. 

While many new companies are creating biodegradables, few have focused the conversation around how they may potentially affect mouthfeel and flavor profiles in the coffee sphere.

Photo courtesy of Loliware.

Loliware, a company originally discovered and later funded by Mark Cuban on Shark Tank, makes edible, biodegradable products under the “biodegr(edible)” portmanteau. While the company originally started with flavored, biodegradeable cups in flavors like Matcha, Yuzu Citrus, and Vanilla Bean, they’ve moved into the straw sector, seeing a new opportunity to have their products used across the beverage space, habitually.

In an interview with Fast Company, Chelsea Briganti, one of the founders of Loliware, writes, “You can imagine drinking your cold-brewed coffee with a vanilla straw or a caramel straw…We think that will really increase this movement around plastic-free, because we’re not telling the consumer, ‘hey, you can’t have your straw.’ We’re providing them a solution to the plastic straw crisis while also giving them a fun experience on top of that. It’s not about the consumer sacrificing anymore, it’s about the consumer having fun and being sustainable at the same time.”

While coffee purists might not be the target market for caramel straws, Loliware and HAY! alike have begun to infiltrate their products into the cocktail space (Loliware just rolled out a new partnership with Pernod Ricard). I’m interested to see how this could potentially develop the coffee industry as well. Not only could these products create a more sustainable (and yes, whimsical) alternative to plastics, but they also represent a new era of the coffee shop as we know it. This goes beyond the “customer is always right” code of conduct or shifting menus subscribing to the latest coffee fad. Rather, the future of coffee shops must quench the thirst for transparency for their own good—to create a sustainable generation of engaged coffee enthusiasts.

Emma Orlow is a freelance journalist based in Brooklyn, writing for Saveur, Dazed Magazine, and MOLD. This is Emma Orlow’s first feature for Sprudge. 

Top photo courtesy of Hay Straws.

The post The Last Straw: Creative Strategies For Sustainable Straw Alternatives appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

There’s a new podcast being released today and it has the coffee professional (or budding coffee professional) in mind. Created by April Coffee Roasters founder Patrik Rolf and Joseph Fisher, “Coffee with April” features some of the biggest names in European specialty coffee who sit down with Patrik Rolf to discuss “integrity, business, and coffee.”

For season one—which have all been released at once a la Netflix—Coffee with April is focusing on entrepreneurship and what it takes to start a coffee business. “It is about the process of starting and operating some of the most interesting coffee companies in coffee,” Patrik Rolf tells Sprudge via email. “All the questions are unique and individual for each person and episode. It is structured as a conversation more so than an interview. We wanted it to be two professionals sharing and talking with each other.”

To glean this incite, Patrik Rolf sits down with a roster of heavy hitters in the European (read: based in Europe but globally renowned) coffee world, including: Tim Wendelboe, James Hoffmann (Square Mile), Nadine Rasch (Primavera), Colin Harmon (3fe), Kaan Bergsen (Petra Roasting), Klaus Thomsen (Coffee Collective), and Joanna Alm (Drop Coffee).

With a focus on entrepreneurship, Patrik Rolf and guests will give “an honest insight and perspective on how it is to start, run and operate a roastery/coffee business,” all through a lens of real-life experiences. “We get to listen to how James Hoffman and the Square Mile team came up with the Red Brick Espresso, how Tim Wendelboe created what is probably the best roastery in the world, how Colin Harmon joined forces with Steve Leighton to start one of the strongest roasteries in Ireland,” Patrik Rolf says of the first season.

All seven episodes of season one of Coffee with April are out now and are available for listen and/or download via April Coffee’s official website, Soundcloud, or iTunes. So if you are thinking about hanging a shingle of your own or if you just want to hear some of the most high-profile names in the coffee biz talk about the trials and tribulations of coming up, Coffee with April may be a good way for you to spend an hour.

