There’s a mystery afoot in the city of Portland, Oregon.

A coffee mystery, you see, implying commercial grift most foul. It began in the most analog and innocent of ways: a letter in the post. An act laden with historical significance, today the daily mail is mostly the domain of bills and Super Shopper circulars, but the news we receive each day from the mail carrier still has the capacity to shock, delight, and even disturb.

So it was on an otherwise boring, sun-drenched summer Tuesday on the banks of the Willamette River, when local coffee roaster Zach Perkins went to check the mail at his place of employment, Roseline Coffee. He received a letter that day that would change his life forever.

It comes from a very real address in a non-descript apartment complex in Las Vegas, authored by one Daniel G. (last name withheld for legal reasons). The letter asserts the following:

Here is a scan of the letter—we’ve edited out the sender’s address and last name for privacy reasons:

“We thought it was a scam off the bat because we had no record of him within our system,” Perkins tells Sprudge. And so, in the chummy, familial vibe the Portland coffee scene somehow maintains despite the competition that undergirds all forms of late capitalism, Perkins reached out to a few fellow roasters directly, and posted copies of his letter to social media.

A malestrom ensued.

It turns out that nigh-identical letters were received over the last calendar year by Heart Roasters, Nossa Familia, and Dapper & Wise Coffee Roasters. [Ed. note: this is a partial list of brands contacted and confirmed at press time.] A similar style of contact from the same name and address took place back in September of 2017, hitting Stumptown Coffee Roasters. Even more shocking, an in-person version of the “stale coffee complaint” was made by a guest at a company that shall remain nameless until we can attain formal verification.

Here’s a copy of the nigh-identical letter received in 2017 by Heart:

“We keep tight records on all of our orders, and we had nothing for this name or address,” says Heart Roasters Director of Wholesale Ryan Cross. “It’s a scam.”

A scam indeed! And so now let’s throw open the flood gates to you, dear reader. Have you been contacted by a mysterious Daniel G. of Nevada, seeking recompense for allegedly “stale” coffee? Did he send you letters in the same oddly perfect, hand-written style? And WTF is stale coffee, anyway? Do they mean too far off roast (which is itself a point of significant disagreement)? Are they talking about the dreaded “baggy” term sometimes applied to green coffee that is imagined to be past crop, but is actually a set of flavor associations with broad possible diagnosis?

Moreover, did you send this person coffee in response to their query? Or did your scam senses tingle, like the above recipients? Did you take photos of these letters, and will you send them to us so that we may run more of them?

Perhaps most importantly: Are you Daniel G. reading this right now? Would you be willing to share your side of the story, and perhaps help define what “stale” means because we really aren’t sure?

Get in touch.

The post Letters From Daniel: A Portland Coffee Mystery appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Summer is the time for music festivals. Even with this year’s particular brand of sun-based brutality, summer is still the time to get outside, maybe enjoy a few coldies, and have fun enjoying some musical stylings while soaking in the vitamin D. And Tacoma’s Live Loud Music & Arts Festival taking place this Saturday, July 28th is upping the intrigue (for the coffee-going public at least) with the addition of LattePalooza, a throwdown hosted by Dillanos Coffee Roasters and Anthem Coffee Company, happening smack dab in the middle of the festival.

A one-day festival, Live Loud is as much arts as it is music. The day kicks off with a merchant market featuring over 50 local makers as well as a live art community mural being created in real time. Then it’s time for the latte art. Baristas will face off for pour-based dominance, with the winner taking home a brand new Nuova Simonelli Oscar espresso machine. Second and third place finishers will take home and camping brew kit and a training and tour of Dillanos, respectively.

After the crema has settled and the winner announced, the proverbial stage will give way back to the literal stage, where Grammy nominated hip hop artist Q Dot will close down the day’s festivities with songs from his new album being released at the event as well as a “limited coffee line to coincide with the long anticipated new album,” per the Dillano’s press release.

For those looking to compete at LattePalooza, the sign-up fee is $10 and includes a shirt and beer ticket. Sign up begins at noon with the competition kicking off promptly at 6:00pm. For more information, visit the Live Loud Music & Arts Festival’s and LattePalooza’s Facebook event pages.

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 Dillanos Coffee Roasters.

