Coffee Shop Archives - Page 20 of 73 - The Curb Kaimuki

Felix Felix (Photo by Chach Hernandez)

Welcome to The Sprudge Twenty Interviews presented by Pacific Barista Series. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be featuring our 2019 featured class of Sprudge Twenty honorees, each one changing the coffee game worldwide. For a complete list of 2019 Sprudge Twenty honorees please visit sprudge.com/twenty.

Felix Felix is a working coffee professional and competition barista living in Santa Barbara, California, where he works as a Cafe Manager for Dune Coffee Roasters. Felix (he is mononymous and has competed in the Brewers Cup circuit as Felix Felix) is one of several nominees who was highlighted for his exemplary customer service and for approaching coffee work with a level of care and consideration on par with fine dining. From Kay Cheon’s nominating essay:

“As one of our store managers, Felix sets an example for service and work ethic to all of our employees, and is always looking to improve his skills as a manager and barista. Before he and I worked together, he would always come in and ask me questions about the coffee we were serving that day, gently asking me questions about what flavors we were getting and just generally being excited about coffee and its potential to bring people together. He holds Danny Meyer and his book Setting The Table in the highest regard, and is genuinely the most creative and heartfelt person when it comes to customer service.”

Nominated by Kay Cheon

This interview has been edited and condensed. 

What issue in coffee do you care about most?

Workplace environments. I really care about healthy, positive, and supportive workplace environments.

What cause or element in coffee drives you?

Being able to create a safe and welcoming place for anyone to walk into.

What issue in coffee do you think is critically overlooked?

How we could waste less and reuse more.

What is the quality you like best about coffee?

I like the diversity of flavors you can find in different origins and processing methods.

What is your idea of coffee happiness?

Seamlessly crushing a shift with my friends all while making meaningful connections with our guests. There’s nothing better.

If you could have any job in the coffee industry, what would it be and why?

A local barista in the best town with the best guests… oh wait 😉

Who are your coffee heroes?

Matt Fewel and Collin Barrett are living legends.

If you could drink coffee with anyone, living or dead, who would it be and why?

Danny Meyer!

If you didn’t get bit by the coffee bug, what do you think you’d be doing instead?

Something using my Culinary Arts degree

Do you have any coffee mentors?

My dear friend Kay Cheon. I love bouncing coffee/life ideas off him and then talking about them for a long time

What do you wish someone would’ve told you when you were first starting out in coffee?

That the water you brew with also matters.

Name three coffee apparatuses you’d take into space with you.

An electric kettle, a flat bottom dripper, and my favorite mug (a clear 12oz glass handle mug).

Best song to brew coffee to:

Anything by Ratatat.

Look into the crystal ball—where do you see yourself in 20 years?

Still trying to create the best hospitality experience possible for people.

What’d you eat for breakfast this morning?

Trader Joe’s cereal with some strawberries!

When did you last drink coffee?

This afternoon.

What was it?

A pour-over of a natural Ecuador from Hacienda La Papaya. Thanks Juan Peña!

Thank you.

The Sprudge Twenty is presented by Pacific Barista Series. For a complete list of 2019 Sprudge Twenty honorees please visit sprudge.com/twenty

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

The post Felix Felix: The Sprudge Twenty Interview appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Chaff is a bit of a maligned byproduct of coffee production. The husk of the coffee seed, chaff is the tannish papery stuff you find in your coffee, often still stuck in the little fold-looking section of the bean. Chaff isn’t necessarily great for the flavor of a cup of coffee, and some go through great lengths to remove it before brewing—including 2019 World Brewers Cup champion Du Jianing, who ground her coffee twice, one very coarsely and then again to a more fine grind, so that she could more easily remove the chaff before brewing.

But that doesn’t mean chaff is useless—it’s great for composting—or tastes bad even. New Zealand coffee company Kōkako has put that last assertion to the test by creating sweet treats using the roasting byproduct. Step aside, sprinkles, coffee chaff is the new ice cream topping du jour.

Originally appearing at Auckland’s first-ever Ferment Festival, Kōkako collaborated with chef Plabita Florence of Forest Pop-Ups (and the former head of kitchen at their flagship Grey Lynn cafe) to create a fun way to “serve chaff to a larger audience in more of a bite-size manner.” And what’s more fun than ice cream? Nothing, that’s what. The team ultimately landed on “a fermented feijoa coconut ice cream with a dusting of coffee chaff and sea salt,” which sounds absolutely wild and divine all at the same time.

While the ice cream might be their most delicious confectionary use of chaff, it is by no means Kōkako’s first use of a coffee byproduct. The company has for years worked with coffee’s most popular byproduct—cascara—to create a variety of kombuchas, creating new revenue streams for producers, and their chaff has been a go-to compost material for local gardeners for some time now.

With the Ferment Festival now in the rearview, so too is the chaff-topped ice cream, but perhaps not forever. Kōkako has a new cafe expected to open September of this year in Auckland’s Commercial Bay precinct where chaff “will likely make it onto the menu of our new espresso and brew bar,” per Managing Director Mike Murphy. And yes, some iteration of the coffee chaff ice cream is most likely to make a triumphant return with the new location.

As the coffee industry continues to struggle with the impact it has on the world, it’s good to see companies like Kōkako finding new and inventive ways to use byproducts that would otherwise end up in the trash. Will eating coffee chaff ice cream empty the landfills, clean out the oceans, and patch the hole in the ozone? No, but it is this sort of mindfulness that will help boost coffee’s sustainability quotient. And who can be mad about eating ice cream to help save the planet?

