Best Coffee in Honolulu – The Curb Kaimuki

And just like that, half the field is set for the 2019 US Coffee Championships taking place in Kansas City, Missouri next year in March. A total of 192 coffee professionals from around the United States gathered together in Denver, Colorado for the chance to move on to the National stage of coffee competition. Over the course of two days, these nearly 200 competitors took part one of (and sometimes more) the five events going on throughout the weekend: the Barista Championship, Brewers Cup, Cup Tasters, Roasters Championship, and for the first time in the US, the Coffee in Good Spirits. Now there are just 62.

If there are any large-scale takeaways from this weekend, it would be that, (1) there are a ton of new faces in every competition, and (2) those who have done well in past competitions continue to do well. While the prevalence of newcomers was felt throughout every competition stage—we’re guesstimating around half of the competitors were first timers—the veterans, unsurprisingly, owned the day. Every competition save for Cup Tasters was won, if not completely swept, by former finalists from the national level. Even Coffee in Good Spirits, which is only in its first year, was won by Sam Schroeder, who has previously made the finals of the Barista Championship (multiple times) and Brewers Cup.

Those moving on must now wait another month to learn who will comprise the other half of the field coming out of the second Qualifying Event, taking place mid-January in Nashville. But until then, let’s take a look back at the road that got these 62 competitors to KC, the weekend that was the 2019 US Coffee Championships Qualifying Event in Denver, Colorado.

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

For the Qualifying Event, competitors were given 10 minutes to serve the judges an espresso course as well as a signature beverage course; the milk beverage course, along with an additional five minutes of performance time, won’t be introduced until Kansas City. But even only having to serve two courses, the 10 minute run time proved to not be enough for many competitors; multiple baristas finished north of 11 minutes, some pushing into the 12-minute mark. This wasn’t just first-timers mind you. There were multiple veteran competitors who, while didn’t get the full DQ, had us sweating as precious point deductions continued to tick by.

Andrea Allen (Photo by Liz Chai)

From the field of 60 competitors, two truths crystalized this weekend. First, Andrea Allen remains a favorite. With three consecutive Finals appearances and another strong showing here in Denver, it’s hard to imagine she won’t make it four in a row. And two, Sam Neely is the real deal. If there was any worry that last year’s final appearance was a fluke or that they would suffer a sophomore slump, Neely’s significant 18-point win over Allen put that all to bed. Neely stands poised as the heir-apparent to be the barista that brings home a title for the new generation of competitors.

1. Sam Neely, Switchback Coffee Roasters
2. Andrea Allen, Onyx Coffee Lab
3. Emily Orendorff, Boxcar Coffee Roasters
4. Cassie Ash, Small Planes Coffee
5. Hugo Cano, Independent
6. Naida Lindberg, Verve Coffee
7. Reef Bessette, The Coffee Movement
8. Joel Bigelow, Messenger Coffee
9. Hana Kaneshige, Counter Culture Coffee
10. Raechel Hurd, Epoch Coffee
11. Milo DeGoosh, Bard Coffee
12. Matthew Barahura, Intelligentsia Coffee
13. Austin Amento, Augie’s Coffee
14. Kristi Persinger, Stumptown Coffee Roasters
15. Meg Skop, Equator Coffees & Teas
16. Douglas Park, Independent
17. Maxwell Mooney, Narrative Coffee
18. Morgan Eckroth, Tried & True Coffee Co

Brewers Cup

Julia Peixoto (Photo by Elizabeth Chai)

More so than any other competition, including the Barista Championship, the Brewers Cup is where previous Finalists loomed largest, taking the top three spots as well as ninth with Blair Smith (and let’s be honest, Smith is one of the most seasoned Brewers Cup competitors in the field, so I wouldn’t bet on her finishing below ninth on the national stage).

Jacob White (Photo by Elizabeth Chai)

At the same time, the Brewers Cup was the only competition last year where a newcomer won it all. It just goes to show that it is anyone’s game, but expect to see White, Gann, McCormick-Goodhart, and Smith near the top. Maybe this is the year on of them finally breaks through.

1. Jacob White, Bird Rock Coffee Roasters
2. Kaley Gann, Messenger Coffee
3. Justin McCormick-Goodhart, Sweet Bloom Coffee
4. Lance Hedrick, Onyx Coffee Lab
5. Joshua Modisette, Narrative Coffee
6. Madeleine Longoria-Garcia, Independent
7. Augustine Toscano, Windmill Coffee
8. Avery Leith, Elixr Coffee
9. Blair Smith, Augie’s Coffee
10. Stephen White, Joe Coffee Co
11. Nicholai Elkins, Switchback Coffee Roasters
12. Kelly Hill, Temple Coffee Roasters

Coffee in Good Spirits

Josh Smith (Photo by Elizabeth Chai)

Coffee in Good Spirits has been a staple of the World Coffee Events competition roster since 2011, but somehow, it wasn’t until the 2019 season that the United States decided to get involved, with the first appearance of the event on US soil taking place over the weekend.

