Coffee Shop Archives - Page 43 of 73 - The Curb Kaimuki

The Good Food Awards are back for a ninth year and they have just announced their finalists. The yearly celebration of American-made consumables with a focus on sustainability has narrowed down the 401 products making it to the last leg from a field of over 2,000. Among the 27 finalists in the coffee category, there a handful of familiar names as well as a few new ones. And it’s not all Ethiopian coffees this year; it’s only mostly Ethiopian coffees.

The 2019 Good Food Awards coffee finalists are:

Bard Coffee, Organic Costa Rica La Mirella, Maine
Bird Rock Coffee Roasters, Geisha XO & KIUNYU Coffee Factory – Peaberry, California
Broadsheet Coffee Roasters, Special Prep Ethiopia Natural Bombe, Bensa Sidama, Massachusetts
Caffe Ladro, Ethiopia Limu Organic, Washington
Catalyst Coffee Consulting, Ethiopia Keramo, Oregon
Commonwealth Coffee Roasters,Carmen Estate Washed Geisha, Colorado
Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea, Kossa Kebena, Ohio
Drink Coffee Do Stuff, Ethiopia Guji Hambela Wamena, California
Elixr Coffee, El Injerto Pacamara, Pennsylvania
Equator Coffees & Teas, Ethiopia Gedeb 1 Organic Gotiti Lot 143, California
Folly Coffee Roasters, House Bean – Ethiopia Guji, Minnesota
Intelligentsia, Organic Ethiopia Kurimi, Illinois
Linea, Ethiopia Suke Quto, California
Noble Coffee Roasting, Ethiopian ‘Buku Sayisa’, Oregon
Noble Coyote Coffee Roasters, Guji Highlands, Ethiopia – Natural Process, Organic, Texas
Oak Cliff Coffee Roasters, Girma Eshetu, Texas
Onyx Coffee Lab, Colombia Granja La Esperanza, Arkansas
PERC Coffee Roasters, Ethiopia Kayon Mountain, Georgia
Red Rooster Coffee Roaster, Kayon Mountain, Virginia
Royal Mile Coffee Roasters, Ethiopia Kayon Mountain Taaroo & Kenya Ichamama Peaberry Washed, New Jersey
Spyhouse Coffee Roasting Co, Duromina/Ethiopia, Minnesota
Still Vibrato, Ethiopia Shantawene, Oregon
Thanksgiving Coffee Company, Upsetter Espresso, California
Vashon Coffee Company, Organic Ethiopia Sidamo Guji Hambela Buku, Washington
Vibrant Coffee Roasters, Ethiopia Idido Washed, Pennsylvania

But coffee isn’t just in the coffee category anymore; it’s being utilized as an ingredient in multiple categories, including:

Beer:
Rolling Meadows Brewery, Coffee Break, Illinois

Chocolate:
Dark Forest Chocolate, Gimme Coffee & Dark Chocolate, New York

Confections: 
COCOPOD, Coffee Cocoa Chocolate Hazelnut, North Carolina
Garcia Nevett Chocolatier de Miami, Cafe de Hacienda, Florida
Vermont Amber Organic Toffee, Percolator Toffee, Vermont

Elixirs:
Sightglass Coffee and Shrub & Co.,Coffee Cascara Shrub, California

Snacks:
Hot Mama Salsa, Smoky Coffee Chili Oil, Oregon

Sprits:
Elixir, Caffe’ Corretto Liqueur, Oregon
Griffo Distillery, Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur, California

Winners of the 2019 Good Food Awards will crowned on Friday, January 11th at the GFA Gala in San Francisco. For more information about the Good Food Awards or for tickets to attend the awards show, visit their official website.

