News

Have you ever been watching a Barista Championship signature beverage course and been like, “I could have made that.” Well here’s your chance to put your nitrogenated aromatic smoke where your mouth is. Stumptown has teamed up with Oatly, La Marzocco, and Dona Chai for STUMPED, a Chopped-style challenge where teams have to use ingredients from a mystery basket to create the best signature beverage, and sign-ups to compete close Friday, July 19th.

Taking place on August 4th at Stumptown’s Brooklyn cafe, STUMPED will feature four teams of three people each competing “to make one incredible espresso signature beverage using all of the mystery basket ingredients provided & their ingenuity.” Each basket will include coffee from Stumptown as well as milk from Oatly—both required components of the ad-hoc sig bevs—as well as a smattering of mystery ingredients that competitors “must use.” Unlike the show, this competition will consist of one round per team. And waste will be taken into consideration by the judges when choosing the winner. Supplies and wares will be provided, and any additional supplies brought by competitors will be allowed on a case-by-case basis.

For those not lucky enough to be one of the 12 competitors, the fun abounds for all spectators. Emceed by the inimitable Becky Reeves, STUMPED will feature tons of raffle prizes, drinks by Dona, ice cream from Oatly, food by Ryan Wanslow “of La Marzocco fame,” and Maciej (Kasperowicz) on the ones and twos providing the sonic vibes.

Spectator tickets for STUMPED are technically free and registration can be done via Eventbrite, but the hosts are asking for a $5-10 sliding scale donation; they do note in the event page, though, that no one will be turned away for lack of funds. All proceeds from the night will go to Project Eats.

Teams will be decided lottery-style and submissions are due Friday July 19th, with winner announcements made the following Friday.

For more information, visit the STUMPED Eventbrite page. Time to get your roommate to throw a bunch of random shit in a bag for you to try to concoct something drinkable from, lest you get STUMPED!

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

All images via STUMPED

The post Get STUMPED: A New Coffee Competition In Brooklyn appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

The legacy of coffee is intertwined with design.

Welcome to Sprudge Vintage, a summer pop-up of curated coffee vintage from the third wave and beyond, drawing on today’s worldwide movement of vintage gallery resale. Coffee design deserves the same treatment, the same reverence—the coolest pieces from coffee’s rich design history, both wearable and collectible.

This is a celebration of coffee clothing design in the guise of our most sincerest hook-up plug.  We’re bringing to you some of our favorite examples coffee graphic design in garment form, from indie third wave designers to throwbacks from the 80s and 90s. Our founders have personally shopped, scoured, thrifted, bartered, hunted, collected and searched for much of the last decade to curate the collection of pieces you’ll see over the coming weeks.

Sprudge Vintage ships weekly with restocks all summer long, showing you the stuff we love and shipping worldwide with regular updates announced via Instagram. Be sure to follow @Sprudge for new drops and discount codes. To kick things off—and as an early hint of the Sprudge 10 Year Anniversary fun we’ve got in store come fall—we’re offering our readers 10% off on all vintage orders using the code SPRUDGE10. Offer valid through Friday July 26th. Watch Instagram for more sales and disocunts throughout the summer.

There are some wild surprises in store for the shop over the weeks to come. Orders are processed first come, first serve, so please don’t sleep. (Perhaps drink some coffee?) Happy shopping and long live the beautiful world of original coffee design.

Are you sitting on an epic coffee shirt and / or collectibles collection? We’re buying select pieces now for the shop. Get in touch with us.

Here’s a couple of our favorite pieces from the first drop!

TK

Coffee Common T-Shirt
American Apparel
Size: Women S – 18″ chest (flat)

Limited edition t-shirt from the briefly influential Coffee Common, a specialty coffee live events collective active from 2011-2012. “Unique Collaborations. Exceptional Coffee. No Sugar.”

Shop here.

See

Starbucks Track Jacket
Size: Large – 22″ chest (flat)

Sunrise Identity corporate ware

Circa 1990s Starbucks promotional track jacket. Unique Mermaid tag paired with a “CoffeeGear” label. Designer unknown.

Shop here.

Ritual Coffee T-Shirt
American Apparel 50/50 Shirt
Size: XS – 16.5″ chest (flat)
50% Polyester 50% Cotton

Circa 2009 Ritual Coffee Roasters tee in a stunning peach, blade and blood colorway.

Shop here.