CIGS in America still feels a bit like it is in the beta testing phases; only a total of six competitors decided to give it a go in Denver, but this is surely poised to change. America has some of the best cocktail bars in the entire world as well as an already established mixology competition scene; combine in the fact that many baristas have made the switch from coffee bar to bar-bar and you’ve got a recipe for strong future performances. It’s only a matter of time.

1. Sam Schroeder, Olympia Coffee
2. Kimhak Em, Peixoto Coffee Roasters
3. Joshua Smith, West Oak Coffee Bar
4. Michael Slomzenski, Huckleberry Roasters
5. Kasey Headley, Trinity Street Coffee Bar

Cup Tasters

Noah Goodman (Photo by Elizabeth Chai)

It doesn’t matter where you are in the building, whenever competitors start raising those cups looking for red dots, you can hear the roars of the crowd. With the immediacy of the scoring—is there a dot or isn’t there—Cup Tasters makes for some of the most exciting spectating in all of coffee competition.

In Denver, speed was the name of the game. With Sebastian Legner going a perfect six for six and another 10 competitors only missing one, that left only four spots for the 19 competitors that correctly identified four of six cups. Only two seconds separated Jie Jiang and ReAnimator‘s Cody McGregor, 2:25 to 2:27, but that was the difference between booking a ticket to KC and a ticket back home.

1. Sebastian Legner, Copper Door Coffee Roasters
2. Chris Kornman, Royal Coffee
3. Jen Apodaca, Royal Coffee
4. Chloe O’Connor, Everyman Espresso
5. Scott MacBride, InterAmerican Coffee
6. Roman Deshong, Amethyst Coffee Co
7. Kevin Nealon, Huckleberry Roasters
8. Andy Sprenger, Sweet Bloom Coffee
9. Jin Chiew, Sweet Bloom Coffee
10. Austin Amento, Augie’s Coffee
11. Michael Schroeder, Oddly Correct
12. Noah Goodman, Faema
13. Khristian Yurchak, Sisters Coffee Co
14. Brandon Despain, Caffe Ibis
15. Jie Jiang, Andante Coffee Roasters

Roasters Championship

For the first time in competition history, the US Roasters Championship has a qualifying round. No more sign-up and show up, not that it made much of a difference for Andrew Oberholzer, last year’s sixth place finisher and the winner of the Denver Qualifiers.

One of the great features of the Roasters Championship is how it reduces the barrier between competitor and spectator. Unlike any other event, where those in attendance can maybe sometimes get to try a competitor’s coffee or sig bev, for Roasters, spectators not only get to taste the coffees but have a hand in deciding the outcome by voting on their favorite.

If there was a single feet at the Denver Qualifying Event that could be considered as the most remarkable, it comes from Roasters (and Cup Tasters) with Jen Apodaca making the podium in both events. If she can repeat this performance in Kansas City, it will undoubtedly be one of the best US Coffee Championship appearances in the history of the competition.

1. Andrew Oberholzer, Joe Coffee Co
2. Shelby Williamson, Huckleberry Roasters
3. Jen Apodaca, Royal Coffee
4. Leo Sideras, Independent
5. Evan Inatome, Elixr Coffee
6. Aaron Rollins, Caffe Ibis
7. Hugh Morretta, La Colombe Coffee Roasters
8. Daniel Mauck, Social Hour Coffee Roasters
9. Mark Boccard, Southdown Coffee
10. Weston Nawrocki, Manzanita Roasting Co
11. Andrew Burgason, Windmill Coffee
12. Nathan Van Dusen, Brio Coffeeworks

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

Zac Cadwalader is the news 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 Denver Qualifying Event appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Interiors speak. We have a rough idea of what specialty coffee cafes are supposed to look like to make sure one knows it is a specialty cafe. But they can also be more personal. They can take us back to different times in our lives—memories of former homes, former lives, and former selves—while offering a warm nostalgia. Cafes can be those spaces we use to connect with other people and to catch a break for ourselves, without having to be the latest co-working spaces or culinary destinations in their own right. This vision into the past is central to 3fe’s latest outpost, Daniel, in Dublin, Ireland.

3fe’s Daniel, on the corner of Daniel Street, is a personal expression of founder Colin Harmon’s childhood. With a father who worked construction and traveled around Ireland on weekends, often with his kids, Harmon saw a lot of spaces that became comfort stations—homes away from homes. “My childhood is stopping in places like Claire and Mitchelstown in County Cork, and Horse and Jockey in County Tipperrary, and stopping in random pubs and having a cheese toastie and a can of Cidona. I said to my sister ‘wait till you see this place. It’s basically our childhood mashed into this little building.’”

Colin Harmon

3fe, founded in 2009, is one of Ireland’s premier specialty coffee brands. Harmon started his journey from his apartment (which was on the 3rd floor of his flat’s building), today boasting has two additional locations in Dublin City besides Daniel—though they share very little in common. Its flagship cafe is on Grand Canal Street on the eastern side of the city while 3fe’s more central but southward Sussex street location is more a shop for coffee than a coffee shop. More floor space is given to espresso machines, accessories, and filter brewing equipment than there are to places to sit (but you can get espresso-based drinks to go). But at Daniel, it’s another story. The choice of interiors here relies on the heavy use of a wood with a reddish hue and farmhouse chairs and church benches, giving the whole place a warmth that is pubby and relaxing, yet still brightened by natural light.