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

All images via Kōkako

The post Don’t Chaff Your Churn: This Coffee Chaff-Topped Ice Cream Sounds Delicious appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Sam Keck (Photo by 3000 Thieves)

Welcome to The Sprudge Twenty Interviews presented by Pacific Barista Series. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be featuring our 2019 featured class of Sprudge Twenty honorees, each one changing the coffee game worldwide. For a complete list of 2019 Sprudge Twenty honorees please visit sprudge.com/twenty.

Sam Keck is an entrepreneur and founder of Commonfolk Coffee, located in the town of Mornington, on the Mornington Peninsula south of Melbourne. Keck has spun a successful roaster/retailer into a series of social enterprise efforts, including Zukuka Bora, a farmers initiative benefitting coffee growers in Uganda; and Home Ground, which is focused on providing training and job options in hospitality to unemployed youth on the Mornington Peninsula. By fusing the high demand for quality coffee with organized social enterprise, Keck’s work shows us how coffee can do more than just taste good—it can also do very serious good for communities at home and around the world.

Nominated by David Bishop

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

What issue in coffee do you care about most?

Overall the sustainability of coffee as an industry. In particular the seemingly widening disconnect between producer and consumer. Too many “industry professionals” assume far too much and don’t actually bother to understand what a producer’s priorities are.

What cause or element in coffee drives you?

What started out as a cheap way to fuel my caffeine addiction has transformed into an insatiable desire to bridge the gap between my customers and my producers. I want to understand more about how coffee as an industry can continue to serve both our customers and provide meaningful and sustainable work for our producers.

What issue in coffee do you think is critically overlooked?

The fact that many people on both ends of coffee production are suffering. Many producers/farmers are among the lowest paid people in the entire world. On the flip side, many cafe owners—especially in small business—are going out of business at a rate you wouldn’t believe. If the two ends of the chain can’t make a fair income our industry has serious issues. A lot of people talk about the issues producers and farmers have (not that much is done about it), but there isn’t too much conversation about the struggles of the cafe/coffee bar owner. In fact, you could argue that the responsibility and burden of equalizing our industry, making it fairer for farmers, is too often thrust upon the final part of the chain: the small business owner, many of whom are broke and not really in a position to make a big difference. We should be looking at adding value in other areas and ultimately placing the responsibility on the consumer who has had it too good for too long, at least here in Australia.

What is the quality you like best about coffee?

There is no greater sensory experience than the aroma of freshly ground coffee!

Did you experience a “god shot” or life-changing moment of coffee revelation early in your career?

I was working as a barista in 2006 but I’d never really had “specialty” coffee and I visited St Ali, back when it was still owned by Mark Dundon, of later Seven Seeds and Paramount Coffee Project fame. I was lucky enough to order a natural Yirg as a filter coffee. I never believed that coffee could taste so extraordinary. Delicate aroma of bergamot and orange blossom, bright citrus acidity and a rich booziness—damn I was hooked. I haven’t looked back since!

What is your idea of coffee happiness?

Recreating some kind of rubbish Starbucks cocktail but with super high-quality ingredients, organic maple syrup, unpasteurized local dairy, and real vanilla beans. I love watching wanky baristas have meltdowns.

If you could have any job in the coffee industry, what would it be and why?

Probably the job I currently have.

Who are your coffee heroes?

James Hoffmann. In the early days he was one of the few people creating content online, so I felt like I wasn’t the only coffee crazy guy in the world. Also Alan Adler, the dude who invented the AeroPress. I bought my first AP in 2005 but I was so sketchy on it—any product that has to say “the best coffee maker in the world” on the box seems kind of suspicious—but I guess on this occasion they weren’t lying.

If you could drink coffee with anyone, living or dead, who would it be and why?

Tough question, but probably Sir David Attenborough. He’s a real hero of mine and I would love the chance to talk about his life and experiences, but also to pick his brain on the future of our planet and how he thinks we can turn things around.

If you didn’t get bit by the coffee bug, what do you think you’d be doing instead?

Following on from the previous question—I actually have a degree in Zoology and I was planning on traveling the globe filming nature documentaries, a la Sir David.

Do you have any coffee mentors?

There’s always been a real coffee culture in Melbourne but the movement towards “specialty” really only kicked off in the early 2000s. I was lucky enough to befriend ex-head roaster of Five Senses and Ceremony Coffee, Caleb Podhaczky, and he was instrumental in my coffee journey early on. I was actually lucky enough to employ him for about a year when he returned to Australia and it was really fun to work with one of the people who inspired you to start in the industry. Another key figure that was instrumental in my coffee journey early days was Shannon Roche, a barista on the Mornington Peninsula where Commonfolk is located. They’re one of the first baristas I met who focused on preparing quality coffee and really opened my eyes to coffee’s potential.

Otherwise, I try and look outside the industry for inspiration because I find that coffee sometimes insulates itself from the outside world and really limits our opportunities to grow as an industry. I take a lot of inspiration from the craft beer and lofi wine industries. I have some great friends who are really pushing the boundaries on what is acceptable in those industries, from brands like Mr Banks, Chevre Wines, Mornington Brewery, and Jetty Road Brewery, and a lot of their ideas/philosophies can be transferred to coffee—especially at the producing end.

