News

Toby’s Estate Brooklyn is dead! Long live Partners Coffee! In a Sprudge exclusive first look, Toby’s Estate, the Brooklyn-based roastery and its five accompanying cafes, have announced a complete rebrand. Starting tomorrow, April 6th, all Toby’s Estate New York roasters and cafes will be known as Partners Coffee.

In a statement sent to Sprudge, the rebrand is the last piece in a realignment for owners Adam Boyd and Amber Jacobsen, who see themselves and their company as soundly New York. Opened originally in 2012, Boyd and Jacobsen state that “the name Toby’s Estate originated from an Australian heritage that the team no longer identifies with, and the current muted, minimalist aesthetic no longer resonates with their dynamic, warm and unfussy brand ethos.” Thus, they decided to rebrand to Partners Coffee, to “better reflect the company’s Brooklyn roots and underscore their unwavering commitment to sourcing and roasting quality coffee.”

Toby’s Estate Brooklyn has always operated independently of the larger Australian parent company, and this rebrand solidifies the distinction. According to the statement, the new name allows the company to scale and operate fully independent cafes, both domestically and internationally.

“After months of preparation, we are delighted to introduce our new name and brand identity, Partners Coffee,” say Jacobsen and Boyd tell Sprudge. “We are only as great as the sum of our partners, and we are excited to continue evolving and growing with a new look, feel and name that fully embodies who we are and what we stand for.”

For their new look, Boyd and Jacobsen worked with creative agency Love & War to an aesthetic that “evoke[s] heritage coffee brands and the classic energy, optimism and simplicity of mid-century New York coffee counters, but in a bold, colorful way that feels fresh and contemporary.” With the opportunity afforded by a complete refresh, Partners decided to team up with Savor Brands, “a bag producer that uses waste-free manufacturing and offers zero-waste compost solutions.” The used bags that are collected will be “shredded, pelletized and made into materials such as garbage bins and watering cans, and 100% of the collected bags are recycled- never landfilled or incinerated.”

The rebrand isn’t the end of the Partners nee Toby’s Estate Brooklyn evolution, just the next step, though it is perhaps the most visible one. Whereas the name Toby’s might have underscored who the owners and company were in 2012, the new moniker is a better representation of who they are in 2019. May each one of us continue to bloom and blossom and find our own paths here in the present day, and be called by the name that speaks our truth.

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 Partners Coffee

Disclosure: Partners Coffee/Toby’s Estate is an advertising partner with the Sprudge Media Network.

The post Toby’s Estate Brooklyn Is Now Partners Coffee appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Some sad news coming out of Denver. Cherry Roast, the “platform and coffee competition to support and provide visibility for womxn/trans/GNC/gender queer coffee professionals” will shutter after four seasons. Founder and Amethyst Coffee owner Elle Jensen made the announcement via social media, published originally via the Coffee People Zine’s Instagram and reprinted below in full.

In it, Jensen recounts the early days of Cherry Roast, which launched in 2015 as a competition for “female baristas.” The competition soon expanded to prioritize inclusivity for trans, gender non-conforming, and gender queer individuals. Across four seasons Cherry Roast saw a lot of growth in both who it served and how it was able to serve them: 2018 champion Simone Rodriguez, for instance, will be attending the World Barista Championship in Boston next week as part of the winner’s bounty.

Ultimately, 2018 would be the last chapter in the Cherry Roast story, and for Jensen, the timing was right. The burden of running an organization can often be overwhelming, especially when you are busy opening new cafes. And instead of handing off the reins to someone else, Jensen opted to put an end to the competition, while questioning the nature and necessity of competition within coffee itself.

Cherry Roast was part of a wave of local, DIY, community-driven coffee competitions for people who, for a variety of reasons (often relating back to inclusivity), didn’t have the interest or resources to in compete on a national level. We covered Cherry Roast frequently over the last four years on Sprudge, and watched as it became a bellwether for what coffee events can be and mean today: diverse, inclusive, community-minded, and above all else, fun.

The full statement from Elle Jensen is reprinted below.