So where does Daniel fit between these two extremes of coffee retail concepts? “The model is completely different because it doesn’t have a queue out the door and [people in] suits going to work,” says Harmon. “It becomes a hub to sit down and have coffee and meet a friend. Because the rent isn’t super high and there’s just two staff, we can do that.” Harmon tells Sprudge. “Grand Canal Street is different. We used to have free WiFi there and we had to take it down because people were using it as an office. I don’t mind people coming in for an hour or so and banging away some emails. That’s cool, I do that too, but people would come and sit in there for nine hours. When you’re in hospitality, it’s a hard thing to ask people to not come.”

Central to all the spaces is 3fe’s own roasted coffee. I was served a Red Catuai variety washed Cerro Azul from Honduras, which can be paired with croissants and cinnamon rolls made by local bakery Bread Nation. On the weekends, the cafe sells whole bread loaves. Chocolates, too, are for sale by Nobó. For the canine customers, there is an under-the-counter stash of dog treats. When I visited, there was no Cidona—but there are indeed cheese toasties made to order. Choose from ham and cheese, cheese with mustard and red onion marmalade, or the Black and Blue. The filling is blue cheese with red onion marmalade and Whole Hoggs black pudding (an Irish breakfast staple of sausage made from oatmeal and pigs’ blood.) This particular toasty was smooth, creamy, rich and mildly spicy.

Harmon hopes that Daniel can expand the visual vocabulary of what a specialty cafe can look like. As specialty coffee grows evermore around the world, it’s going to take a personal and local touch to make a cafe really stand out. Or perhaps it’s about putting specialty coffee into places that evoke something older, culturally deeper than the slick minimalistic chilliness of today’s design trends. Dublin’s new Daniel feels completely different, and in today’s incredibly competitive global coffee scene for which Harmon & Co. are so closely watched, this is perhaps the highest compliment.

Sebastian Stephenson (@sebeys) is a freelance journalist whose work has appeared previously in Monocle. This is Sebastian Stephenson’s first feature for Sprudge Media Network. 

The post At Daniel, Colin Harmon’s New Expression Of Coffee Culture In Dublin appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

It’s finally happened. The Americans are officially getting hooked on CIGS. Coffee in Good Spirits, or CIGS as it is often called, has been a smokin’ hot part of the World Coffee Events competition canon for many years now, but it is—somewhat inexplicably—just now making its way to the United States, with its first official appearance taking place this weekend in Denver at the US Coffee Championships Qualifying Event. Luckily we’ve been covering the World event since 2014, when some dude you’ve probably never heard of named Matt Perger won it all, so we thought we’d put together a little primer for our American audience on what to expect when you’re expecting to watch the Coffee in Good Spirits Competition at the US Coffee Championships.

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.

CIGS is basically the signature beverage portion of the Barista Championship on steroids. Well, steroids and alcohol. For the CIGS Qualifying Event, barkeepers will have to undergo a truncated version of the World competitions, Specifically, the Stage Presentation portion. According to the 2018 Rules and Regulations, in the Stage Presentation competitors have 10 minutes to create “two (identical) hot/warm coffee and alcohol-based designer drinks and two (identical) cold coffee and alcohol-based designer drinks.”

For Denver, participants are required to use vodka in either their hot or cold beverages (or both) as well as the provided espresso machine to make one or both of their drinks.

So now that you have the general idea of the format, what can you expect to see? In short, some shit. You’re gonna see some shit. We’re talking fire, ice, smoke machines, friggin’ sabres.

Cantankerous whosiewhatsits, spendifoulrus dippledidoos, you name it.

Did I mention friggin’ sabres?

Needless to say, it’s going to be w-w-w-w-wild.

And just because this is the first run of the Coffee in Good Spirits championship doesn’t mean the competitors are new to this sort of thing. Smart money is on Kasey Headley to move on to the national stage of competition, who nearly missed the semi-final round of London Coffee Masters with his own coffee cocktail.

If you like the fireworks and the all-out wackiness of the signature beverage portion of the Barista Championship, then you are going to love the Coffee in Good Spirits Championship. If you’re in Denver this weekend, you’re not going to want to miss a minute.

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

All images from Day One and Day Two coverage of the 2015 World Coffee in Good Spirits Championship.

The post The Coffee In Good Spirits Championship: A Primer appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

It’s not too often we come across a new coffee offering in a bold, pink box. Denver’s MiddleState Coffee Roasters really went for it: special releases in a can’t-miss-it color that shouts “I’m a special coffee and I like to have fun.” Scott Hill designed the box using strong a typeface and adding playful touches all around. We asked Hill and co-owner Jay DeRose about this fun little number over email.

As told by Scott Hill and Jay DeRose.

Tell us a bit about your company.

