Best Coffee in Honolulu – The Curb Kaimuki

Last year, Modbar released their Espresso AV, a collaborative effort with La Marzocco that took the reliable workhorse of an espresso machine, The Linea PB, and combined it with the undercounter design for which Modbar is known. And this weekend, Modbar is completing the full undercounter AV setup with the announcement of the brand new Steam AV module, now available for order.

The new Steam AV keeps all the favorite features of the original model, most notably the sleek, minimal design, but is adding in a host of new features. Working again in collaboration with La Marzocco, the new Steam AV includes a vacuum-insulated double-walled steam wand, high-volume dry steam ability, and an omni-directional ball fitting, per the press release. From the release:

Like all Modbar offerings, the Modbar Steam allows customers to introduce steam capacity wherever they may need it in the buildout. The Modbar Steam lever design matches the size, angle and position of the Modbar AV, creating a more ergonomic workspace for espresso steam combinations. It also keeps purging to a minimum so baristas can steam beautiful milk effortlessly.

The new Steam AV will make its debut at the NAFEM Show next month. It is currently available for order with a two-week production lead time. For more information, visit Modbar’s official website.

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

Top image via Modbar

Disclosure: Modbar/La Marzocco is an advertising partner with Sprudge Media Network

The post The New Modbar Steam Rounds Out The Espresso AV Family appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

“This is not chocolate.”

A new sweet is now available from the folks at 1000 Faces and Condor Chocolates out of Athens, Georgia and it has five times the caffeine as a cup of coffee. It’s a new kind of candy bar–using roasted coffee in place of cacao—creating a lightly sweetened chocolate-like confection. The bar dropped in early November, a limited-run of 1,000 bars and had its second run over the holidays. The coffee bar’s packaging uses the colorful work of Athens artist Shannon DeLawn Lane. We spoke with Julianne Bierwirth of 1000 Faces to find out more about the design and the product itself.

Tell us a bit about 1000 Faces and Condor Chocolates!

1000 Faces is a small coffee roaster in Athens, GA opened with the mission of building a stronger community surrounding coffee. We were founded about 12 years ago on the principle of cultivating personal relationships with our farmers and honoring their work. As an example, the Don Francisco Coffee Bar was named for the farmer in Nicaragua who provided the beans we used. We find value in sustainability—both of the human infrastructure that supports the coffee industry and the consumables that surround it. In our Athens coffee shop we use compostable hot cups, lids, sleeves, and retail bags and encourage our patrons to compost their grounds and buy well-made reusables whenever possible.

Condor Chocolates is a bean-to-bar chocolatier in Athens founded about four ago by the Dale brothers, Nick and Peter. Their Ecuadorian-American heritage has strongly influenced their culinary style in other Dale-owned Athens restaurants, however, Condor is probably the strongest connection to their roots. They source their cacao exclusively from Ecuador and travel there frequently to visit family and work with farmers.

Our shared concern for forging relationships and crafting thoughtfully made foods has made our partnership and vision for this project rather easy to pull off.

When did y’all get together to collaborate on this project?

I contacted Nick in February of 2018 with the idea that we could make a confection out of coffee, cocoa butter, and sugar. He seemed on board with it and I dropped off a bag of our Koko Buni blend for a test. Koko Buni is a blend we develop every year for Creature Comforts Brewery as part of their chocolate, coffee, and coconut milk porter. Condor contributes cocoa nibs for the project, so we thought that would be a great place to start.

You talk about “highlighting the flavors of the grounds instead of the aqueous extract”—can you tell us more about that?

When we tried Koko Buni we found that it worked functionally as a product but had a long way to go for great flavor. It tasted over-extracted—not at all like the coffee tastes when we brew it. Our coffee, like most, is roasted so the dissolved solids that travel into our water during extraction are well balanced and pleasing. What is left in the grounds after making a cup of coffee isn’t desirable, otherwise we would keep extracting it. It makes sense then that in eating the beans we were getting all of the tasty components of a great cup of coffee, but we were overwhelming them with all of the undesirable components of the residual grounds. By logic, we needed to roast the beans so that it would taste dramatically under-extracted in a cup, but the flavor of the whole bean would be well balanced.

