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Umeko Motoyoshi is having a moment.

As VP of Technology at Sudden Coffee, 2018 Sprudgie Award Winner for Outstanding Achievement In The Field of Excellence, and creator of the Rainbow Cupping Spoon Project, you’d be hard pressed to name a more influential and socially active coffee professional in the world today. And now comes CHANGING STRUCTURES, a new event they’ve created in collaboration with the #CoffeeToo project.

Sprudge co-founder Zachary Carlsen caught up with Motoyoshi to learn more about how they got here, and where they’re headed next. From the early genesis of the Rainbow Cupping Spoon—”I wanted to disarm something that scared me”—to global inspirations and new projects, Motoyoshi’s work represents nothing less than a shift in coffee’s traditional power structure. Hundreds of rainbow spoons are now making their way around the planet, in case you had any doubt, and that’s just the start.

For this wide-ranging and candid interview, Carlsen spoke with Motoyoshi digitally from San Francisco.

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I would like to introduce everyone to my production assistant, Chip – He followed @curryemoji home from the bus stop 4 years ago and is honestly a v bad roommate (poops in a box in the living room??!) – and not a good employee (does not even know what a spoon is ??!) – but he is super talented at drooling and he is a good boy

A post shared by Umeko Motoyoshi (@umeshiso_) on Dec 11, 2018 at 11:03am PST

In the 2018 Sprudgie Awards, you were a finalist in the social media category for @umeshiso_, an honoree for your Rainbow Cupping Spoons, and the winner in the Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence. First I just want to say congratulations, Umeko.

Thank you! I appreciate that so much, and I appreciate Sprudge for creating these awards, and the community for engaging in such a thoughtful and passionate way.

You’re the VP of Technology at Sudden Coffee and also freelance. Tell us how you got there!

As we know, cafe equipment only breaks at the worst possible times. I used to manage cafes, and it felt hard to be at the mercy of a technician’s schedule when steam was shooting out of the espresso machine. I tried apprenticing with an espresso tech, but he kept pressuring me to sleep with him. So I paid out of pocket to take La Marzocco’s technician training course. It was really life-changing for me. I had always loved La Marzocco machines, and learning how to repair them just made me fall deeper in love.

La Marzocco also connected me with Daymond Jordan, who refurbished and modded their machines in Seattle. It felt like a really big deal to have folks from La Marzocco support me in that way—at that time I had never even met a woman espresso tech. I was extremely lucky to apprentice with Daymond, because he truly was a master at his craft. His creativity and passion deeply influenced me, and I carried a mechanical interest throughout every subsequent job in coffee.

So when I ended up at Sudden seven years later, it was a dream job. I jumped in right away with sourcing and designing industrial coffee brewing equipment. Sudden’s founders, Josh and Kalle, were extremely invested in my professional development, and they also gave me a lot of autonomy. They handed me this wild mechanical project, and said, “No one’s ever done this before, but you can figure it out.” So I did, and I kept doing more projects, and eventually I ended up with a VP title.

A few months ago, I started taking on freelance work—mostly writing and mechanical projects. The writing is focused on creating HR policies, manuals, blog posts, and handbooks for coffee companies, and I’m also writing a book this year.

I’m also interested in working with specialty coffee companies who are getting into the RTD space. It can be challenging to find scaled brewing solutions that deliver consistent high quality and shelf stability. And operationally there can be so many challenges, too. But I really believe in RTDs as an important way to make specialty coffee accessible to a new audience. So it’s exciting to me that my work over the past few years puts me into that space in terms of experience.

Over the past month, I’ve been transitioning into full-time freelance work. I’d like to focus on writing, community organizing, building cool coffee science projects, and growing my webshop, Umeshiso. I’m expanding the wholesale part of my business and introducing some fun options like custom engraving.

It is definitely weird to realize that, in a few more weeks, I won’t be at Sudden anymore. I was the first employee, and I can’t begin to express how much it means to me. I know it’s normal to transition, and I am proud of myself for starting my own businesses and being responsive to my own development as a human. But I will miss the team a lot! So it’s a tender time for me right now, with a lot of growth and looking forward, while I honor everything that has brought me to this place.

Your father led tea ceremonies. Where and when? Tell us more about this, and how that influenced your life/career.

My dad’s name was Paul Motoyoshi. He was one of the funniest people I’ve ever met, and one of the smartest, and kindest, and most eccentric. He was born in a US concentration camp during World War II, and after the war there was intense pressure on Japanese Americans to assimilate. But no one on the Japanese side of my family gave two fucks about what they were “supposed” to do. This landed some of them in prison a few times, for protesting different oppressive structures throughout history.

So my dad, coming from Motoyoshi blood, didn’t give a fuck about the pressure to assimilate. I’m very proud of my dad’s accomplishments—he was incredibly hard-working and studious during his childhood, was an Eagle scout and a valedictorian, and got a free ride scholarship to Harvard. And I’m very proud that he did all this while actively engaging in learning about Japanese culture, writing poetry in Japanese, learning Japanese arts and Japanese cooking. He became a Japanese tea ceremony master in his thirties and taught tea throughout his life.

Tea ceremony, and specifically the way that my dad taught it, impacted me tremendously. I learned from him that ritual is sacred and it also is warm, and kind, and should be offered with humility. I learned that something as simple as preparing a hot drink for someone can hold more feeling and meaning than words can express. When there are no words, there is ritual.

So it was kind of destined that I would get into specialty coffee and that I’d pursue it passionately. But I was also heavily influenced by the humor that my dad brought to his teaching. He liked to start his classes all dressed in his beautiful Japanese tea robe, and he’d get up and very sternly tell his students that tea ceremony was incredibly difficult. “It’s very hard, so listen very closely,” he’d say. “You boil water… and then you make tea.” Everyone would burst out laughing, and from there the classes would be very interactive and funny. He was such a great teacher because he made people laugh.