MiddleState started in 2014. We are a wholesale roasting company based out of Denver, Colorado. Since the beginning, it has been pretty simple for us. Buy the best coffee we can that supports the entirety of the chain that is specialty coffee, and have as much fun doing it that we can. We take what we do very serious, but really try not to take ourselves to serious in the process. We like to buy small and very exciting lots of coffee from farmers and producers who we think are doing a great job supporting all hands in the process. – Jay DeRose

When did the coffee package design debut?

The package/coffee debut was right around October 1, 2018. -JD

Who designed the package?

I’m a minority owner of MiddleState and have been designing and managing the brand since its inception. We were stoked to push the boundaries of what our customers expect from our packaging to make this one a little special. We’re traditionally a brand that is anchored by a stark black and white core brand with pops of color at times. We decided to flip that convention on its head for this package to make it clear that this was an extremely unique moment for our product offering. – Scott Hill

What coffee information do you share on the package?

On the package, we have the roast date, farm information/farmer information, taste notes, varietal, altitude, and the process. Pretty standard in comparison to our other packaging. – JD

Why are aesthetics in coffee packaging so important?

I think that things that are seen as “craft” that have passionate followings are expected to deliver quality at every turn. This means that once a consumer has understood the attention to detail and quality that has gone into a few different coffees, the remaining tie-breaker could be how appealing the packaging is. People willing to spend more of quality coffee want that quality in every facet of the experience. – SH

Where is the bag manufactured?

We produced the custom boxes through Packlane. – SH

What type of package is it?

The coffee is in a clear poly seal bag with a one-way valve and a tin tie. That bag is concealed inside of the thin cardboard box. It’s hard to completely seal a box and put a valve on it. – JD

Where is it currently available?

You can purchase the coffee in our online shop. We had such a small quantity of each coffee that we didn’t want to offer too much of it for wholesale, rather though we wanted to offer it to our lovely consumers. – JD

To learn more, check out Haley Littleton’s 2016 feature on MiddleState Coffee. For even more, check out the 2018 feature about the new MiddleState location.

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

The post Coffee Design: MiddleState Coffee In Denver, Colorado appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Coffee competition fans, rejoice! The 2019 US Coffee Champs season begins this coming weekend with the first of two qualifying events, and Sprudge Live will be there covering all the action live. We’re thrilled to bring our industry leading coverage of the US Coffee Champs tournaments to the Denver Qualifying Event, happening December 1st-2nd at the National Western Complex (4655 Humboldt Street).

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

Sprudge is an official media partner of US Coffee Championships, and we’ll be covering the event all weekend long across a couple of different coverage nodes. Sprudge Live’s media team in Denver, and throughout the 2019 season, is helmed by Charlie Burt (lead photographer), Elizabeth Chai (multimedia director), and Zac Cadwalader (producer).

— Sprudge Live — Our dedicated website to coffee competitions is back covering the US Coffee Champs slate. Visit Sprudge Live daily for smart schedules, original photography, routine recaps, leaderboards and much more live from Denver.

— Instagram — Follow @Sprudge on Instagram for candid coverage all weekend long from Denver. Expect behind the scenes glimpses, eye-catching photos, and revealing, immersive moments from the show floor.

— Sprudgecast — Subscribe to the Coffee Sprudgecast for upcoming podcast content produced live from the Denver event

— Twitter — The much-loved @SprudgeLive Twitter coverage of the 2019 season is back! Follow Sprudge Live for play-by-play—really so much of it—live from the showfloor in Denver, and at all events all season long.

Every bit of this coverage is hubbed at SprudgeLive.com, the worldwide leader in coffee sports. We can’t wait for you to join us in Denver! Follow along, root for your favorites, and we’ll see you on the road to Boston all season long.

Coverage supported by Joe Glo, Mahlkönig, Acaia, Baratza, Faema, Cafe Imports, and Wilbur Curtis.

The post Sprudge Live Is Back This Weekend In Denver appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Third Wave Wichteln is back for another year of international coffee exchanging. Now in its sixth year, the Wichteln is a transcontinental specialty coffee Secret Santa, and registration is now open!

Third Wave Wichteln works like any holiday gift exchange, just on a much, much larger scale; last year’s saw over 2,000 people from 62 countries participate according to one of TWW’s founders Markus Reuter. Everyone who wants to participate puts their name in a hat—the hat being an online submission form in this case—and then those participants draw a name from the hat and that’s the person they need to buy a gift for. In this case, the name is assigned to you by TWW to make sure that everyone is receiving coffee from a different country than their own.

via Third Wave Wichteln

The gift must be specialty coffee and meet a specific criteria: no more than five days off roast at the time of shipment, no espresso roasts (filter only), no decaf, whole bean, and single origin. Then you just ship the coffee and wait for yours to come in the mail!

It’s just that easy. But also it’s not. Or is it? As should probably be expected from an international gifting program that relies on the honor system and fully functioning bureaucracies, there are catches.

For one, shipping can be expensive, often comprising more of the total cost than the coffee itself. In the United States, shipping a package internationally can cost roughly between $10-$50 depending on its destination. I spent somewhere around $30 to ship coffee to the Czech Republic in 2016.