What do you wish someone would’ve told you when you were first starting out in coffee?

No one has a fucking clue what they’re doing. Don’t take anyone seriously.

Name three coffee apparatuses you’d take into space with you.

AeroPress, Ikawa sample roaster, and a stubby holder (to keep my coffee warm).

Best song to brew coffee to:

Shout out to the Commonfolk bar—definitely “September” by Earth Wind & Fire.

Look into the crystal ball—where do you see yourself in 20 years?

Retired or at least with enough time to study coffee science and agronomy.

What’d you eat for breakfast this morning?

Black coffee. I’m trying to intermittently fast because dad bod.

When did you last drink coffee?

At lunchtime.

What was it?

A cheeky batch brew of a washed Yirg from the Gedeo region of Ethiopia.

Thank you. 

The Sprudge Twenty is presented by Pacific Barista Series. For a complete list of 2019 Sprudge Twenty honorees please visit sprudge.com/twenty

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

The post Sam Keck: The Sprudge Twenty Interview appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Crowds clamor at the Slayer Pop-Up at the 2019 Boston SCA Expo. (Photo courtesy Slayer)

The Specialty Coffee Association‘s annual Expo is one of the largest coffee tradeshows in the world. With seven Sprudge folks on the floor, we covered a sampling of fine pop-ups, tech drops, and show floor surprises. All the while, our team covered World Barista Championship and Brewers Cup over on our sister site Sprudge Live. There’s just so much to cover—we’d need a team of 50 to really do it justice! While we were wrapping up Facebooking, Instagramming, Tweeting, and live-blogging, the SCA honored exhibitors of the festival with a set of gleaming awards.

15 awards were handed out for Best New Product in several categories and their Design Lab. The Best New Product Competition and Display are judged on their quality and value.

The 2019 Best New Product winners are:

Kruve Inc. EQ: Coffee Accessories
Bellwether Coffee: Commercial Coffee or Tea Preparation & Serving Equipment
Breville Barista Pro Model BES 878: Consumer Coffee or Tea Preparation & Serving Equipment – Electrical
Cafélat Robot Espresso Maker: Consumer Coffee or Tea Preparation & Serving Equipment – Non-Electrical
Cometeer Coffee Capsule: Open Class
Steeped Coffee S-101: Packaging
1883 Maison Routin elixirs d’ exception ~ truffle: Specialty Beverage Flavor Additive
Ghirardelli Sweet Ground Powder: Specialty Beverage Flavor Additive (Honorable Mention)
Dona Chai Spiced Soda Pink Peppercorn Lemon: Specialty Beverage Stand Alone
iFinca Coffee Chain: Technology
Tierra Nueva Nudge Coffee Butter: Food

The award-winning Kruve EQ Glassware Line. (Photo courtesy SCA)

Four awards were handed to winners of the Design Lab. “Great coffee is often given dissection via great design, and increasingly serves an important function in distinguishing specialty coffee,” explains the SCA. We couldn’t have said it better ourselves!

The 2019 Design Lab Winners are:

Rishi Tea. Design by Studio MPLS: Branding Category
Greater Goods Coffee Roasters. Design by Michael Hsu Office of Architecture: Spaces
Blue Bottle Coffee Can. Design by Elaine Fong and Neil Day: Packaging
KRUVE EQ Glassware Line by KRUVE Inc. Design by Michael Vecchiarelli: Vessels

Blue Bottle’s award-winning coffee cans. (Photo courtesy SCA)

Last, but certainly not least, three very special awards were given to the Best Booths and the Best Pop-up at the show. For the 10 years we’ve been covering the SCA tradeshow here in America, it feels as if the bar gets raised higher and higher each year when it comes to quality booth design. The SCA gave the awards for all-out best to these deserving three:

Bellwether Coffee: Inline Category
Anacafé/Guatemala: Island Category
Slayer Espresso: Pop-up Category

The award-winning Slayer pop-up cafe. (Photo courtesy Slayer)

It was indeed a year of innovation, high-stakes design, and thoughtful execution. The beauty of the curved Kruve EQ glassware. The simplicity of the Blue Bottle coffee can. The ultra-modern yet understated Slayer pop-up. The question on everyone’s lips is: who will it be next year? When the ribbon is cut at the Portland Convention Center, who will truly bring it? Only time will tell.

Congratulations to all of the winners of the 2019 SCA Expo Awards!

The post If You Love Coffee, You’ll Love These Award Winning Products appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

April showers bring May flowers, and what do May flowers bring? Why Blooms (plural) of course. Back for the fourth event in as many years, Bloom is an event series from the Barista Guild that “brings together some of the best minds in coffee, creating a unique opportunity for deeper discussion and engagement for attendees.” And this time, they are doing things a little differently. Instead of hosting a single event over the course of a three-day weekend, Bloom is hitting the road throughout June, making four stops along the east and west coasts.