I think it’s so important for us to make specialty coffee welcoming in this way, human and funny and kind and unexpected. It’s no accident that I am my father’s child, and I ended up making specialty instant coffee for a living!

I wanted to talk about your Honoree designation in the Sprudgies “Best New Product” category. Tell us about your glorious rainbow cupping spoons!

Aw man. So, I have cupping trauma. The cupping table can be a huge opportunity for everyone’s insecurities to come out. And some people’s insecurities come out as them being really insistent on their rightness, punishing coffees super severely just to show off, and engaging in a wide range of other macho maneuvers. When I first started attending cuppings, it was usually all white dudes and then me with my little pink pixie cut and bright outfits, and the way they talked about the coffees scared the crap out of me.

It’s so weirdly traumatizing to be told that someone’s ultra specific and arcane tasting notes are empirical fact. Like, that his mouth is basically the same as a liquid chromatography chamber. Throughout my early twenties, I just kept trying to figure this out, because it made no sense to me. Yet I was surrounded by People In Charge who kept insisting that there was only one right way to taste a coffee.

Over time, as I researched and researched and talked with food scientists and chemists, I established for myself, for my own knowing and peace of mind, that flavor is truly subjective. That different people perceive different things in coffee, and scour their own unique bank of sense memories to arrive at a tasting note. That when I said pine, and that white guy with a beard corrected me and said cedar—we both were right, because there is no right.

And then I was mad about it. I was mad that I’d spent so many years having my reality questioned on a daily basis. I wanted to scale the Empire State Building and yell through a megaphone: “Organoleptic perceptions of coffee are not fucking factual!”

Instead of doing that, because it seems slightly unsafe, I decided that I was going to find a rainbow-anodized cupping spoon. I wanted to disarm this thing that had become a source of trauma and anxiety, by bringing my own spoon and my own approach and my own knowing. And my own self.

Last year I had a severe mental breakdown and was diagnosed with Complex PTSD and Bipolar II Disorder. As I recovered, I found a direct supplier of rainbow spoons and established a relationship, and I started mailing spoons out to my friends for free. After I mailed out 75 spoons, I realized I would have to start selling them otherwise I’d go broke. And that is how Umeshiso started.

It’s amazing to me that my cupping trauma and my mental breakdown gave rise to something that has positively impacted people all over the world. Every time someone tells me that their rainbow spoon makes them feel confident at cuppings, I want to cry.

At UK Cup Tasters last year, each competitor was gifted a rainbow spoon. A little girl in attendance became so fascinated with the spoons that she started mimicking the cuppers, pretending to compete. Mat North gifted her a rainbow spoon of her own. It makes me so happy just to be a part of something like that.

There’s so much love for this cupping spoon. I love how they are popping up all over the world. Where have they gone and where are they going next?

I was really, really excited when I was able to get an order through to someone in Iran. It’s so tough to get anything into Iran from the US, so it felt miraculous when the rainbow spoons got through! My customer and I worked together on it, DMing back and forth on Instagram, and it was really exhilarating when the spoons finally made it. It was like, “Fuck our governments. We are just two people who respect and care about each other, and like colorful spoons.”

I also love sending out orders to countries that grow coffee. I’ve sent spoons to Colombia, Brazil, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Yunnan region of China, and a few others. My customers in the UK are awesome, and throughout Europe generally. I ship to every country, so there are rainbow spoons out there all over the world.

Antarctica and Africa are the only continents I have yet to ship to, and I feel like Antarctica may not happen anytime soon. If anyone is going to an African country, DM me so I can send you some spoons to bring! And of course, if anyone knows about some cuppings in Antarctica, let me hook it up with rainbows!

You were also a finalist in the social media category. Your account highlights so many voices in coffee (and the world). Tell us about your current initiative for Black History Month.

Every coffee person is their own person, outside of work, and has their own sphere of influence. So I post a lot of things on my Instagram that may seem, on the surface, unrelated to coffee. Because as we grow together in community, as people, we bring what we learn into our work. And we share our progress with friends who work in other fields, and they bring that to their own spheres. This is how we make our industry, and the world, better.

The US has a massive race problem, and I can’t always speak to that solely through the lens of coffee. Sometimes it’s just like, this is important for all of us as people, and it’s up to us to transform our learning into practical application in our work.

I deeply admire Rachel Cargle, a writer and lecturer at Columbia University. On her Instagram this month, she’s posting daily prompts about significant moments, movements, and figures in American Black history. The intent is for white folks and non-black PoC to research the prompt on their own, which is such a wonderful concept. Black history is American history, but in our schools we mostly just learn about white history, from a white perspective.

I am always googling everything—curiosity just runs in my family—and I also love to share about what I learn. So as I follow Rachel Cargle’s prompts, I take screenshots from my research and assemble them into daily Instagram posts. I’ve learned so much from this, and am now hoping to do some similar work for Filipino Heritage month and Native American Heritage month. For someone like Rachel Cargle to post these prompts, and for FREE, is an incredible learning opportunity. So I want to use whatever skillset I have to amplify her work.

So many white folks and non-Black PoC—I am both—are either uninformed or misinformed about Black history. It’s a huge problem! How can I begin to understand today’s racial dynamics, when my “understanding” is built on an ignorance of history? This ignorance is foundational to the continued functioning of racist structures, while the burden of education almost always falls on Black people, the very people who are harmed by these structures.

Rachel Cargle’s project places the emphasis on white folks and non-Black PoC to take charge of their own learning. She is putting in the daily emotional and intellectual labor to make this happen, and she shouldn’t have to. It should be taught in schools. She is incredibly generous for doing this important work, and she deserves all the credit (and all the monetary compensation). If anyone out there is enjoying the posts I’ve made about her prompts, I encourage you to donate to her! Rachel has a Patreon and you can also make a one-time donation at her PayPal.

Name a few people in world who you turn to for inspiration, encouragement.