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 April Coffee Roasters

Disclosure: April Coffee Roasters is an advertising partner with the Sprudge Media Network

The post Coffee With April: Binge This New Podcast All About The Business Of Coffee appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

The Build-Outs of Summer is always a global affair, and we are happy to bring your our first international entry for 2018. This one has been almost 200 years in the making. Atkinsons Coffee Roasters began its life many, many moons ago as a Lancaster, England-based importer of tea and spices and exporter of roasted coffee. Now, some 180+ years later, Atkinsons has refined it aim to only include specialty coffee and teas and they’ve got a brand new build-out to boot.

Setting up shop inside the Mackie Mayor in Manchester—a dining hall-type establishment featuring a handful of restaurants, wine bars, breweries, and of course a coffee shop—this is the fourth cafe for Atkinsons, their first outside Lancaster. And with their white Sanremo Opera with matching Nuova Simonelli Mythos One grinders, this new location is a thing of beauty. So grab a steamed bun from neighboring Baohouse and check out the brand new Atkinsons Coffee Roasters inside the Mackie Mayor in Manchster, England.

As told to Sprudge by Caspar Steel.

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

Atkinsons started out in 1837 in Lancaster importing tea and spices and roasting coffee, most of which was shipped straight into the Georgian port at the time. Fast forward about 170 years and speciality coffee is just about to kick off (again!) in the UK. Since 2010 we have opened The Music Room cafe, The Hall cafe, and our new eco-roastery which houses our new Loring Kestral, which sits between The Hall and our original shop, which has been on that site since 1901. Our newest project is our first venture into a different city with the Mackie Mayor in Manchester.

Can you tell us a bit about the new space?

The Mackie Mayor was built in 1858 as part of Manchester’s Smithfield Markets and has now been developed by the folks behind Altrincham Market, into a food hall with 500 covers and 10 different independent businesses. Our roastery cafe occupies one corner of the building, lined with floor to ceiling windows and super high ceilings. Our concept was to bring some of our 180-year legacy to the Mancs and also showcase all things new and exciting in speciality coffee. As there are 500 seats inside the food hall, this meant we could dedicate most of our space to one obscenely long bar, kind of like an alter to the coffee gods. The room is an L-shape, and round the corner from the bar is our Shop and Roastery where we usually have about 10 coffees, all roasted onsite, 20 teas, and a wide range of brew methods from the likes of Torch, Hasami, Hario, Wilfa, Munieq, Moon Rabbit, and some local pottery wares too. The cladding of the bar is a homage to the Georgian counter in our shop, our menu board was made by local makers and mates Super Marché, and we have 10 Victorian canisters from our original Shop storing fresh roasts.

What’s your approach to coffee?

Over the last 12 years we’ve managed to visit a lot the producers we work with at origin and now most of our 20-ish coffees are Relationship Coffees, and there’s always tonnes of interesting stories behind them. Telling these stories is really important, so we include as much of this as we can on the bags, printed postcards, the website, and blog, but mostly in conversation with our baristas at the bar and our weekly public cuppings that are free. In the last cafe we opened, The Hall, we put a big focus on brew methods, using syphons and Chemexes to engage customers with black coffee, but this time around we wanted to simplify the brewing and put more focus on the coffees themselves. So here offer four to five single origins all brewed on Marco SP9’s with Kalitas, we also offer two different espressos that change regularly, nitro cold brew coffee and tea, kombucha made with our tea, and coffee- and tea-based cocktails.

Any machines, coffees, special equipment lined up?

A few years ago we found a tiny little roaster, almost exactly the same as our original Shop roaster but smaller, a 1919 Uno 7lb. This little 99-year-old guy now roasts up all of the coffee on-site for our new location! Uno doesn’t exist anymore so to get this little beauty up and running we teamed up the Lancaster University’s 3D printing guys and the genius who installed our Loring Roaster last year, Malcolm Qualeri. On our white marble bar we have a white three-group Sanremo Opera with scales, three white Nuova Simonelli Mythos One grinders, a white Mahlkönig EK43, and 4 custom white Marco SP9s and an under-counter Marco Mix.