…wait, how much caffeine is in it?

Before launching we got the caffeine tested. The bar has 464 mg of caffeine—equivalent to about five cups of black coffee. 

Who designed the package?

Condor Chocolates designed the package with the help of commercial printers at the Georgian Press.

Tell us more about Shannon DeLawn Lane!

Shannon DeLawn Lane is a local Athens painter who describes her work as an escapist style of color therapy. She wanted to create a pattern without beginning or end so that the viewer could get lost in the image. She bases her colors on real-life images but breaks it down until it is unrecognizable except for the palette.
 
What information do you share on the package?

We found it important to clarify that this is not chocolate. We were all afraid from the start that the similar shape and look to the packaging would cause somebody to buy the bar thinking it was chocolate and eat the whole thing. The marketing and back of the package both try to make very clear that the product is actually made of coffee and highly caffeinated. The rest of the package is really dedicated to giving consumers some details about our partnership, the farmer that produced the coffee, the artist that designed the package, as well as more standard elements like flavor notes, ingredients, expiration date, and net weight.

Is the package recyclable/compostable?

The exterior paper cover is recyclable, but the interior food grade plastic wrapper regrettably is not.
 
Where is it currently available?

The bar can be purchased online at condorchocolates.com/shop, at our respective brick-and-mortar stores in Athens, and at some of our business accounts around the country.

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

The post Coffee Design: Condor Chocolates & 1000 Faces Coffee In Athens, Georgia appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Yesterday we put out a cheeky little post on the Twitter and the Gram asking for experiences folks had serving coffee to celebrities and what they ordered. And let me tell you, it went hashtag viral. Well, maybe not full on viral, but it was hashtag contagious at the very least.

Work in the service industry long enough and you’ll have tales of the rich and famous. I waited on Paulie Shore when he came in right as we were closing, and buuuuuuuddy can really wheez on the juice. All-time rush yards leader Emmitt Smith once stiffed me on a tip. An unnamed guitar virtuoso came into a coffee shop and definitely didn’t not do cocaine in the bathroom while a member of his backing band told another barista his instrument was the “skin flute.”

Celebrities, they’re just like us! And really, they are the greatest expressions of the human condition. With all that money, they can act exactly as they feel without regard for anything else around them or fear of consequence. They are the worst of us because they are the truest of us; they are humans in their final form.

But like all of humanity, celebrities are not a monolith. Many are actually quite pleasant and have completely normal interactions with the less well-known. Thanks to the outpouring on Twitter, we’ve put together some of our favorite responses, none of which involve celebrities being on their more-celebrity-ish behavior.

Look at this list of nobodies. Only one of them has ever been president.

Jack White
Chris Pine
Wiley Dufresne
Naomi Campbell…

…and some guy named Barack.

— Spro Spro Def (@NoWaveCoffee) January 17, 2019

Ben Folds – decaf
Kip Winger – straight black coffee
Keith Urban – shot in the dark
Nicole Kidman – espresso and skim milk foam filling an 8 oz cup
Slug from Atmosphere – "is 16 oz your biggest size?" "yes" *slug walks away wordlessly*

— Constable Sprodo (@SproBeforeBros) January 17, 2019

Nicole contains multitudes.

Flat White to Nicole Kidman and a Peppermint Tea to Cate Blanchett.

— Michel Auki (@auki) January 17, 2019

How of much Sam Elliott’s cappuccino do you think he actually gets to drink and how much is lost in his mustache?

Made John Cleese a siphon @baristapdx way way back, and he was a loveable smartass. Sam Elliott loves his cappuccino. And Chris Thile came back to tell me his macchiato was good. Those were all neat.

— Daniel (@muglife) January 17, 2019

Frances McDormand ordered capps for about a week while she was doing a show in town. She made herself a regular and would chat us up before meeting friends or reading a book.

— medium grindage (@MaximumGrindage) January 17, 2019

All is full of glug.