I’m super introverted but I also really love community. So I connect with people a lot through Instagram and other online platforms, and I’ve ended up in close friendships with people I’ve never met before IRL. These relationships bring me so much joy and strength.

I live on opposite coast from my friend Kristina Jackson, who works at Intelligentsia, and we’re learning Spanish together. I feel so proud of us! The other day my friend Ashley Rodriguez, who lives in Chicago, Venmo’d me $5 and was like “I care about you, go get a coffee!” Like—just really tender and special shit. I never really had that before, and it grew from community organizing and shared belief.

In real life, my best friend Hana Yoshimoto is a constant inspiration. She has more emotional intelligence than anyone I’ve met. I look up to Jenn Chen and Michelle Johnson so much—they were the first people I saw starting bold conversations about race and gender in coffee. For the first time, I felt like I could be myself and honestly represent what I care about. And it made me want to model that for other people, the way Jenn and Michelle modeled it for me.

And my mom is just fucking amazing. Every time we talk, I learn something new about her. And I’ve known her my entire life. A few years ago, she casually mentioned that she used to work for a coffee business in San Francisco, before specialty coffee was even a thing. The shop was focused on selling roasted coffee, with a coffee service aspect was built into it. My mom talked her customers through the different coffees and their flavor profiles, and she’d make them pour-overs so they could taste the coffees before buying. I’d worked in coffee for ten years before my mom told me that.

She is one of the smartest and most curious people I’ve known, she’s completely brilliant. And she is so lowkey about it. She just does her thing and doesn’t really care if other people notice or not. She teaches me so much about critical thinking, about questioning, about building your own path. I am incredibly lucky that my mom is my best friend. I look up to her so much, and she constantly encourages and inspires me.

What are some things you wish you had known when you started your professional journey?

I wish I had known these three things:

1. You’re good enough. In fact, you’re extra. Anyone who tells you otherwise is mistaken.
2. No one will give you permission to do what you want to do. Because they won’t understand it. So you will have to do it without permission.
3. Informed, supported, and encouraged communities are the most effective means of decentralizing power.

Do you have a favorite book, piece of art, music composition?

I continually turn to Emergent Strategy, by Adrienne Maree Brown. In biology, emergence describes how collective properties arise from smaller individual parts. “Emergent Strategy” examines, with joy and Rihanna references, radical movements past and present – through an emergent lens.

Here’s a poem from the book, that I have saved as the wallpaper on my phone:

i am not afraid
of what i came here to do
i’m made of stardust
we are not afraid
of what we’re called now to do
we’re all made of god

Adrienne’s work is an affirmation and an inspiration. My understanding of the book shifts each time I read it, and I still do not fully understand any part of it. At the same time, I understand it in my body.

And my favorite movie is Spice World.

You won the Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence Sprudgie Award in 2018. Tell us what that means for you.

To me, it means that the work I’ve been a part of has created positive impact. It means that the connection I feel with my community is real, and the values we share are important. It felt like a huge, overwhelming honor—one of my role models, Michelle Johnson, won this award in 2016, and I look up to her so much. When I voted for Michelle in 2016, and again in 2018, I voted because she is a phenomenal human being and I believe in her, and I see her continually create new possibility in our industry. The Sprudgies have become such an amazing vehicle for change, as the community continues to expand what and whom we celebrate, and why.

The 2018 nominee list was like an A-Team of people who 1. I idolize and 2. Hold identities that, in the past, would have meant them getting passed over, not rightfully acknowledged. So I want to recognize Sprudge for creating the only awards in coffee (I think!) that are given by popular vote. Because it allows our community to bolster new faces and new names who perhaps wouldn’t have been recognized by The Establishment. So thank you!

Tell us more about Changing Structures and the genesis of this incredible project.

When I stepped off the cafe floor in 2016, I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. I was sick of getting paid low wages for extremely skilled work, I was sick of having to put up with harassment from customers, I was sick of the way that asymmetrical power informed every aspect of my experience as a worker. I loved coffee, and I loved service, and through every job I held in coffee I also worked regular floor shifts (because I loved it). But it had been 10 years and I just couldn’t deal with being treated like I was disposable.

It was a great privilege to be able to step off the floor when I couldn’t take it anymore. And when I benefit from privilege, I feel it’s my responsibility to work toward dismantling the structure that allows me that privilege, while denying it to others. There are so many people who work in coffee, who are brilliant, and sensitive, and creative, and who care so deeply about coffee and about the human community. It’s a travesty when they are overlooked and excluded from important conversations—conversations that would benefit from their perspectives. So I envisioned CHANGING STRUCTURES, an interactive panel event, as a direct response to that.

Each panelist has come up against a structure in coffee that didn’t serve them, and didn’t serve their community, and they built an alternative. We want this to be both a how-to and an invitation. We want everyone in our community to know that they are important, and they are needed, that no one is disposable, that everyone has a valuable perspective to bring to the table.

I am so thankful for my co-organizer, Molly Flynn, who founded #coffeetoo. We’ve worked together to make CHANGING STRUCTURES an intentionally welcoming space. Events can be overwhelming for a lot of folks—I often feel intimidated and out of place at them—so we wanted to create the kind of hospitality that many of our guests provide in their cafes.

Someone will be at the door to greet you, thank you for coming, and orient you in the space; to point out the Liberty cocktail bar, the refreshments, where to sit.

We’ll hand out a zine, laid out by Kat Melheim of Coffee People Zine, for guests to read if they’re feeling more introverted, and to take with them for inspiration on our next steps as a community. There’s a section in the zine for notes, and we’ll even have little pink pencils!

We’re also doing a raffle giveaway to benefit #coffeetoo, and we went all out with the prizes. In addition to Umeshiso spoons and other swag, Fellow is contributing an entire matte black EKG and Acaia donated a GOLD Pearl. Which I didn’t even know was a thing! We really wanted the giveaway to be amazing for our guests and our sponsors came through in a major way!