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 Cherry Roast

The post A Fond Farewell To Cherry Roast appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

It’s an unseasonably warm winter day in Istanbul when I get off the metro at the Sanayi Mahallesi station. Sanayi Mahallesi means “industrial neighborhood” in Turkish, a name whose accuracy makes up for what it might lack in creativity. The district is home to a somewhat grungy assortment of garages and warehouses, with the occasional office park that’s crept in from the neighboring financial district in search of lower rents.

I follow a zig-zagging street downhill—one is always either walking uphill or downhill in Istanbul—past the Kağıthane State Hospital, before spotting a triangle-shaped logo in front of an otherwise unmarked storefront. I ring the bell and am soon greeted by one of the best coffee brewers in the world, Aslı Yaman, who welcomes me into Kimma Coffee Roasters’ new roastery and training lab.

Aslı Yaman is tall with cropped hair. She speaks English—and Turkish—in a distinctive soprano with a certain musical quality. She’s upbeat and cheerful, despite being tired from a busy few days in Madrid—her first board meeting as a trustee of the Specialty Coffee Association.

Aslı Yaman

Ushering me into Kimma’s training lab, Yaman offers to brew me a coffee, recommending a natural process Costa Rica. She asks my preferred brew method, but I opt to have Yaman choose. She selects a Chemex, the method she used to earn third place in the 2014 World Brewers Cup in Rimini.

As Yaman carefully folds a Chemex filter origami-style, making four distinct triangles to evenly distribute the thicker parts of the filter, we chat about the new space.

Although Kimma Coffee Roasters is about to turn three, it’s the first private space for the wholesale coffee roaster. In addition to being home to their coffee roasting operations, Kimma’s headquarters hosts a steady stream of courses in the Specialty Coffee Association’s Coffee Skills program. Yaman served as the education coordinator for the SCA’s Turkey chapter before being elected to the SCA board of directors. The space has barely been open for a month, but it’s already welcomed a carousel of aspiring baristas.

We sit down with our coffee at the conference table and are soon joined by Yaman’s business partner, Hanife Özyurt, who begins to tell me the story of their company.

“We’re very close friends, like sisters,” says Özyurt. The relationship, which precedes and transcends their coffee careers, provided the inspiration for Kimma’s name, which they discovered on a road trip from Istanbul to Ankara, Turkey’s capital.

“While Aslı drove I looked up “sisters” in different languages,” says Özyurt. They thought the Finnish word “Kimma” had a nice ring to it.

“We asked our Finnish friends, and they liked it,” says Yaman.

Özyurt and Yaman

In addition to being short and memorable, the name projects a strong, feminine brand in a male-dominated coffee industry. Although it’s traditionally women who make coffee in the home in Turkey, the business side of things, whether importing or roasting, remains a man’s world. But Yaman and Özyurt aren’t afraid of the challenge.

“We’re not just brewing coffee, we’re trading. And the business side of things is really tricky,” says Yaman. “Sometimes they don’t want to do a project with a woman.”

Despite the obstacles, Özyurt and Yaman retain a positive outlook.

“It’s about professionalism. They see our passion and sincerity,” says Yaman. “We don’t believe in boundaries or borders. “

But beyond passion, Yaman and Özyurt both have serious business chops. Yaman earned an MBA at Istanbul’s Bilgi University, with her dissertation focusing on Starbucks expansion in the Turkish market. Her research led her to a job at Istanbul’s John’s Coffee before taking a position at Soyuz Coffee in Kaliningrad, Russia, where she worked for five years.

Özyurt followed a more conventional career path in business.

“I was in a corporate life. I was a communication manager for a big company, but I was not happy,” says Özyurt.

During her international business trips, she would often visit coffee shops that Yaman would recommend. During a trip to San Francisco, one shot of espresso particularly stood out. “I said, ‘If this is a coffee, what are we drinking?’” says Özyurt. “I told my husband, ‘I’ll leave my corporate life and start a coffee business.’”