Made a cappuccino and two double espresso for Björk. She nailed em all in less than an hour

— baby rosalina (@rosolotl) January 16, 2019

Breathtaking.

Does everyone really want to hear my Air Supply story again? Yes. You read that right. AIR SUPPLY. I shall never forget it. (Also Crystal Gayle)

— Trish Rothgeb (@trishrothgeb) January 17, 2019

Someone introduce him to Ice-T.

I made Flea an iced almond milk latte. He told me it was the first coffee of his life. He was really excited about it, but to be fair, I think he's really excited about everything.

— Josh Rank (@I_am_josh_rank) January 16, 2019

More Like Leonardo DeuxCappuccino.

yeah… @LeoDiCaprio not one, but two cappuccinos at the @TheBreslin in the @acehotel i wasn’t allowed to hand it to him directly his assistant would slide it over to him and he was smoking an e-cigarette #celebritycoffeeorder

— drip coffee makers (@dripcoffeenyc) January 17, 2019

This is not what I would expect Coach McGuirk to order.

Kristin Wiig – hemp cortado
H. Jon Benjamin – decaf skim iced latte

— Matty B. (@matchewbie) January 17, 2019

Can we talk about how maybe Victor should have been asking for HER autograph?

The guy who played Victor in Breaking Bad was a Cartel Sky Harbor regular and ordered pour overs

— Michelle Johnson (@meeshal) January 17, 2019

And of course, no list of celebrity encounters would be complete without…

In what may be the peak of my professional coffee career, I served a caffe latte to Janet Jackson. #celebritycoffeeorder

— Peter Giuliano (@PeterGiuliano) January 17, 2019

and

I once made Snoop a Mocha.

— James Hoffmann (@jimseven) January 17, 2019

Do you have any celebrity encounters? We want to hear about them. Head over to Twitter and sound off.

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 Turns Out, Celebrities Also Love Coffee appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Controversy involving a Portland coffee shop is garnering national attention.

According to OregonLive, writer Nancy Rommelmann and Penthouse Magazine columnist Leah McSweeney created a new YouTube channel titled #MeNeither in which they call into question “the honesty and motives of sexual assault survivors,” many of whom are part of the #MeToo movement. For their 20-minute first episode, Rommelmann and McSweeney discuss “toxic femininity,” specifically Rose McGowan and Asia Argento, actors who have both accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault. In the video, Rommelmann and McSweeney call into question the reliability and motivations of the actresses, referring to the as “fame eaters,” according to Willamette Week.

Rommelmann is the wife of Ristretto Roasters owner Din Johnson and herself has been referred to as a part-owner, according to OregonLive, causing the controversy to bleed over into the coffee space. Ristretto denies that Rommelmann is involved in the ownership of the company, telling The Oregonian, ”Nancy is neither an owner nor employee of Ristretto.” The opinions expressed by Rommelmann and McSweeney have led many to state they would no longer support the coffee shop. Since the backlash, both Rommelmann and Johnson have stated that she has not had any affiliation with the company for many years now, though OregonLive found evidence of Rommelmann’s involvement—in the form of liquor licenses and company emails—as recently as May 2018. As of time of publication, Rommelmann is not listed as a co-owner according to the Oregon Secretary of State.

In response, an open letter condemning the blog has been penned by former Ristretto employee Camila Coddou and signed by 30 current and former employees of the coffee shop, which we are printing in full:

Nancy Rommelmann is an established author and journalist within Portland. A few weeks ago she started a Youtube channel with columnist and podcast host Leah McSweeney, titled “#meneither”. This channel currently consists of three videos in which they have in-depth discussions denying the experiences of sexual assault survivors and questioning their credibility, qualify gradations of sexual violence in order to label some as more valid than others, and espousing the idea that trauma is a personal choice.

Nancy Rommelmann also one of the owners of Ristretto Roasters, a local roasting company that has employed and served people within our community for over a decade. As former and current Ristretto employees we feel it is our duty to come forward and publicly denounce the perspectives shared on Rommelmann’s #meneither Youtube channel. The views shared are misguided, dangerous, and hurtful, and do not represent the values of the Ristretto employees signing off on this letter.