What’s your hopeful target opening date/month?

We opened the doors to serve coffee in November as a long soft launch, and this May we finally finished the Roastery and Shop to complete the full picture!

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

My brother Maitland and I designed the cafe and we worked with Ducketts for the build out. They’ve now built three cafes with us and a beautiful Roastery. We also worked with local sign writer Gregg Johnson for the artwork on our walls, Super Marché for the menu wall, and Malcolm Qualeri for the roaster rebuild.

Thank you!

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: Atkinsons Coffee Roasters In Manchester, England appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Erika Lee Vonie, winner of the 2017 New York Coffee Masters.

It’s been a little over two months since Agnieszka Rojewska’s stunning win at London Coffee Masters, and it is already time to turn our attention across the pond, to the 2018 New York Coffee Masters competition just around the corner. Though still four months away—taking place October 12-14th at the New York Coffee Festival at the Metropolitan Pavilion—applications to compete in one of the world’s most fun coffee competitions are now open.

Like with previous iterations of the Coffee Masters tournament—both in London and New York—all prospective competitors are required to submit a one-to-two minute video introducing themselves as well as a coffee-based signature beverage of their own design. The theme for this year’s sig bevs is “New York City;” all drinks must be inspired by the Big Apple. Maybe a coffee Manhattan or a drink literally served in a big apple. If your drink is good enough, you’ll get a chance to battle it out for the title of Coffee Masters champion and a $5,000 cash prize.

All videos and online applications must be completed by August 31^st in order to be considered for one of the coveted spots on the Metropolitan Pavilion stage.

And for non-competitors, Allegra Events—creators of the New York, London, Amsterdam, and soon-to-be Los Angeles Coffee Festivals—has created a Facebook page for the NY Coffee Festival, where they will be posting ticket discounts, news, and drink recipes ahead of the big event.

For more information or to apply to compete, visit the Coffee Masters official website. And to keep up with the New York Coffee Festival, check out 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.

The post Applications For The 2018 New York Coffee Masters Are Now Open appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

When I was living that apartment life, I would have paid untold amounts of money in extra each month to have a high-quality coffee bar in the complex. And then to have that coffee bar serve Sweet Bloom Coffee Roasters, well, for my bank account’s sake, it’s probably best that such amenities were never afforded to me.

But that’s what Coffee Theorem in Parker, Colorado are offering. Located inside the clubhouse of the Montane Apartments, Coffee Theorem is a full-service coffee bar—featuring a La Marzocco GS3 and a host of Mahlkönig grinders—and is a go-to coffee hub for tenants and non-tenants alike. So let’s check it out, shall we? And maybe see if there are any one-bedrooms available for rent.

As told to Sprudge by Emily Wuckert.

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

Coffee Theorem is a small-business that focuses on the craft and precision of coffee (and tea). We support and source from local businesses and use quality ingredients that are the base canvas for our work. We strive to provide our customers with the proof of good coffee by measured accuracy in every grind, dose, tamp, and pour.

Can you tell us a bit about the new space?

Located in the clubhouse of the Montane Apartments, Coffee Theorem has bar seating, comfortable sitting areas, and a quiet meeting room where our customers and the tenants can enjoy their coffee. The floor above is a small gym area and just outside is a lazy river and pool. (Tenant access only.) The open bar seating is wonderful for people who would like to watch our baristas work and the sitting areas are perfect for groups of all sizes. We are kid-friendly, dog-friendly, and wheelchair accessible.

What’s your approach to coffee?

The craft of coffee should be just as enjoyable as drinking it. The fun is in the slow perfection over time and tinkering, but the proof of success is in the mouth-watering taste that we acquire through measured accuracy. Every coffee shop I admire is at its best when the barista truly cares. That’s why Coffee Theorem is determined to be consistently passionate and strives for every cup to taste like it was crafted from the heart.