Shop the full collection at shop.sprudge.com

The post Sprudge Vintage: A Summer Coffee Clothing And Design Pop-Up appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

As of writing this, the price of coffee on the commodities market sits a $1.05 per pound. This number is criminally low, but still somehow almost 20 cents higher than the 88 cent mark hit in May, the lowest price in a decade (to speak nothing of inflation). To combat this, Colombia’s National Federation of Coffee Growers (FNC) has now suggested setting an international base price of $2 per pound.

As reported by Reuters, the Colombian government has set aside $79.5 million in subsidies for coffee producers who are currently feeling the weight of the pricing crisis. To stem the tide as well as “[preventing] farmers [from] abandoning the sector,” the FNC is advocating for the new price floor. Though almost double the current commodity price, the proposed baseline is still 50 cents below the “price threshold for profitably,” per the Specialty Coffee Association.

“Is it fair to trade when someone buys your product below the cost of production?” said the head of the National Federation of Coffee Growers, Roberto Vélez, at a fair trade conference in Bonn, Germany.

Reuters notes that the call for the increased price comes with few potential avenues for achieving it. In the past, Vélez has suggested “decoupling” high-quality Arabica coffee from the commodity price. But one single country opting into a pre-defined minimum won’t suffice; coffee companies would simply buy from other producing countries still operating within the confines of the commodities market pricing. The Wall Street Journal states that the international body of coffee producers may be heading toward an OPEC-style cartel to help fix the price. The article notes that farmers from Brazil, Colombia, and over two dozens other producing countries will meet in Brazil later this week to discuss “how to get more money to farmers suffering from the lowest prices on world markets in more than a decade.”

The call for a price floor is ambitious. Nearly doubling the price of coffee seemingly overnight would have a significant impact on a company’s bottom line, and much of the new fees would presumably be passed onto the consumer. Yet, not doing anything isn’t an option. If producers aren’t financially able to grow coffee, they won’t. As it stands, the price of coffee may put an end to production before global warming even gets a chance.

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

Top image via The World AeroPress Championship Recipe—And A Very Special Interview

The post Colombia’s Federation of Coffee Growers Calls For $2 Minimum Price appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Ethiopia,­­ the birthplace of coffee, holds the additional distinction of being the only coffee-producing country in the world that consumes more than half of what it grows. Despite this, in the cosmopolitan capital of Addis Ababa, locals and tourists alike in search of a quality cup are often forced to settle for low-grade, reheated brews.

In a unique trade arrangement, the government of Ethiopia mandates the export of any coffee grown within the country above a certain quality threshold (read: anything even close to specialty grade). A policy driven by a need for access to foreign currency, the rule tends to be just fine for busy locals who prioritize speed and convenience when grabbing a quick cup at the stalls of brewed coffee vendors on every street corner. The result is low-quality beans, unevenly roasted over a fire, and then reheated for hours or days until it sells.

It is from this deep concern for Ethiopia’s most famous cultural touchstone that YA Coffee emerges.

An alcove nestled deep in the belly of a nondescript office building seems like an odd place for one of Addis Ababa’s lone specialty coffee experiences, but once you step into YA Coffee’s newly christened roastery and cafe you know you’re in the right spot. Bright pictures adorn the wall in a film strip that describes the story and processing of Ethiopia’s coffee and immediately forces you out of the drab office surroundings. Cozy, traditional furniture pieces are warmly scattered throughout the space. When you belly up to the bar, you’re greeted personally by either proprietor Dagmawi Iyasu or his wife and business partner Sara Yirga, who handles the roasting on their Ozturk Bay OKS-10 Roaster.

YA Coffee quickly reveals its uniqueness not just as one of the few specialty experiences in Addis Ababa, but also as a shop that seeks to bring you that experience while preserving the country’s rich cultural tradition. The owners of YA Coffee only serve local beans and brew them exclusively in the jebena–a bulbous, long-stemmed coffee pot that has been in use in Ethiopia for more than a millennium.

The ten-minute process for the coffee to be measured, ground, and heated may feel typical to a specialty coffee consumer from another country, but for local clientele accustomed to cheap, quick coffee, there is quite a learning curve. I talked with Iyasu and Yirga on a quiet Saturday morning, before the official opening of the roastery. Over the course of our conversation, three customers came in but all left before their coffee was ready, grumbling about the wait. That said, it’s certainly quicker than the traditional hours-long Ethiopian coffee ceremony, and the end product is just as good—or even better.