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

Top image via the Good Food Awards

The post The 2019 Good Food Awards Finalized Have Been Announced appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

No matter the industry, employee turnover comes with major costs, some more obvious than others. Between the costs of recruiting, onboarding, training, offboarding, and burnout, employee turnover can cost as much as four to 12 months’ worth of the lost employee’s salary—a number which is steep to begin with and gets steeper the more highly placed the employee is in the business. For all those reasons and more, employee retention is crucial to keeping costs under control as well as maintaining positive and consistent service and operations from the cafe upward. Leading human resource experts have different opinions on what a great retention strategy looks like, but one of the best ways to learn about retention is to talk to long-term employees that continue to be excited about and engaged in their jobs. In this piece, I talk to five coffee workers in varied positions who have been with their companies for five years or more about why they’re still excited to show up for work every day.

Pay and Benefits

Maybe the most obvious factor in long-term retention is pay and benefits. However, almost all of the folks interviewed acknowledged that while pay is important, they could probably make more elsewhere and don’t stick around primarily for pay.

Kailyn Fulmer, who has worked at Monocacy Coffee Company for 13 years and currently occupies a manager and lead barista role, listed competitive pay and employee incentives as key retention factors, but also acknowledged that she wouldn’t be in her job if cash were the number one factor. “Let’s be honest—it’s definitely not because of the money. I think what it boils down to is the love of the craft, the love of our industry.”  

Emily Davis has worked at Counter Culture Coffee (full disclosure, my former employer) for six years and currently inhabits the role of Director of Education. For Davis, staying in her job has been more about growth and fulfillment than pay. But, like Fulmer, Davis also lists salary and benefits as key to retention. “Companies should do what they can to demonstrate employee value by way of salary, bonuses, or benefits. I think that acknowledging value and demonstrating it are two very separate things and that both are necessary to retain employees.”

Jackson O’Brien, head barista and educator at Peace Coffee, has been with his company for six years and is more committed to his company’s fair pay policies for all than his own pay specifically. “The thing that initially made me want to work with the company has also made me want to stick around: the fact that the company endeavors to treat every employee fairly. Aside from competitive wages, we make sure that every employee including starting baristas and warehouse production assistants gets paid vacation and sick time, 401k benefits, yearly guaranteed cost of living raises, and full health and dental plans. Not only do I feel like I’m fairly treated, I feel like all of my colleagues are.”

O’Brien added that when money is tight, transparency around pay helps to cover the gap. “When it’s transparently communicated that times are tight, people might not be happy about their pay and responsibilities, but they’ll understand.”

Basic Fit and Growth

Perhaps also obvious, all of the long-term engaged employees I spoke to enjoy the basic work of their jobs and have found themselves able to grow and learn within them.

Davis found that fit and growth were the key factors in her own longevity. Starting as a customer relations representative and growing into her current director of education role kept her challenged and engaged. “I felt like I had learned the company well enough to take on a new layer of responsibility. The familiarity I had gained made me feel more deeply connected to the company, and that familiarity gave my influence a power and efficacy that I valued. That’s why I stick around—I believe I have helped the company grow as much as the company has helped me grow.”

Maciej Kasperowicz, the director of coffee at Gregory’s Coffee, has been with his company for eight years; fit and growth are the main reasons why he’s been happy long-term. His position has evolved significantly over time, allowing him to grow with the company and stay engaged and fulfilled.

Christy Greenwald, cafe manager at Ritual Coffee Roasters, has been with her company for 10 years, growing from barista to manager at the company’s flagship cafe. She too cited “opportunities for personal growth, job position and otherwise,” as a key factor in her own longevity.

Communication, Expectations, and Feedback

Healthy communication, clear expectations, and the ability to give and receive feedback also played an important role in retention for everyone I spoke to.

“Setting clear expectations for employees and delivering on them is key,” said O’Brien. “This shouldn’t be anything that is in any way innovative or out of the ordinary and yet I feel like so many employers don’t do it.”

Greenwald agrees and sees feedback as a two-way street. “Receiving direct feedback and encouragement really builds trust in employees, as does encouraging and heeding all employee input.”