The team at Third Wave Wichteln provides participants with information to ease shipping issues:

1. Use customs form CN22
2. Label the package as a gift
3. Specify “whole roasted coffee beans”
4. According to Reuter, “The shipping doesn’t have to be Express. Normal DHL or Fedex is fine. And sometimes it’s worth checking if there is a cheaper way to send just an envelope instead of a package.”

After you’re paired up with a mystery recipient and you’ve sent your package, the team at TWW doesn’t provide additional support to assist in tracking the package destined for you. It might show up, show up late, or not at all. For what its worth, I’ve always received my coffee. Sometimes it didn’t show up until February and ripped open by customs but ultimately none worse for the wear.

James Hoffmann, World Barista Champion, author, co-owner of Square Mile Coffee, and frequent TWW participant, tells Sprudge of his experience:

I’ve really enjoyed taking part in Third Wave Wichteln, since its inception. Maybe I’ve just been lucky, but I’ve received coffee from a roaster new to me every time and it’s been fun, as a roaster, to send through a few bonus bits to whoever has been my recipient too. I look forward to it every year!

It’s all part of the gift-giving gamble. Caveat emptor. I’ll be back for a fourth year because the coffees I get are always interesting. From a specialty-grade Robusta grown in India and roasted in Poland to a lovely washed Colombian coffee roasted in merry old England, I’ve yet to be disappointed by the coffee I received… eventually.

Enrollment for the 2018 Third Wave Wichteln is open until Friday, December 7th and sign up can be done here. For more information, visit their official website. And while you wait for your coffee, join the discussion going on over at the Third Wave Wichteln Facebook group. Happy gifting!

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

The post Sign Up Is Open For The 2018 Third Wave Wichteln appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

When you think of Colorado coffee, Denver is undoubtedly the first place to come to mind. With companies like Amethyst, Corvus, Commonwealth, Huckleberry, and Sweet Bloom, all of whom have made names for themselves nationally through competition, community work, and widespread presence in quality coffee bars, it’s natural to see the city as Colorado’s coffee epicenter. But if you let your mind wander about 70 miles south on I-25 to Colorado Springs, you’ll find another city making an argument.

Growing at a rapid clip, thanks in no small part to Denver’s own exponential expansion, The Springs is experiencing a coffee renaissance. With exciting new cafes recently opened and a homegrown finalist in the 2018 US Barista Championship, Colorado Springs is putting its name on the map. In the middle of all this is Loyal Coffee, a coffee shop and roaster that stays small in focus but grand in execution.

The product of six barista/co-owners—Eric Nicol (CEO), Abigail Baum (General Manager), Christopher Mueller (Operations Director), Bevan Cammell (Head Roaster), Seth Fuller (Head of Education), and Tyler Hill (Director of Guest Experience)—Loyal is one of those rare shops where a thoughtful, composed build-out is matched step-for-step by the quality of everything that comes out of it. Walking into Loyal, blue-grey tiles direct you through a sea of warm wood tones, clean whites, and mid-century-modern-esque gold accents towards the coffee bar—it, too, full of warm wood tones, clean whites, and mid-century-modern-esque gold accents. Lengths of rope stretch wrap decoratively overhead and behind the bar, adding to the natural palette in a way that feels rustic but still somehow very modern.

Atop the bar you’ll find a custom-finished white La Marzocco Strada and white Nuova Simonelli Mythos One Clima Pro grinders anchor the espresso station, serving both their own offerings as well as Madcap, originally Loyal’s roaster before they began roasting their own coffee. “We had always planned on having some other coffee alongside ours even when we knew we’d be roasting and wholesaling coffee,” Loyal’s Tyler Hill says. “To us it gives a great standard to shoot for. By serving Madcap in our cafe, it serves as inspiration and accountability to serve a similar product.”

Moving left, Modbar pour-over modules and a Mahlkönig EK43 make up a slow bar, for guests willing to wait a bit for their brew. Further still, separated from the coffee area, Loyal’s small, open-air kitchen churns out a variety of toasts, porridges, and other breakfast-leaning dishes. Think ingredients like pear and ricotta, soft-boiled eggs, and even Andouille sausage served open-faced on rustic French breads from local bakery La Baguette.

Follow the pathway left again and you’ll find all of Loyal’s seating—a mix of wooden tables and booths, concrete, and tree stump chairs—overlooks garage windows, open that day to let in some crisp morning air before Colorado’s dry summer heat takes over.

As is hinted at by that blue-grey line subconsciously guiding customers through the order of operations, everything at Loyal is intended to make the experience feel intuitive and relaxed, to take what could be overwhelming for some and uncomplicate it. This doesn’t mean sacrificing quality for expedience, but finding ways to meet customers where they are. For Loyal, this means being both modern specialty cafe and all-day hang out. It means good coffee quickly, like their incredible washed Mexico Jaltenango on batch brew during my visit that had me questioning my own preconceptions about what coffee from that origin can taste like. It means staying open late and shifting the focus to include cocktails, pre-made and on tap. High quality at high speeds; all splendor, no pomp.