The post Tacoma: LattePalooza Throws Down At The Live Loud Music & Arts Festival appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Charlotte has to be one of the low-key most exciting coffee city in the United States right now. Somehow, the city at the epicenter of Counter Culture‘s orbit has managed to fly under the radar, but make no mistake about it, the CLT has firmly put its name on the map. And this is due in large part to the small, independent companies that are really pushing the city’s coffee scene forward. In the last year alone, shops like Comic Girl Coffee (profiled here on Sprudge) and Trade & Lore in the Salud Cervecería are providing unique spaces and experiences for customers, and doing so on their own terms.

And there’s a new name to add to this list: Undercurrent Coffee. With Onyx Coffee Lab as their primary roaster, Undercurrent is creating a community-forward cafe, but one that highlights the stories of the myriad craftspeople involved in all their goods. Fresh, seasonal, and delicious, everything coming from Undercurrent has a story, and it’s one they will gladly tell. So let’s let them do just that, shall we?

As told to Sprudge by Diana Mnatsakanyan-Sapp.

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

Undercurrent Coffee is a new business with its first cafe located in the Plaza Midwood neighborhood in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was a company founded by the husband and wife duo Todd and Erin Huber, two Plaza Midwood residents and coffee enthusiasts who saw a need for a comfortable community gathering space in their neighborhood. Undercurrent is a coffee business highlighted by our love for our community, made unique by our ingredient-focused, seasonally-rotating food and beverage offerings, and brought to life by our enthusiastic, knowledgable, and approachable team.

Can you tell us a bit about the new space?

2012 Commonwealth is a 2,000-square-foot cafe situated in the heart of Plaza Midwood, a diverse and eclectic neighborhood one mile northeast of downtown Charlotte. The shop was designed with cool tones, an influx of natural light, and communal seating to yield a comfortable and calming spot for our guests to enjoy. The cafe is comprised of a large coffee bar with extensive tile work, eye-catching shelving, and 42 plush seats, ranging from chairs to couches, throughout the dining area.
Outdoor seating for 12 to 15 people is provided in front of the cafe, allowing Undercurrent’s guests to enjoy the shade provided by a large neighboring oak tree, and to blend into the bustling neighborhood of which it is a part.

Within the cafe is a coffee education lab, a 200-square-foot classroom in the back of the building where Undercurrent’s Director of Operations, Diana Mnatsakanyan-Sapp, will lead a variety of public coffee education classes, as well as professionally-focused SCA Barista and Brewing certification courses.

What’s your approach to coffee?

We really care about accessibility, with a back-to-basics approach in our beverage program that highlights the ingredients we use and the craftspeople we work with. We take pride in partnering with vendors who pursue excellence—our primary roaster is Onyx Coffee Lab (I doubt I have to tell you how extraordinary they are!), we have rotating monthly guest roasters featured from around the country, our milk comes from a stellar local dairy farm called Homeland Creamery, our syrups are made in-house using ingredients from regional Southeastern farms… I could go on, but you get the picture. In everything we do, we strive to make the handiwork of the many creatives, farmers, producers, and businesses we work with the star of the show, while still letting folks enjoy the drinks they know and love.

Any machines, coffees, special equipment lined up?

In our main bar we’re using a custom Kees van der Westen Spirit Duette and two Nuova Simonelli Mythos Clima Pros for our espresso service. We utilize Kalita Waves for our pour-over menu, and grind coffee on a Mahlkönig EK-43 for those and for our batch brews in a Curtis G4 ThermoPro.
In our coffee education lab we’re working with a La Larzocco Linea EE, a Mythos Clima Pro, a Mahlkonig EK-43, and a Curtis G4 ThermoPro. We’ve got at least a half dozen different manual brew options for folks to play around with in our classes and a lot of fun coffee tools to help educate our baristas, our community, and ourselves better on the science and craft of coffee.

What’s your hopeful target opening date/month?

We opened in late March 2018!

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

Erin Huber, the brains behind the aesthetics of Undercurrent, aimed to work with as many local craftspeople as possible when we built out this cafe. The team behind Cluck helped us design the space and were our architects. Katie Schindler and her team at Fine Grit made all of the stunning custom tabletops and shelving units, and helped us with all of our cabinetry finishes. The folks of 26 Industries welded the large steel columns throughout the cafe. Frank Hyatt and the team behind Pacific Builders took on the construction project and lead us to a successful completion. Local designer Hollie Burgess of Beautiful Idiot Clothing sewed custom aprons for our staff. Plaid Penguin was instrumental in creating our branding, website design, and helping us pick out the unique finishes that created a cohesive look for us.