Like with previous iterations, Bloom looks both within and outside the coffee industry to put together thought-provoking discussions and panel talks to provide “the opportunity for meaningful dialogue” amongst coffee professionals. Each of the four stops will revolve around three primary talks. The first, A Participant in the Evolution of Specialty Coffee, will be led by 2106 USBC Champion and 4th place finisher at the 2016 World Barista Championship, Black & White Coffee Roasters’ Lem Butler. The second talk looks outside the industry (sort of). Innovation Culture in Food and Coffee is a “crash course one innovation culture” led by Coffee Manufactory’s Chris Jordan and Chad Robertson, the founder of Tartine who exists amongst the breadmaking pantheon (ask one of your baking coffee friends, there are a ton of them (us)). The final discussion is more community-focused. Creating Coffee Communities of the Future is a panel discussion featuring local coffee professionals who will be talking about what it takes to create a thriving, inclusive coffee community (it ain’t just throwdowns).

The June 2019 Bloom events stops are:

June 17: Atlanta, GA — Counter Culture
June 19: Washington, DC — Small Planes Coffee
June 24: Salt Lake City, UT — Campos Coffee
June 26: Los Angeles, CA — Coffee Manufactory

In the past, Bloom has taken a little heat for the cost of attending the event, but thanks in part to sponsors DaVinci Gourmet and Pacific Barista Series, the price for all four events has been cut in half. And tickets purchased before May 30th are even cheaper. Early bird rates run $50 and $65 for SCA members and non-members, respectively. On May 31st, prices increase to $60 and $75, with group discounts available at $40 per person (minimum of five required).

For more information on the event or to register, visit Bloom’s official website.

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

Top image via Bloom

The post Tickets Are Now Available For The Bloom Event Series By The Barista Guild appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

For the biggest coffee weekend of the year—the 2019 Speciality Coffee Association Expo in Boston—we sent intrepid journalist and Chocolate Barista founder Michelle Johnson onto the showfloor to put her finger on the pulse of what’s new and exciting in the coffee industry today. Last week she told us what was lit; today she’s reporting on the show’s hottest new tech. 

Wootz 7 Grinder

From South Korean company, Global CMS, the Wootz 7 Grinder (named after wootz steel) is the new kid on the block officially making its US debut. Ambassador Nick Cho of Wrecking Ball Coffee demoed the grinder, highlighting the simplicity of the plug-and-play machinery inside (a technician’s dream), the digital auto-calibration feature of the burrs to its previous setting, and the rotating wire that evenly distributed the coffee as it entered the portafilter. I’ve been a part of a distribution tool debate and had the opportunity to mess around with this manually. It’s cool to see it automated so seamlessly—especially with a portafilter lock that lets the barista go hands-free. The Wootz 7 Grinder is currently available in Korea and will hopefully begin distributing in the US by the end of the year pending UL and NSF certifications. It will be listed at $2,000 USD.

Mahlkönig E65S

The sleek, slim profile of the Mahlkönig E65S debuted this weekend in Boston, and we’re sure it’ll be an attractive addition to the bar tops of our favorite coffee shops soon. The E65S boasts several new features that promote cleaner and more efficient espresso grinding. One of those features is the digital display with a turn and push selection knob allowing for swift dial-in—six recipes can be programmed as well as any on-the-fly adjustments for those midday rushes. Say goodbye to espresso waste as the adjustable spout is designed to chute four to seven grams of espresso per second (on average) directly into the portafilter. The bean hopper is more durable than Mahlkönig grinders of the past and the whole thing grinds quieter too. The Mahlkönig E65S is listed at $2,200 USD and will begin shipping in May.

Coffunity

Transparency is increasingly a watchword for the coffee industry, up and down the value chain. With increased access to information comes an informed consumer base, better, sustainable pricing for farmers, and increased traceability. Coffunity aims to push this mission further through their app made for consumers, roasters, and producers. Consumers can take a photo of a coffee label and the app will identify and display ratings, reviews, and tasting notes from the coffee community. They can learn more about the coffee’s origin from who produced it to how it was processed (and what that means). Roasters are able to see what others are saying about the coffee. Soon, coffee producers will also be able to see what others are saying about their coffee and how much it sells for, opening up access to information that’s been closed to many for too long. This 2018 SCA Best New Product winning app is available to download on the App Store and Google Play now.

Acaia Pearl Model S

Acaia is back at it again with cutting edge technology to help coffee professionals and home brewers alike up their coffee game. As the Acaia Pearl Model S turns on, it welcomes you with a personalized message you can customize on the accompanying app. This app itself is extremely interactive, allowing for brewers to share their recorded brew recipes to anyone and download them from their friends or the database of recipes uploaded by coffee companies themselves. What’s even more fascinating is that when a recipe is downloaded, it won’t only display on your phone or table but the scale will display each step of the brew process in real-time for brewers to follow along.

The cherry on top is possibly the flow-rate meter that can display by itself or alongside the timer and water weight to indicate the consistency of the pour. On top of all of that, the Pearl Model S still looks so damn good. I don’t know about you but I think I just received the key to being the next World Brewers Cup Champion. The Acaia Pearl Model S is available now online for $185 USD.

MAVAM Mach 2

A disruptor in the undercounter espresso machine game since 2015, Seattle-based MAVAM has officially launched its oncounter espresso machine, the Mach 2. It has the same inner components and temperature stability of its undercounter sibling, and still has a low profile on bar (12.5 in./32 cm. tall) in true MAVAM fashion. The nicest feature of the Mach 2 is the tap button—both on the side for the cool touch steam wand power and on the grouphead. Seeing the machine in action, the tap feature really does promote efficiency for any barista running it, and shows how the espressso machine industry is taking ergonomics and workflow concerns seriously for the next generation of baristas. MAVAM’s Mach 2 is available to order now at $16,000 USD (two-group) and $19,000 USD (three-group).