Özyurt’s growing interest in coffee coincided with Yaman’s desire to move home, a decision more personal than professional.

“I came back to Turkey because I really missed my family and friends,” says Yaman.

Yaman realized she could take her expertise and experience and use it to help guide the nascent Turkish coffee community. When she had left Turkey in 2010, Istanbul’s specialty coffee scene was practically nonexistent, but by 2015 the city was on its way to becoming one of the fastest growing markets in Europe.

“I wanted to show how we could succeed. I wanted to share all of this knowledge with the community here,” says Yaman. Her experience working for a large roaster, going to origin, and excelling on the world competition stage made Yaman a valuable commodity in Istanbul. As soon as she moved back she took on a variety of consulting jobs.

“I had a network I could bring to my country,” says Yaman. That network includes current World Barista Champion Agnieszka Rojewska, who will be leading SCA coffee skills programs in the facility.

For Kimma’s first two years, they rented time in Delfiano Coffee’s roastery. But as Kimma grew, Özyurt and Yaman knew they needed their own space. And a new partnership with local chain Cup of Joy made that possible. The founders of Cup of Joy made an investment in Kimma, which in turn roasts the coffee for Cup of Joy’s three Istanbul locations. Cup of Joy is also a woman-owned business, and by all accounts a pioneer in specialty coffee retail in Istanbul.

Özyurt and Yaman have big plans for the space. In addition to a 10-kilo Probat coffee roaster, and designated packaging area, the lab space is home to three espresso machines which allow them to maximize hands-on time in training sessions. A sponsorship from Turkish milk-giant Sek is allowing them to provide free courses to a wide variety of baristas, many at conventional cafes, who otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford training. Their goal is to train 1,000 baristas in 2019. This is on top of pro bono projects in Ethiopia and Rwanda, focusing on women producers. The work in East Africa is close to the heart of both Özyurt and Yaman.

“We’re going to farms,” says Özyurt, “We’re trying to support the farmers.”

“We want to give back,” says Yaman.

In all, it’s an impressive work schedule, especially in an emerging market like Turkey. But Özyurt downplays their accomplishments.

“We’re not saving the world,” she says. “We’re just making coffee.”

Michael Butterworth is the publisher of Pilgrimaged, based in Louisville, Kentucky. Read more Michael Butterworth for Sprudge.

The post Passion And Sincerity At Istanbul’s Kimma Coffee Roasters appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

The effects of coffee and caffeine are powerful ones. So powerful in fact, that you don’t even have to consume any in order to feel the buzz. According to a new study, just thinking about coffee can give you a mental boost.

According to Newsmax, the research was done by University of Toronto duo Sam Maglio and Eugene Chan, an associate professor of management and a Ph.D. recipient, respectively. Instead of studying how caffeine affects the body directly, Maglio and Chan wanted to see coffee-related cues to see if they created the same sort of arousal as the consumption does. “Coffee is one of the most popular beverages and a lot is known about its physical effects,” Maglio states. “Much less is known about its psychological meaning—in other words, how even seeing reminders of it can influence how we think.”

To reach their conclusion, Maglio and Chan took participants from “Western and Eastern” cultures and subjected them to coffee- and tea-related cues. They found that those “exposed to coffee-related cues perceived time as shorter and thought in more concrete, precise terms.” But the level of the effect wasn’t equal across the board; subjects from Eastern cultures didn’t experience the same level of effect, “probably because they are not coffee-dominated cultures,” per Maglio.

The result is what Maglio refers to as “priming,” a sort of Pavlovian response to cues that mimics the effects those cues represent. Essentially, you drink enough coffee and you start to associate it with alertness, so when you are given a coffee cue, the brain is already perking up. The difference in the effect between majority coffee drinking and non-majority coffee drinking cultures lends credence to this being a learned behavior.

This research is good news for those who forgot to grab a bag of coffee yesterday and are forced to start the day off dry. Don’t worry your foggy little head, my darlings. Just go hold onto a mug, maybe smell some coffee grounds in the trash can, and repeat to yourself, “coffee.” You should be wide awake and buzzing in no time.