“Our purpose is Community by way of Coffee,” Hill tells me. “We strive to use coffee as a means to engage, encourage, and elevate every community we interact with.”

And it’s working. Hill remembers the first time he really felt like Loyal was the community space they had envisioned it being, and it came under inauspicious circumstances. “The vibe at Loyal is usually pretty loud and upbeat with lots of people and lots of conversations. But after the election it was very different,” Hill recounts. “While we serve and welcome guests who are all over the political spectrum, we serve a great deal of folks who didn’t wake up with joy in their hearts that day. It was very special to me that people who felt scared, nervous, or confused knew that they could grieve, chat, and find some sense of normality at Loyal.” Hill goes on to mention how much of the coffee served that day was gratis, a small way of being there for the community that knows Loyal is there for them.

With plans for a second location already in the works, it’s clear that Loyal has struck a chord their city, and they have done so in a way that feels true to who they are and where they are from. It’s not a shop that is trying to be a Portland cafe, or Los Angeles or Denver even, though they could make a name for themselves in these cities just as easily; Loyal is a shop that keeps its focus on its community and serving coffee within the framework that works specifically for the people of Colorado Springs. And somewhat ironically, they are making a name for themselves nationally because of it.

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

The post In Colorado Springs, Loyal Coffee Is Small In Focus But Grand In Execution appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

The New Rules of Coffee book tour rolls on with six brand new eastern stops coming your way over the next week, and it all kicks off with a visit to Toby’s Estate in Brooklyn this Friday, November 30th.

Join Sprudge co-founders and New Rules authors Jordan Michelman and Zachary Carlsen as they present their illustrated guide for “the essential rules for enjoying coffee both at home and in cafes, including tips on storing and serving coffee, coffee growing, roasting and brewing, plus facts, lore, and popular culture from around the globe.” Each event will include coffee-related good times, signed copies of the book available for purchase, delicious coffee to drink, and “intrigue.” What intrigue, you say? Intrigued? You’ll just have to show up to find out.

Eastern dates for The New Rules of Coffee book tour include:

11/30 Brooklyn, NY—Toby’s Estate, 7:00pm
12/1 New York City, NY—Joe Coffee Company, 1:00pm
12/2 Columbus, OH—The Innovation Lab by Crimson Cup, 12:00pm
12/4 Pittsburgh, PA—Tazza D’Oro Highland Park, 10:00am
12/4 Pittsburgh, PA—Tazza D’Oro CMU, 1:00pm
12/4 Pittsburgh, PA—Tazza D’Oro Millvale, 6:00pm

All events are free to attend, so come on by and pick up a few signed copies of The New Rules of Coffee, one for you and maybe a few extra for gifts. For more information on the events, visit the Facebook event pages linked above.

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

The post The New Rules Of Coffee Book Tour Adds Six Eastern Stops appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

It’s here! The 2018 holiday season is finally here, and with it, a swarm of gift guides great and cheap, big and small, for you and not even remotely for you at all.

Here at Sprudge holiday gift guides are a long-running tradition, dating back to the internet’s earlier, simpler, arguably less evil times. To kick the Guidesapalooza off this year, we tapped three of our favorite regular contributors: Jenn Chen, Zac Cadwalader, and Anna Brones. We asked them some very simple questions: What moves you? What coffee gifts would you give to a loved one? Does this spark joy?

Read on to find out, and happy holiday-ing from all of us at Sprudge.

Image by Sam Lee.

Handmade Mug and Dripper by Sam Lee

There is something particular about drinking coffee out of a handmade mug, something that helps to turn it from routine into ritual. San Francisco-based artist and ceramicist Sam Lee creates beautiful everyday objects, including those made for making and drinking coffee, and I love her style. Her work is simple yet stunning, like in the V60 dripper, glazed to balance the texture of both the smooth glaze and the rough ceramic. Any morning would be made just a little more beautiful with Lee’s work in it. – Anna Brones

Photo courtesy Umeshiso.

Rainbow Cupping Spoon

Born out of a desire to empower themselves and other marginalized folks in the industry at the cupping table, Umeko Motoyoshi created the Rainbow Spoon project. Their store, Umeshiso, has a wide array of pins, cupping spoons, and stickers for your favorite coffee professional. Sold as a single spoon or a set of six, these rainbow spoons offer a perfect bowl depth for a dip and slurp. The spoons are offered on a sliding scale basis to reflect the store’s inclusive mission. Choose to pay the at-cost fee or a few dollars more to contribute back into the project. – Jenn Chen

Terroir Coffee Chocolate and Coffee Blossom Honey

Coffee gifts don’t always have to be coffee. They can also be chocolate and honey. Coffee chocolate and coffee honey. From Terroir—the sister company of Onyx Coffee Lab—comes two tasty sweets cultivated on actual coffee farms. The cacao comes from one of three origins—Colombia, Uganda, and Guatemala—and each bean-to-bar dark chocolate is made with coffee from the same farm. The honey is from Finca El Apiario in Guatemala, produced by bees who only pollinate coffee blossoms. Not only are these products really tasty (I eat the honey on my morning yogurt daily), they are also providing auxiliary revenue streams for the farmers producing them. It’s a great coffee gift for non-coffee people that brings in additional money to the coffeelands. Win win win. – Zac Cadwalader

Image via Snow Peak.