We’ll hear from Radhika Kapur, founder of Third Culture Coffee in Bellevue. Her menu features exquisitely prepared coffee drinks from all over the world, breaking from the US-centric idea that good coffee can only be an espresso, or a light-roasted SO pour-over taken black. The story of her travel and meticulous research is incredible.

We also will hear from Ian Williams, who founded Deadstock Coffee in Portland. A former shoe designer for Nike, Ian combined his love of sneakerhead culture with a passion for specialty coffee. This pairing, combined with a diverse team of baristas, creates a space that feels like home for a wide demographic of guests, especially Black folks and other people of color, who did not previously feel welcomed in many cafes.

Laura Perry, founder of LÜNA Coffee in Vancouver, BC, will share about her path as she shifts conversations about the cost of green coffee. As a green buyer, she continually identifies and creates alternatives to exploitative colonial structures, and has build a completely unique coffee sourcing protocol for her business.

CHANGING STRUCTURES is an invitation to anyone and everyone whose voice hasn’t been heard yet. We want our guests to leave feeling empowered and a part of something, and with tools and stories and examples. And this isn’t just a kumbaya thing—our industry is facing urgent existential crises and we need all hands on deck. There are so many people entering coffee today who are passionate and brilliant and driven, and as an industry we can’t afford to keep excluding them from important conversations. Fuck that.

We’re saying, “Let’s be a part of this together. Here are our stories and our ideas. We want to hear yours.”

You do such a wonderful service shining a light on people and projects in the world. Who is making coffee more wonderful right now?

Thank you! I’m just trying to grow my platform so that more people can stand on it. To be honest, I don’t know how to start answering this question because there are SO MANY PEOPLE making coffee a better place.

And it’s easy for me to name people who are thought of as leaders, but leaders are nothing without community. Our community, in this little part of the world, is working so hard and working together, and supporting one another, boosting each other’s work, earnestly and actively engaged in learning, each unique person bringing their perspective to the table.

I am proudest to be a part of a community, and this community specifically. In a lot of ways, we’re a hot mess, but we are working so hard to change for the better. We’re working so hard to grow. And in other ways, we’re really leading other industries. Most cafes on the west coast now have gender-neutral bathrooms, as an example. And taking a wide view of the industry as a whole. Specialty coffee is the only industry *founded* on the idea that we should pay MORE for raw materials. Because it’s just fucking fair.

So I mean this in complete and total sincerity, not as a cop-out, not as a woo-woo moment: when we work together, as a global community, to improve each other’s lives, we make coffee more wonderful.

Thank you so much for your time!

Thank you!

Changing Structures happens Thursday, February 21st in Seattle. More information here. 

Oatly is the presenting sponsor of the 10th Annual Sprudgie Awards.

Zachary Carlsen is a co-founder and editor at Sprudge Media Network. Read more Zachary Carlsen on Sprudge. 

The post Umeko Motoyoshi: The Sprudge Interview appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

You soon may be able to own stock in in some of the biggest names in American specialty coffee. As reported by NASDAQ, the Luxembourg-based investment firm JAB Holding Co. intends to take their line of coffee businesses public in the not-too-distant future.

The firm’s holding currently include pioneerng third wave coffee brands Stumptown Coffee and Intelligentsia, longtime baby boomer mainstay Peet’s, and £4 hummus titans Pret A Manger (only to name a few). JAB’s coffee-based portfolio, collectively known as Acorn Holdings hit a total of $19 billion in sales last year, per Reuters. Included in this portfolio is Tully’s Coffee, Van Houtte, and the entire Keurig Dr. Pepper roster.

Bringing Acorn to market is step one in a two-part plan to take many of JAB’s assets public, as per NASDAQ; the next phase will be to offer the also-coffee-heavy restaurant portion of their holdings, which includes Pret A Manger, Panera Bread, Einstein Bros, Caribou, and Espresso House.

According to a statement from the company, “JAB has a very successful global Coffee and Beverages platform in Acorn, and we are envisioning taking it public in the next two-three years.” The statement continues, “A public listing would be in line with JAB’s long-term philosophy to bring leading global consumer businesses to the public markets. However, we have not made any decision to trigger an IPO process now.”

So get your ducats in order, y’all. The next phase of the third wave mergers and acquisitions game shall soon come to pass: the first* major third wave IPO.

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 Michigan Chronicle

Disclosure: Intelligentsia Coffee and Stumptown Coffee are advertisers on the Sprudge Media Network. 

*Ed. note—To our knowledge this will be the first major third wave IPO. If you are, however, aware of a legit previous example of a third wave coffee IPO please contact us and we will amend this post. “Ahoy there dean” try-hard nonsense does not count.

The post JAB Holdings Are Heading Towards A Coffee IPO appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Red Bay Coffee founder Keba Konte first got into coffee as a way to promote his art. But in the 13 years since then, he’s found, and showed countless others, that coffee is not only the perfect setting for art, it’s the perfect way to build community and create opportunity. Now Red Bay are planning an expansion across the country in 2019 to Philadelphia, all the while continuing to push the boundaries of what the coffee industry can be, and whom it can be for.

Konte, who had previously founded Guerrilla Cafe in North Berkeley and Chasing Lions Cafe in San Francisco, has been making coffee news for some time by using entrepreneurship to challenge the status quo. His third and most ambitious coffee venture, Red Bay, started out in 2014 as a micro-roastery in the garage under Konte’s Fruitvale home (aka the Coffee Dojo). From there it grew into a roastery and event space in a converted factory just a few blocks from Fruitvale Station; a Kickstarter-funded cafe followed shortly after, made from a modified shipping container in uptown Oakland.

Photo by Amir Saadiq.

