Best Coffee in Honolulu – The Curb Kaimuki

Slingshot Coffee is growing up. The Raleigh-based ready-to-drink cold brew and cascara maker founded by Brewers Cup-winning duo Jenny and Jonathan Bonchak have just moved into a brand new 13,000-square-foot facility. And to celebrate, Slingshot has announced the release of their new coffee soda.

Per the press release, the new coffee sodas will come in two flavors—Black Cherry Cola and Citrus Vanilla Cream Soda—and were “inspired by Jenny & Jonathan’s favorite fountain sodas.” Jenny Bonchak had this to say:

Each soda is sweetened only with real fruit juice and natural cane sugar, with an eight-ounce can only having 60 calories and 1/3 the sugar of a traditional soda. Cans of Slingshot’s new coffee sodas have an MSRP of $2.99 and will be rolling out through retail outlets in the Southwest throughout the month as well as debuting on the West coast.

Summer’s not over yet. There’s still time to slam a few coldies while soaking in some vitamin D. And with Slingshot’s new coffee sodas, might as well make them some coffee coldies. For more information, visit Slingshot Coffee’s official website.

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

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Source: Coffee News

Did you know that coffee was first harvested sometime in the second century BCE? Did you also know that the first written instance of the word “barista” comes from Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice? Or what about the fact that “spres,” the root of espresso literally translates in Italian to “spray?” If you were privy to all those factoids or knew from the jump that they were completely fabricated by my dumb brain (and best I can tell, most likely incorrect), then you may be just the sort of person that would kill it at Royal Coffee’s Coffee Trivia Night. Taking place at Oakland’s Awaken Coffee on Thursday, August 30th, it will be a night of coffee and coffee facts, and it’s all for a good cause.

Hosted by Royal Coffee’s Chris Kornman and Sandra Elisa-Loofbourow, Coffee Trivia Night will be a competition like no other. Sure, you can pour a 98-tier tulip in a thimble and maybe that would help you win a throwdown, but can you explain the fluid dynamics that make that pour possible? Because that’s what it’s going to take to win Coffee Trivia (well probably not that, because that’s really, really impossibly hard, but you see where I’m going here). Teams of up to five will battle it out over a variety of coffee-related facts, none of which can be spoken of before the event lest there be foul play afoot.

Winners will receive prizes donated by sponsors Grounds for Health, Equator Coffees & Teas, Ritual Coffee, the Created Co, the Crown, and more.

And the best part is, it’s all for charity. The entirety of the proceeds go to Ground for Health, an organization working to prevent cervical cancer in women in coffee growing regions.

Tickets for Coffee Trivia Night are $10 person and can be purchased here (and if you feel so inclined to donate a little extra, that will go to Grounds for Health as well). If you don’t have a team, fret not, for the event organizers can help join you up with other loosies, should you and they be so inclined to share in the plunder. For more information, visit Coffee Trivia Night’s Eventbrite page.

And remember all those rock solid facts I told you earlier. They will surely be indispensable in the final round when it’s all on the line.

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

Top image via Royal Coffee

Disclosure: Royal Coffee and Equator Coffees & Teas are advertising partners on Sprudge Media Network.

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Source: Coffee News

You may know Bentonville, Arkansas as the home of Wal-Mart, America’s real life Mega Lo Mart. Or if you are coffee-minded—which presumably you are—you may know B-ville as the home of Onyx Coffee Lab, the roaster/cafe that has taken the coffee competition world by storm the past few years. But Bentonville’s coffee conversation doesn’t start and stop with Onyx. And Airship Coffee would like to have a word.

Roasting on a 50-year-old Probat, Airship Coffee is looking to carve out their own corner of Northwest Arkansas by focusing on coffee and relationships. Having beer on tap certainly won’t hurt either. So let’s check in with the new kid on the block, Airship Coffee in Bentonville, Arkansas.

As told to Sprudge by Dakota Graff.

For those who aren’t familiar, will you tell us about your company?

Airship Coffee started under a lime tree in Honduras, as farmers looked for a better way to sell coffee in order to make a living. Since our beginning, we’ve been committed to going above and beyond in all aspects of our business. This commitment is about creating the perfect cup of coffee, and it’s about doing right by the people that we encounter along that journey for the perfect cup.

Can you tell us a bit about the new space?

This is a roastery cafe. The space is built into the front of our roastery, in full view of our 1964 Probat GG 90 and our packaging line. This will be a industrial modern space, with all white equipment and a warm wood and galvanized steel bar. Lots of natural light coming through two garage doors, with a big patio and 10 beers on tap.

Any machines, coffees, special equipment lined up?