Any machines, coffees, special equipment lined up?

La Marzocco GS3, Mahlkönig Peak and EK-43 grinders, and BUNN Trifecta.

What’s your hopeful target opening date/month?

May 1st, 2018

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

I’ve commissioned Atelier Forma to craft custom mugs for the shop.

Thank you!

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: Coffee Theorem In Parker, CO appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

If you’ve ever longed for a space that combines coffee, comics, and activism, you’re in luck: these are the super powers of Charlotte, North Carolina’s Comic Girl Coffee. Founded and run collectively by Lara Americo, Ashley Jarrett, Kayla Dance, and Allie Chudoba, the space is dedicated to being by and for coffee lovers of all stripes—especially those who feel marginalized in traditional cafe spaces. In terms of equity, Comic Girl shoots for the stars; not only is it collectively owned, it’s also queer/POC-centered, vegan, and accessible to people of all incomes.

Like so many organizations that exist to center marginalized people in coffee, the impetus for Comic Girl came from the lack of safe spaces for queer and trans people, especially those of color, in the Charlotte area. When the founders noticed that space missing from their lives, they decided to create it themselves. The inspiration came from a bookstore called Firestorm Collective in Asheville, North Carolina. “Firestorm Collective was a dream,” says Americo. “Having a queer safe space in the middle of the Appalachian Mountains was like an oasis in a desert. I knew that there had to be a space like this where I lived. Or else, what’s the point of living there?” 

Lara Americo. Photo courtesy of Comic Girl Coffee.

I ask Americo about the unique challenges of running Comic Girl as a cooperative. “Every decision has to be made collectively and all profits are shared,” she says. “Right now, that means we only have the capacity to open on the weekend. We are hoping for more members or for one of us to be able to work full-time so that the store can be open regularly.” The biggest challenge the Comic Girl crew has experienced is finding new co-op members. “We don’t use bank loans and we have no one to bankroll the shop. We are all marginalized people in some way trying to create a space for ourselves. Instead of pouring money into the shop, we have to use free labor until the shop is sustainable. Not everyone is willing or able to work for free in the hopes of future payoff unless they really believe in the concept.”

Another challenge is that it’s not always easy for workers to be their own boss. “Most people are trained from birth to work for someone. It is hard to break out of that mentality.” But she says the benefits are meaningful: “Everyone has an equal say, no one is taken advantage of, no one is told what to do, and no one profits off of other people’s labor.”

When it comes to being vegan, the owners feel strongly about how food production and food access play into equity. “Not many people realize that environmental challenges that mass meat production causes. In North Carolina, drinking water is being contaminated by hog waste. It’s a huge problem,” says Americo. She wants Comic Girl to be a center for food access that doesn’t transfer the harm elsewhere down the line. To make sure the food and beverages are accessible, Comic Girl has a Pay It Forward board, where patrons can purchase magnets that provide drinks and food for other guests who can’t afford to pay.

The books section, which centers writing by and about femmes, people of color, and/or queer people, follows through on this praxis. It’s run primarily on donated books and guests can pay what they want, so that higher-income patrons can support those who have less. They also use the space as a place to build community through events such as queer speed dating and D&D nights. Their goals for the future center on making the space more accessible more often. “We want to be open 24 hours a day in a bigger space,” Americo says. “That way more people to come in crying because they love the space so much.”

Charlotte itself plays a major role in Comic Girl’s mission and existence, providing not only the impetus but the support for the space to exist and succeed. “The local coffee community is a dream,” Americo tells me. “It has been so supportive from the start. Even though we are in competition, the community wants everyone to succeed—the way it should be. There is enough to go around, and somehow, Charlotte’s small coffee community is living that.”

The collective trauma experienced by marginalized communities in Charlotte has also played a part in the development of Comic Girl as a community space over time. This includes the HB2, the anti-transgender bathroom bill, which started in Charlotte, as well as the police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott. “The city is still traumatized in many ways,” says Americo. “Since the shop opened last September, we have seen that healing process happening.”