We believe it is a business owner’s responsibility to create a safe and supportive working environment for their employees. Invalidating assault survivors throws into question the safety of Ristretto Roasters as a workplace and has the potential to create a demoralizing and hostile environment for employees and customers alike. This cannot be tolerated.

As the public face of Ristretto, the people who make and serve you your coffee on a daily basis, we have done our best to ensure our customers feel welcomed in a business they can feel good about supporting. It is our hope that in sharing this information we can better inform the community at large and make it clear that we believe survivors. We would like to note that we also speak on behalf of some current employees who agree with the sentiment of this letter but do not wish to attach their name for fear of retribution.

Ristretto Roasters currently has a rating of 2.1 out of 5 on Facebook, with 67 of the total 105 reviews coming after the #MeNeither channel made news.

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 Portland Coffee Shop Embroiled In #MeNeither Controversy appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

If you happen to venture onto the Rue des Tournelles, a calm street a few blocks away from the busy traffic circle around the historic Place de la Bastille square or the gracious Place des Vosges, you will be met by Yellow Tucan, a cafe that opened last fall. With large windows ensconced in a gracefully weathered wooden façade, the coffee shop’s namesake bird makes his first appearance on the glass front, greeting customers as they enter. Yellow Tucan’s tailored menu is anchored by coffee from Berlin’s excellent Five Elephant coffee roastery, which one may pair with a changing assortment of cakes and pastries sourced from Broken Biscuits. Rounding out the offerings are Halles Saint-Antoine fresh juices, Kodama teas, quiche, and organic Catherine Kluger granola.

In lieu of air conditioning, the iced coffee is bright-tasting and particularly refreshing in the summer heat, while espresso-based drinks with Beillevaire whole raw milk from Normandy or the chocolat chaud from master chocolatier Jean-Paul Hévin are good options for a hot beverage. Visitors are free to sit outside on one of the two benches in front of the cafe, or to lounge indoors where there are plenty of small tables perfect for conversing with friends, spending time with a good book, or even working on a laptop thanks to the free wi-fi and outlets. The overall effect of the dainty vases of fresh cut flowers (even outside), framed photographs, and the yellow, white, and green palate brings harmony to the sun-filled space. If you look closely enough at the surroundings, the Yellow Tucan mascot is whimsically perched in various corners, sometimes hidden in plain sight.

A self-described fan of coffee shops, Yellow Tucan proprietor Vincent Rouvière always enjoys discovering new places to drink coffee in his home city of Paris and during his frequent travels around the world. Indeed, Rouvière says he’s searched for good coffee everywhere from Seoul to London—and enjoyed exploring the neighborhoods surrounding these cafes as much as visiting the shops themselves. One day par hasard (by chance) he stumbled across a for rent sign on an empty commercial space in the well-known Parisian district of Le Marais. More on a lark than anything else, he called the phone number listed on the sign to see if the spot was still available to let.

By Rouvière’s recollection, everything fell into place quite quickly following that initial call. A few weeks of negotiating the terms of the lease later and the storefront was suddenly his. “I had never worked in a coffee shop,” said Rouvière. Lack of experience notwithstanding, there was no other choice but to dive headfirst into the challenging work of opening a cafe. Yellow Tucan welcomed its first customers in September 2017 after several busy months of building renovation, menu planning, intensive barista training, and bringing to life the design and cheery décor.  

Vincent Rouvière

Prior to the opening of Yellow Tucan, Rouvière was a serial entrepreneur, immersed in the world of startups in France and involved in a wide range of businesses including a car service using solely electric and hybrid vehicles, and bringing international fashion design talents to present their collections and network in Paris. When asked what it was like to become a new cafe owner after wearing so many other hats, Rouvière responded with a laugh, saying, “I love entrepreneurship and different projects. However, before Yellow Tucan I never had a physical storefront on the street! It is a different experience.” Nevertheless, according to Rouvière, the lessons learned from his previous endeavors, in addition to the impressions formed from the many different cafes he toured as a customer, motivate him to provide friendly service and high-quality products. For Rouvière, “Yellow Tucan was intended as a place for calm, a location to work, chat, think about projects, soak in the atmosphere of Parisian life, and meet people.”