Field Barista kit from Snow Peak

There’s a clear intersection between outdoor lovers and coffee drinkers, and Japanese lifestyle brand Snow Peak caters to the nature enthusiasts who want to ensure that their coffee game is as strong outside as it is at home. The brand’s Field Barista kit is the ultimate in outdoor coffee brewing setup, including a dripper, grinder, and kettle. You don’t have to opt for the entire set, each piece can be purchased separately. The dripper is cone shaped—which will keep your filters from collapsing—and disassembles to fit in a small bag, and the grinder’s handle easily folds down, which makes packing easier. The weight of the kit makes it geared at the kind adventures that include a base camp, or just a morning coffee brew in the local park, as opposed to journeys where weight is a consideration, but if you’ve got the whole set, you just might start to prefer brewing in your backyard to your kitchen counter. – Anna Brones

Photo courtesy Standart.

Standart Subscription

Creative types will appreciate an annual subscription (four issues) to Standart, a beautiful independent print magazine (and 2017 Sprudgie Award winner) dedicated to the art of coffee. The stories, illustrations, and photographs within its pages cover a wide range of global issues and perspectives. You’ll just as easily read a profile with a barista champion right after a piece exploring tasseography, the art of reading tea and coffee leaves. Content is at the forefront in Standart and there’s something for everyone. The subscription is available globally and comes with a bag of coffee roasted exclusively for subscribers. – Jenn Chen

Courtesy of Agate Publishing

Craft Coffee: A Manual

Getting into coffee can be intimidating. It feels like there is an entire lexicon to memorize just to learn how to make a pour-over. Luckily, there is Craft Coffee: A Manual by Jessica Easto. Easto is “not a coffee person,” as she described to Sprudge in our interview with her earlier this year, and that’s the perspective she brings to the pages of Craft Coffee. With the help of her husband and “coffee person” Andreas Willhoff, Easto covers just about everything you need to know to get started on your coffee journey, including: brewing basics, equipment, processing, and step-by-step guides for making coffee with 10 different brewing devices. It’s all the coffee info, none of the intimidation. – Zac Cadwalader

Image by Lindsey Shea.

Ebb Filter by GDS Cloth Goods

Coffee is a product that centers around origin, but while we focus on where our coffee comes from, we don’t always apply the same principles to our brewing equipment. For the coffee drinker who cares about how things are made and where they’re from, Ebb Filter is the perfect gift. This reusable filter is made from organic cotton grown in Texas, processed and woven into fabric in the Carolinas and sewn into final product the Bay Area by GDS Cloth Goods. The filters come in a variety of sizes to fit all types of brew methods, and are wrapped in biodegradable packaging. – Anna Brones

Courtesy of Melodrip

Melodrip

Buying gadgets for a coffee tinkerer can be a tall order because 1) geeky gear is often prohibitively expensive and 2) what even is that thing and how does it make coffee? For those wanting to gift something brewing-related that won’t break the bank, look no further than the Melodrip. Essentially just a dispersion screen on a stick, the Melodrip allows you to drastically cut down on the amount of agitation in the brewing process, which leads to a cleaner cup of coffee, according to the creators. After a successful Kickstarter campaign (of which I backed with my own actual dollars), the Melodrip is now in full production and available for purchase for a cool $45. – Zac Cadwalader

Photo courtesy IWCA.

Charitable Donation

A thoughtful gift for the coffee lover who doesn’t want any physical products, a charitable donation in their name goes a long way to supporting the communities who create your morning brew. Did you know that over 80% of women newly diagnosed with cervical cancer live in developing countries and that 70% of coffee farm laborers are women? Grounds for Health provides cervical cancer screenings at coffee farms. For a more general contribution to the coffeelands, the International Women’s Coffee Alliance (IWCA) works in 22 countries to empower women at the local community level. And if you’d like to invest in the next generation of farmers, Coffee Kids works with young farmers on business training and seed capital. – Jenn Chen

via It’s A Mod, Mod, Mod, Mod World

Commandante Hand Grinder

I have more hand grinders than I care to mention in polite company, but whenever I go out of town and need a way to pulverize some whole beans, the Commandante manual grinder is always the one I bring with me. Besides being one of the most aesthetically pleasing grinders on the market—just look at all that wood grain!—the German-engineered Commandante is the perfect mix of portable and dependable, making it the ideal suitcase (or day pack) companion. At $250, this isn’t exactly a small gift, but, speaking from opinion here, it’s worth every penny. – Zac Cadwalader