Thank you!

No, 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.

Photos by Jayme Marie Johnson. 

The post Build-Outs Of Summer: Undercurrent Coffee In Charlotte, NC appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Barista competitions: they’re cool and all, but really pretty expensive, right? Money is a major barrier of entry for many coffee competitors, with the average barista spending thousands on their entry fees, coffees, and related expenses, to say nothing of hiring a trainer or coach.

But what if there were an all-expense-paid barista competition training program built around providing education and resources to competitors from marginalized communities? Meet Glitter Cat Barista Bootcamp, the new creation of founder T. Ben Fischer, 2018 US Barista Championships runner up. This new event launches in Philadelphia October 23rd-25th 2018 featuring courses taught by Laila Ghambari (2014 USBC Champion), Pete Licata (2013 World Barista Champion), Lem Butler (2015 USBC Champion), and Erika Vonie (2017 New York Coffee Masters champion). They’ve got a spiffy new Instagram and official website you can check out now.

GCBB is an “a new kind of training focusing on building up yourself and what makes you tick to do well in barista competitions,” focused on creating an environment for trainees where money is not a barrier to entry. Here’s more about the event’s mission statement from the official GCCB website:

This all seems like a strongly good idea, and so we simply had to learn more. Sprudge spoke with Fischer from Philadelphia.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Hey T. Ben Fischer—thanks for speaking with us. Why do think a project like this is important right now?

There is so much talent out in the world that we have yet to see simply because of lack of access to training and materials. This can be due to a multitude of reasons: racial bias, gender-bias, queerphobia, discrimination against people with disabilities…the list is endless. Looking back at the past few years of competitions we see a lot of men, specifically white men, including myself. How can we grow as an industry competitively, personally, and professionally without giving people from all cultures and communities a platform to speak? Moving forward from the 2018 competition season I knew that I needed to have an active role in finding a way to help change what the average barista competitor looks like.

Who is the project for?

This project is for people who self-identify as a member of a marginalized or vulnerable community. Glitter Cat leaves this open to interpretation of the person applying for a spot. A few communities to name are those coming from racial/ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+, women, people with disabilities. Basically, straight white cis men need not apply.

Why “Glitter Cat”—can you share with us any more about the event’s name?

Bear with me…I am an openly gay man, but in getting to this point, I was met with a lot of hatred and push-back. Thankfully I had a mom, sisters, and a few close friends who carried me through the coming out process. The years following continued to be difficult as I grew into my self and came to know who I was (a never ending process really). It was not until this past year that I truly started accepting myself for who I am and who I want to be. It was not until I accepted my quirks and oddities that I made finals for the first time at USBC 2018 after five years of competing. Being true to who we are is the only way to truly succeed. Holly Bastin, one of my coaches this year, gave me a pin before nationals that read: “More Glitter, Less Bitter” and that tag line really stuck with me. In short: Glitter Cat represents how fabulous I hope to be, an acknowledgment to others to be their 100% true self, and an encouragement to those who cannot be themselves to keep pushing forward.

Why is free education important?

Most of us baristas can barely afford to pay rent and eat, let alone focus on developing our professional careers! I have eaten so many bags of rice and cans of beans wishing I could attend a Q Grader course or Barista Camp, but simply could not afford the entry frees or accommodations. I hope to deconstruct one of the biggest barriers to training, and that is, often, money.

Thank you. 

Glitter Cat Barista Bootcamp is now actively accepting applications, as well as seeking sponsorship inquiries. Visit the official GCBB website for more details, and follow them on Instagram for updates.

Jordan Michelman is a co-founder and editor at Sprudge Media Network. Read more Jordan Michelman on Sprudge.

The post Glitter Cat Barista Bootcamp: A New Free Program For Barista Competition Training appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

In New York City, you shouldn’t be surprised by any kind of business that exists here. Don’t blink an eye at whatever sort of cafe hybrid you may stumble upon, whether it’s a nail salon that serves lattes or a surf shop that brews single origins exclusively. However, when video games and coffee collide, it may be worth taking a closer look—like at Waypoint, the city’s first eSports specialty cafe.

