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Sep 06
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We Have Reached The Pumpkin Spicepocalypse And There’s No Turning Back

By apocolypse, Krispy Kreme, peeps, Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew, pumpkin spice, spam, starbucks, Wire

 

As just about anyone in the middle part of America can probably tell you, tornados are formed when warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico meets the cool, dry air making its way down from Canada. The result is in an often-violent funnel cloud, capable of whipping cows around all willy nilly or even whirling you into an alternate dream-reality. And there’s an ominous storm a-brewin’ in coffee, too. The warm air, in this instance, is ever-lengthening cold brew season (thanks global warming!), the cool air, the equally-expanding pumpkin spice latte season. The tornado, then, is the pumpkin spice cold brew, and it is here to destroy us all.

We’ve seen the warning signs for years now, but we did nothing. Cold brew, once a seasonal means of quenching your caffeinated thirst during the heat of the summer months is now a year-round staple on every cafe menu. On its own, much like the warm Gulf air, it’s no problem, great even. As a resident of the south, I can regularly be found enjoying the Gulf Air, both literal and metaphorical. But then you add pumpkin spice…

Oh how we guffawed as more and more seemingly incongruous products received an autumn time pumpkin spicing. Sure, a pumpkin spice Krispy Kreme donut sounds nice and would say no to a pumpkin spice cinnamon roll on a crisp October morning? But we start losing the plot when pumpkin spice Peeps come knocking. Now they’ve pumpkin spiced SPAM and nothing matters anymore. That’s right. SPAM. What was once a joke is available for purchase as Wal-Mart. Who’s laughing now? Not me.

You’d think we would have learned our lesson after we all hooted and hollered while the last orange-hued monster ran roughshod over everything we held dear, gaining ungodly amounts of power in the process like a craven political version of Karamari Dumbassy. But no, no lessons were learned, no ameliorative steps taken. Instead, we are left with the logical conclusion of only asking if we could, not if we should. Starbuck’s new Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew was just elected the president of coffee and it has just abolished term limits.

Per their website, the 11th plague consists of “Starbucks® Cold Brew sweetened with vanilla syrup, topped with a pumpkin cream cold foam and a dusting of pumpkin spice topping.” Sprinkle a little fall on your summer, because fuck seasonality.

And if you think this drink is just going to go quietly into the good night that is winter—or spring or summer even—then you are very much mistaken. We’ve created a being too powerful for us to stop and our only hope is that it gets bored and decides to no longer lord over us, which of course it won’t. And the Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew won’t be satisfied with simply being a year-round offering on the menus of Starbucks and every knock-off bending the knee to our new PSL overlord. Oh no, it hungers for more. The Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew won’t stop until it’s the only drink on any menu. And it’s already started. Starbucks currently won’t sell their nitro cold brew in venti sizes. You think that’s because they don’t want to sell you all that coffee or is it because the Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew has successfully executed a hostile takeover of the company and is already pushing out beverages most akin to itself?

I mean, what did we think was going to happen? You give two Frankenstein’s Monsters free rein and not expect them to replace each other’s arms with chainsaws. And now they are going to mow us all down, indiscriminately rending scarf from Ugg boot.

So say goodbye to your fresh crop Ethiopian coffees, to your properly-made cappuccinos on a brisk spring morning. Say goodbye to any coffee drink geo-located to a certain time and place. There are no seasons anymore, only one. It’s pumpkin spice cold brew season and it is forever.

And all should cry, Beware! Beware!
Her flashing eyes, green floating hair!
Circle of whip round it thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread,
For he on cold brew hath fed,
And drunk the milk of pumpkin spice.

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 We Have Reached The Pumpkin Spicepocalypse And There’s No Turning Back appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Sep 05
Love0

The SCA Has Announced Host Locations For The 2020 CoffeeChamps Qualifying Events

By barista championship, brewers cup, coffee in good spirits, CoffeeChamps, cup tasters, events, qualifying event, Roasters Championship, SPECIALTY COFFEE ASSOCIATION, US Coffee Championships, Wire

 

Coming in hot on this Thursday afternoon, the Specialty Coffee Association has announced the locations for the US Coffee Championships Qualifying Events and National competitions.

For the Qualifying Events, a total of three separate locations will host event ranging in dates from December to February. They are as follows:

December 7-8, Sumner, WA: Barista Championship, Brewers Cup
January 11-12, Nashville, TN: Barista Championship, Brewers Cup, Coffee in Good Spirits, Cup Tasters, Roasters Championship
February 22-23, Orange County, CA: Coffee in Good Spirits, Cup Tasters, Roasters Championship

The Orange County event will also host the National rounds for the Barista Championship and Brewers Cup. This move was presumably made to give ample prep time for the national champions of the two events before the World Barista and Brewers Cup competitions in Melbourne in early May.