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

The post The Hottest Tech Drops At SCA Expo 2019 appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

You have to admit it’s getting better. So reports Karina Hof, a longtime Sprudge staff writer based in Holland, who has for years been fascinated by the disconnect between Amsterdam’s famed “coffeeshops”—lounges where legal cannabis is sold and consumed freely—and the actual coffee served therein. In a city with one of the world’s great modern coffee cultures, and centuries of history in the coffee trade, why would the famed “coffeeshops” serve high quality cannabis but such low quality brews? 

Happily that’s changing, and fast. Karina Hof reports to us today from Amsterdam, just in time for the global 4/20 cannabis holiday.

By 2016, Amsterdam had an astounding 173 coffeeshops—lounges where cannabis can be bought and consumed onsite, much to the delight of tourists, expats and yes, evens some locals. For an article on this site the year before, I went looking for an enjoyable coffee to have at the city’s cannabis purveyors, many of which offer patrons a place to sit and smoke, snack, and sip. There were a couple of OK cups, including one prepared with what could be readily identified as “specialty coffee”, but mostly I encountered over-extracted old-school-Mediterranean dark roasts and staff who were caught off guard by my inquires; sometimes it felt as though I was asking such a trivial or taboo question, like: who provides your toilet paper?

Here in spring 2019, I revisited the assignment, finding that in four years, the number of coffeeshops serving specialty coffee had quadrupled. The figure itself is not extreme, but it shows evolution—perhaps as much of specialty coffee’s democratization as cannabis culture’s mainstreaming. Five places described here use coffee from either Australian-headed, Amsterdam-founded Lot Sixty One or the longer-established Dutch operation Bocca, both of which are among the Netherlands’ larger specialty roasters. These brands appear in cafes, restaurants, and stores around the country, but to experience them in a coffeeshop imbues in that euphemism for these venues a new, true meaning.

Tweede Kamer

The arrival of specialty coffee to Tweede Kamer is just another jewel in the tiara of this coffeeshop, the most elegant around in terms of interior (art deco) and staff (as personable as professional). Now standing alongside the pre-rolled joint cones and plastic storages—many containing a cannabis selection from Amsterdam Genetics—are Tweede Kamer-branded Lot Sixty One coffee packages. The display itself reflects how much changed since Sprudge last visited, back when they were serving, “terrible coffee,” as company social media coordinator and ever-effervescent budtender Babiche Bakker puts it. “It was a lot of different beans mixed.”

Today, Tweede Kamer and its sister business, Coffeeshopamsterdam, send their staff for barista courses at Lot Sixty One, which Bakker points out is a smart move since Tweede Kamer as a training space is “too small probably.” Elbow-to-elbow seating does not deter their loyal, diverse clientele. No wonder that American tourist’s dying wish: to have his ashes preserved at his favorite coffeeshop—worry not, the urn is on a shelf well above the strains and the beans.

Coffeeshopamsterdam

On what Smokers Guide to Amsterdam calls the High Street owing to its concentration of coffeeshops, one that stands out for its plainly memorable (in the long, not short, term, naturally) is Coffeeshopamsterdam. Formerly known as Dampkring II, this venue, which has the same owner as Tweede Kamer though is about triple the size, also sells a cannabis selection from Amsterdam Genetics and coffee from Lot Sixty One. Both budtenders and baristas here are attentive and easygoing, whether handing over with your cappuccino a free mini stroopwaffel or a 10-euro gram of Girl Scout Cookies.

Fully embracing its polysemous branding, the business prints “Amsterdam Coffee” on its coffee packaging, baggies, and literature; accompanying the words is the image of a white demitasse with, not steam, but ascending smoke rings. Explains company digital media manager Paul James: “Advertising for a coffeeshop is totally illegal as is promoting the sale of drugs. However, promoting Amsterdam Coffee is not. We just let people make their own minds up about the connection between the two.”

Green House United

When, on a springy Wednesday morning, a soft-spoken server brought to the table the menu’s “Healthy Breakfast”—low-fat yoghurt, low-sugar cruseli, fresh fruits, and a sprig of mint all gingerly arranged in a custard goblet—the place suddenly seemed less like an Amsterdam coffeeshop and more like a Le Pain Quotidien. But instead of bottomless hazelnut spread, there was that common coffeeshop fixture: a glass filled with green leaves of rolling-tobacco substitute.

Sure enough, this was Green House United, the largest of the city’s four Green House coffeeshops.

With an actual kitchen, it can cater to meal-size munchies day or night and, turns out, perfectly extract a single-origin Brazilian coffee, Bocca’s Soulmate. The light, fresh fare contrasts with leathery maroon furnishings and dim lighting, though the walls are undeniably brightened by Cannabis Cup trophies, smiling stoner celebrity photos, and clips from VICE/HBO’s Strain Hunter. That show follows Arjan Roskam, founder of Green House Seed Co. and the eponymous coffeeshops, as he searches for cannabis landraces on continent-hopping expeditions that sometimes share remarkable similarities with coffee-origin trips.

La Tertulia

Brownie points are in order here because four years ago, when Sprudge sought low and high for decent coffee at coffeeshops, La Tertulia delivered. The same holds true today. “We are still serving Bocca coffee,” replies Aline, the younger of the mother-daughter team who own the business, when recently asked for an update. “Moreover, all our employees are getting a training by Bocca soon!”