A cup of the jebena coffee comes in a demitasse fitting roughly double the volume of espresso but packing a slightly lower total dissolved solids ratio and caffeine content. The heating of the grounds and water together in the jebena allows for a longer extraction period which brings out more of the coffee’s caffeine than brew preparation methods from other parts of the world–something Iyasu and Yirga call “slow brew.” More importantly though, the extended exposure also brings out the bean’s complex flavors. “Ethiopia has over 6,000 varieties of coffee,” Iyasu likes to say, “and with that more than 6,000 flavors. We want to be able to offer you all of those flavors.” And if you ask Iyasu, the best way to sample that diversity is in the traditional jebena.

He doesn’t just speak as an uninformed fanatic of the preparation method, however. A biochemist by training, Isayu conducted “arguably the first ever comparative sensory analysis of jebena” coffee in 2016. He compared it with preparation in a Moka pot at the Illy University in Italy and even saw international members of the industry choose the Ethiopian brew as their preferred method in a blind tasting.

The reason to be in coffee for Yirga and Iyasu clearly extends far beyond the company itself. Yirga wrote the charter for, and is currently a board member of, the Ethiopian Women in Coffee Association. Isayu, apart from evangelizing the jebena abroad, also works as the East Africa regional director for the coffee-cum-cervical-cancer-screening organization Grounds for Health when not helping in the roastery.

Yirga and Isayu

Their broad involvement means that the vision for YA Coffee has to extend far beyond this nondescript office building in a calm corner of Addis Ababa. The business partners look to export roasted beans and enter coffee tourism amongst the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela by year’s end. Looking further to the future, the couple’s goals range from thermodynamically-optimized jebenas, their own demo farm, and, most ambitiously, a degree-granting coffee and leadership academy established by 2043 that extends far beyond coffee. “We want to train the younger generation,” Yirga explains, “upcoming entrepreneurs who want to be in business of any kind.”

In the end, this isn’t a project about a roastery, or even about coffee. This is a labor of love from a couple that is passionate about their country and culture and wants to share it with everyone who walks through their doors.

The business is coffee, but in Isayu and Yirga’s eyes, the mission is nothing less than the future of Ethiopia.

Rob Hefferon is a freelance journalist. This is Rob Hefferon’s first feature for Sprudge.

The post In Addis Ababa, YA Coffee Puts A Modern Spin On Traditional Brewing appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Amman, Jordan’s capital and largest city, has gone by many names—‘Ain Ghazal in 7200 BCE, Ammon during the Ammonite Kingdom, and Philadelphia under the Roman Empire. Despite its long history, at the end of the 20th century the city consisted primarily of a small community of Circassian immigrants. However, after it became the capital in 1921, internal migration and waves of refugees from Palestine, Iraq, and Syria led to a population boom. These communities have left their mark on Amman, and today the city has a population of more than four million. Despite its size, Amman has been treated by many visitors as a city that lacks the “authenticity” of other regional capitals like Jerusalem and Damascus. But since its modern founding, Amman has been a religiously and ethnically diverse capital that has served as a space of refuge for migrants fleeing other parts of the Middle East.

Amman’s diversity is also reflected in its expanding coffee scene. Ammanis love coffee, but it was only recently that specialty coffee gained traction in Jordan. A significant part of this growth can be attributed to younger Jordanians traveling around the world, cultivating a desire to bring the coffee experiences that they’ve had abroad back home. The result is that coffee in Amman is no longer defined exclusively by roadside coffee stalls and late-night cafes. This guide is intended as a first foray into Amman’s coffee community, highlighting a selection of the cafes that can be found throughout the hills defining the cityscape. (And besides these featured, I’d also recommend checking out Bunni Coffee Roasters, which just opened in Weibdeh, as well as Kava Roasters in Abdoun.)

The Coffee Room

If you ask Ammanis to tell you about the most historic areas of their city, Jabal al-Lweibdeh (Weibdeh) will inevitably be mentioned. As people expanded out of downtown in the 1920s, Weibdeh was one of the first places they went. Since then it has been home to prominent Jordanian writers, poets, and politicians. Over the last five years, Weibdeh has also become one of the most popular areas of the city. Located on Paris Square—the neighborhood’s central traffic circle—is The Coffee Room. Its small size and unassuming exterior are deceiving. The Coffee Room serves some of the best coffee that Amman has to offer.