Electronic sports, otherwise known as eSports, have been around longer than most people realize. While their popularity has climbed exponentially in the last decade, the act of competitive virtual gaming started as early as 1972, when Stanford University hosted tournament rounds of the game Spacewar. In the ‘90s, the rise of the internet paved the way for battle-oriented PC games like League of Legends and the iconic Massively-Multiplayer Online game World of Warcraft. They gave users across the world a chance to connect and compete, with companies like Nintendo and Blockbuster sponsoring tournaments with lavish prizes like Ferraris and huge cash jackpots. The creation of World Cyber Games and the Electronic Sports World Cup in the 2000s set the tone for serious gaming, and the establishment of Major League Gaming in 2002 made them one of the biggest gaming leagues in history. Today, eSports arenas exist all over the world in addition to countless LAN centers (gamer talk for eSports play centers), and prize money easily dips into the millions.

Your typical, somewhat sterile experience at a LAN center includes a too-comfortable computer desk chair, two massive computer monitors, and library-carrel-style dividers between gamers. With plain walls, neon lighting, and over-ear headphones, no distractions come between you and the game. Even food can be limited to heated automatic vending machines, when you have a quick few seconds in between battle rounds to inhale some Top Ramen before returning to your station. How fun does this sound to you?

For those looking to game with better breaktime options, and even those simply in need of a good coffee, NYC’s Waypoint Cafe upgrades the LAN center experience significantly. Their solid, front-facing coffee bar not only improves the quality of the gaming experience, it also offers a gathering place for the gaming community and beyond.

Luigino Gigante behind the bar at Waypoint

Waypoint opened just this past fall on the Lower East Side, a business built by former game and hardware reviewer Luigino Gigante. While Gigante comes from a heavy gaming background, he also grew up in a family of restaurant owners. Gigante’s coffee interests came out of a mixed, caffeinated family upbringing, along with a preference for cold brew over Red Bull during finals weeks in college.

“I’m Italian and Puerto Rican, so I come from two very different schools of thought [about] coffee,” Gigante explains. “On my father’s side, it’s just straight espresso, and my mother’s side is very light, sweet, different pour-over types of coffee,” he says.

After noticing how unsuccessful LAN centers around him were, Gigante opened Waypoint, drawing inspiration from Uncommons Cafe, a similar nook in Greenwich Village that combines coffee with board games. Waypoint’s location is also intentional.

“A lot of people don’t know this but the Lower East Side has a lot of history in gaming, actually,” Gigante says, noting its proximity to Chinatown Fair, which was for a long time one of the oldest remaining traditional arcades on the East Coast. Chinatown Fair was “not like a Dave and Buster’s style of arcade,” Gigante insists. (Though it has since closed and reopened, with an unfortunately less traditional flavor.) 

The Lower East Side was already a place where a lot of PC, fighting, and arcade games were already played. Waypoint seeks to pay homage to the neighborhood, as well as become a community space for gamers again.

And while some multi-purpose businesses tend to focus on one feature over another, Waypoint is committed to both the art of gaming and specialty coffee. Serving Black Cat espresso from Intelligentsia on a La Marzocco Linea Classic and controlled drip brews from BUNN, plus cold brew from local roasters Death Wish, the cafe takes its coffee game seriously and its décor playfully. A plethora of plushies and action figures rest on the shelves of pastries and in between bags of coffee, and drink specials incorporate video game themes with them, i.e. the “star seeker sour” and “mur-lox” bagel.

Gamers can also expect to get a snack that surpasses your average heated vending machine. The full cafe menu includes salads and hearty chicken and mozzarella sandwiches, while pastries are a mix of goods made in-house and from Amy’s Bread.

The LAN center itself, however, maintains the average complexion of dividers and massive monitors. While the front serves as a social space, take a few steps back to the dungeon of computers, where users can access their own gaming accounts via ggLeap. The fun begins with classic, reputable games like League of Legends, DOTA (Gigante’s personal favorite), Minecraft, and World of Warcraft. Waypoint also hosts events and tourneys to truly test your skills. And don’t worry, just because this is a cafe doesn’t mean you’re getting kicked out by 7:00pm. Waypoint stays open till 10:00pm during the week and 2:00am on the weekends, which means even non-gamers can get a late-night caffeine fix.

In a crowd of freelance workers, gamers, and coffee enthusiasts, Waypoint has truly brought together an odd yet fun mix of people.

“There were a few kind of gaming communities that were flung out and spread and now they’re all starting to come here. It’s fun meeting new people,” Gigante says—even if it’s IRL.

Katrina Yentch is a Sprudge contributor based in New York City. Read more Katrina Yentch on Sprudge.