Coffee Isn’t Rocket Science by Sebastien Racineux and Chung-Leng Tran

Have you ever been asked by friends and family how to make better coffee at home? Get them this book. Coffee Isn’t Rocket Science by Sebastien Racineux and Chung-Leng Tran (both co-owners of Hexagone Cafe in Paris) is a well-rounded guide to better understanding and making coffee. For the newly coffee acquainted, it’s a helpful tool for navigating the world of coffee, the kind of book that can always be kept close to the coffee brewing equipment. And for well-versed coffee lovers, it’s a fun resource to include in your coffee library, particular for those moments when you forget some of the basic details of the drink you love. – Anna Brones

Kaffe Box Subscription

Sometimes the best coffee gift is simply just coffee. For those who want to gift coffee but don’t know what is “good,” a subscription is always a solid place to start. As an American who makes primarily filter coffee, I have yet to find a subscription service more up my alley than Norway’s Kaffe Box. Each month, the subscription service works with a different Scandinavian roaster to deliver light-roasted coffee directly to your doorstep. Past roasters include big names like Tim Wendelboe, La Cabra, The Coffee Collective, and Koppi as well as lesser-known micro-roasters like Jacobsen og Svart, Nord, and Talor & Jorgen. To me, this is THE subscription service for lighter-roast filter coffee drinkers. But if you are buying for someone who is an espresso drinker or likes more developed coffees, Trade Coffee is where I would start. – Zac Cadwalader

Via Seal Press.

“So You Want to Talk About Race” by Ijeoma Oluo

A New York Times bestseller and book that transcends any industry lines, “So You Want to Talk About Race” is a must-read for the well-meaning ally. The book isn’t about coffee, yet like any industry built on colonialism and capitalism, race is inextricably tied to coffee. Oluo breaks down key concepts in a straightforward manner and provides the reader with tangible ways to talk about race. This is a great place to start for those who find themselves saying things like, “But what can I do?” and “I don’t know what that means” after listening to the Black Coffee podcast episodes. – Jenn Chen

The post The Essential Sprudge 2018 Holiday Gift Guide appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

You survived Black Friday (and Charcoal Grey Thursday or whatever we are calling Black Friday’s bleed over into the day previous). You’ve made it through the weekend without spending all your money or pulling a hammie. Your reward? Another day of shopping with the potential for deep discounts. That’s right, today is Cyber Monday, and though the name would imply a focus on AOL chatroom-based casual encounters of yore, it is in fact a day of great savings on internet purchases.

And coffee is not immune to the festivities, tempting the cash out from your wallet with the promise of never-before-seen deals, steals, and sales of the century. We have collected the best coffee bargains from around the internet and compiled them for you into one handy list. Be sure to check back in periodically because we’ll be updating the list as even newer, more amazinger deals are brought to our attention. Get your charge card out, here are all the sweet coffee discounts for Cyber Monday.

Merch

The Sprudge Shop: We’re extending our weekend sale for Cyber Monday! Use the promo code WEEKENDSALE to get 15% off your entire order!

Caffewerks and BGSS: Take 20% off your baskets, gaskets, screens, screws, and pitcher rinsers as well as your basket, gasket, screen, and screw subscription using the code BLACKFRIDAY20.

Clive Coffee: Why do a day when you could have a whole month? Clive is going Black all November, including giving away ever sixth LUCCA M58 Espresso Machine purchased (they estimate five are sold a day). They are also offering double toward their rewards program, the Crema Club. For every $50 spent, you get $2 in rewards to be redeemed later.

Slayer: Take $500 off any single-group espresso machine purchase throughout the remainder of 2018.

Sweet Maria’s: Get 15% off select coffees, 20% Technivorm brewers, and $50 off all Gene Cafe Roasters.

Espresso Parts: It’s a 30% sale site wide, with up to 50% off select coffee gear, free shipping, and “some rad free gifts with purchase.”

Brewista: Get all your brewing needs—cupping spoons, scales, kettles, glassware, milk pitchers, etc—at 20% to 30% off today only, with FREE shipping.

Manual: Stock your bar or coffee/tea shelf with elegantly simple wares from Manual. Take 33% off the entire store with the promo code MAKEITMANUAL and get free shipping with orders over $40 with the promo code HOLIDAY2018.

Prima Coffee: There are a whole host of deals over at Prima, too many to list really. Head over to their website and see what’s good.

Coffee

Stumptown Coffee: Get a free mug with any two bags of coffee purchased online.

Thou Mayest: Free shipping on all coffee orders.

Onyx Coffee Lab: Take 50% off your first week when you sign up for a subscription with promo code CYBERMONDAY.

Blue Bottle Coffee: Free shipping on all orders today only.

Dogwood Coffee: Take 50% off all coffee orders with the code BOGO50OFF. Free shipping on all US orders over $40.

Ritual Coffee: Take 15% off orders of $60 or more using the code COFFEE_MONDAY!

Intelligentsia Coffee: 20% Off Your Order + Free Shipping!

PT’s Coffee: Get 20% off all coffee orders over $50 with the promo code 2018HOLIDAYS.

Verve Coffee: 10% to 40% off select items plus free shipping on all orders.

Equator Coffees & Teas: Free shipping on all orders today only.

Know of any sweet deals that should be included on this list? Let us know!

The post Where To Find The Best Cyber Monday Deals In Coffee appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News