When asked about the name, Rouvière chuckles. “The toucan is beautiful, elegant, colorful, and friendly, which seems appropriate for a cafe where people can be social. Also, they are native to Central America, and can be found in places like Costa Rica, where some of the world’s best specialty coffees are produced.” Fittingly, Rouvière—the man behind the tucan—is as genial as the cafe’s namesake: customers can expect good coffee and friendly service in French (or English).

Michelle Hwang is a writer who splits her time between California, Paris, and Seoul. Read more Michelle Hwang for Sprudge.

The post For Coffee In Paris, Follow Your Nose To Yellow Tucan appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

There’s so much more that affects how we perceive flavor than just what’s in the cup. Research into the multisensory nature of flavor perception has already been well-established in the wine and beer worlds, but The Coffee Sensorium—a research project by Brazilian scientist Fabiana Carvalho—is bringing that same scientific rigor to the world of specialty coffee. And now The Coffee Sensorium needs your help. Teaming up with Professor Charles Spence, Carvalho is calling on all specialty coffee professionals and consumers to take a quick survey about flavor perception in coffee.

We have covered some aspects of Carvalho’s previous work that focused on specialty coffee, specifically how certain attributes of the receptacle—shape, color, and weight—shift flavor perception. But in this new collaborative study between the University of São Paulo, Brazil and the University of Oxford, UK, Carvalho and Spence are looking to expand upon that research by testing how the shape and color of espresso cups affect flavor perception across cultural lines.

To glean this type of cross-cultural data, Carvalho and Spence have developed an online study to assess people’s sensory expectations of an espresso coffee using only visual cues. In the study (that takes roughly 10-15 minutes to complete), participants will be presented different cup shapes and cup colors and will assess certain attributes—bitterness, sweetness, acidity, etc—according to their expectations.

Since the aim of this online study is to investigate cross-cultural effects, Carvalho and Spence are making the study available to the specialty coffee community in as many countries as possible. Currently available in five languages—English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, and Korean—the study is expected to be available in nine different tongues by the end of January, with data being collected until August.

The survey is open to all specialty coffee professionals and any consumers who have been drinking specialty coffee for at least one year. Your input is extremely valuable. To take part, visit the University of Oxford Department of Experimental Psychology’s official website here.

Go make Science happen!

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

Top image via The Coffee Sensorium By Fabiana Carvalho: A Revolution Of Flavor Perception by Juliana Ganan

The post Help Research Into Flavor Perception In Coffee By Taking This Survey appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

It’s official. The field for the 2019 US Coffee Championships is set. After learning the first 62 competitors to punch their tickets at last month’s Denver Qualifying Event, we now know the other 70 coffee professionals to round out the field for the national stage of competition, taking place in just a few short months in Kansas City, Missouri.

From a list of 200 coffee professionals spread across five competitions—Barista Championship, Brewers Cup, Coffee in Goods Spirits, Cup Tasters, and Roasters Championship—the field was winnowed down by nearly two-thirds to a tight 70. There were names new and old—both in terms of competitor and coffee company represented—but as they so often do, the familiar veteran names often found their way to the tops of the list.

That’s not to say that the first-timers didn’t make a splash in Nashville. There were more than a handful of those new to competition who walked away with some wooden hardware, poised to take their rightful place as one of the wily vets in the 2020 season and beyond.

We’re still two months away from the US Coffee Championships storming the Kansas City Convention Center in March, and you can expect the 130+ coffee professionals making the trip will use those 58 days to ramp up their practice time and fine tune their performances. We’ve witnessed a lot of coffee competition already, but we haven’t seen anything yet. Now is when it gets really real.

But before all the really really realness, let’s take a few minutes to enjoy what transpired over the weekend. Let’s look back at the US Coffee Championships Qualifying Even in Nashville, Tennessee.