Allie Chudoba. Photo courtesy of Comic Girl Coffee.

Comic Girl occupies a unique space, at an equally unique time in Charlotte’s history. But there are universal lessons here as well. The space achieves its inclusivity goals by not hewing towards welcoming any single group. You can be yourself here—no matter who you are—and if you can’t afford a drink that day, the shop’s community has you covered. Sounds like superpowers to me. 

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.

All photos courtesy of Comic Girl Coffee. 

The post Boom! Pow! Charlotte’s Comic Girl Coffee Fights For Inclusivity appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

You know how car companies are always releasing next year’s models earlier and earlier and then you’re like, “2019? Already?! We’re only halfway through 2018!” and then the inevitability of the cruel march of time weighs heavy on you like a shiny new Buick LaCrosse? Well this is like that, but with coffee, as the SCA has announced host cities for the 2019 US Coffee Championship preliminaries. Taking place over the course of three months, the USCC preliminaries will be rolling through 10 cities, in the Lower 48 and beyond.

The first preliminary is literally only a month away, taking place in Chattanooga, TN between July 13th and 15th. After that, the train rolls on through Amarillo, TX; Denver, CO; Kailua Kona, HI(!!!); Canton, OH; Washington, D.C.; Montgomery, AL; Seattle, WA; Grand Rapids, MI; and Rancho Cucamonga, CA.

Each of the 10 locations will host both a Brewers Cup and Barista preliminary (we think). Luckily, Learning Sessions for the Barista and Brewers competitions are being held on July 9th and 10th, respectively, and all your questions will be answered there. Registration for the info sessions is now open and you can sign-up here and here.

Competition registration opens on June 29th, so get your multiple browser windows open and dialed in to the US Coffee Championships website to make sure you get a spot at the location of your choosing. For more information about the 2019 US Coffee Championships host cities, competition rules, or sign-up information, visit the US Coffee Championships website.

Maybe we’ll see you there?

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

*all media via the US Coffee Championships

The post SCA Announces Host Cities For The 2019 US Coffee Championships appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

World Coffee Events—the Speciality Coffee Association entity that administers the association’s international coffee championships—has announced a new slate of host cities for events in 2019. They include Boston, Massachusetts, which will host the 2019 World Barista Championship and World Brewers Cup tournaments April 11th-14th; and Berlin, Germany, which will host the 2019 World Latte Art Championship, World Cup Tasters Championship, World Coffee In Good Spirits Championship, and the Cezve / Ibrik Championship tournaments June 8th-10th.

This news was announced in advance of the 2018 World Barista Championship in Amsterdam, taking place June 20-23 at RAI Centre. World of Coffee Berlin 2019 was announced all the way back in 2015; it is the last World Of Coffee host city to have been determined under the old SCAE / SCAA split. Meanwhile, the US Coffee Champs have also announced their full slate of 2019 preliminary events for US Barista Championship and Brewers Cup qualifying.

These announcements comes hot on the heels of an SCA announcement regarding several remaining events in the 2018 season, initially and controversially awarded to Dubai, which will now take place in Brazil on November 7th-9th. This news is the result of a thorough review process designed to bring much-needed oversight to World Coffee Events, including the creation of a new event site selection criteria, a non-discriminatory Deferred Candidacy policy, and an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Task Force.

The decision to move events from Dubai in 2018 also includes an announcement to bring SCA educational programming and additional opportunities to the MENA region on an annual basis beginning in 2020, in the form of a newly created World of Coffee Dubai event in association with GulfHost. SCA’s announcement of this move called it “a significant step towards increasing engagement in the region,” and if you’ll permit a bit of editorializing from us, it seems like an elegant solution to the issues, addressing the issues while keeping engagement and advancement on the table for Dubai’s growing coffee scene.