We aren’t reinventing the wheel too much on this buildout. We’ll have a La Marzocco Linea PB with Mahlkönig grinders, a hidden Curtis G4 brewer, with a powder-coated white Curtis Gold Cup brewer on back bar. This is the bar I always wanted to work as a barista. Clean, simple, and powerful.

What’s your hopeful target opening date/month?

We are gunning for July 4th of this summer.

Thank you!

<3

The Build-Outs Of Summer is an annual series on Sprudge. Live the thrill of the build all summer long in our Build-Outs feature hub.

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Source: Coffee News

A new coffee brewing device is about to hit the market and it comes with a hefty price tag. From Salt Lake City’s Saint Anthony Industries—makers of coffee brewing tools like the Phoenix brewer and Filibuster dual wall glass decanter—comes the brand new Automatica. The cost? A cool $1,000.

Announced late last week via the company’s Instagram, the Automatica takes a decidedly manual approach to automatic brewing. It consists of a kettle sitting atop a pedestal that, once it has brought the water to temp, tips over gently toward a pour-over brewer and mug that is spinning slowly, mimicking a circular pouring pattern. From the Saint Anthony website:

While not yet in production, the Automatica is available for pre-order on the Saint Anthony Industries website for $1,000, though only a $200 fully refundable deposit is due up front; the remaining $800 is due at order fulfillment.

But for those not looking to drop capital letter K-type money on a brewing device, according to a second post on Instagram, the Automatica will be coming to Kickstarter some time later this week, which perhaps may contain some early bird backer specials that keep the price below four digits. This is all unsubstantiated conjecture based upon the general arc of crowdfunding, but you never know. All interested parties should keep an eye on Saint Anthony’s Instagram account for more details on the go-live date.

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

All media via Saint Anthony Industries

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Source: Coffee News

Now that all the Rushes have been Crushed (well, almost. Denver still has a Rush to Crush August 14^th), what’s there left to do but to listlessly run out the clock on the summer doldrums, right? WRONG! Europe’s raucous good time The Barista League is coming to America at the end of August! For the first time ever, the Scandi-lous coffee competition is crossing the Atlantic and will be making landfall in Portland on its way through a four-stop coast-to-coast tour.

Taking place over two weeks, The Barista League is a face-paced contest where teams of two baristas compete in three different skills challenges—barista skills, sensory skills, and a mystery round—for coffee dominance. To decide the winners and losers, VIP judges will be on hand at each event, and these VIPs know competition. We’re talking multiple USBC Champions (Laila Ghambari, Cole McBride, Kyle Ramage, Lem Butler), a multi-time Chinese Barista Champion (Jeremy Zhang), a Coffee Masters New York Champion (Erika Vonie), and a World Barista Champion (Pete Licata).

The murderer’s row of judges is intimidating enough, nevermind the multiple US Barista and Brewers Cup Champions (Andrea Allen, Dylan Siemens, Jenna Gotthelf) and a 2018 USBC finalist (Sam Neely) competing. Sorry about your luck, pretty much every competitor at the Kansas City event.

But the results are far from decided, especially when everyone will be competing for such an incredible prize; the winners of each event will win an origin trip courtesy of sponsors Ally Coffee!

The Barista League 2018 US Tour hits the road on the following dates:

August 30 — Portland, OR — Black Rabbit Service Co.
September 1 — Kansas City, MO — Workbench Coffee Labs
September 6 — Greenville, SC — Ally Coffee
September 8 — Philadelphia, PA — Ultimo Coffee

Spectator tickets for each of the events are $5 and can be purchased via The Barista League website. All proceeds from ticket sales will go to Asylum Seekers Advocacy Project (ASAP), an organization that “works to prevent wrongful deportations by connecting refugee families to community support and emergency legal aid,” per their website. The Barista League is also asking those able to match their $5 donation, which can be done at the time of purchase. For more information, visit The Barista League’s official website.

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

Top image via The Barista League

The post The Barista League Is Coming To America appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Tucked away in the small mountain town of Pinedale, Wyoming you’ll find Pine Coffee Supply, a little coffee bar with a growing reputation. Open since summer 2017, the shop has already garnered national attention—Food & Wine Magazine called it the best coffee in Wyoming in March of 2018. Roasting happens in-house, and a lot more besides—this place is a fascinating and beautiful expression of coffee culture set at the foot of the Wind River Mountains. 