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 Phys.org

The post Thinking About Coffee Can Make You More Alert appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Growing up on a small coffee farm in Minas Gerais, Brazil, I have to say I always viewed coffee as something that “had to be cultivated in large amount in order to be profitable”—my father’s words—as well as something bitter, meant to be taken with sugar. But as an adult living in the United States, I saw many of my late father’s farmer friends’ names on bags at specialty coffee roasteries across the country and quickly realized that their coffee wasn’t bitter. (Nor were these coffees nutty, creamy, and chocolaty—like most coffees from Brazil are assumed to be in the rest of the world.)

“It’s an exciting time to be a coffee farmer in Brazil,” Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza‘s Felipe Croce tells me. Croce—along with the Brazilian Specialty Coffee Association (BSCA)—organized the BSCA Micro Region Showcase, an event that brought 23 foreign roasters and four Brazilian roasters together for a nano-lot late-harvest auction with the aim to demystify the country’s terroirs. The event took place in Caparaó, a mountainous area just shy of 3000 MASL encircling a national park belonging to the states of Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo. I had the opportunity to speak to some of the roasters—and the producers from which they purchased the lots—to get both sides of the perspective.

Lulu Wang from Taiwan was impressed at the coffees she found on the calibration table. A renowned coffee professional and trainer who also comes from a producing country, Wang described some of the lots as “floral, juicy, with a slight lactic acidity, something I had never tasted before in a Brazil.”

Seth Taylor, from Seth Taylor Coffee by Design (Toronto), came to the auction as a buyer but has been flirting with Caparaó for a long time. He got to know coffee from Espírito Santo in the previous years at Coffee Lab (São Paulo), and now he finally had the chance to choose a local lot to roast back in Canada. The lot he first had his eyes on got outbid at the very last second (let me tell you, watching that auction was beyond interesting, geopolitically speaking—it was like watching the world play politics through a coffee auction—but I digress.) In the end, Taylor and Olga Karakozova, from Smart Coffee (Russia) ended up splitting a lot between the two of them, since both of them already knew the young farmer, Luana de Paula. De Paula’s lot was harvested under rain, and what saved it, according to her, was the greenhouse where she put it to dry. It yielded less than 100 kilos, and she is very excited to have the coffee served in both Canada and Russia. (De Paula has recently started taking English classes in order to follow all the social media posts about her coffee!)

Olga Karakozova, Luana De Paula, and Seth Taylor

Sebastian Freidzon, from All Saints in Buenos Aires, had never worked with Brazilian coffee at his roastery. So for his first time, he wanted it to be special. At the auction, he found just what he wanted. “Since we already have a customer base interested in exotic flavors, African and Central American coffees, it will be easy to sell this coffee as a single origin in filtered methods.” Freidzon bought the lot from Maria Aparecida dos Reis, from Sítio Água Limpa farm, who’s been working with specialty coffee since 2016. The nano-lot was dried in African beds, Dos Reis tells me, and since it was the rainy season, during the night she covered it to protect it from the rain. De Paula, her neighbor, encouraged her to send a sample for the auction and so she did. From now on,” she says with a smile, “I will never miss a call for competition or auction.”

Arthur Audibert, owner at L’Alchimiste (Bordeaux), was visiting Brazil for the first time and also doing his first direct trade transaction with a Brazilian farmer through the auction. Up until now, he had been buying Brazils as mostly nutty, mild coffees to be part of his espresso blends. In here, he was quite surprised to find distinct, vibrant flavor profiles at the auction and also at some of the farms visited. Audibert makes a parallel between coffee and wine when we spoke about stereotypes in flavor profiles: “In Bordeaux, many of my customers approach me saying they like ‘Brazilian coffee,’ meaning that they like intense, heavier-body espressos. I have to deconstruct that idea for them, and it’s hard. To me, that’s the same thing as someone telling me they like French wine. It doesn’t mean anything. It can’t mean anything. We need to bring up the terroir talk more often.”