The post In New York City, Waypoint Cafe Is A Gamer’s Paradise appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Remember those old Folgers commercials where a person is roused pleasantly from their slumber by the smell of coffee? They’d walk downstairs in their lovely New England home, already bright eyed and bushy tailed, to find a fresh brewed pot of Folgers, and they’d look serenely out their bay windows while gripping a hot cup of coffee with two hands. Turns out, those commercials may have been onto something. New research shows that smelling a coffee-like scent will make you better at math.

According to Newsweek, a new study published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology by researchers at the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey found that persons exposed to a coffee-like smell performed better on the math portion of the Graduate Management Aptitude Test (GMAT), the entrance exam of sorts for business school.

To reach this result, the researchers administered a 10-question GMAT algebra test to 100 undergraduate business students. One group took the test in a room with a coffee aroma pumped in, the other without. According to the article, “those who got a whiff of coffee seemed to experience a boost in mental function and scored significantly higher on the test.”

Researchers believe at least part of the reason for the improved performance from the coffee-like smell—which contained no caffeine whatsoever—has to do with the placebo effect:

The article goes on to note that in a follow-up survey, “the participants believed that they would feel more alert in the presence of a coffee scent and that exposure to this smell would increase their analytical reasoning.”

So while it may be claimed that the best part of waking up is Folgers in your cup, this new research seems to show that it is the smell emanating from the cup that is the best part of waking up. But that doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, now does 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 Wake Up And Smell The Coffee (And Be Better At Math) appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

As the specialty coffee industry’s worker-led push for true inclusion gains momentum, more and more coffee pros are working to create spaces and forums that center and prioritize coffee professionals of color, from the work of Michelle Johnson on The Chocolate Barista blog and the new Black Coffee event, to Kristina Jackson’s black woman-centered Boston Intersectional Coffee Collective, to Ezra Baker’s panel discussion series Coffee, I See You. In the latest move to create spaces of color in coffee, Alexandra L. Zepeda of Gimme! Coffee is launching Caffeinated and Melanated, a platform for people of color in coffee to collaborate, amplify each other, and create opportunities for growth. Her first event, a social mixer for coffee professionals of color, will take place at El Jardin in the Bronx on Wednesday, August 1.

Alexandra L. Zepeda. Photo courtesy of Kendra Roberson.

Born in the South Bronx to Salvadoran parents, Zepeda has worked in coffee since 2011, starting off at Gregory’s Coffee and ending up at Gimme!, where she currently works as a barista. Although she was born in the US, she spent time as a child living around coffee farms in El Salvador. Growing up with coffee at the center of her household, she’s always felt tied to coffee work. While working at the Starbucks Reserve in 2012, she saw the in-depth way she, a barista, could engage with the coffee farms she had been surrounded by in El Salvador as a child; inspired, she decided to dive deep, earning her Coffee Master certification.

As with many other activists of color in US specialty coffee, the inspiration behind C&M came from the lack of spaces for people like Zepeda within the coffee community. “As wonderful as the coffee community is, I didn’t attend any throwdowns or specialty coffee events until 2015 for fear of not fitting in, getting my skills and knowledge downplayed, or getting belittled because of the color of my skin or texture of my hair I inherited from my people, the vocabulary and the loudness I inherited from my hood. I want to be surrounded by people feeling the same thing as I—specifically, women of color.”  Zepeda feels lucky to have found a handful of people she truly relates to in her local coffee community and wants to make sure other WOC in coffee have the same opportunity. “WOC are the backbone of this industry. I want to reach out on a nationwide scale.”

Photo courtesy of Kendra Roberson.

In terms of focus, Zepeda wants to make sure that C&M events present real opportunities for professional growth. She wants to follow the group’s inaugural mixer with a series of skill-building events, including workshops to help POC deal with injustice in the workplace. “We’re in an industry that doesn’t set us up for success. I want to create events that actually benefit us professionally.” In addition to skill-building workshops, she also plans to put together a panel discussion event and donate proceeds to the many POC doing revolutionary work at various levels of the industry. Down the line, she also wants to create an exchange program for baristas and producers at origin.

Zepeda is grateful to those who have paved the way for her to start C&M. “I really want to thank Michelle Johnson, Tymika Lawrence, Ezra Baker, and Liz Dean for being amazing leaders in our industry and for inspiring me to do something different, outside of my comfort zone; to step up where it’s needed,” she said. “The coffee industry regularly fails to address the diversity that stretches across their people from farm to cup by putting only one demographic constantly at the front—or, even worse, only acknowledging other groups when it’s beneficial for them. Posting pictures of your amazing WOC baristas for International Women’s Day but refusing to sponsor their dreams of judging or competing just isn’t cutting it anymore. This is why we’re breaking barriers and making ourselves extra comfortable lately.”