Whether or not the baristas will master latte art, which Aline hopes for, La Tertulia is sure to maintain its unique appeal. The coffeeshop is women-owned and women-operated, has more space than most—upstairs, small groups can comfortably work or play a borrowed board game; outside bistro chairs and tables allow for smoking and sipping al fresco and canal-side—and a respectable snack menu. The toasties come in about a dozen variations (who would have known tomato-chili chutney, zucchini, and pineapple work together?). And the pot brownie is of American-standard dimensions, homemade by a baker to whom Aline delivers her regularly collected shake.

Hempstory

You cannot smoke or vape here, but this hemp-heralding lifestyle store deserves an honorable mention. At its core is a bar with a La Marzocco Linea Classic, which Bocca-trained baristas use to prepare Bocca coffee drinks. Hemp milk repeats on the menu, and hot beverages come with a complimentary heart-shaped Hanf & Natur hemp biscuit.

From clothes to cosmetics and chips to cookies, much of the goods sold here are made from or with hemp. The shop also well stocks CBD products from world-renowned seed bank Sensi Seeds, whose founder, Ben Dronkers, owns Hempstory itself, the neighboring Hash Marihuana & Hemp Museum, and industrial hemp company Hempflax. Despite being in the middle of the Red Light District, Hempstory is green-leaning—stylistically more Broccoli than Pineapple Express, more GOOP than Snoop—but equally respectful of the aesthetics surrounding coffee and cannabis.

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

The post The Coffee In Amsterdam’s “Coffeeshops” Has Never Been Better appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Tomorrow is April 20th, colloquially known as 420, a holiday you’ve all been waiting for. That’s right, tomorrow is National Cold Brew Day, which definitely started by Stumptown as a joke, but is now being treated as a real thing by thirsty cold brew marketers worldwide. To help slake that thirst, Portland’s Stumptown Coffee Roasters has a special release just for you. For one day only, Stumptown will be selling a new CBD Cold Brew Elixir.

CBD cold brew is hardly a new product. Not a week goes by where I don’t feed the trash folder in my inbox news of some start-up disrupting the cold brew market with a disruptive addition of CBD to a disruptive new cold brew nitro can or whatever. But Stumptown’s take on the form is a lot of fun, and will be appearing in an extremely limited drop timed for 4/20.

Available only in their Portland stores (excluding the airport), Stumptown’s CBD Cold Brew Elixir is a collaborative effort with East Fork Cultivars, “one of Oregon’s leading craft hemp and cannabis farms,” per the press release. The three-ounce drink pairs the coffee company’s original Cold Brew concentrate—which is twice the strength of their regular Cold Brew—with 15mg of USDA organic “water soluble CBD extract.”

CBD Cold Brew Elixir is a 420 exclusive product with an extremely limited run; only 1,000 total bottles are being made available for purchase. Each three-ounce bottle will cost the exact price we all expect it to: $4.20 (which makes you wonder why it isn’t a 4.20 ounce bottle).

So tomorrow if you’re looking to dabble with a doobie or get trippy with a tipple, head on over to any non-airport Portland Stumptown location and get you a mellow high.

For more information, visit Stumptown Coffee‘s official website.

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

Top image via Stumptown Coffee Roasters

Disclosure: Stumptown Coffee is an advertising partner with the Sprudge Media Network. 

The post Stumptown To Release CBD Cold Brew Elixir Just In Time For The Holidays appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

For the biggest coffee weekend of the year—the 2019 Speciality Coffee Association Expo in Boston—we sent intrepid journalist and Chocolate Barista founder Michelle Johnson onto the showfloor to put her finger on the pulse of what’s new and exciting in the coffee industry today. Here is what she found.

Coffee POGs Are Most Certainly Now A Thing

Only 90s kids will remember the popularity that surrounded POGS and slammers back in the day, and thanks to Jen Apodaca, they made a HUGE comeback for SCA Boston. George Howell, Umeshiso, and Boss Barista POGS were being traded like Pokemon cards on the EXPO floor, and I couldn’t figure out if we were in 1995 or 2019. If there was a winner for having the most coffee POGS, Alicia Adams absolutely takes the cake (pictured). I didn’t grow up with POGS and quite frankly, didn’t know what they were until this weekend. But after collecting a few of my own, I realize they’re a lovely reminder of the fun, not-so-serious side of the coffee world. I expect this to become a new tradition for SCA.

I Tasted The Best Coffee I Ever Had. Ever.

One of my favorite parts of Expo is getting to taste so many different coffees from nearly every origin around the world. I went hard this year participating in an Ethiopian coffee cupping, indulging in multiple Califia oat milk lattes, and drinking World Brewers Cup competitor coffees in the Activities Hall. At the Sustainable Harvest Relationship Coffee booth, I tried the most delicious coffee I’ve ever had. Period.

Roasted by Colo Coffee in Bogota, Colombia, this Eugenioides species microlot from Colo’s Ancestros series (a series of coffees highlighting rare heirloom varieties native to Colombia) tasted like a berry fruit juice BOMB. Jamil Hallasso Holguin of Café Inmaculada, the producer of this coffee, happily poured me a second cup while we talked about its juicy, sweet characteristics. It was a wonderful example of the duality of countries that are producing and consuming. They know better than anyone how their coffees should taste!