SprudgeLive’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.

Barista Championship

A common thread throughout most of the 10-minute routines at the Barista Championship was a general sense of cool collectedness. Participants stayed within themselves even in the face of the oppressive time constrictions. Even though the competition was split pretty evenly between veterans and rookies, the overarching zeitgeist was one of, “we’ve been here before.” The event felt more academic than ecstatic.

Until it didn’t. Competitors like Adam JacksonBey, Rodrigo Vargas, Anthony Ragler, and the undeniable crowd favorite Sara Gill—”you can call me Mama Mocha”—blew the roof off the Track One events space. Their energy was infectious, riling up the otherwise polite crowd into a frenzy of full-throated yowls and even the occasional post-routine interview bum-rush for a 20+ person 4:20 selfie.

Juan Diaz of Deeply Coffee Co.

Amid all the excitement, after the dust settled there was one clear winner: La Palma y El Tucan. The esteemed Colombian farm produced the coffees used by the top three finalists (who all just so happened to go back-to-back-to-back at the end of Day Two). The only other two competitors to use La Palma in the Nashville Barista competition, Juan Diaz and Shane Hess, also found their way to nationals by taking 14th and 16th, respectively.

It’s about as close to a clean sweep as you can expect from a single producer. But the question remains: can they finish the fight or will they lose out to other competition heavyweights like Hacienda La Papaya and Finca Nuguo, the coffees used by the last three years’ winners? We’ll just have to wait until March to find out.

1. Dylan Siemens, Onyx Coffee Lab
2. Samantha Spillman, Dillanos Coffee Roasters
3. T. Ben Fischer, Elixr Coffee Roasters
4. Jenna Gotthelf, Counter Culture Coffe
5. Rodrigo Vargas, Rival Bros Coffee Roasters
6. Isaiah Sheese, Archetype Coffee
7. Elisabeth Johnson, Venture Coffee Co
8. Gisel Alvarez, Monarch
9. Ryan Wojton, Madcap Coffee Co
10. Anthony Ragler, Counter Culture Coffee
11. Kay Cheon, Dune Coffee Roasters
12. Cris Mendoza, Saint Frank Coffee
13. Samuel Schaefer, Stovetop Roasters
14. Juan Diaz, Deeply Coffee Co
15. Ali Abderrahman, State Street Coffee/La Reunion
16. Shane Hess, Jubala Coffee
17. Ben Vollmar, Flatlands Coffee
18. Rachel Diaz, Flatlands Coffee

Brewers Cup

Much of the talk around Track One (and even extending to Twitter) stemmed from the Brewers Cup, where innovative new brewing techniques found their way onto the stage and into the national round of competition in Kansas City. Most notably, 2017 US Brewers Cup runner-up Chelsea Walker-Watson had the people buzzing with her use of a sous vide bath to help keep her brew at a precise temperature.

Not to be out-innovated, Dune Coffee’s Felix Felix came with his own custom-design brewing device that he made using a 3D printer.

Even amongst the progressive takes on brewing, perhaps the most impressive feet was that of Grace McCutchan, a competitor unknown to the national stage of competition but still able to best seasoned vets Jennifer Hwang, Tyler Duncan, and 2018 US Cup Tasters Champion Ken Selby. She’s become one to watch. Will we have back-to-back newcomers taking it all down at the US Brewers Cup? McCutchan is making an argument.

1. Grace McCutchan, Red Rooster Coffee Roaster
2. Jennifer Hwang, Klatch Coffee
3. Tyler Duncan, Topeca Coffee Roasters
4. John Kruegler, Blanchard’s Coffee Roasting Co
5. Ben Martin, Madcap Coffee Co
6. Kenneth Selby, Vashon Coffee Co
7. Cody Barnhart, Vienna Coffee Co
8. Gunnar Lagenhuizen, Dune Coffee Roasters
9. Chelsey Walker-Watson, Atlas Coffee Importers
10. Elika Liftee, Onyx Coffee Lab
11. Skyler Richter, LAMILL
12. Felix Felix, Dune Coffee Roasters

Coffee In Good Spirits

After a slow start in Denver, the Coffee in Good Spirits competition found stronger footing in Nashville, where the number of competitors over quadrupled. The competition really ramped up for the second leg of the Qualifying Event stage. Fire, smoke, ice, the drinks here in Nashville looked as tasty as they did dramatic.