By putting herself out there and attending events even when it didn’t always feel comfortable, Zepeda has gotten to know a lot of coffee pros at many different professional levels, from people with dream jobs to those who are still struggling to find their place in the industry. She wants the initial mixer to help coffee professionals of color to start making those connections in a comfortable setting and gaining access to the resources they need, especially outside of the typical competitive setting that throwdowns necessitate. As organizations like C&M help people of color in coffee to connect with each other and gain opportunities for mentorship and support, we can hopefully look forward to a time when no coffee pro ever has to be afraid to go to a throwdown.

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

The post Caffeinated And Melanated: A New Platform For People Of Color In Coffee appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

There are so many exciting things happening in the Denver coffee scene right now. One of the bigger developments—the opening of a second Amethyst Coffee location—we covered here during this season’s Build-Outs. But only one article about coffee news in the Mile High City would never suffice, so it’s time to check in with another local favorite, MiddleState Coffee.

Starting as a roastery in the back of men’s apparel shop Steadbrook, MiddleState began its life being served primarily in the LoDo’s LittleOwl Coffee. But thanks to really good coffee (and a generally chill vibe), the roaster has grown its reputation nationally and has thus had to move to a larger roasting facility. But success hasn’t changed MiddleState. They’re still the same dudes at heart, who are just as likely to be shredding the city streets (or fingerboarding local cafe countertops) as they are to be sourcing new and exciting coffees. Skateboarding, good coffee, and lots of chill: is there anything more Denvert?

Image by Haley Littleton.

As told to Sprudge by Jay DeRose.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. 

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

MiddleState started in 2014, here in Denver, Colorado. We are a wholesale roasting company with a retail location in the historical lower downtown neighborhood of Denver called LittleOwl Coffee. We have been around for about five years now. Wait, my math is wrong. Maybe we started in 2013. Anyway, we have been really humbled by our growth and by the support shown to us through the people we work with. We are really just trying to do our best in every aspect of our companies. Buying exciting coffees, making sure our guests in the cafe feel special, making sure we represent ourselves as people in the best possible way too.

Have Fun/Brew Coffee is kind of our “words to live by,” or motto if you will. We firmly believe that there is a weird cosmic energy out there, and that you get out what you put in, which is why we always try to be as happy as we can and work with people who are the same way. That positive energy goes into our coffee, as it would if it were negative. At heart, we just really love what we do and the people who allow us all to do it. And skateboarding. We all really love skateboarding. That was our gateway drug for sure.

Can you tell us a bit about the new space?

Our new space is so cool. It is in the Santa Fe Arts district of Denver, on 2nd and Santa Fe. It has a very industrial feel to it. You walk in and are immediately immersed in a place that has different grades and levels and big ceilings and doorways to other rooms. It has kind of an exploratory feel to it in the sense like, “do I go this way, or do I go that way,” but not in a confusing way.

It has lots of exposed original brick, and old gas lines, and cool wood ceiling rafters. Most of the brick is white to brighten things up. There are also big skylights throughout the entire space so the natural light will allow us to pack the space with plant life. We plan to use light colored woods and steel for tables, and benches and chairs to warm the space up a bit. One of the coolest parts of the space will be the glass wall that will separate the roastery/production area from the cafe. Fucking dream come true for us to have that. Oh, and we have a few water fountains in the production pit so that’s rad too.

We also wanna put cool interactive things in it too, like a claw machine with brewing equipment for prizes. Maybe a sticker vending machine too. Who knows. It will def be a pretty different feel from our downtown location, that’s for sure. That’s the fun of doing new spaces though.

What’s your approach to coffee?

Basically to have as much fun as we can and let things happen organically. We don’t have and never have had an aggressive approach to sales when it comes to wholesale. Through that approach we have managed to gain some insane relationships with like-minded people. Finding that balance of taking what you do very seriously, without taking ourselves too seriously. We love to buy and roast fun and exciting coffees often. Our menu of offerings rotates quite frequently, which is kind of a pain in the ass for us, but super fun and fresh for wholesale customers and consumers alike. On top of all that, make a ton of rad stickers and give them out to the people.