Appreciation and Human Connection

According to all five of the workers I spoke with, the people involved matter. Being appreciated, seen as a whole person, and having a human connection with coworkers were all important in long-term engagement and employment.

Kasperowicz credited top-to-bottom team fit for a huge portion of his job satisfaction. “I get to work with people I really respect and care about: from our shops to our roastery, our education department, our boss, and even the people I get to buy coffee from. When I think about what I’d miss most about my job and what makes me care about my company, working with those people is towards the top of the list.”

Greenwald cited not only her team but her company’s female owner as important in happiness and shared values, while Fulmer emphasized the importance of providing a safe and positive working environment.

O’Brien talked about demonstrating care through treating workers as humans. “Understand that employees are not cogs in a machine but rather human beings with basic human needs. Again, it shouldn’t be out of the ordinary but somehow is.” For instance, O’Brien feels that to truly treat employees as people, employers not only need to provide paid sick leave but also compassion and support when an employee is sick. Rather than asking employees to get their own shift covered or interrogating whether or not they’re truly sick, employers should encourage workers to get the rest they need, treating them as whole people.

The Complexity of Feeling Valued

The factors that help workers feel valued and engaged long-term can seem complex and varied, but ultimately, they might not be that surprising. According to the long-term engaged employees I talked to, people care about being able to live and work in safety and relative comfort, as well as access to growth opportunities as they get older and grow; they care about connecting with the people around them and growing as a larger team. These things may not be easy to provide in equal measure at all times, but treating people as humans and taking the time to appreciate them as best you can seems to be the underlying factor in keeping workers happy and present.

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 Employee Retention: Why Workers Stay Long Term appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Good news for people who derive some sort of satisfaction from claiming that cold brew stinks (and bad news for literally everyone else): science seems to show that hot coffee is better for you. A new study published recently in Scientific Reports titled Acidity and Antioxidant Activity of Cold Brew Coffee finds that hot brewed coffee is similar in pH and higher in antioxidants than the cold brewed version of the same coffee.

As reported by Health.com, the study was co-authored by assistant and associate professors of chemistry at Thomas Jefferson University Dr. Megan Fuller and Dr. Niny Rao, respectively. Using five different commercially available pre-ground coffees—Ethiopia Ardi, Ethiopia YirgZ (shout out to Keffa Coffee), Brazil, Colombia, and Myanmar—between a light and medium roast, the researchers brewed hot and cold coffees using the “same ratio of water volume to grind weight,” per the study.

Fuller and Rao (but not that Rao) found that, ostensibly contrary to general sentiment that cold brew is less acidic than hot coffee, the two had similar pH’s: cold brew ranging from 4.96 to 5.13 (YirgZ being the lowest and Myanmar the highest) and hot coffee 4.85 to 5.10 (Ardi and Brazil). However, the go on to note that hot coffee contained “larger measures of titratable acidity, indicating higher concentrations of extracted acids and/or additional acidic compounds not found in the cold brew,” and that it is this acidic complexity in hot coffee that may be the cause (or be a better indicator than pH) of the higher acidity, perceived or actual.

via Acidity and Antioxidant Activity of Cold Brew Coffee

In terms of antioxidant activity, the thing associated with most of coffee’s health benefits, hot coffee was found to have higher concentrations of total caffeoylquinic acids (CQAs). CQAs are believed to play a significant role in coffee’s antioxidative benefits, and indeed this study finds higher antioxidant activity in hot coffee than cold brew. But it also found that while CQAs were a good indicator of antioxidant activity in cold brew, it was less so in hot coffee. This means that, as Fuller and Rao put it in the most badass way imaginable, hot coffee may also have “additional radical-scavenging compounds” that are boosting the antioxidant activity.

Now, seeing how I can’t let the anti-cold brew bad guys win, let me grasp at a few straws here. Without any sort of TDS reading, we don’t know that these coffees were comparably extracted and perhaps this leads to the lower antioxidant levels in cold brew. Perhaps grind size played a factor; the same grind is presumably not ideal for both brew methods, which may contribute to the results.