Opened in 2016 and serving the United Kingdom’s Artisan Roast Coffee Roasters, The Coffee Room’s menu offers a full selection of espresso-based drinks, along with multiple manual- and cold-brew options. Its cozy size and brick interior oozes warmth and provides a welcoming spot to grab breakfast or a pastry, all of which are made in-house, while you enjoy your morning coffee. In the evening, seating spills onto the sidewalk outside and provides a chance to watch Weibdeh come alive.

The Coffee Lab

Tucked away in the Jabal Amman neighborhood near the French Embassy, The Coffee Lab, which opened in 2018, is a recent addition to the city’s coffee community. The shop is located near Rainbow Street, a popular destination among visitors. However, it is far enough away from Rainbow that it isn’t affected by the area’s congestion and noise, which is particularly bad on weekend evenings. Ample seating also makes it a prime place for work, but in the middle of the day you might be hard pressed to find a spot, as doctors and lawyers from the surrounding neighborhood regularly make The Coffee Lab a destination for lunch and meetings.

The cafe’s sleek interior draws inspiration from coffee’s molecular structure, and also includes a tweaked periodic table of the elements that adorns the wall above their couch. The Coffee Lab takes what they do seriously, pairing a full menu of espresso and brewed drinks from illy with a robust food menu. All of their food is made in-house, including multiple pastries, sandwiches, and fresh fruit drinks. The Coffee Lab also sells most of the necessary tools to step up your home-brewing game, which can be hard to come by in Amman.

Dimitri’s Coffee Roasters

Dimitri’s Coffee Roasters has in many ways become the face of specialty coffee in Jordan. Founded by three brothers in 2014, there are currently four locations around Amman, including the newest location on al-Baouneyah Street in the Weibdeh neighborhood. Their locations also include a shop on The Boulevard, a massive pedestrian thoroughfare housed inside Amman’s $5-billion-dollar Abdali mega-development. Dimitri’s was also one of Jordan’s first specialty roasters, using a roaster that was designed by one of the brothers and built by local engineers in Jordan.

The Boulevard location features comfortable seating, including a large communal wood table. The shop also boasts a large outdoor patio area that provides a great spot to people-watch. Dimitri’s offers a number of single-origin roasts and blends that can be ordered on multiple manual brew methods. Their extensive manual brew options couple with their espresso menu, which offers everything from straight espresso to blended drinks. No matter what you’re looking for, you can find it at Dimitri’s. If you’re not planning on staying, they also offer retail beans and all of the home-brew equipment you could possibly need.

Melange

Established in 2017, Melange is another new addition to Amman’s coffee scene. Situated on Fawzi Al Qaweqji Street in the affluent West Amman neighborhood of Abdoun, Melange is located around the corner from another well-known Ammani coffee destination—Kava Roasters. Their close proximity makes it easy to sample multiple shops in a single visit, but if you’re looking for a place to get some work done, Melange is a perfect spot.

When you enter Melange, you are greeted by a high bar and a menu of their daily single-origin offerings from Vienna’s CoffeePirates. In addition to their multiple pour-over offerings, Melange offers a full menu of espresso and cold brew. Melange is somewhat unique among Amman’s cafes, which are often defined by their small interior footprints, because of its comparatively vast seating area. The downstairs includes a collection of tables both inside and outside, as well as stool space at the bar. Upstairs, a large communal table is surrounded with additional seating. Both floors rely heavily on natural wood decor, which makes Melange particularly inviting during Amman’s short, but exceedingly wet, winters.

Rumi Cafe

At the corner of Kulliyat Al-Sharee’ah and Jarir Streets in Weibdeh is one of Amman’s more well-known cafe destinations: Rumi Cafe. Sitting across the street from Patisserie Fayruz, Rumi’s interior is styled with white tile and natural wood elements. Floor-to-ceiling windows encase the shop, opening during warmer months to seamlessly connect Rumi’s interior to its large outdoor patio. Additional seating lines the sidewalk, stretching across the next door in the evenings when the neighboring post office closes its doors for the day. Rumi has become one of Amman’s most popular cafes, particularly among younger residents, artists, designers, and visitors.

Rumi serves illy coffees from early in the morning and late into the night. Their drink menu focuses on espresso-based beverages, cold brew, and an extensive tea selection with limited manual brew options. Rumi also offers house-made sweets and pastries, including a rotating selection of cakes, multiple different sandwiches, and a number of breakfast items. Seating is always pretty tight at Rumi because of how popular it is. That’s especially true on summer evenings when the patio and sidewalk fill up quickly. If you’re not up for a crowd, visiting in the morning means you can usually grab a seat.