With Red Bay, Konte has incorporated a profit-sharing into the business model and is generally going bigger than any of his previous ventures. Through running a roastery as well as cafes, he’s been able to explore the impacts that business can have on the sourcing side of the coffee value chain. “I got into coffee as a way to create a platform not only for my artwork but for my life’s work: being creative, organizing community, and trying to push my community forward,” says Konte. While coffee was originally a doorway into this mission, Konte found even more behind the door than he had initially anticipated. “I really got turned on by all the possibilities of impact, of being able to build teams, and the power and impact of sourcing.”

One of Konte’s guiding goals is to bring more equity to members of the coffee supply chain from its most underserved groups, particularly people of color and women. “Most often, black and brown people are either picking the coffee cherries, handing off a cup, or sweeping,” Konte tells Sprudge. “So our mission has really been to fill in some of the career positions in the supply chain, from sourcing, roasting, and quality control, all the way to marketing, equipment, and software. This industry goes so deep.”

Keba Konte and Jessica Moncada. Photo by Amir Saadiq.

In making that mission a reality, Red Bay also works to make sure their hiring pool includes candidates who have previously been incarcerated. “One of the things that keeps me inspired is that we’ve introduced a lot of people to coffee who really never saw coffee as an opportunity for a career,” says Konte. “A lot of people—not just second chance employees but also a lot of other black and brown professionals—really haven’t had the chance to think about how many technical and professional opportunities are spread through the value chain of coffee.”

Another way Red Bay has worked to engage its community is through its events. The Red Bay roastery doubles as an events space and boasts a constant roster of innovative and accessible events and event series. The events, which range from breakfast popups to concert residencies to magazine releases to panel discussions to self-care festivals, are all coordinated by Jessica Moncada, who, in addition to her background as a wedding planner, is Konte’s daughter. “We try to do a mix of everything so everyone in the community can feel included,” says Moncada. “As a wedding planner, I worked with very specific people around their very specific visions, but when creating community events, you have to have the whole community in mind and reach out to people, and encourage them to reach out to you.”

Some of Red Bay’s most successful events have been in direct response to community excitement; for instance, after the release of the film Black Panther in 2018, the space hosted a panel on black futurism. “I just noticed that people loved to talk about the movie,” Moncada tells Sprudge. “So we had the panel, and then we put four chairs in the middle of the room and opened it up so that everyone could take turns sharing and starting new conversations. It’s hard to have a group conversation with 80 people, but somehow it worked.”

The company has had expansion in the works for a long time, and Konte and crew are excited to see Philadelphia get its first container cafe, which Red Bay expects to be open in the summer of 2019. After a string of racist incidents at Starbucks went viral in late 2018 and led the company to shut down its stores for racial bias training, Red Bay’s long-term expansion plans felt even more timely. “Expansion is not just a reaction to Starbucks, but the timing of what happened there and what’s happening all over the country definitely makes it feel a little more urgent,” says Moncada. “What we want to do is put less focus on Starbucks and what they’re doing to solve their problems and just give people alternatives.”

Photo by Amir Saadiq.

It’s certainly timely but also not entirely surprising that Philadelphia, the location that the Red Bay crew had planned as the first point of East Coast expansion, acted as a flashpoint for a larger conversation about anti-blackness in specialty coffee. “The African American community in the Philadelphia area is both larger and much more underserved than that of the Bay Area,” says Konte. “I think there’s a tremendous market opportunity to be found in serving and engaging that community as well as other communities along the East Coast.”

They’re currently hiring, and Konte is excited about the talent they’ve already brought on in the area. While the coffee box should open this year, Konte also plans to open a Philadelphia roastery and event space in 2019. After that, they plan to open in New York and build coffee boxes along the HBCU line.

As the company approaches their five-year anniversary and preps for expansion, Konte is grateful they’ve been able to have an impact on the specialty coffee community, their local community, and the larger business community. “Surviving five years in business is not easy. I give props to all the small business owners and entrepreneurs out there who really start out undercapitalized, much like we did. We’ve been able to build a working model that shows that creating a socially aware brand can really be a huge competitive advantage. It’s a huge win to be able to show that doing good things in the world can also mean good business.”

Running a business is hard, and Konte looks for inspiration not only in the impact Red Bay has had on their community and the individuals that comprise it, but also in his daily cup. “Sometimes what inspires me day to day is just the simple pleasure of having a great cup of coffee,” reflects Konte. “The more you know about everything it takes to make great coffee from seed to cup and all the ways it could go wrong at every step, the more you know not to take it for granted.”

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

Photos by Evan Gilman unless otherwise noted.

The post Red Bay Coffee: Building For The Future In Oakland (And Beyond) appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

For as young and fairly progressive as the specialty coffee industry can be, it often finds itself stuck in more traditional modes of thinking. The current structure of the today’s coffee industry—who can have what jobs (and how difficult it is to get them), who cafes are marketed towards, and who even gets to feel comfortable in a given space—can inherently act as its own gatekeeper, preventing new ideas from talented individuals from ever seeing the light of day. But through concerted, intentional efforts put forth by many in the specialty coffee world, these paradigms are changing.

One such effort is taking place this Thursday, February 21st at Broadcast Coffee in Seattle. Presented by #CoffeeToo and Sprudgie Award winner Umeko Motoyoshi, Changing Structures is a panel discussion featuring voices in the industry who are providing alternatives to coffee’s old way of thinking.

Led by Motoyoshi, the panel will include “coffee professionals who are creating new alternatives to outdated structures through community-focused work,” including Ian Williams of Deadstock Coffee, Radhika Kapur of Third Culture Coffee (featured here as part of Sprudge’s Build-Outs of Summer series), and Laura Perr of LÜNA Coffee. Topics will range from “creating nontraditional cafe spaces to building a value chain around the true cost of coffee production.”

“Too often, too many people’s voices are unheard because of the identities they hold, or their job title. CHANGING STRUCTURES is about saying fuck that. We all are important, and we all have a unique and valuable perspective to bring to the table,” Motoyoshi states. “Our speakers are all people who have shifted structures in coffee that did not serve the community. And they are all people who are incredibly kind, and encouraging, and focused on making whatever resources they have accessible to others. Each speaker will describe their story and how they got to where they are, with a focus on empowering our guests and welcoming them to open dialogue.”