I dunno, I’m not a scientists, I’m just a guy who doesn’t really drink cold brew that will fight for you right to do so unshamed. And so what? Maybe hot coffee has more antioxidant activity. Nothing a handful of blueberries can’t make up for.

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 Is Hot Coffee Better For You Than Cold Brew? appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Employee retention is good for business. While not all employers look at the costs of turnover in their organizations, leading HR group the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) estimated that the loss of a salaried employee can cost a business an average of four to nine months of that employee’s salary. Other estimates put that cost even higher, and those costs get steeper and steeper the more highly placed an employee is in an organization. High employee turnover can also create a vicious cycle of burnout of remaining staff and further turnover, which can place tremendous social and financial strain on businesses.

While retention is crucial to employers’ well-being, there’s a growing body of evidence that shows that staying with a company isn’t always in workers’ best interests—and, in fact, can be just the opposite. There are real drawbacks to unconditional employee loyalty: fiscal costs, professional costs, and emotional costs.

Salary and Benefits

According to a 2014 article in Forbes, employees who stayed in their jobs for more than two years could expect to make 50% less over their lifetimes. Specifically, employees could expect an average yearly raise of 3%; on the other hand, employees who leave for new positions receive an average raise of 10-20%.

Tom Baker, who has worked in coffee for 15 years and held a variety of positions from cafe manager to wholesale trainer, now coordinates operations for in-house cafes and event spaces within the Salesforce corporation. With his tenure in the coffee industry, Baker sees these numbers as a very real reason to be discerning about how long you should stay with a given company. “In food service, most employers don’t offer a pension plan, and wages or salaries for entry and mid-level positions are so low that workers can’t set aside much to contribution plans even if they’re available. If the goal is to get with a company that I can stay with for a long time—one that will take care of me now and after I retire—it might be a long road to get there. That said, I probably don’t want to spend more time than I need to at any stop along the way.”

Baker adds that given the raise workers can get from having the chance to negotiate a new base salary with a different company, if workers aren’t making what they need to meet their goals, “staying with their employer is not going to get them there.”

Typically, the best avenue to significantly increase wages and professional growth without moving companies is through getting promotions, which can remain elusive for a variety of reasons. Rob Rodriguez, head roaster at George Howell Coffee, points out that not only are many companies unable to offer those opportunities because of their structures, it’s also harder for people of color and people from other marginalized groups to access them. “In the past, I’ve had to take a backseat to cisgender white coworkers when it came to promotions,” Rodriguez says. Because of the well-documented barriers to mobility people of color face, Rodriguez points out that leaving is often a more effective way to move up professionally than waiting in line for scarce promotions.

In addition, different workers have different needs benefits-wise in order to achieve long-term stability. For instance, employees who want to have children may be unable to if their company isn’t flexible on developing parental leave programs for longer-term employees, or employees with certain medical needs may need to find jobs that meet their specific healthcare needs, and so on.

Professional and Personal Growth

While the fiscal impacts of long-term employment within a company are significant, most of the coffee workers I interviewed for this piece placed professional growth above pay as the biggest reason to leave one’s job.

Barista Guild Executive Council member Adam JacksonBey (who’s worked at DC cafe The Potter’s House for two years now) feels that baristas sometimes benefit from changing jobs even if they aren’t moving up and to the right in terms of position. “I personally think you become a much better barista even after changing jobs once. In general, you learn a different way of doing the thing you’ve been doing for however long you’ve been doing it. Being in a new environment challenges or reinforces what you’ve learned before and makes you adapt.”

Equator Coffees’ Specialty Sales and Account Manager Mark Dias feels that not only is this kind of growth important for individuals as professionals, it’s actually helpful to companies as well. “One benefit of moving from job to job is the ability to see how different companies are structured and how they operate. You’re able to pick up different pieces and adapt better to different work environments in the long term.” This means that organizations that gain a new hire also get an employee who has learned a variety of organizational schema and is better equipped to recognize and solve deep organizational issues that can often be invisible or feel insurmountable from the inside.