Any machines, coffees, special equipment lined up?

We will be serving espresso on a Kees van der Westen Spirit Idromatic. The progressive infusion on these machines is absurd. It’s so cool that you can actually see whats going on and have to tangibly use your body in order to change the settings, and not a key pad. It has a very barbaric and industrious feel to it, yet allows for so many different possibilities just like an electronic control board would allow you. We will also have some stuff from Marco, some old brewers from FETCO, and a few Frieling single cup brewers.

What’s your hopeful target opening date/month?

We hope to open the cafe to the people in September, but that will probably be more like mid-October with the way this city likes to treat new business that are trying to open. Denver, get your shit together and make it easier for small business to grow and thrive. Not to mention, the sooner we open, the sooner you can start taking our money for your own revenue.

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

We are working with a handful of amazing folks. Our creative director Scott Allen Hill continues to just kill it for us. He is the person behind the design of the brand really. His ideas are so clean and constructive in order for us to “stay on brand,” as Scott likes to say. I can get pretty crazy with ideas when it comes to art and branding, but Scott is always there to either support those ideas, or put them in the trash. It’s taken a while for me to fully trust Scott and let go of my stubbornness, but as soon as that happened, our relationship and understanding of one another became so much better.

Our architects are Unum Collaborative, based here in Denver. They are so open to our vision for the space and really have been amazing at keeping our vision on track, with adding elements of their own that collectively will make the space great. We are also going to do a lot of the buildout ourselves as we think we are pretty handy. Haha. My entire staff though all has so many great ideas and input to offer. I really want to do right by them and implement their minds in one way or another as well. It’s a vey collaborative thing opening and designing a new space.

Thank you!

No, thank you Sprudge.

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.

Photos by Daniel Mendoza unless otherwise noted.

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Source: Coffee News

Portland, it’s time to get your learn on. Thursday, July 26th, Buckman Coffee Factory has teamed up with Oatly and Sustainable Harvest Coffee Importers to present La Lucha: The Coffee Farmer’s Fight for Market Access. The featured guest of the night will be Salvadoran coffee farmer Miguel Menendez who will share his story and give insight into the current struggles producers from El Salvador are facing.

The night gets started with a little cupping challenge. Featuring coffees from Sustainable Harvest’s La Lucha line and Menendez’s family farm, guests will be treated to a cup matching competition, where—you guessed it—they will have to match coffee together using only their taste buds.

After everyone has been officially stumped and caffeinated, the dais will be turned over to Menendez and Sustainable Harvest’s Relationship Coffee Manager Jamie Pockrandt, who after Menendez lays the groundwork of the current issues farmers are facing, will discuss “the importance of direct trade and the power of relationship building to assist in these issues.” The talk will be followed up with a Q&A session as well as a chance to relax with beer, wine, snacks, and a chance to connect with fellow attendees.

La Lucha begins promptly at 5:30pm on July 26th at Buckman Coffee Factory. The event is free to attend, but the hosts ask that you RSVP via Eventbrite, which can be done here. For more information on the event, visit La Lucha’s Facebook Event page.

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 Sustainable Harvest.

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Source: Coffee News

Among the dozen local enterprises filling Rotterdam’s Fenix Food Factory, the most nominally fitting these days is Stielman. Though the consumer-focused specialty coffee roaster has been around since May 2014, last year marked the beginning of its phoenix-like rise. Things had begun kindling when entrepreneur Marco Pfaff took over ownership, but it was Aukje van Rossum, who’s been with the company from incipiency and is currently its communication and marketing manager, who brought in the fire-starter when she recruited her brother, Jelle van Rossum.

Sprudge readers may recall Jelle van Rossum as the roasting wunderkind at Rotterdam’s Man met Bril, featured in an article from 2015. Nowadays, the—still hardly hoary—24 year old is something of a Dutch coffee industry sage, largely self-taught and unflaggingly, albeit gently, communicative. At Stielman, where he has been since March 2017 and is now manager and head roaster, the plan, he says, is “to just once again get people excited about flavor in coffee and about diversity in flavor.”

Aukje and Jelle van Rossum

It is working. Several commercial venues around Rotterdam are serving Stielman, but, more remarkably, the bulk of clients are individual subscribers (this author included).

“It’s mainly word of mouth. And with all the talks I’m having nowadays with different companies, we’re growing,” says Jelle van Rossum. “We don’t need to grow any faster.”