Claw Machines (And Other Lottery-Style Games) Are In

The Fellow Products booth was consistently packed throughout the weekend thanks in part to their claw machine where Expo attendees could try their luck winning Stagg EKG kettles and other swag. Did anyone actually score a Stagg EKG? I’m not sure. I heard more people bragging about the fact they couldn’t grab anything than the opposite. Over at Baratza’s booth, you could try and scratch your way to owning the new Baratza Virtuso+ with a lottery ticket, but I’m not sure anyone won that either. Better luck next year, folks!

Visible Diversity At Expo? You Got It!

Let’s be real: a consistent critique of Expo and many coffee industry events is the lack of diversity on all sides—from those standing at the booth to people in attendance. This year’s event looked different and I mean that in the best way possible. As I walked around the floor, I saw people from different backgrounds talking to people about equipment, apps, and the state of the coffee industry with respect to the C Price (which is currently at $0.90). I heard coffee described in English, Japanese, Spanish, and Swahili. Two Asian women from China and South Korea were crowned as our World Brewers Cup and World Barista Champions, respectively. While there’s always more work to be done, it’s important to take a moment to celebrate how far we’ve come. It’s in these moments we can begin to imagine more possibilities for the coffee industry as we continue to grow.

Many Babies Had Their First Expo Experience And We Loved It

Photo by Paige Hicks

Many coffee professional parents will be adding “Baby’s 1st Coffee Expo” to the baby book as the next generation of coffee lovers were in high attendance this year. We spotted Erica Escalante, owner of The Arrow Coffeehouse in Portland, Oregon with her daughter, Lupe, in tow in the Activities Hall (where the competitions were held), as well as several other coffee children. This portion of the Expo was the only place infants and children under the age of 12 were allowed according to the Specialty Coffee Association’s show policies.

Fortunately, friends and colleagues alike stepped in to help watch Lupe and any other babies so their parents could take some time to see the rest of the show. Coffee parents are starting to sound off about this show policy and how it bars access from people with children who want to remain focused on their careers. We’ll be sure to keep an eye out for how this conversation develops. In the meantime, I’ll be swooning over all the baby photos from the weekend.

Tell Your Grandparents: Frozen Coffee Is The Future

Don’t worry, there will be dedicated round-up of coffee tech from Expo, but I spent a considerable amount of time at the Cometeer Coffee Capsule booth going from hard skeptic to a believer. I’m already an advocate for frozen coffee—frozen beans vacuumed sealed at the optimum point post-roast to be enjoyed months, even years after the fact. But Cometeer took it in a different direction. They extracted the best parts of already brewed coffee, apparently at its peak state, and froze it inside these 100% recyclable capsules for use whenever you see fit. I tasted the Counter Culture capsule brewed via Keurig and was pleasantly surprised by how great it tasted. The coffee had clarity and distinct but subtle fruit notes. It should be no surprise that Cometeer won 2019 Best New Product, and we should expect to see more from them soon!

The EXPO Sneaker Game Was On Point

There was no shortage of heat on the EXPO floor, and we’re not talking about water for coffee brewing. We love a good sneaker here at Sprudge and while in the hometown of Reebok, I made sure to keep an eye out for the latest fire people wore to coffee cuppings on the show floor. I was so far from disappointed. Spotted on foot were Lebron 15’s, Adidas, and every style of Nike in multiple colorways—Huaraches, Air Max 97’s, and bedazzled (!!!) Air Force One’s.

The coffee industry’s Dad Shoe Dad himself, Nick Cho, took it to another level with Balenciaga Track Sneakers while demoing the new Wootz Grinder. Of course, those were just one of several rarities he brought to show out. I think my favorite shoes this weekend were on Gio Fillari (@CoffeeFeedPDX, Sprudge, Nike), who blessed us with the Air Max 97 Off-White. To round it out, I came to Expo with my own heat that I saved specifically for emceeing the World Brewers and Barista Competition—the millennial pink Aleali May Jordan 6, a recent drop from Jordan Women. Next year when SCA lands in Portland, the collision of sneakers and coffee will be even more apparent and perhaps, intentional.

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

The post The Lit List: Michelle Johnson’s Favorite Moments From SCA 2019 appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

For those convening upon Boston this past weekend, there was no shortage of great coffee at mini-cafes popping up outside, over, around, and through the 2019 Specialty Coffee Expo. But of course, when you get right down to it, there will always be those superstars of the pop, those who pop a little EXTRA with the best coffee or the longest lines or biggest buzz or deepest DJ grooves. Here’s what our team on the ground spotted on the scene of see and be seen coffee pop-ups.

Miir

Seattle-based Miir is an “it” vessel manufacturer these days, whose sustainability mission as a reuseable cup company walks the walk with a giving program that contributes grant money to philosophically aligned projects like providing clean water to the Asian subcontinent, or bicycles to help Zambian students (and teachers) get to school. The B Corp’s Seattle flagship is LEED-certified, and let’s be honest—the cups are also stylish af, which is why all the coffee brands you love already use them.