The remaining competitions—Coffee in Good Spirits, Cup Tasters, and the Roasters Championship—will hold their national competitions as part of the Specialty Coffee Expo taking place on April 24-26 in Portland, Oregon.

Per the statement from the SCA, “General admission tickets for the U.S. CoffeeChamps Qualifying Events in Nashville, TN and Orange County, CA will go on sale November 1, 2019 for $10 advanced sale and $15 at the door via Eventbrite. No entry fee will be required for the event in Summer, WA. Competitor and judge registration will also open November 1, 2019 for Sumner, Nashville, and Orange County Qualifying Events.”

For more information, visit the US Coffee Championships official website.

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

Top image via the Specialty Coffee Association

The post The SCA Has Announced Host Locations For The 2020 CoffeeChamps Qualifying Events appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Sep 05
Love0

Sleepy Frat Dudes Rejoice! Jäegermeister Cold Brew Coffee Is A Thing Now

By cold brew coffee, Jäegermeister, Jäegermeister Cold Brew Coffee, Jameson, PBR, Thrillist, Wire

 

The “add coffee to whatever bottle of booze you can find laying around your college dorm room” trend at big name liquor brands’ R&D facilities is still going very strong. First it was Jameson cold brew, then PBR hard coffee, then an alcohol-free Bailey’s something or other. Now it’s Jäeger. That’s right, the first digestif you took a shot of and immediately regretted has announced their brand new line of cold brew coffee-infused hooch. Because sure, why not.

Unlike PBR’s hard coffee, which doesn’t taste anything like PBR at all, and Bailey’s teetotaling alternative, the new Jäegermeister Cold Brew Coffee is at least reminiscent of the original product. According to their website it is made with the same “56 botanicals” as Jäeger classic, but “rich Arabica coffee and notes of cacao” thrown in for good measure.

True to traditional Jaëger consumption practices—and by that I mean with all the delicacy and discretion of a frat guy who has already had five Jaëger bombs— Jäegermeister Cold Brew Coffee is “geared toward shot lovers,” per bro clothing front Thrillist, which yeah, no shit it is.  And clocking it at 66 proof, 2% lower in ABV than the original, quick frat boy logic tells me you can have like, four or five more of these and be totally fine bro, so sack up, brah.

[Editor’s note: frat guy logic is very bad and Sprudge does not condone you use it in making any decisions ever, especially regarding alcohol or English language slang. Please drink and speak responsibly.]

You’re no doubt salivating by now at the chance of drinking a shot meant to be served so cold you can’t actually taste it but with coffee in it this time, but I have some bad news for you. You’re going to have to salivate a little bit longer. Jäegermeister Cold Brew Coffee won’t hit the shelves until January 2020. I guess for the next four months you’ll have to settle for the myriad other ways to wake up with the worst fucking hangover of your life.

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 Jäegermeister

The post Sleepy Frat Dudes Rejoice! Jäegermeister Cold Brew Coffee Is A Thing Now appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Sep 03
Love0

Join The Minor Figures Plant M*lk Coffee Club & Win Some Swag

By events, Minor Figures, Plant M*lk Coffee Club, Plant Milk, Wire, World Plant Milk Day

Plant milk is so hot right now. Plant milk. Your espresso’s favorite environmentally conscious non-dairy alternative is no longer just an afterthought to accommodate those living a lactose-free lifestyle. Folks are opting for all manner of oat, hemp, and nut milks because they prefer the flavor over their cow’ed cousin. We did our part by putting together a very scientific, fool proof quiz to help you figure out which dairy alternative you were (in a bizarre twist of fate, some folks at Oatly were soy milk and they were not happy about it).

There’s even a World Plant Milk Day now, and to celebrate, Minor Figures has put together a fun little contest to “champion plant milk coffee and the customers supporting more environmentally friendly drinks.” And the best part is, all have you to do to participate is drink coffee (and plant milk, duh).

Called the Minor Figures Plant M*lk Coffee Club, the competition lasts through September 12th and takes place in cities across the globe. The rules are simple. In each of the 18 cities, there are six coffee shops participating. All you have to do is visit each of them and order a plant milk coffee beverage, making sure you receive a stamp on the loyalty card you can receive at any of the locations. Once you’ve filled up your card, ‘Gram it and tag Minor Figures; the first 200 to do so win a “limited edition Minor Figures Plant M*lk CC jersey.”