All attendees are welcome to free food and beverages—including vegan, gluten-free, and non-alcoholic options—as well as a zine made for the event by Coffee People’s Kat Melheim. Guests can also take part in a raffle featuring prizes from Fellow, Acaia, Oatly, and others. Proceeds of the raffle go to benefit #CoffeeToo.

Changing Structures is open to all and is free to attend, though the organizers have a suggested donation of $5 (also to go to #CoffeeToo). It all kicks off at 7:00pm this Thursday at Broadcast Coffee. For more information or to RSVP, visit Changing Structures’ 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 Changing Structures promotional poster by Chris Hulsizer.

The post Changing Structures Challenges You To Rethink Coffee appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Hong Kong is dense. Its buildings, with their varying lines, curves, stacks, and layers, present a unique fingerprint in the city’s iconic skyline—the jaggedness hinting at a seemingly infinite race towards the sky among the architectural giants. Getting lost is an adventure in itself and is probably my favorite way of exploring the city. From the vibrant markets in Kowloon to the steel towers of Central to the unexpected wrong turns leading to the grittier parts of the city—each area is distinctly its own.

Perhaps my favorite hour is the neon glow of nightfall, when the streets and structures transform into an illuminated maze. The blend of colors light the darkness to reveal an endless array of vendors who saturate the air with an assortment of aromas both unfamiliar and enticing. With a bombardment of sights, sounds, and smells around every corner, the city can be a shock for first-time visitors. If you’re in search of a place to wind down and escape the metropolitan jungle, head to the eclectic neighborhood of Sheung Wan, no doubt one of the city’s coolest districts. In between the whispers of ancient Hong Kong that lurk in the dried seafood and tonic stalls on Wing Lok Street and the incense smoke from Man Mo temple, coffee shops and cafes thrive in every nook and cranny.

NOC Coffee Co.

Already boasting a collective assortment of eateries, stylish boutique stores, and art galleries, charming Gough Street ices the cake by hosting one of Sheung Wan’s most beautiful coffee spaces. With its pure white exterior and giant glass doors, the shop is a stark contrast to the busy textures along Gough Street. Upon entering, you’re immediately greeted with a sleek seven-meter-long white countertop bar so immaculate you’ll feel like polishing off every speck of dust on your shoes. The menu offers classic black and white espresso drinks along with a rotating selection of single-origin and house-blend beans available as pour-overs.

NOC wholeheartedly embodies its vision of being a coffee shop that is Not Only Coffee. The very much approachable baristas exude passion in their craft and offer suggestions with enthusiasm. The drinks are served with some of the best free-pour latte art I’ve seen not just in the city, but across my travels around Asia. An ever-evolving food menu with a variety of feel-good toasts, salads, and grain bowls are available throughout the day. Trust me when I say the trek up the stairs is worth the climb.

Hazel & Hershey Coffee

On the cusp of Sheung Wan and Central is Peel Street, a small sloping hideaway housing one of the area’s most peculiar coffee shops. It’s hard to miss Hazel & Hershey—its vibrant teal exterior will turn heads and lure the curious inside its doors. This eclectic character extends inside, from the warped clock lighting fixtures that cover the ceilings to the stacks of takeaway cups featuring local artists. Coffee paraphernalia canvases the walls, carrying notable brands such as Kalita, Hario, Acaia, and Bonavita. The assortment of the latest coffee gear, books, and gadgets is enough to spark a coffee nerd in anyone.

While the shop boasts an impressive collection of coffee tools, the coffee selection is not to be overlooked. Hazel & Hershey roasts their beans in-house and offers an impressive list of a constantly rotating variety of single-origin beans and micro-lots, sourcing from Indonesia to Brazil to Ethiopia. Sip on espresso or wait for your pour-over in the shop’s quaint outdoor patio, a recluse from bustling Hollywood Road.

13 Peel Coffee Bar by Momentum Coffee Roasters

“Drink naked coffee” is the motto at 13Peel, the first coffee concept store by Momentum Coffee Roasters (formerly known as Inferno Dynamics Roastery). The shop takes pride in its commitment to sourcing directly from farmers, offering an ever-changing seasonal selection of beans to ensure the freshest batch of coffee is served to its consumers.

Trinity ONE brewers—the closest thing to magic you’ll get in the coffee world—line the marble countertops, providing a spectacle for even the most closeted coffee geek. This unassuming contraption brews six ways: gravity press, cold drip, batch brew, immersion, pour-over, and espresso-style extraction. Adding to the shop’s minimalistic flair is the subtle Modbar with wooden handle accents—used for pulling espresso.

While the focus is extracting the most unique flavor from each cup, the shop isn’t afraid to push boundaries with coffee. The playful neon lights hint at its whimsical creations, with seasonal mocktails and in-house concoctions such as coffee lemonade, bubble coffee with Okinawan brown sugar, and curry fish ball pairings.

That begs the question: what coffee pairs best with curry fish balls? That answer requires a trip to Peel Street.

The Cupping Room Roastery

Home to Kapo Chiu, a veteran on the barista world stage and who recently placed 3rd in the World Barista Championship in Seoul, The Cupping Room is bound to exceed your routine caffeine fix. The latest location in Sheung Wan is one of four branches dotted across Hong Kong Island and offers not only a careful selection of seasonal beans sourced worldwide, but also a sizable food menu, making it a brunch hotspot for locals and visitors alike.

Unique to the shop is their roasting powerhouse: a black and steel Probat UG15 Retro. The iconic roaster accentuates the aromatic and sweet profiles in coffee, developing a unique taste with each batch. Like Mona Lisa at the Louvre, the roaster stands behind large glass windows just behind the brewers bar, allowing consumers to gaze upon the finishing stages of bean-to-cup production. Several Melitta drippers line the countertop, while each coffee is paired with an informative card highlighting flavor profiles and origin details. Lactose intolerants, rejoice! Those who prefer milk in their brew have alternative dairy options, including the ever-elusive Oatly oat milk. Seating is limited, so come early to enjoy the efforts of a world-class barista.