And which is also why fans of the brand—and free stuff—lined up for times upwards of one hour Friday and Saturday mornings to get some of the most coveted swag of the convention: SCA Expo-exclusive Miir mugs, which of course you could have topped up with Verve coffee brewed in Miir’s ingenious fold-flat pop-out travel drippers, or with the same roaster’s Nitro Flash Brew coffee. Once in hand, the Miir Expo cup proved to be the perfect fashionable accessory to flash while lounging around the modern furnishings of the Miir booth flipping through Verve’s latest Farmlevel journal, or admiring numerous displays of other Miir designs out of which one was not currently drinking. And if you so happened to be sucked out of the calming Miir oasis and back into the vortex of the show floor, that same cup proved perfect for sustainably sampling coffee from all the other great pop-ups out there.

La Marzocco

It’s almost not even news to say that La Marzocco‘s Expo presence drew a bustling crowd, but let’s go ahead and say it: this equipment company is always on the vanguard not only of coffee tech but of roaster/barista relationships. The LM booth at Expo is a perennial nexus of activity for those looking for an excellent espresso drink from a quality roaster (maybe one they’ve never tried before) made on a beautiful machine.

This year the company drew attention for its angular new KB90 machine, built with barista ergonomics in mind, like portafilters that slide straight in. But the La Marzocco booth—or should we say, booths, as the company’s appeal is large enough to have literally spilled across the convention aisle—was also a hotspot for roasters from all over to pop up throughout the event. The list of guests on the La Marzocco booth included, but was certainly not limited to, such names as Tandem Coffee Roasters, George Howell, Linea Caffe, Metric Coffee, Pavement Coffeehouse, Joe Coffee Company, Ruby Coffee Roasters, Variety Coffee, and Onyx Coffee Lab. You were pretty much guaranteed NOT to get a bad coffee if you came through—and that’s the kind of guarantee we can all pop about.

Dark Matter

Chicago-based Dark Matter flipped the show floor script a bit with a corner cafe/booth that pumped out good music and good energy while drawing in a crowd that felt like community—no small task in a building that looks like a slightly upscale airplane hanger. First, the company went big on color: from bringing in a vanload of tropical plants, to hanging a huge, vibrant mural from Chicago artist Dan Grzeca with the artwork for the brand’s new This Caffeine Kills Fascists coffee blend. Guests brewed in color as well, on loud, proud Origami coffee drippers, and Dark Matter’s flamboyant “coffee cold” cans (with names just as trippy as the can art, like Brown Acid and Black Splash) were on sample too.

But beyond all the posi vibes emanating from the actual, you know, marketing, Dark Matter’s was also a booth with a meaning: Hope For the Day, a suicide prevention and awareness group, shared space alongside the coffee crew, offering community outreach and their “it’s ok not to be ok” messaging. It was uplifting to come by this booth again and again during the show (and not just for the caffeine).

Atlas Coffee

If there’s an importer with a stealth reputation for fun it might just be Atlas Coffee, which doubled down on its Expo presence with both a high traffic coffee pop-up on the main show floor as well as a coffee bar in the World Coffee Championships Roaster Village. At either location you were likely to find pro baristas alongside traders alongside coffee producers, sharing both coffee and stories.

On the exhibition floor, Atlas’ bright, sort of picnic-chic cafe stall cranked out guest roasts all through the day surrounded by those who’d brought the same coffees to this (highly!) drinkable point from their origins as green. And while it might be a little easier to impress the masses roaming glassy-eyed up and down aisles of de-gassing valve technologists and water wizards, Atlas held its own in the Roaster Village alongside the likes of full-time, full-on retailers like ST. ALi, Stumptown, locals Broadsheet, and many more. When we visited, Sumatra’s Ketiara Cooperative was the featured origin, the kiosk graciously hosted not just by Atlas’ own staffers but by the co-op’s leader, Ramah, who also offered woven Ketiara wristbands to visitors. You can’t drink a coffee under much more origin-storybook conditions than these, folks.

Chemex

Leave it to Chemex to do something both totally stylish and a little elusive all at the same time. Tucked away on the second floor of the convention center—which of course you’d easily find if you had diligently attended all of the lectures you’d planned to—popped an epic Chemex kiosk, its glassy-Rube-Goldberg-esque towering waterworks providing a stunning spectacle bathed in natural light. These hometown heroes—okay, home state—okay, home commonwealth—lived up to their reputation of timeless good-looks, offering a variety of brews on lovely new glass single-cup Chemex X-5 drippers, spinning dizzying rings around the barista (don’t try this at home) in a handcrafted artisan bar. The drippers were paired with new Chemex “Chettles” (oh yes they did), induction-heated water kettles with gooseneck spouts. (They’re also cool to the touch and dishwasher safe, for those of you teaching your children to brew alongside you.)

From the grand presentation (yes, that’s a Chemex as big as your torso at the top of that crazy display) to the new products on display to the respectful murmur that always accompanies this classic brand, you’d think that might be enough. But no—in a seating area adjacent to the Chemex pour-over bar was the pièce de résistance—a Chemex The Game station, projecting the truly unique game onto a big screen for all around to see your successes (or failures) at reliving the life of Chemex founder Dr. Peter Schlumbohm, filtering out the nastiest bits of coffee brewing in search of that perfect cup. As we sat basking in the late-afternoon glow high above the trade show floor, living out our fantasies as an 8-bit inventor, one couldn’t help but think they’d achieved a glory almost as crowning as having your own gold-plated Chemex hood ornament.

Liz Clayton is the associate editor at Sprudge Media Network and the co-author of Where to Drink Coffee. Read more Liz Clayton on Sprudge.

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Source: Coffee News