Participating cities include Barcelona, Brighton, Bucharest, Glasgow, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Melbourne, Montreal, New York City, Oklahoma City, Ottawa, Prague, Singapore, Sydney, Toronto, Tucson, and Vancouver. For a full list of shops or to find out more information, visit the Minor Figures Plant M*lk Coffee Club official website.

Plants! It’s what your coffee craves!

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 Minor Figures

Disclosure: Minor Figures is an advertising partner with the Sprudge Media Network

The post Join The Minor Figures Plant M*lk Coffee Club & Win Some Swag appeared first on Sprudge.


Source: Coffee News

Aug 23
Love0

Devoción Coffee To Open First Of Its Kind Cascara Bar In New York City

By Carolina Santo-Neves, cascara, Devoción Cascara + Coffee Bar, Devoción Coffee, new york, New York City, NOMAD, Wire

Cascara has been having quite a moment over the past few years. Originally, the fruit and skin of the coffee seed was by and large seen as a byproduct of the coffee-producing process, one that at best made it to compost to feed the trees from which they came. Then someone somewhere along the way realized that folks at origin, particularly in Bolivia, were drinking a tea made of the coffee cherry and thought, “maybe there’s a market for this.” There was. Now, the “byproduct” can sometimes fetch a higher price than the coffee seed itself. It was even banned—albeit briefly—in the UK; there was even rumo(u)r of some back alley cats peddling cascara to any coffee peeps with a spare quid.

But even with the seeming ubiquity of cascara, it hasn’t quite broken into the mainstream the way, say, a flat white has. But New York City’s Devoción Coffee is putting the cherry front and center with their brand new cafe, a cascara bar.

Opening on September 9th inside The Nomad, the Devoción Cascara + Coffee Bar is “the first concept in the world devoted to the coffee cherry,” per a press release announcing the location. The 500-square-foot, four stool cafe will be Devoción’s fourth location and there will of course be a full range of coffee beverages, but the main attraction is cascara. The cafe will have no less than four different expressions of cascara on tap: original, ginger lemon, cherry, and cassia lime. There will also be a baked goods menu that includes a “rotating option made with cascara” that was designed in collaboration with Chef Carolina Santo-Neves of the now-closed Comodo.

To celebrate the opening Devoción Cascara + Coffee Bar will also have on the menu for their first week a cascara ice cream affogato. During that same timeframe, Devoción will be donating all proceeds from beverage sales at their cascara bar to install a post-harvest processing lab at IED Escuela Normal Superior de Gachetá in Colombia, where students and teachers will be able to learn how to make specialty coffee.

For more information about the opening, make sure to follow Devoción on Facebook and Instagram.

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 Devoción

The post Devoción Coffee To Open First Of Its Kind Cascara Bar In New York City appeared first on Sprudge.


Source: Coffee News

Aug 22
Love0

Chicago: Crush The Rush Is Coming Your Way Friday

By Aligned Modern Health, caffe umbria, chicago, Crush the Rush, Dr. Steve Heffner, events, Illinois, la marzocco, Wire

Like the Guitar Hero version of Tom Sawyer set to Expert level, this Rush demands to be Crushed. Or since this is Chicago, maybe it needs to be Shellac’ed. Either way, the La Marzocco team competition is coming to the Second City tomorrow, August 23rd, and there’s still time to get involved!

Taking place at the Caffe Umbria roastery, Crush the Rush is essentially a coffee good time in the guise of a competition that pits teams of three against one another in hand-to-hand barista combat. Combat in this case comes via eight pristine drinks—no spills, no stains, just a perfectly made beverage—and the requisite “side work,” which could be anything really, all under the immense pressure of a time trial. After the time trial, a finals round will occur, and the team with the best shops will be crowned the Rush Crushers of Chicago.

Check out all of our live Crush the Rush coverage on SprudgeLive.

But it’s not all go go go competition, Crush the Rush is so much more. Along with coffee and pastries as well as lunch provided by La Marzocco, attendees are welcome to take part in a barista ergonomics talk, “The Right Way To Stay Health Behind The Bar,” delivered by the Director of Physical Medicine at Aligned Modern Health, Dr. Steve Heffner.

Due to cancellations, competitor slots have re-opened for Crush the Rush Chicago, so if you’ve got two other quick-acting friends, you can sneak right and steal all the glory for yourselves. All you have to do is register via Eventbrite, which can be done here, all for free!