Following this latest Dubai announcement, our inbox has been flooded with readers and competition fans wanting to know if Sprudge will be back to cover the SCA slate of competitions for the 2019 season. We are currently in consultation on the matter with our Editorial Advisory Board, some of whom have also served on SCA’s ad-hoc committees over the last few months. Right now we’re reviewing the site selection criteria and Deferred Candidacy policy drafts with our board, and listening to your feedback as readers. These new policies from SCA are currently under peer review but also live and in place—the 2019 Boston and Berlin site selections were the first to made following the new site selection criteria, according to SCA Executive Director Ric Rhinehart.

“There’s an enormous amount of complexity there,” Rhinehart said of the new criteria, “not only in what factors you want to consider, but also the nature of the events, [and] if the event is compulsory, partially compulsory, or completely open. The documentation itself is complicated but clear—applying the process is more challenging.”

We are especially heartened by the work being done by the individual members of the ad-hoc committees, the full membership of which you can view here. Respect where it’s due: a massive amount of soul-searching and much-needed oversight has been accomplished over the last 9 months by the individual members of these committees, and that work now appears to have been promptly implemented by the Association. “I have to say that the group did a fantastic job of distilling the complexities down and devising an approach to them,” Ric Rhinehart tells Sprudge, and we echo that sentiment.

These changes and new developments are exciting and, frankly, inspiring—because of this work, we are hopeful about our independent media company’s return to involvement at future SCA events, and are in discussions with the Association now to find a path forward to make this possible.

We love these competitions—that’s why we cover them with unrivaled depth and dedication, and have since 2010—and we know that many of our readers miss our approach to live coverage. Your outreach to us on this issue has been very meaningful for our entire team. Following these changes, we’re optimistic about a Sprudge Media Network return to SCA Media Partner status in 2019. In the meantime, expect informal coverage from our network of staff writers and freelancers at the upcoming World Barista Championship in Amsterdam later this month.

This story is developing. Check back for updates and thank you for reading Sprudge.

The post Following Major Changes, The SCA Announces 2019 Competition Schedule appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Is there such thing as a perfect amount of caffeine or even a perfect time to consume it? For most, the answers are, “all of it” and “ASAP.” But for the US Government, that lacks the sort of cold, analytic minutiae that really greases the wheels of bureaucracy. But Hermes Conrads of the world, fear not! For the government has created an algorithm to tell you exactly how much caffeine and when to consume it for peak alertness.

According Science Daily, the new coffee maths first appeared in the American Academy for Sleep Medicine are the work of Jacques Reifman, Ph.D, a “senior research scientist and director of [the Department of Defense’s] Biotechnology High Performance Computing Software Applications Institute and the Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center at the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command in Ft. Detrick, Maryland.” The algorithm was created specifically increase alertness in “sleep loss conditions.” It is based upon testing using “four previously published experimental studies on sleep loss” and predicted effects of caffeine on psychomotor vigilance task performance. Fully automated, the algorithm will take “user-provided sleep/wake schedule and maximum allowed caffeine as inputs and provides a caffeine-dosing strategy as the output.”

While the actual algorithm has yet to be made public, Dr. Reifman states that using the algorithm can “can improve alertness by up to 64 percent, while consuming the same total amount of caffeine,” as well as allow a subject to “reduce caffeine consumption by up to 65 percent and still achieve equivalent improvements in alertness.”

This all kinda sounds like the movie Toys, but for coffee, trying to use regulated caffeine dosing to make some sort of super soldier. So instead of sitting idly by while the government tries to weaponize coffee, I’m releasing my own caffeine algorithm, which is free for all to use. I call it “Dr. Zac’s 100% Feel Good Coffee Algorithm For Optimal Caffeine Consumption,” and it’s quite simple. Just remember: (n+1)*t, where n represents the number of cups of coffee you’ve already consumed and t represents the current time of day (in hours, military time). If the answer is a number, any number, then it’s the perfect time to have another cup of coffee. Yay math!

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 The US Government Has Created An Algorithm For Ideal Caffeine Intake appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News