William Cotter (@cotterw) is a freelance journalist based in Amman, Jordan. This is William Cotter’s first feature for Sprudge.

The post Amman, Jordan: The Sprudge Coffee Guide appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Now that the reboot of Tales of The City on Netflix has put the Bay Area back on the map we’re sure that folks across the country (and around the world) are clamoring to take a bite of that Golden Apple. Like Mary Ann Singleton in the go-go 70s, maybe it’s time to pack your bag and make the big move. Call your parents from the Buena Vista and say “sorry, mom, I’m not coming home!” Take a swig of that Irish Coffee and take a deep breath. This is your new life now! Well, that’s all well and good but you’ll need a job—and next week the folks at The Crown: Royal Coffee Lab & Tasting Room will be hosting five incredible Bay Area coffee companies for a Specialty Coffee Job Fair.

We reached out to Richard Sandlin of Royal Coffee to find out what’s really going down.

Give us the elevator pitch for this event:

The (possibly first ever) Specialty Coffee Job Fair elevator pitch is to help great people find great jobs at great companies. We have a chance to provide the space and be the physical bridge between the job seeker and the job provider. It’s a unique event, something we think the coffee industry has been asking for and didn’t know it needed.

As green coffee importers we have a birds-eye view on the entire industry. We are in contact with roasters from all over the country daily. Now, with our brand new space, The Crown: Royal Coffee Lab & Tasting Room, we have a new home where we get to meet all aspects of the industry. We keep hearing questions from amazing coffee professionals surrounding their next career move and we keep hearing from roasters wondering how to find their next great hire. The Specialty Coffee Job Fair is their chance to meet one another face to face.

You said Sprudge Jobs played a small role in the inspiration for this event. Tell us more!

I’ve been an avid reader of Sprudge since 2011. Since you launched the jobs page back in 2013 it’s one of my favorite places to check in on the industry. Sure, articles tell you about the movers and shakers, but that usually tells the story of what has already happened. The Sprudge Jobs page is a window into who is growing in the industry, which company has expanded to a new territory, which roaster’s wholesale game has gone to the next level, and what that new new is. I’m a believer in the idea that people make companies great and nothing tells that story more that a job opening.

We now have a chance to introduce the job seeker to their next big break. We can introduce them to the company they’ve been dying to meet. In a world going more and more digital, we have a chance to introduce people and shake hands.

How will the job fair be set up? Will it be like speed dating?

The Job Fair will take place in our Presentation Room at The Crown in Oakland from 10am to 2pm on Friday, June 28th. We’ve assembled an all star cast of roasters, Andytown Coffee, Blue Bottle, Equator Coffees, Highwire Coffee, and Red Bay Coffee to bring their hiring team, their leaders, and their coffee all to The Crown. Each roaster will be stationed at one of our cupping tables, offering tastes of their coffees and a chance to meet hiring managers one on one. Looking to cut through the noise of the online application process? Now is your chance to get noticed.

The Bay Area Coffee Community will host a panel discussion on key topics facing job seekers in the specialty coffee industry with representatives of each of the five roasting companies present during the event beginning at 12pm.

RSVPs are strongly encouraged. Please come in professional attire with printed resumes in hand.

What kinds of opportunities will be available?

We’ve placed all of the jobs available on our website, the Eventbrite page, and the Facebook Event page. These range from entry level positions like barista or production assistant all the way to leadership positions like cafe manager, wholesale sales, account executives, all the way to GM.

Is this open to coffee newbies and coffee olds alike?

This event is open to anyone interested in a career in coffee or growing their career in coffee. You’ll have a chance to meet hiring managers and CEOs of leading coffee companies to discuss real jobs you can apply for. This is unlike any other coffee event to date. The goal is to help attendees land their dream job.

Please come dressed to impress and with printed resumes in hand. Now is your chance to break away from the pack and get noticed. The coffee industry is hiring. Are you ready for your next great move?

Will there be snacks and coffee available to eat and/or drink?

Each roaster will offer free tastes of their coffee. We’ve gathered five of some of the Bay Area’s leading roasting companies—applicants are in for a real treat. The Crown’s Tasting Room will be open with drinks available for purchase as well.

Can I bring a friend?

Please!

What should participants bring with them?

Please come dressed in professional attire with printed resumes in hand. The hiring managers are highly motivated to meet with talented and informed applicants.