Though only in its first year on American soil, if Nashville is any indication, Coffee in Good Spirits is going to be around for the long haul.

1. Kris Wood, Black Fox Coffee Co
2. Nathanael Mehrens, Stay Golden
3. Matt Foster, Kaldi’s Coffee Roasting Co
4. Leo-Charles Salerno, Greater Goods Coffee Roasters
5. Brodie Lewis, Madcap Coffee Co
6. Rachel Huffman, Dose Nashville
7. John Martin, LAMILL
8. Jen McElroy, Klatch Coffee
9. Brian Beyke, Quills Coffee
10. Koji Daremo, The Ruin Daily
11. Dan Hilburn, Backyard Beans Coffee Co
12. Joel Cronenberg, Provision Coffee
13. Lindy Schubring, Greyhouse Coffee & Supply Co

Cup Tasters

In case you needed any convincing that Onyx Coffee Lab is really, really good at coffee competition (and, y’know, their Roasters title, Brewers Cup title, and multiple consecutive Finals appearances in the Barista Championship aren’t enough for you), look no further than the Cup Tasters competition in Nashville. Fielding three Tasters—roughly 1/16th of the total competitors—Onyx nonetheless found all three of those competitors moving on, one in five.

But it would be foolish to make any future predictions at this point. With five competitors correctly identifying all six sets and perpetual finalist Samuel Demisse lurking in the field, this is one is still anyone’s to claim.

1. Matthew McDaniel, Summit Coffee
2. Summer Zhang, Onyx Coffee Lab
3. Aaron Lerner, SkyTop Coffee
4. Sarah Lambeth, Congregation Coffee Roasters
5. Brandon Hutchingson, Mission Coffee
6. Rachel Stanich, Red Fox Coffee Merchants
7. Bear Soliven, Onyx Coffee Lab
8. Samuel Demisse, Keffa Coffee Importers
9. Elisabeth Johnson, Venture Coffee Co
10. Hyoung Wuk Jung, Loit Café
11. Jeff Mooney, Folly Coffee Roasters
12. Jarrett Johnson, Lineage Roasting
13. Cameron Metzinger, Backyard Beans Coffee Co
14. Joshua Edens, Onyx Coffee Lab
15. Helen Choi, Luce Ave Coffee Roasters

Roasters Championship

Roasters Championship competitors found themselves with a unique challenge: how to roast a coffee without knowing a thing about it. That coffee, it turned out, was a natural processed Myanmar, which many competitors found to be quite the sticky wicket. How do you ramp up the sweetness and soften the nuttiness?

Ultimately, it was a nut that the roasters (first) cracked. Having personally tasted multiple roasters’ takes on the coffee—thanks in no small part to the Sprudge Live desk being very, very close to the Roasters Village—I can say that many roasters found that balance. The cups were sweet, not overly heavy, with little to no hint of ferment.

If these coffees are any indication of what’s to come in Kansas City, attendees are in for LOTS of really good coffee.

1. Amanda Hagenbuch, Rival Bros Coffee Roasters
2. Jeremy Moore, Bonlife Coffee Roasters
3. Steve Cuevas, Black Oak Coffee Roasters
4. Eduardo Choza, Mayorga Organics
5. José René Martínez, J.René Coffee Roasters
6. Kenneth Thomas, Umble Coffee Co
7. Anthony Greatorex, Red Rooster Coffee Roaster
8. Jason Burkum, Archetype Coffee
9. Matthew Delarosa, Ironsmith Coffee Roasters
10. Evan Pollitt, Summitt Coffee
11. Aaron MacDougall, Broadsheet Coffee Roasters
12. Eric Stone, Mudhouse Coffee Roasters

Photos for Sprudge and Sprudge Live by Elizabeth Chai and Charlie Burt.