For those looking to Rush but maybe not so much Crush (read: compete), the whole shebang is completely free to attend and no tickets are required. La Marzocco does ask that you RSVP via the Facebook event page. It’s all going down tomorrow, August 23rd at Caffe Umbria’s roastery. For more information on Crush the Rush, check out La Marzocco’s official website, their Facebook event page, or the Eventbrite page.

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 La Marzocco

Disclosure: Sprudge is the official media partner of Crush The Rush.

The post Chicago: Crush The Rush Is Coming Your Way Friday appeared first on Sprudge.


Source: Coffee News

Aug 21
Love0

Coffee Makes You Smarterish

By Inc, Johns Hopkins University, National Institute of Aging, neuroscience, Okayama University, smart, Wire, World Journal of Surgical Oncology

Do you drink coffee because you are a smart (and also very attractive and funny and an all-around catch) or are you smart because you drink coffee? It’s a real chicken-and-the-egg situation we’ve got going on here, and new research has only further complicated the issue. According to Inc, studies into the cognitive effects of coffee show that consuming your favorite beverage—as well as tea and chocolate—does in fact make you smarter.

And it’s not just one study. Multiple explorations into the neuroscience of caffeine have found a variety of ways that coffee and caffeine brain health and resilience. One study, a joint effort between the National Institute of Aging and Johns Hopkins University, corroborates something we’ve reported previously here on Sprudge: caffeine shows signs of protecting the brain from Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. This is due to methylxanthines—a “class of chemical compound found in coffee”—that promotes “sustained cognitive performance and can protect neurons against dysfunction and death.” The study also found that xanthine metabolites, the chemicals produced when your brain processes caffeine, “may contribute to [coffee’s] beneficial effects.”

Adding to these findings, a meta-analysis of 11 previous studies published in the World Journal of Surgical Oncology found that coffee and tea reduce not only the risk of Alzheimer’s but of brain cancer as well.

Lastly, a study performed at Okayama University finds that coffee compounds Caffeic acid (CA) and chlorogenic acid (CGA) have antioxidative properties, specifically on the glial gland and “prevents rotenone-induced neurodegeneration in both the brain and myenteric plexus.” Inc breaks it down into layperson terms: “caffeine makes your brain more flexible and resilient.” But if you don’t believe them, just look at this happy little mouse from the actual Okayama University study.

So if you want to be S-M-R-T like me, make sure you are drinking lots of C-O-F-E.

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 Coffee Makes You Smarterish appeared first on Sprudge.


Source: Coffee News

Aug 20
Love0

“Molecular” Coffee Just Got $2.6M In Funding From Impossible Burger Investors

By atomo coffee, Burger King, Grub Street, Horizon Ventures, impossible burger, Impossible Foods, molecular coffee, Wire

Earlier this year, we reported on the existence of Atomo Coffee, a “molecular” coffee that has, inexplicably, no coffee in it. Back in the halcyon days that were February, before Atomo’s Kickstarter had lapped its $10,000 Kickstarter goal a few times over, the only worry you had about “where’s the coffee in my coffee?” was if you tripped and fell into the condiments bar. But things have quite literally gotten 1,000 times worse, as Atomo Coffee has just received a $2.6 million investment from Horizon Ventures, who just so happened to also be an early investor in Impossible Foods, makers of the Impossible Burger.

The Impossible Burger has been in the news as of late; the lab-grown “veggie” burger that actually bleeds has found a home at Burger King, taking this whole getting-too-close-to-Soylent-Green-for-my-taste experience to new levels. And now Horizon Ventures is getting into the “coffee” game. As reported by Grub Street, with this new round of funding, Atomo will be that much closer building their hot brown beverage “from the bottom up, using the building blocks that comprise it, including quinic acid, dimethyl disulfide, niacin, 2-ethylphenol, and a handful of other elements,” and doing it on a much, much larger scale.

According to the article, Atomo states they are not trying to “destroy the coffee industry,” but “offer a sustainable alternative,” which is a weird way to say “make it even harder for the already struggling farmers to sell their crops for a profit.”

The Impossible Burger comparison is low-hanging fruit, because Impossible are the investors here, and because we’re talking about a lab grown thing replacing a real world thing, but that’s pretty much where the comparisons end. I’m fine with a meatless burger made to taste like meat; people need to stop eating so much meat, like, yesterday, both for health reasons and to try and temporarily slow the all-knowing global fuck that is our coming climate change apocalypse. (The bleeding, though, is still extremely weird.  If you’re eating a burger, meated or otherwise, for the blood, then you’re a monster.)