I would strongly encourage attendees to review the positions on our website and come with specific questions for the positions of interest.

If I wear vintage third wave coffee gear will my odds at getting a coffee job improve?

Great question. I think you should do whatever you need to do to get noticed. Professional attire is encouraged, but above all, dress to impress. Be you.

Is the accordion shop next door hiring?

You’d have to inquire. It turns out that the accordion shop next door, Smythe’s Accordion Center is the stuff of legend in the Accordion community. I don’t know much about music played on the Accordion but game respect game.

What incredible events are lined up this summer?

The Crown has a ton of great events coming up. Be sure to check out website for the full line up. We are soon launching Saturday Food Pop Ups, Donation Based Yoga supporting Grounds for Health, Q Classes, Roasting Classes, Public Tastings, and maybe the world’s greatest gathering of coffee ice cream. Big things are always happening at The Crown. If you aren’t following us on social, now is the time.

Thanks!

Visit the Royal Coffee website for more information.

Photos courtesy Royal Coffee by Evan Gilman.

Disclosure: Royal Coffee is an advertising partner on Sprudge.

The post Get Hired And Wired At The World’s First Coffee Job Fair appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

It wasn’t but four months ago that I said I was done—“DONE I TELL YOU,” I shouted like a teenager with a broken caps lock key—groveling at the feet of shoe companies for free coffee- (or avocado toast)-inspired sneakers. But like the Simone Biles of not-sticking-to-my-guns that I am, I’ve done a full-on tucked triple double flip-flop (and stuck the landing) thanks to these Café du Monde-inspired Sauconys. And I would like it very much if someone gave me a pair, thank you.

Designed by Sneaker Politics, a sneaker boutique based in New Orleans’ French Quarter not but a half mile from the world famous Café du Monde, the limited release shoe takes the Saucony Shadow 5000 and gives it a beignet-keover with two different colorways: “Beignet Brown” and “Powdered Sugar.” According to Hypebeast, the Beignet Brown “features a three-tone brown suede leather and mesh upper, detailed with white flecks mimicking the powdered sugar sitting atop the delicacy.” The Powdered Sugar features a white suede and mesh and a powdered tan upper. Both colorways receive a pop of color from the green soles, “a nod to Café du Monde’s iconic green and white awnings,” per NOLA.com, as well as the perfect green Café du Monde in green script on the tongue.

View this post on Instagram

Politics x Saucony x Cafe Du Monde Shadow 5000 – Powdered Sugar / Beignet $125 men sizes 4-14 On 06/22/2019 at 11AM CST at our New Orleans Location we will release 157 pair of this colorway to pay homage to the 157 years that @cafedumonde has been open. #sauconyshadow5000 #SneakerPolitics #CafeDuMonde #Beignet #Shadow5000 #CafeDuPolitics #PoliticsxCafeDuMonde

A post shared by Sneaker Politics (@sneakerpolitics) on Jun 19, 2019 at 11:24am PDT

And if you needed just an extra just *mwah* chef’s kiss to really set the whole thing off, “the sneaker box looks like the goddamn beignet mix,” as one Sprudge editor so succinctly described it in our covetous Slack chat.

But if you were hoping to get your hands, or your feet I guess, on either version of the Café du Monde Shadow 5000, your ability to do so has a one-to-one relationship with your knack for being in New Orleans on June 22^nd at precisely 11:00am CST. The extremely limited releases—like less than 200 of each colorway—will pretty much only be available at the New Orleans Sneaker Politics location. According to NOLA.com, “a few hundred will go out to stores nationwide,” but I wouldn’t hold out much hope of getting any of those.

The Saucony Café du Monde Shadow 5000 retail for $120 and $125 for the Beignet Brown and Powdered Sugar colorways, respectively, but you can go ahead and assume a significant multiplier will be added to that once these hit the secondary market.

So I’m just going to throw this out there one more time, should anyone want to send a pair of size 10 Saucony Café du Monde Shadow 5000s to me, preferably in Beignet Brown but I will gladly update my entire wardrobe to make the Powdered Sugars work too, I won’t say no.