Sat on a corner lot on the city’s main street, Pine Coffee occupies a former mechanic shop. An extensive remodel was undertaken by shop founders Jim and Cody Hamilton, a father and son duo with deep Wyoming roots, which included hand-built pine furniture, benches, and accents. They kept the original garage door and leave it open on warm summer days opening up their bar to a patio. Their front room wall is adorned with a hand-stenciled mural of all things coffee, while further back in the shop, you’ll find a cozy couch in front of a fireplace and around the corner a huge pine community table and space perfect for public events.

Jim and Cody Hamilton.

Their coffee bar is equipped with a Mavam espresso machine, PuqPress, KafaTek Monolith grinder for espresso, Technivorm Grand Brewer, and Mahlkönig batch grinder. They also just recently started roasting their own coffee on a one kilogram Aillio Bullet roaster, but have used Middle State Coffee out of Denver as their resident roaster since opening while rotating different roasters monthly.

That’s a lot of gear and quality for a little town in Wyoming, and Jim Hamilton—the elder—admits to having some nerves about opening up here. “My biggest fear coming into Pinedale was, can any coffee shop really survive in a small town?” Further doubt clouded their vision after seeking advice from longtime friend and previous business partner, Tom Billions of The Coffee Ethic in Springfield, MO, who simply said, “don’t do it.”

Everything changed a month later when Billions unexpectedly passed away. His life and his passing affected a lot of people back in Springfield and shed light on the positive impact a coffee shop can have in a community. Jim and Cody had a change of heart and knew it was time to open Pine Coffee Supply.  “We knew how behind the times coffee was in the whole state and we wanted to bring third wave in,” Cody Hamilton tells me. “We said no at first, this won’t work, but then came back to it.”

Truly it’s a family affair at Pine Coffee Supply. Today Cody is the director of tech, coffee, and roasting, while Jim works as the CFO and numbers guy. Tina Hamilton—Jim’s wife, Cody’s mom—manages books and details, while Maddie Hamilton—Cody’s wife—is the director of purchasing and supplies as well as the master of scheduling. And last but not least their daughter, Wren (age 10), is the barista in training.

If it all sounds like something out of a frontier novel—Little Coffee Shop In The Mountains—well, that’s just fine with the Hamiltons. “People are moving back to small towns,” Maddie Hamilton tells me, and Cody agrees. “We wanted to change the pace of life.” Mission accomplished here in this tiny town of just 2,000, of whom the Hamiltons are now a community fixture.

The Hamilton family of Pine Coffee Supply.

Up next, Cody has big plans for their in-house roasting program as well as future coffee subscriptions. In the meantime, should you ever find yourself in Pinedale, Wyoming, I’d say Pine Coffee Supply counts as a must-visit. There may not be many other specialty shops around to compete with, but you can’t hold that against the Hamilton family. Coffee doesn’t have to come from the big city in order to be delicious. In fact, one might argue that small town coffee offers something special you can’t find anywhere else. 

Tarra Culbertson is a contributor based in Salt Lake City. Read more Tarra Culbertson on Sprudge.

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Source: Coffee News

In July, Intelligentsia teamed up with Root Capital to put on the first-ever ECWx, an offshoot of the coffee company’s Extraordinary Coffee Workshop (ECW). Longtime readers of Sprudge may recognize that acronym; the weeklong “signature innovation” of Intelligentsia’s Direct Trade takes place yearly in producing countries all around the world, and we have been covering it since 2011. ECWx, the TEDx to ECW’s TED, as Intelligentsia’s Michael Sheridan calls it in his most recent blog post, took place in Nariño, Colombia and focused on issues relevant to local smallholder farmers with a “deep-dive on all things Colombian.”

Now in its 10^th year, ECW wanted to do something a little different in scope, something smaller. Thus, ECWx was born. According to the Sheridan’s post, “ECWx was created explicitly and exclusively for smallholder coffee farmers.”

With the help of Root Capital, “a non-profit financial services provider”—whom Sheridan refers to as the Apple of non-profits—Intelligentsia is hoping to help those in the “missing middle,” those too big for micro-finance loans but too small or risky for commercial banks. According to the post, coffee coops and other coffee-based institutions at origin fall in the missing middle, a billion-dollar segment that is “systematically underserved.”

Expect to see more local-focused ECWx events from Intelligentsia in the future. Next month, ECW will land in Bolivia, where more than 50 producers from 15 countries will be in attendance. For more information on the inaugural ECWx, Michael Sheridan’s full blog post can be found here. And be sure to check out the ECWx in Pictures, a photo-journal recap of the week’s events.

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 via Intelligentsia Coffee.

Disclosure: Intelligentsia Coffee is an advertising partner on Sprudge Media Network.