Rodriguez points out that stagnation within a position can have negative mental health impacts for both workers themselves and those around them. “It’s a dangerous place to allow yourself to fall into in your professional development, but mainly for your mental health and how it impacts your workplace,” he says—an effect which can devastate productivity and happiness. “You can easily start doubting your own abilities. It can skew your perception of self and the people around you significantly.”

Growing Within Your Organization, or Without It

In what is perhaps an indicator of how much the specialty coffee industry does value employee loyalty, most of the veteran coffee professionals I interviewed for this piece offered advice on how to stay happy and engaged without leaving, even when an employer isn’t necessarily meeting your growth needs; however, they all noted that it’s important to recognize your needs and find happiness and security, even if that does mean leaving.

“Reach out to your community, regional and national, and see if there are outside educational opportunities for you,” JacksonBey encourages. He also recommends talking to friends from other shops, or making some if you don’t yet have any. And, lastly, “talk to your direct manager about how you feel and if there’s anything more you can do.” If all else fails, he encourages workers to move on—but, he says, there’s potentially a lot you can do even within an organization.

“Start seeking avenues of growth elsewhere. Full stop. This doesn’t necessarily mean leaving the company you work for in any way,” says Rodriguez, who himself has found effective growth through moving laterally within companies. “But, if it comes down to it and the place you’re working for doesn’t cut it, then it may be time to seek out employment for a company that can value your work ethic and your drive for self and workplace improvement.”

Retention Matters, and Engagement Does Too

There are many ways employers can provide growth and engagement for employees, and many reasons beyond money and promotions that many workers stay happy in their positions long-term, especially in a passion-driven industry like specialty coffee. By developing a solid retention plan that allows workers to grow, learn, and continue to earn, companies can avoid the lose-lose situation of poor morale or high turnover costs due to a lack of engagement and dissatisfaction. Ultimately, most coffee employees work at will, which means that their contract with their employer lasts as long as both parties decide to continue it. Employers have more power in the equation, but employment is a two-way street, and both parties have an equal right to prioritize their needs.

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 Employee Retention: Why Workers Leave appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Welcome to Sprudge Shop Spotlights, a new weekend series in which we highlight our very favorite items currently available in the ever-changing, fast-moving, utterly bespoke Sprudge Shop. Now shipping worldwide, featuring unique artist and brand collaborations from around the planet. Enjoy! 

Buy my book! Buy my book! Jay Sherman had it right—you should buy our book, by which we mean The New Rules of Coffee, out now on Ten Speed Press and available wherever books are sold, but especially at fine cafes and book stores across the country.

Individual copies of The New Rules of Coffee are available now from the Sprudge Shop. They ship signed from the authors (Sprudge founders Jordan Michelman and Zachary Carlsen) and come with little swag surprises—a thank-you from us for picking up a copy or two.

Of course if you’re a cafe or bookseller, we’d love to see you stock wholesale copies of our book for your customers. Wholesale stockiest discounts are available by emailing books@sprudge.com—email operators are standing by. If your bookstore or cafe already has an account with Penguin Random House, ordering is as easy as contacting your local representative.

And right now you can pick up copies of our book at these fine bookshops across the country. Please note this is a selected list—if you don’t see a bookseller near you, ask them to stock it!