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

Top image via Hypebeast

The post I Donut *Not* Want These Cafe Du Monde Beignet-Inspired Sneakers appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

You there, the barista with the bags under their eyes. You could use a vacation. How does a few days on a Grecian beach sound? Pretty great, right? Now how about if you spent a little time in between colorful drinks with little umbrellas in them to grow in your career and meet likeminded coffee professionals? If this sounds like your sort of holiday, then the Barista Guild has just the thing. Taking place September 10^th through 13^th in Anavissos, Greece, Barista Camp Europe is a three-day educational event for baristas of all skill levels looking to hone their craft.

The core of Barista Camp Europe revolves around the SCA’s Coffee Skills Program, with focuses including: an introduction to coffee, barista skills, brewing, green coffee, sensory skills, and roasting. At the completion of the training, an optional certification is available to Barista Camp participants. Along with lectures and tastings, new to this year’s event are a host of non-certified workshop tracks for “those looking to expand their knowledge outside of the Coffee Skills Program.” The workshops include:

• Cherry To Seed: Experiments In Fermentation
• Crafting Seasonal Cold Brew Recipes
• Dissecting the Espresso Machine
• Exploring Roast Profiles
• The Foundation of Tea
• Water Chemistry: Beyond H2O

And because Barista Camp is taking place right next to a beach, the Barista Guild has planned “social activities in the evenings [to] help baristas relax and connect with new friends from all over Europe.”

Tickets for Barista Camp Europe can be purchased via the events’s website, with Early Bird pricing still available, ranging from €595 to €845. €100 and €50 discounts are available to Barista Guild members and non-members, respectively, as well as a group rate for parties of four or more. For more information on the discounts, ticketing, or the event itself, visit the Barista Camp’s official website.

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

Top image via Barista Camp

The post Barista Camp Europe Heads To Greece In September appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Jenny Bonchak (Photo courtesy Jenny Bonchak)

Welcome to The Sprudge Twenty Interviews presented by Pacific Barista Series. For a complete list of 2019 Sprudge Twenty honorees please visit sprudge.com/twenty.

Nominated by Emily Davis

Jenny Bonchak is the founder of Slingshot Coffee, a boutique ready-to-drink coffee company based in Raleigh, North Carolina. An accomplished specialty coffee entrepreneur, Bonchak built her brand from scratch in 2012, starting out hand-packing and brewing every batch herself from inside a shared kitchen. Today Slingshot is distributed nationally through major grocery brands like Whole Foods, Publix, and Target; Bonchak has been named as a Fellow for the 2018 Class of Coca-Cola’s Founders Forum and as Southern Living’s 2016 Entrepreneur of the Year. She manages the brand and oversees the project alongside her partner, Jonathan Bonchak, and together the couple has finaled at multiple national United States Brewers Cup events over the last decade.

What issue in coffee do you care about most?

I care most about equal representation and access to capital for womxn entrepreneurs throughout the supply chain.

What cause or element in coffee drives you?

I’m driven by expanding the definition of what “working in coffee” is. Thousands of people work as baristas to get their start in coffee, but there seems to be a very narrow focus on what’s next for those who want to develop a career beyond the bar. The path is often times working for a roaster. But jobs aren’t always abundant. There are so many more ways to be able to work in coffee as the industry grows and evolves and to be a part of something exciting and impactful.

What issue in coffee do you think is critically overlooked?

Tools and technology can be great… they are great… in so many ways! But the technicality of this gadget or that method means nothing if the coffee/beverage being served simply doesn’t taste the best it can. True palate development has to be a critical and consistent part of any coffee professional’s journey.

What is the quality you like best about coffee?

I like that coffee isn’t forgiving, but if you know it well enough you can coax it to be nicer.

Did you experience a “god shot” or life-changing moment of coffee revelation early in your career?

I didn’t experience a life-changing moment early in my career. But when I was practicing for Brewers Cup a few years ago, I shouted “watermelon rind!” after adjusting some of my brewing parameters. And I’d know that flavor anywhere as it’s my favorite part of the watermelon… when you get to the light pink that’s just above the white rind. When I then brewed that coffee at the 2016 US Brewers Cup Quals in KC and nailed that flavor call like nobody’s business, that was a moment when I left my imposter syndrome at the door and felt a lot of pride and trust in my palate. For good reason, too. I won that year.

What is your idea of coffee happiness?

Nothing will ever beat sipping on a clean, juicy, bright Slingshot Cold Brew on a sunny summer morning with my husband, Jonathan, and our beagle, Frank.

If you could have any job in the coffee industry, what would it be and why?

Pretty sure I’d do exactly what I am now.

Who are your coffee heroes?