John Johnson, director of coffee at City of Saints in Brooklyn, New York, ended up buying a natural lot from Fazenda Ninho da Águia, run by producer Clayton Barrossa—a former surfer, but that’s another story. Johnson was glad to have visited the farm before the auction, and to have had the opportunity to try some of Barrossa’s coffees at the farm as well.

Barrossa’s coffees are known for their late-harvest lots; some roasters even wait until the last minute to see what the Ninho da Águia harvest will bring. This auction lot was harvested in December: a natural red Catuaí, dried on African-style beds. “It was creamy, very citric, and floral—very hard not to please,” describes Barrossa. The entire Ninho da Águia farm follows the agroecology model and has been divided into “sustainable gardens,” as Barrossa likes to put it: smaller plots of land surrounded by native vegetation plus a mix of fruits and vegetables that are cultivated by his family. They’ve also built a roastery on the farm, and since 2012 they have been offering tours for people who visit the nearby Pico da Bandeira. A significant part of their production sells to the domestic market.

It’s an exciting time to be a coffee farmer in Brazil. And thankfully, it means so much more than producing nutty, round, chocolatey coffees. Farmers like the ones mentioned above are working hard to prove it’s so.

Juliana Ganan is a Brazilian coffee professional and journalist. Read more Juliana Ganan on Sprudge.

Photographs by Tony Chen.

The post “An Exciting Time For Brazil” At The First-Ever Caparaó Coffee Showcase appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Who’s ready to party hardy at the Expo in Boston next week? The answer to this mostly rhetorical question is: not everyone. There’s certainly nothing wrong with crowded spaces filled drinking, dancing, and loud music, but it isn’t necessary the atmosphere all individuals want to find themselves in after a long day at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. Some want something more laid back.

That’s why coffee-person-extraordinaire (and really, you can take the “coffee” part out of that sobriquet and it will be equally as accurate) Jenn Chen has put together SCA Game Night. Taking place Saturday, April 13th at Pavement Coffeehouse’s 415 Western Ave location, SCA Game Night is a way of mingling with your fellow coffee professionals in a laidback atmosphere without the pressure of drinking.

Now in its third year, the SCA Game Night is Chen’s answer to the typical post-day-at-Expo festivities. “The goal of the night is still the same as it was last year and the year before: to have a ‘party’ that is a quieter alternative to all the other ones out there. I don’t mind going out on SCA nights but crowds of people, loud spaces, and lots of emphasis on drinking just isn’t my thing.” Chen tells Sprudge. “During Game Night, you get a chance to meet industry peers without music drowning out the conversation. It’s a laid-back atmosphere with no pressure to drink alcohol or force conversation beyond talking about your next game move.”

And what would a Game Night be without games? Boxes and boxes of games. Thanks to the generous donations of Pacific Foods‘ Customer Marketing Manager for Specialty Coffee and Head Judge and Committee Chair for the US Barista Championships Nathanael May, there will be “five (5) moving boxes full of games.” And if you happen upon a game you like, you are more than welcome to take it home with you. Or if you’re up to it, throw a board game or two into your luggage and bring it Game Night. I’m packing the ever-portable Hey! That’s My Fish that I copped last time I was at Coral Sword. Sprudge Live lead photographer Charlie Burt will probably be bringing a suitcase full of Magic: The Gathering cards if you want to challenge him.

Soft drinks and plant-based snackies will be provided by your favorite coffee journalism, news and culture website Sprudge. Though there will be no kegs or signature cocktails or any other drinking compellers, SCA Game Night isn’t requiring any teetotaling. Alcoholic beverage are available on a BYO basis.

SCA Game Night kicks off promptly at 6:00pm at Pavement Coffeehouse on 415 Western Ave. The event is free to attend and welcome to all Expo attendees and local coffee professionals. For more information—and to post what games you are bringing—visit the SCA Game Night’s Facebook event page.

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 Jenn Chen

The post SCA Game Night: A Chill Alternative To Post-Expo Partying appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Merit Coffee’s Deep Ellum cafe.