18 Grams

18 Grams is a tiny shop that packs a big punch. The dark walnut tables and natural leather seats offer a casual homey vibe while a five-seater counter bar provides a more up and close personal look into the brewing process. The menu offers a solid list of milk-based beverages and serves one of the most velvety flat whites in a neighborhood sardine-packed with coffee shops. Humid day favorites include the shakerato, which is shaken iced espresso served in a martini glass, and the coffee whiskey sour. While I consider myself an espresso purist, I definitely wouldn’t mind starting my day off with the latter.

What started as a small humble espresso corner in Causeway Bay back in 2010 has now evolved into eight locations, with Sheung Wan being the newest of the branches. Thanks to the efforts of founder John So and head roaster Kammie Hui, 18 Grams paved the way for specialty coffee in a now booming Hong Kong coffee culture.

Jessica Hernandez (@hernandezjess) is an international freelance journalist and photographer. Read more Jessica Hernandez on Sprudge. 

The post Where To Drink Coffee In Hong Kong’s Sheung Wan Neighborhood appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

In episode 68 of the Coffee Sprudgecast we interview Coffee People founder Kat Melheim and Amethyst Coffee’s Claudia Campero about their new print publication DRIP. DRIP is a submission-based publication that features writing and art “where we explore how we feel about our bodies, sex, gender, nudity, power, vulnerability, expression, and identity.”

Read about DRIP Zine here.

Only 250 copies of the first issue have been printed and are selling for $15 at the Drip Zine website.

Listen to the full episode below:

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. 

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.

The post Coffee Sprudgecast Episode 68: The One About DRIP Zine appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

CBD is having a bit of a moment right now. The non-psychoactive and generally legal part of the marijuana plant (though it’s mostly harvested using hemp or other sources, like tree bark) is being added to juices, soaps, and of course coffee. Indeed, the “would you like CBD with that?” $5 upcharge is a growing boon for coffee bars and cafes across the United States. But one coffee company is understandably none too pleased about it.

That would be Coffee By Design, a Portland, Maine coffee company whose trademarked name and acronym they argue are being infringed upon. According to Bloomberg, the 25-year-old brand has held both trademark for the name Coffee By Design as well as the initials CBD used in conjunction with the sale of coffee since 2010, two years before Colorado and Washington legalized recreational use of cannabis and six years before their home state followed suit. In 2017, the company rebranded to simply CBD. Now, with the recent boom in recreational cannabis as well as the proliferation of CBD products, the Coffee By Design trademark has seen a deluge of what the brand alleges to be textbook infringement.

Not only were customers coming in expecting to get a sweet mellow at the local Coffee By Design, but other shops around town were advertising their own “CBD coffee” (no relation to Coffee By Design). This causes heaps of customer confusion, and United States trademark law puts the burden on Coffee By Design to defend the use of their trademarked term, a legal reality we’ve explored previously on Sprudge as it relates to coffee.

Coffee By Design co-owner Alan Spear tells Bloomberg that he isn’t trying to keep other shops from putting CBD in their coffee, but wants them to not call it “CBD coffee.” From Bloomberg:

“We’re well within our rights to prevent others from using the term CBD as a trademark in relation to coffee and coffee shops,” Spear says. “As a responsible trademark owner, we have an obligation… All we hope to do is prevent consumers from being confused about what they are purchasing and who they are purchasing it from.”

Spear goes on to suggest shops sell the product using the term “CBD extract coffee” or “cannabidiol coffee.”

Coffee By Design’s defense of this trademark in Maine could have wide-reaching implications for the use of “CBD coffee” in other settings across the country. This story is developing, and in the meantime we look forward to the inevitable Tim Horton’s “THC” rebrand following Canada’s national marijuana legalization.

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 Don’t Call It CBD Coffee, Says Coffee By Design appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Joe Coffee Company in New York now offers instant coffee alongside their whole-bean selections, joining a growing number of specialty coffee companies like Ritual Roasters and Black and White Coffee Roasters. Joe partners with specialty instant coffee makers at Swift Cup and currently offers three selections in their specialty line: The Daily ($18), Nightcap Decaf ($20), and the La Familia Guarnizo single origin coffee ($20). Like Swift Cup, Joe Coffee’s instant comes in paper packets housed in a sturdy box. To find out more about Joe’s transition to instant and their design choices, we talked to Graphic Designer Leina Sanchez.

When did Joe release instant coffee?

Joe debuted its Specialty Instant Coffee line in April 2018.

Tell us a little bit about the design process.

Our partners over at Swift Cup Coffee really helped us get the ball rolling. They had already found success packing their instant coffee in these little boxes, and we were pretty happy with them. There’s a sticker that wraps around the box, and I thought of it like a ribbon wrapping around a present.

We’re big fans of the little box—were there a few prototypes of packaging the instant?

I could start a little museum showcasing the evolution of the box and sachet with all the mock-up packaging I made along the way (although I’m not sure who would visit!). The sachet probably underwent the biggest transformations. At one stage, I made some intricate ink-drawings of coffee flowers and leaves, with the idea that we could have a unique illustration for every variety of instant coffee and these sachets would be collectibles of sorts. Our team quickly realized that real estate would be better used to show people how to actually make the stuff! Maybe an idea to revisit for the future?

Who designed the package?

It was really a collaborative effort. I definitely had my ideas to get us started, but many people on our team and on the Swift Cup team weighed in along the way. I took all that feedback and brought it into every design stage, hoping to get closer to our vision of what this exciting new product could be.

How would you describe the look?

When we first launched, instant coffee was still relatively new to the specialty coffee scene, so it was important for us to show our customers that it was a product to take just as seriously as our whole bean coffee. The look is largely a reworking of our existing bag design, chosen to make sure the two could live together in harmony.