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 Looking Back At The US Coffee Championships Nashville Qualifying Event appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

In Bonython, a suburb of Australia’s capital city, Canberra, coffee is reaching all new heights with bevvies going airborne and being delivered by drone.

Drone delivery has been teased for years but Alphabet, Google’s parent company, have finally made the future a reality with their delivery test they’re calling, Project Wing. And in true Aussie fashion, these tests are flying long blacks and cappuccinos (with chocolate dusting, of course) around town and successfully dropping them on people’s doorsteps while they’re still hot. Folks in the Canberra area can order coffee through an app and it’ll be sent to local drive-thru shop, Kickstart Espresso.

In a video posted by Wall Street Journal, Bonython residents show excitement, disbelief, and annoyance with this new way of receiving their daily coffee. Convenience and less emissions from driving are pros for drone coffee delivery, but there are still some concerns from the community and safety’s not one of them.

Neighborhood group, Bonython Against Drones or BAD’s number one complaint is the noise, likening it to an F1 Formula race car. Unfortunately, I live near the Grand Prix racetrack in Albert Park, Melbourne and yes, the noise is BAD. But they’re driving in circles and not delivering lattes, so the drones win this one.

Project Wing is working on making quieter drones, but in the mean time will continue to test and improve the systems already in place. Australia is clearly living in 3019 while the rest us are stuck in archaic times making our coffee at home or even worse, going to a coffee shop and talking to actual people(!!!).

I’ll take a flying filter coffee any day. The higher elevation is sure to add some sweetness to the final cup. (I’m sorry. This is Adam’s fault.)

Michelle Johnson is a news contributor at Sprudge Media Network, and the founder and publisher of The Chocolate Barista. Read more Michelle Johnson on Sprudge.

The post In Australia, The Coffee Drones We’re Looking For Are Here appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

To Whom This May Concern—a special podcast presentation of the Daniel G. mystery—is back! In episode three, we try to make contact. Catch up on the whole sordid saga here.

Listen below:

What people are saying:

“Damn, Daniel, get in touch. We’re dying to know what’s up.” — Vice

“I’m awaiting the dramatic conclusion to this story as I brew another pour-over.”  — The Takeout

“When is the next ‘To Whom This May Concern’?” — James Hoffmann

Do you have information about Daniel G? Do you have theories/ideas/leads? Leave us a message at 1-888-55-SPRUDGE, send us a letter at SPRUDGE PO BOX 3943 Portland, Oregon 97208 or contact us digitally here.

Subscribe to our podcasts via iTunes!

The post To Whom This May Concern Episode 3 Out Now appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Who doesn’t love a nicely improved piece of coffee kit?

You’ve seen gear from Aram—a Brazilian design company focused on non-electric coffee brewers—previously here at Sprudge Now the owner, Maycon Aram, has now launched a new crowdfunding campaign to help dramatically improve production fabrication and tooling for his disruptive portable coffee maker, greatly improving the device’s overall price and production time. This crowdfunding campaign includes a spiffy new array of colorways for pre-purchase here.

The Aram Coffee Maker does not require a power source—you need only supply hot water and a grinder. It has a thread-controlled pressure instead of a lever mechanism, and the pressure applied to the coffee bed is manual, meaning that each extraction is totally unique, tailored by whoever is handling the coffee maker. It’s rather simple to use and depending on the grinding and the pressure applied, you can make different types of coffee extractions, from espresso to tea. (You read that right, tea—the 2.0 version of the device now includes a pre-infusion feature.)



It’s a nice—and beautiful—tool to have at home or take with you on camping trips, and it looks great on Instagram, which is important these days. I’ve personally tried some very respectably extracted espressos from an Aram in a variety of different circumstances across Brazil, and I can’t wait to see an improved version of this handy device come to life. The project is now live on a crowdfunding page through February 1st, shipping worldwide.

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

All media via Aram

The post Kickstart Your Weekend With This Brazilian Crowdfunded Coffeemaker appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News