They say there is no rest for the weary. There is also, unsurprisingly, no rest for those unwilling to slow down. Few know this better than Robby Grubbs, the owner of San Antonio’s Merit Coffee, who has overseen significant statewide expansion in the last 18 months, first into downtown Austin, and now into Dallas. Turns out Merit has a whole lot in store for the Big D, including a stunning new coffee 2,500 sq. ft. coffee bar in the Deep Ellum district of downtown, and overseeing a brand new cafe in the tony Highland Park neighborhood, open this very day of publishing, April 2nd.

Let’s start with Deep Ellum first. The neighborhood is a Dallas cultural epicenter, but as a district it’s been historically rough on coffee shops (or anything that isn’t a concert venue, bar, or tattoo parlor for that matter). A dearth of nearby housing has for the longest time relegated one of the only walkable areas of the city to a nighttime only destination. A lack of daytime foot traffic is death to coffee shops. But Deep Ellum is seeing that axiom bend—if not break entirely—thanks to revitalization efforts bringing in more businesses and eateries over the past few years that require an audience during sunlight hours.

The newest edition to these efforts is Merit, who is betting big on this changing tide. Working with Austin-based architect Michael Hsu—whose previous work includes Austin favorites Uchi, La Condesa, Sway, and the iconic burger stand P. Terry’s—Merit has transformed the space that was previously home to funky antique store Lula B’s into a modern cafe. What was once a warehouse-like space has been given a total overhaul, including near-floor-to-ceiling windows comprising a majority of the southern- and eastern-most walls that allow in lots of natural light throughout the day, imparting a sense of openness to the cafe.

Inside, the space’s antique shop past life is equally unrecognizable from the clean, buttoned-up cafe in its place. Through the front doors, guests are greeted by white counter-topped light wood bar offsetting the not-quite-navy-not-quite navy backsplash tiles, a nod to Merit’s preferred color palate. A matter-of-fact white lettered, light-wooded menu board along with the pastry case full of tasty treats from local Bisous Bisous Pâtisserie give subtle cues to how, where, and what to order. Following the bar space back, a pour-over station consisting of two Modbar modules jut from the clean counterspace, where baristas make single-serve coffees via Kalita Wave brewers with coffee ground through the white Mahlkönig EK-43 sitting at the right angle bend of the bar, the demarcation between the brewed coffee and espresso sections of the bar. For espresso-based drinks, Merit has stuck with the white Mahlkönig/Modbar combo but have switched it up to include to PEAK grinders, three espresso modules, and two steam valves from Modbar’s new AV line.

The remainder of the space is divided between tables, zig-zag bench seating, and a glass-encased training center where Merit will host wholesale clients and other training classes.

There are no half-measures in this build-out. No bets have been hedged. Even as a relatively unknown brand to the Dallas consumer—save for the occasional guest spot at Communion in Richardson—and opening in a difficult part of town for coffee shops, Merit is going all-in. For Grubbs, a former Dallas resident whose ties include opening the Texas’ first Starbucks here some two decades ago (not to mention meeting his spouse just a few blocks away), the timing was right for the move. “Dallas felt like the natural direction to go,” Grubbs tells Sprudge. “The opportunity presented itself thru the Developer, Asana. We met them through a deal in Austin and we fell in love with their portfolio and their history of doing things right. We realized that we are a little early in what we believe is a killer transition in Deep Ellum, which made it even more attractive. We are super stoked about attracting more daytime traffic here.”

The Deep Ellum cafe is just the first step in Merit’s plan to grow their presence in Dallas. The second Dallas outpost is located in the Highland Park neighborhood—next to what Grubbs tells me is the “busiest Drybar in the country”—opens today. Building two shops simultaneously in a brand new city is an aggressive growth strategy, but as Grubbs explains, “We knew we wanted at least two locations. It just so happened Deep Ellum and Highland Park came on the radar at the same time and both were too good to pass up.”

Merit Coffee’s now-open Highland Park location.