The post ECWx: Intelligentsia’s Next Big Idea At Origin appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Boone, North Carolina, named for pioneer Daniel Boone, is like a smaller version of nearby Asheville, tucked in the Appalachian Mountains. Here, the focus of nearly every business is local and sustainable. Boone’s population is mostly students of Appalachian State University, and also includes some seasonal and year-round residents, all of whom lend the area a distinct funkiness.

Every college town needs a coffee roaster to caffeinate its masses, but Hatchet isn’t exactly what you’d expect. Located in an unassuming warehouse on the way to Rocky Knob Park, Hatchet shares space with Center 45, an indoor climbing gym. This is just one indicator of what type of customers Hatchet serves: lovers of adventure.

Opened by friends Jeremy Bollman and Jeremy Parnell nearly two years ago, Hatchet’s menu is both expansive, with options like nitro cold brew, and approachable. Every drink is $4 and under.

In the spirit of collaboration, they carry pastries from local bakeries, including Stick Boy, Mountain Flower, and Brays. Their coffee is used by local breweries like Booneshine, Appalachian Mountain Brewing, and Lost Province, as well as local restaurants and coffee shops. And Hatchet is a mainstay at local bike races and bouldering competitions.

Bollman and Parnell met while working at Stick Boy in 2013, when they dreamed of bringing a West Coast-style roaster to their beloved town. Parnell moved to Boone in 2009 to attend Appalachian State. “I spent most of my time roaming the remote hills of Appalachia in search of boulders,” he says of his time at school and then-new love of rock climbing. “And that’s when I truly fell in love with Boone and knew that I wanted a career here.”

Thanks to trial and error and software like Cropster, Bollman and Parnell figured out what they needed to run a roastery. The team purchased a roaster from Chattanooga’s Velo Coffee Roasters before eventually going in on a Mill City 20K. They buy most of their green coffee through Cafe Imports, Keffa Coffee, and Dos Niñas. The Hatchet coffee bar includes a La Marzocco Linea EE, and its menu includes craft coffee drinks inspired by the seasons as well as other “craft” industries, like beer and spirits.

Their decision to purchase a small roaster added them to an already crowded market of local roasteries. “I think there were around five by the time we started but we both felt like there was room for one more,” Parnell says. “Our approach to roasting coffee was going to be different enough that we knew there would be a portion of the market to support us.”

The name Hatchet reflects a love of Boone’s surroundings. “We very much wanted a brand that reflected the outdoors that we love,” Parnell says. “With that, we wanted a symbol that would be easily recognizable and relatable to those who also love the outdoors, and we felt that a hatchet truly embodied that.”

Like the tool itself, the roastery’s ideal is to be simple in design and function. It represents hard work, independence, and quality. Hatchet is, after all, where you stop by before an adventure in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

This is Caroline Eubanks first article for Sprudge.

All photos courtesy of Jeremy Parnell, used with permission. 

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Source: Coffee News

The coffee supply chain is something many people in specialty think about and interact with on a regular basis. But it isn’t necessarily something those outside of coffee have really given much thought to. For all they know, coffee starts over there and ends up over here and everyone is paid fairly along the way (that’s why coffee is so expensive nowadays, right?). As many start to think more globally, though, an interest in the coffee supply chain—and its impact on everyone involved—is coming more into focus for those who want to know where their food comes from. That’s why World Affairs is hosting CONNECT with COFFEE later this month in San Francisco. Featuring Equator Coffees & Teas Director of Coffee Ted Stachura, CONNECT with COFFEE will break down the coffee supply chain and ways consumers can have a positive impact on those producing their favorite beverage.

Taking place Friday, August 24^th at the World Affairs Auditorium, CONNECT with COFFEE is just one of over 100 yearly events put on by World Affairs, a non-profit organization that brings together “thought leaders, changemakers, and engaged citizens to share ideas, learn from each other, and effect change through in-person experiences,” per Julia Levin, World Affairs’ Program Officer. Past speakers have included, authors, filmmakers, and former US ambassadors Mike McFaul and Samantha Power.

Now, World Affairs is turning their attention to coffee, a natural fit according to Levin:

That’s why they have invited Stachura to a special morning session to discuss the supply chain as well as Equator’s “chain of well-being,” which “drives their business philosophy and values the stakeholders in both communities with respect for the people, the process, and the product,” per the event page. Along with discussing the complexities of how your morning cup makes it halfway around the world to you and all the those affected along the way, Stachura will also be bringing some Equator coffee for attendees to enjoy and he may just provide a few tips on how to make a better cup at home.

CONNECT with COFFEE gets starts promptly at 9:00am on August 24^th. It is free to attend for all World Affairs members and guests and $5 for non-members. Tickets are available for purchase here. For more information on CONNECT with COFFEE or any of World Affairs’ upcoming programming, visit their official site.