But coffee replacement tech like Atomo reeks of global techno imperialism. It looks at today’s global coffee crisis—further exasperated by yes, more climate change—and says, “Gosh, you know what would be great? Let’s just cut out that pesky farmer from the equation.” There’s nothing left to feel bad about! What could be better?

Lab engineered coffee means nothing good for the environment or humanity, least of all for the farmers upon whose livelihood the coffee trade depends. It means only more money for western tech dorks with Mike Judge Silicon Valley sounding start-up names, and less delicious product in the cup.

There’s a future in which a GenMod Impossible Clone Cow (Bovine Engineering Scientific SYstem, or B*E*S*S*Y*) gets a full dose of Atomo in a freak lab accident, gains cognitive sentience, organizes the rest of the cloned cows, and leads a GenMod ungulate army in a war against humanity. We are hurtling towards that future now and these Atomo chuds are lining their pockets along the way. Whose side will you choose?

Drink real coffee instead.

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 “Molecular” Coffee Just Got $2.6M In Funding From Impossible Burger Investors appeared first on Sprudge.


Source: Coffee News

Aug 19
Love0

With Starbucks Imminent, The Mormon Church Gives Tips On How To Avoid Coffee

By brigham young university, byu, caffeine, latter day saints, mormon church, provo, starbucks, THE GUARDIAN, utah, Wire

Space may be the depths for which the phrase was coined, but for the coffee world, a cafe space at Brigham Young University may be the actual final frontier. The Provo, Utah private college is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints—also known as the Mormon Church—who have pretty strict rules about caffeine consumption: in short, you can’t. So when Starbucks announced plans to open a stand-alone coffee shop near BYU, the LDS responded by putting out a guide on tips to avoid getting sucked into coffee’s dark orbit.

Starbucks’ rapid expansion has long been the stuff of lols, but this reaches new level of thirst. Provo is a city where, as of a 2010 census, 89% of the population aren’t allowed to consume the company’s main offering. This is uncharted territory, and in response, according to The Guardian, the church has issued “official guidance” on how to navigate any coffee-adjacent situations the youths may find themselves in. Released as part of the August issue of a magazine directed at the LDS youth, the church offers some (frankly good) advice that “the word coffee isn’t always in the name of coffee drinks” and that “drinks with names that include cafe or caffe, mocha, latte, espresso, or anything ending in -ccino usually have coffee in them.”

So, before you try what you think is just some new milkshake flavor, here are a couple of rules of thumb: one, if you’re in a coffee shop (or any other shop that’s well-known for its coffee), the drink you’re ordering probably has coffee in it, so either never buy drinks at coffee shops or always ask if there’s coffee in it.

Now, I may not agree with the Mormon Church’s stance on coffee (and about a million other things), but if they are the moral compass you’ve chosen to direct your life, then good on you. I wouldn’t want you to inadvertently do something against your guiding principles, so I’m all for these tips. I mean, how the heck is anyone supposed to know that there is coffee in something called a “pour-over” or a “macchiato”?

But the magazine’s guidance may be more than just some friendly tips. As The Guardian notes, “a 2016 survey found that four in 10 active church members under age 51 had drunk coffee during the previous six months.” The guidance may be more of a “we see what you are doing, you rebellious youths.”

Despite efforts to modernize some of the church’s rules, coffee remains off the table. (Hey, at least there may be a little cannabis in your future.) And for what it’s worth, if you’re a coffee-curious BYU student looking to experiment, Salt Lake City’s excellent indie coffee scene is just an hour away.

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 With Starbucks Imminent, The Mormon Church Gives Tips On How To Avoid Coffee appeared first on Sprudge.


Source: Coffee News

Aug 16
Love0

James Hoffmann Wants You To Microwave Your Coffee

By james hoffmann, microwave, square mile coffee roasters, videos, Weird Coffee Science, Wire

James Hoffmann is the 2007 World Barista Champion and co-founder of London’s Square Mile Coffee Roasters. He is also the owner of a rather popular coffee-based YouTube channel (he’s closing in on 90,000 subscribers), where he offers tips, tricks, and reviews for those looking to increase their coffee knowledge. Hoffmann is a big name in the industry, and when he says you should be doing something to improve your brew, people listen. But in his latest video, Hoffmann suggests you microwave your coffee beans, and we’re like whaaaaaaaaaaat?

But as odd as it may sound, there may be something to it.