Merit will also ramp up wholesale efforts in Dallas once they’ve gained a bit more of a footing in the city. In order to meet the demand, the San Antonio-based roastery commissioned a 45-kilo Probat roaster, up from the two 25-kilo and one 12-kilo Probats they currently run.

Once the two new cafes get up and running and the wholesale program is humming along, surely Grubbs is going to slow down, right? Nope. Even with all this Dallas activity, Merit has been simultaneously developing a third Austin location. That will bring the total count of locations for the Merit/Local family of coffee bars up to 11 here in 2019, making them inarguably the most prolific and expansive of the new generation of Texas independent coffee companies. That it’s all come at such a blistering pace over the last two years is nothing short of astonishing.

Grubbs closed my interview with him by teasing further Texas expansion, as well as continued growth and development within the three cities they currently call home. One thing is for certain: Merit is putting a premium on growth, even if it comes at the detriment of sleep. If the opportunity too good to pass up comes along during the planned and much-need breather, well, then it’s like Grubbs says: “Plans schmans.”

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

The post In Dallas, Tracking Merit Coffee’s Texas-Sized Expansion appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

We are excited to announce a new era of our publishing platform with a brand new product that we’ve been developing for the ten years we’ve been around. It is our namesake, and it’s something that we think will change the way you eat—and perhaps the way you live. We’re calling it Sprudge.

Sprudge chocolate coffee fudge drizzled upon a scoop of coffee ice cream.

It starts with espresso and chocolate fudge using the finest coffee and bean-to-bar chocolate. We use a time-tested recipe in development for nearly a decade to bring you a rich, flavorful, and yes, plant-based coffee fudge.

Sprudge smothers and covers a rich bowl of chocolate brownies.

We take this fudge and transform it into a remarkable dipping and dripping sauce, now available to ship worldwide. Hot Sprudge Sauce, the world’s first single-origin espresso bean-to-bar chocolate sauce. Drizzle it upon just about anything. But we warn you—it’s truly decadent.

Available now in the webshop. Limited quantities—so act now!

The post Introducing Hot Sprudge appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

We’re back in Kansas City for part two of our special SprudgeLive Coffee Sprudgecast series. These episodes will take you to the event floor at the 2019 US Coffee Championships in Kansas City. There we join multimedia director Elizabeth Chai, who—in addition to helming our must-follow Instagram coverage of the event—taped a series of original interviews for this week’s episode of the podcast.

Check out The Coffee Sprudgecast on iTunes or download the episode here. The Coffee Sprudgecast is sponsored by  Oxo, Urnex Brands, Hario, IKAWA Sample Roasters and Swiss Water Decaf. 

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As reigning US Brewers Cup Champion, Rose Woodard received a bye to compete a second time at the national level, and felt she didn’t need to compete to win twice. Instead she chose to brew quickly using Aeropress, then spend the final 3 minutes of her performance to voice her concerns about marginalized competitors: “The standards these competitors are held to are that of a white, male, heteronormative perspective — and that’s a major issue that needs to change before we can make progress in this industry.” . Photo by Elizabeth Chai @ChaiAmericano for Sprudge

A post shared by Sprudge (@sprudge) on Mar 15, 2019 at 4:53pm PDT

In this episode, Chai talks to 2018 United States Brewers Cup Champion Rose Woodard. Woodard used the final three minutes of her routine to call for equality and fairness for all competitors. “The standards these competitors are held to are that of a white, male, heteronormative perspective,” Woodard told the judges. “That’s a major issue that needs to change before we can make progress in this industry.” Read more about this routine here.

Kaley Gann performs at the 2019 United States Brewers Cup (Photo by Elizabeth Chai)

Chai then interviews 2019 United States Brewers Cup Champion Kaley Gann (Messenger Coffee). Chai spoke with Gann on finals day—moments before learning she’d become this year’s champion. Gann will compete in Boston at the World Brewers Cup Championship in a few short weeks.

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Your 2019 US Brewers Cup Champion is Kaley Gann of @MessengerCoffee, KCMO !!! #HometownHero . Photo by Elizabeth Chai @chaiamericano for Sprudge

A post shared by Sprudge (@sprudge) on Mar 17, 2019 at 5:13pm PDT

Sign up now as a subscriber to the Coffee Sprudgecast and never miss an episode. 