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

Top image via World Affairs.

Disclosure: Equator Coffees is an advertising partner on Sprudge Media Network.

The post San Francisco: World Affairs Wants You To Connect With Coffee appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Stop me if you’ve heard us say this before, but good coffee can be found anywhere nowadays. In 2018, places like Los Angeles, New York, Seattle, and Portland have thriving coffee scenes sure, but that’s not the full story anymore, not even by a long shot. Now there’s just as much excitement around a new cafe in a city of 50,000 as there is a city with a few more zeros tacked on to the population. And our next stop is one of the former.

Mural City Coffee Company is the newest edition to a revitalizing downtown Dothan, Alabama, population: 60,000. They are setting up shop (and home) in the nearly century-old three-story building, where they are hoping to become a community gathering space for customers of all ilk. Good coffee, a community library, and an old freight elevator, Mural City Coffee wants to be Dothan’s home away from home… but also the owner’s home not away from home.

As told to Sprudge by Destiny Hosmer.

For those who aren’t familiar, will you tell us about your company?

Mural City Coffee Company is a family-owned and operated roastery, tea bar, and espresso bar located in the heart of Historic Downtown Dothan, Alabama. Mural City Coffee Co. was created with our community, local art and culture, and redeveloping downtown in mind. From the very beginning, we wanted to create a space where everyone feels welcome and has the opportunity to appreciate the finer things in life… like art, music, debate, friendship, scholarship, history, or just a fantastic cup of coffee or tea.

We began this journey with a passion for good coffee, a serious interest in tea, and a mutual desire to better our downtown. Almost two years (and a lot of elbow grease) later, our vision is finally coming to life. We cannot wait to open in the fall, and we hope that our space becomes a home away from home for everyone that stops in.

Can you tell us a bit about the new space?

Our first and only location will be housed in the heart of our redeveloping downtown. Mural City Coffee Co. is currently taking root in a 95-year-old, 15,000-sq-ft brick building with a long history of farm equipment and electronics. The cafe and roastery will be located on the first two floors of the three story building; the owners of the shop will reside on the third story.

After nearly two years of renovations and repairs, we have found paint-stained floors, dirty magazines from the 70s, checks written out for just a few dollars, and so much more.

One of our goals in renovating this space was preservation. We tried to reuse, recycle, and restore as many of the original qualities of the building as we could. We opened up a walk-in safe that was sealed shut due to water damage, and we plan to use that as our little community library. We also reused wooden shelving found on the third floor to create our bar-tops on the second floor, and we re-purposed an old door into a meeting table for customers to enjoy. The list goes on, but you’d just have to see it all for yourself!

One of the coolest (and arguably most useful) historical features of the building is a 17-foot freight-elevator located in the back. We have used this original, pulley-operated Otis elevator for everything from our coffee equipment and beans to our furniture for the shop (and sometimes just to take joy rides to the bathroom).

As for decor, we have so much funky, vintage furniture that we have found over the years through one of our other loves: thrift and antique shopping! We have quirky arm-chairs, lava tables, several comfy couches, and two working vintage fireplaces.

All in all, we are in awe of the craftsmanship and history behind our new home, and we hope to inspire other “normal” people to take a chance at restoring a historic building, or even simply doing what they love to better their community.

What’s your approach to coffee?

Our approach is exploration without intimidation. We want our customers and baristas alike to feel comfortable trying new things whenever the opportunity presents itself. We hope to inspire an interactive approach to coffee and tea through our bar-style seating, in-house roasting, home brewing and roasting equipment for sale, regular classes, and informative marketing. We are all about bringing funky, modern twists to tried-and-true classics, from our drinks to our decor.

Any machines, coffees, special equipment lined up?

We are roasting on our beloved Diedrich IR-12. Our espresso will be ground in a Nuova Simonelli Mythos One Clima Pro and pulled on a Simonelli Aurelia II espresso machine. We also have a Mahlkönig EK-43 for our other grinds, and a pretty sweet Kyoto Drip station that we custom built for the shop.

What’s your hopeful target opening date/month?

October 2018

Are you working with craftspeople, architects, and/or creatives that you’d like to mention?

We would love to thank our community for their continuous support; our local artists and musicians for wanting to help us create an incredible, inspiring space; and our amazing architect and contractors for working tirelessly to help our family make this dream a reality.

Thank you!

The Build-Outs Of Summer is an annual series on Sprudge. Live the thrill of the build all summer long in our Build-Outs feature hub.

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Source: Coffee News