My husband, Jonathan, has unbelievable skill and natural talent for coffee. So he’s on the list for sure. I have so much admiration for Emily Davis, Aida Batlle, Katie Carguilo, Kim Elena Ionescu (I thought I was going to pass out the first time I ever did a Brewers Cup run-through in front of her), Tymika Lawrence, Sam Penix… not just because they’re coffee heroes/heroines, but human heroes/heroines. There are so many badass coffee pros out there who are coffee heroes and heroines to everyone.

If you could drink coffee with anyone, living or dead, who would it be and why?

I’d drink coffee with Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Since high school, I’ve always said I’d want her to play me if ever there were a character of me. I think she’s brilliantly funny—and what’s better than drinking coffee and laughing? She’s also experienced high highs and low lows and mastered them with humor and grace—an ability I admire.

If you didn’t get bit by the coffee bug, what do you think you’d be doing instead?

I’d like to be Liz Lambert’s apprentice for a while to really learn the ropes, and then own/operate a boutique motel I lovingly restored and designed myself along the coast where no detail would be overlooked. We’d operate a small radio station on the property so we could host in-studios with musicians, artists, everyday people and have a hand in bringing back great radio by supporting fantastic musicians (I miss you, WOXY). Of course there would be a super amazing cafe and breakfast joint on the property, too.

Do you have any coffee mentors?

I certainly count myself lucky to have some exceptional coffee people in my life, who not only share thoughts, expertise, and experience in coffee, but in life.

What do you wish someone would’ve told you when you were first starting out in coffee?

I wish I would have listened to Fleetwood Mac with more sincerity when they told me I could go my own way.

Name three coffee apparatuses you’d take into space with you.

The Bonmac classic single hole pour-over cone, a Baratza Forte and an Atelier Tete mug (the lip and handle are perfection).

Best song to brew coffee to:

Super-Connected by Belly because it’s the best song to do everything to.

Look into the crystal ball—where do you see yourself in 20 years?

I’d like to start a fund to capitalize early-stage businesses owned by womxn entrepreneurs. I want to be in the trenches with them and coach them in order to help grow their ideas and passions into profitable businesses that can continue to change the narrative on equity and equality in business—and then their businesses can do the same. And I’d like to be at that motel serving guests, waiting tables, making drinks, and playing records.

What’d you eat for breakfast this morning?

Oatmeal with dried cranberries and bacon (that I shared with Frank the Beagle).

When did you last drink coffee?

This afternoon, but I’ve been sipping all day.

What was it?

I started my day with a classic Slingshot Cold Brew, then threw back one of our amazing Cascara Teas around lunch and just put away a Slingshot Coffee Soda (Black Cherry Cola). I get high on my own supply.

The Sprudge Twenty is presented by Pacific Barista Series. For a complete list of 2019 Sprudge Twenty honorees please visit sprudge.com/twenty

The post Jenny Bonchak: The Sprudge Twenty Interview appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

It’s hard out there for a person of means on a grand-scale ego trip, a lesson one Howard Schultz had to learn the hard way. The former Starbucks CEO’s will-they-or-won’t-they relationship with a presidential candidacy bid appears to have found its answer: he won’t.

Schultz made waves—angry waves, so very angry—in January when he announced that he was “seriously considering” possibly maybe thinking about, if it wouldn’t be too much trouble, looking into a presidential bid as a “centrist independent.” Shockingly enough, the announcement and subsequent potential bid never gained a footing. Over the course of the last four months, no one has had Schultz’s back, even his own back. And now Eater reports Schultz has “let go most of his campaign team” and won’t be campaigning over the summer while he’s recovering from back surgery. This is not to say that Schultz presidential dreams are completely dead; a final decision on his candidacy won’t be made until after Labor Day, but by then he’ll be too far behind other candidates that surely he wouldn’t consider… oh that’s right, he’s too good for the Democratic Party. There’s still time for him to fuck it up, I guess.

Say what you will about Howard Schultz, but he was able to unite the country; he got everyone, progressive and conservative alike, to be deeply annoyed together at his ersatz candidacy. Personally I’m a little bummed to hear he’s most likely already done, because it deprives Sprudge of a plethora of mockery-based content over the coming months, and I was going to kick start my coffee lifestyle brand with some super-sweet anti-Schultz merch.

If he does decide to run, I’ll be taking pre-orders.

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

Top image by Elaine Thompson/AP via ABC News

The post Howard Schultz Is *Not* Running For President (Probably) appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News