Like its immediate Fenix neighbors—purveyors of, respectively, Moroccan tapas, farm-made cheese, and jacked stroopwafels—Stielman appears to be a gigantic market stand. Approaching it head-on, visitors encounter a Kalita Wave-kitted filter bar; the espresso bar lies perpendicular, supporting a two-group  La Marzocco Linea PB, twin Mazzer Kony grinders, and a Mahlkönig Guatemala grinder. Yet, behind all that is, essentially, a factory within a factory. Weekly, a Giesen W6A roasts 200 kilos of coffee, much of it then packaged and sent to homes nationwide. A high table and stools provide a spot for sitting and sipping, but the surface seems truly intended for cupping.

The Stielman subscription’s appeal is as practical—customizable delivery frequencies and quantities; eco-friendly shipping via intra-city e-bike network Fietskoeriers; packaging that fits average Dutch mail slots—as it is sensorial. Comprehensive and consistent, the collection comprises six roasts for espresso and six for filter. Named after colors, the coffees are bagged and tagged with hue-corresponding labels. A few adjectives and the occasional noun position each on the flavor spectrum, but they omit all provenance details.

Aukje van Rossum explains: “We always had the origins listed on the packaging, but recently Jelle convinced us to start leaving that information off because it biases people. A lot of customers would think, for example, ‘Oh this is an Ethiopian, so we should buy it.’”

“And we really want people to get engaged with specialty coffee through flavor,” Jelle van Rossum emphasizes.

Origin information is given on the Stielman website and, Aukje van Rossum assures, “our baristas know everything about the coffee.” At the time of writing, six part-timers rotate bar shifts and due to soon join the team is an assistant roaster—the first and only candidate Jelle van Rossum interviewed because “she just had the right mindset.”

A new Stielman product is the Shokunin tasting box. Conceptualized by Jelle van Rossum, the series debuted with an heirloom coffee from Ethiopia’s Kochere district; to highlight the multiple flavors the single coffee could yield depending on how it was processed at the Reko Koba mill, three packages are included showcasing natural, washed, and honey-processed beans. The second Shokunin release demonstrates the effects of different fermentation times and drying surfaces on a Caturra-Castillo combo from Argote farm in Colombia’s Nariño region. Each box comes with an 18-page booklet containing background stories, photos, and roast profiles.

“That’s something that people are usually very secretive about,” Jelle van Rossum acknowledges of the roast profiles. Yet, he believes that for this project, publicizing them creates a feedback loop benefitting consumers, producers, and partners, such as Stielman’s two green bean importers, The Coffee Quest and This Side Up. The Van Rossums themselves stay in direct contact with the coffee farmers via Skype, Facebook, and occasional visits to or from them. “Making it a two-way street,” as the roaster puts it, stabilizes both supply and demand—and helps flesh out his fantasies about future experiments. Today, he also has his own premium coffee label and service (called Shokunin, too).

Although nowadays she does more front-of-the-house work, Aukje van Rossum, older by two years, was the first of the pair to discover specialty coffee. Her foray was nearly a decade ago, when alongside attending design school in Rotterdam, she worked at a nearby branch of Coffeecompany. A particular Yirgacheffe impressed her so much that she wanted her brother to try cupping and beckoned him from Leeuwarden, where he was contemplating food and wine as part of hotel management studies.

“He was blown away,” Aukje van Rossum remembers of his early experience. “He was like, ‘Oh, this is so much fun,’ and then he got into the coffee.”

In fact, back then, when gathered on weekends at their family home in Vorden, the siblings not only got their parents drinking specialty coffee, but also so profoundly diffused their enthusiasm that mom and pop eventually quit decades-long office jobs and opened a specialty cafe. Lo and behold: Van Rossum’s Koffie, established in 2014 in the small city of Zutphen, and run by Frans and Dagmar van Rossum, with support from their big-city children. That, surely, is another story, though one sharing thematic similarities to the regeneration happening at Stielman.

Later this year, the brand expects to launch a second coffee bar and a roastery in Zoeterwoude, the South Holland municipality famously hosting a Heineken brewery. Additionally on the to-do list are a third tasting box, a line of coffee capsules, and a tea collection. So continues Stielman’s spectacular rise, at Fenix Food Factory and beyond.

Karina Hof is a Sprudge staff writer based in Amsterdam. Read more Karina Hof on Sprudge. 

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Source: Coffee News