Instant coffee is becoming more popular as specialty coffee companies continue to push the category forward—how long has Joe instant been in development?

We started considering the idea in January 2018 and it took about three months to come to fruition.

What’s next for the instant line?

We feel that Swift Cup’s process results in a more nuanced cup, which means as we develop this product line, we’ll likely be exploring more interesting and complex single origin coffees. We’re particularly excited about featuring a Rwandan single origin from the Hingakawa Women’s Association. We expect it to be available later this spring!

Where is it available?

Joe Specialty Instant Coffee is available for sale in our New York City and Philadelphia cafes, on our website, on Amazon, and at select REI locations in the Northeast.

Zachary Carlsen is a co-founder and editor at Sprudge Media Network. Read more Zachary Carlsen on Sprudge.

Disclosure: Joe Coffee Company is an advertising partner on the Sprudge Media Network.

The post Coffee Design: Specialty Instant Coffee From Joe Coffee Company appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Today is Valentine’s Day, which means baristas will be pouring an above-average amount of hearts in lattes. And today especially (though really this is an everyday occurrence), should muscle memory kick in and they pour an unrequested heart—one of the three primary latte art shapes, mind you—it will inevitably be misconstrued as some sign on interest by the customer and thus begin awkward series of interactions with a person who has already planned the entire relationship in their head. Based solely upon a foam shape in a cup. Baristas, along with service industry members in general, get objectified on a daily basis. A significant part of their livelihoods, tips, are based solely on being nice and welcome and often gets contorted by many into some grand but subtle gesture of affection. But a new zine is fighting back. Called DRIP, this new print publication exists as a space for members of the specialty coffee community to reclaim their sexuality, and it comes out today.

Created by Coffee People founder Kat Melheim and Amethyst Coffee’s Claudia Campero, DRIP Zine is a submission-based publication where coffee professionals can feel free to explore their illicit sides. Works will include “photography, poetry, short stories, illustrations, and other artwork where we explore how we feel about our bodies, sex, gender, nudity, power, vulnerability, expression, and identity.” And what better way to celebrate this new print venture that with a party, on Valentines of all days?

Tonight in Denver at Amethyst Coffee’s Lakeside location starting at 6:00pm, the DRIP Zine holding a release party, and it will be a night of erotic good times. Included in the night’s festivities includes “Glitter Pussy,” an aphrodisiac signature beverage competition presented in collaboration with Glitter Cat, X-rated Valentines Day card making, and even a little flash. Hand-poked tattoos from custom-made flash by @stickandpeg will be going on all night.

But for those unable to attend the release party, copies of DRIP Zine are available for $15 via the Coffee People Zine website (with the option of donating more). Partial proceeds from sales will go to benefit Planned Parenthood.

Just because today is a manufactured holiday designed solely to separate you from your hard-earned cash via overpriced plants and mass-produced confections doesn’t mean you can’t also treat yourself. Pick up a copy of DRIP Zine today and maybe find out how your fellow coffee professionals are treating themselves (and other consenting adults).

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 DRIP Zine

The post DRIP Zine Lets Coffee Professionals Celebrate Their Sexuality appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Coffee people are very strange these days. If they’re not drinking iced coffee during a polar vortex, they’re shooting green coffee into space to roast it. And now, there’s a new startup that wants to make your coffee without any coffee at all. It’s called Atomo Coffee, and according to Food & Wine, the company is “working on a way to replicate a standard cup of coffee—down to the taste, aroma, and even mouthfeel—all with natural ingredients, none of which are coffee beans.”

This is by no means the first iteration of “coffee hold the coffee.” In Italy, there is a long tradition of caffè d’orzo, a caffeine-free, coffee-like beverage made of roasted barley that is consumed by children, the elderly, and those looking to eschew the jittery jolt for health reasons. But this Atomo Coffee—“molecular coffee” as the company refers to it—feels like something entirely different.

Created by microbiologist Jarret Stopforth—a “radical food scientist,” per the company’s Kickstarter, whose CV includes time at Soylent and Chobani, both of which have pre-established links to the coffee world—and not-microbiologist Andy Kleitsch, Atomo coffee is trying to break down coffee to a molecular level, figure out what’s going on inside, and then rebuild it anew using… not coffee.

It is a coffee but it is like, not coffee. Think about that.

Their goal, according to Food & Wine, is to create a coffee without “the dreaded bitterness,” WHICH I SHOULD NOTE is a thing that can also be accomplished through quality-focused sourcing and roasting practices, a notion upon which the last let’s say two decades plus of specialty coffee have been predicated. One need not put the bolts in the neck of a reanimated mishmash of molecules to drink coffee without the aforementioned “dreaded bitterness.” It is possible to drink actual delicious coffee from actual coffee farmers and roasters without experiencing such dread.

What actually comprises Atomo is as yet unknown. The Kickstarter lists them as “naturally-derived sustainable ingredients.” For their first product, Atomo is aiming for a “smooth cup of coffee, not too light, not too dark,” but after the success of their already-funded Kickstarter campaign they plan to release single-origin varieties including an Ethiopia, Colombia, Kenya, and 100% decaf (sorry caffé d’orzo).

This may come as a surprise given the completely serious and not at all flippant tone of this article, but I’m a bit skeptical of the entire enterprise. Though to be fair, in a blind taste test performed by the company on the University of Washington campus, Atomo was the heavy favorite over the other option, some roasty-ass Starbucks they trucked around campus, god knows how long after brewing it.

Have 21 out of 30 college students ever been wrong about anything?



Perhaps I am the one who is wrong. Maybe the kids these days want their space beans and molecular “coffee” drinks. If that’s you and you want to live in this sort of future, you can pre-order you own Atomo via their Kickstarter page. What a time to be alive.

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 This Coffee Beverage Was Grown In A Lab appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News