Listen, subscribe and review The Coffee Sprudgecast on iTunes.

Download the episode here.

Sprudge Media Network’s coverage of the 2019 US Coffee Champs is made possible by Joe Glo and Mahlkönig. All of SprudgeLive’s 2019 competition coverage is made possible by Acaia, Baratza, Faema, Cafe Imports, and Wilbur Curtis.

Sprudge is an official media partner of US Coffee Championships.

Follow @SprudgeLive on Twitter and never miss a moment from the shows, and cruise over to SprudgeLive.com to read routine recaps, and enjoy dynamic full-color photos.

2019 Sprudge Live coverage is produced by Zac Cadwalader. Our lead photographer is Charlie Burt. Multimedia direction by Elizabeth Chai.

See y’all in Boston!

The post The Coffee Sprudgecast: US Brewers Cup Champs Kaley Gann and Rose Woodard appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Coffee dinners are not a new concept. We’ve covered quite a few of them on Sprudge over the years and they all have a similar underlying mode: a coffee company teams up with a chef or restaurant to bring the two worlds together. Sometimes this means pairing coffee with food, sometimes it means using coffee as a component of a dish, sometimes both. But generally, it is a person from the coffee world working with someone from the culinary world to find the middle ground.

But a new dining experience is happening in Austin where the coffee person and the culinary person are one and the same. Created by former Fleet Coffee barista and ninth-place finisher at the 2018 US Barista Championship Brandon Acuña, Rover Concept is a “progressive American ultra-fine dining experience” and they are now taking reservations. Oh, and it’s a pop-up.

Inspired by James Beard Award-winning chef Grant Achatz of Alinea in Chicago, Acuña tells Sprudge he wants to use Rover as “a way to show a new type of thinking,” one that “looks at every detail equally,” from the food to the spoons used during service to the light to the temperature of the room. The idea for Rover began to codify for Acuña while working at Fleet preparing his routine for the US Barista Championship. Working with Lorenzo Perkins and Patrick Pierce, Acuña wanted to do something different than the regular routine, to find the gray areas in the rules and do things that weren’t necessarily allowed but weren’t specifically disallowed. It was this same sort of thinking he wanted to apply to the culinary world. After placing ninth, Acuña was given the opportunity to work the front-of-house at Alinea for a few months before returning to Austin to begin his ambitious new project.

As a dining experience without a permanent address, Rover is Acuña’s answer to the question “how can I take a Michelin-level concept to the consumer without an address?” Being held at a currently undisclosed location on Austin’s east side—an event space “a lot of people visit frequently” that Acuña doesn’t want to name because he “[doesn’t] want people to have a preconceived idea of what to expect”—a total of 10 dinners will take place between May 23^rd and June 9^th.

“Stone Fruit”

Each dinner will feature a 10 to 14 course tasting menu, each with coffee playing a factor. For some courses, it’s about rethinking how coffee is served (Gesha snow, anyone?). In others, it could be playing off a word or phrase common in the coffee world, like the “Stone Fruit” course. Using the idea that a stone fruit is a drupe as is the coffee cherry, this course involves a white flesh peach poached in sous vide burnt heavy cream, served on top of a cultured version of that same heavy cream, with an Ethiopia YirgZ espresso thickened with a cold soluble form of gelatin and molded into the shape of a peach pit.

Tickets for Rover Concept’s “Coffee” experience are available via their website for $150 and include wine and cocktail pairings. If all goes well with this first installment, Acuña says he would like to take Rover on the road and is currently eyeing 10 cities in the Midwest and on the coasts. Currently, the first two dates have already sold out over a month in advance, so signs are looking good that this new coffee concept may be coming to a city near you. For more information, visit Rover Concept’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.

All photos by Nicholas Friesen for Rover Concept.

The post Austin: Rover Concept Mingles Coffee With Progressive Fine Dining appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News