An Unlikely Story (Plainville, MA)

Avid Bookshop (Athens, GA)

Baker & Taylor (national distributor)

Barnes & Noble (national distributor)

Belmont Books (Belmont, MA)

Book Passage (Multiple Bay Area locations)

Book Shop Santa Cruz (Santa Cruz, Ca)

Brookline Booksmith (Brookline, MA)

Brown University (Providence, Rhode Island)

Buck’s Books (national distributor)

Chicago Comics (Chicago, IL)

Curious Iguana (Frederick, MD)

East Bay Booksellers (Oakland, CA)

King’s Books (Tacoma, WA)

The Book Larder (Seattle, WA)

Literatti (Ann Arbor, MI)

Magic City Books (Tulsa, OK)

Mercenary General Store (Santa Monica, CA)

Now Serving (Los Angeles, CA)

Omnivore Books (San Francisco, CA)

Paper Store Inc. (national distributor)

Papyrus (national distributor)

Politics & Prose (Washington, D.C.)

Powell’s (Portland, OR)

Solid State Books (Washington, D.C.)

Stock Providence (Providence, RI)

Tender Loving Empire (Portland, OR)

Third Place Books (Seattle, WA)

University Bookstore (Seattle, WA)

We also are thrilled to have our book stocked in these fine coffee bars across the United States. This is a partial and ever-growing list—if you don’t see your cafe, get in touch!

Stumptown Coffee Roasters (PDX, NYC, LA, Seattle)

All Day (Miami)

Joe Coffee (NYC)

Olympia Coffee Roasting Company

Indaba Coffee (Spokane, WA)

Elixr Coffee (Philadelphia, PA)

Narrative Coffee (Everett, WA)

Saint Frank (San Francisco, CA)

Mill City Coffee Roasters (Minneapolis, MN)

Gimme! Coffee (New York State)

Case Coffee (Ashland, OR)

Reanimator Coffee (Philadelphia, PA)

Snowy Owl Coffee Roasters (Brewster, MA)

We’ve been overwhelmed by support and love for The New Rules all across America on our book tour, coming soon to a city near you, with upcoming dates across California and the midwest. If you’re interested in hosting us for an upcoming book tour stop, kindly give a holler. 

Are you selling our book? Reach out to us! 

Want to sell our book in your quality cafe? Give us a shout! 

The post Buy Our Book! The New Rules of Coffee Is Out Now On Ten Speed Press appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

This week’s episode of the Coffee Sprudgecast is coming to you live from Spokane, Washington! That’s “Spoh-can“, not “Spoh-kane” for those of you in the rest of the country. You don’t pronounce the “e”, we assure you.

We’re here at Indaba Coffee on the latest stop of The New Rules of Coffee book tour, a rousing, multi-city multi-state set of engagements that has taken us from Manhattan to Washington, D.C. to the thriving coffee scene here in Spokane, with many more stops coming along the way. Interested in bringing our tour to your town? Get in touch! 

Check out The Coffee Sprudgecast on iTunes or download the episode here. The Coffee Sprudgecast is sponsored by  Oxo, Urnex Brands, Hario, and Swiss Water Decaf. 

On this week’s episode co-founder co-hosts Jordan Michelman and Zachary Carlsen can hardly contain their excitement for the impending LA Coffee Festival, kicking off one week from today at The Reef in Downtown Los Angeles. That’s happening the very same weekend as RAW Wine LA—it’s going to be a wild couple of days in the sunshine for sure. Meanwhile our @Sprudge and @SprudgeWine Instagram channels are being taken over left and right, including dispatches from RAW Wine Montreal produced by Grape Witches, impending RAW Wine NYC takeover grams from Jenny Eagleton, and a stunning tour of Guadalajara cafes produced by Angel Medina of Kiosko Coffee and Smalltime Roasters.

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Hola Friends! My name is Angel Medina, I am one of the owners of KIOSKO Coffee and Smalltime Roasters, out in Portland, Oregon. Today is the start of "Dia de los Muertos" a very special holiday for us Mexicans (and everyone of Mexican descent living in foreign lands.) For those of you that are not familiar with this holiday, Dia de los Muertos is a day in which we celebrate the life of loved ones who have departed and a time in which we recognize death as a beautiful part of the human experience. During these days we eat traditional foods, drink wonderful drinks, and sing songs that we love. So you must be wondering, what does this have to do with coffee? In our culture, coffee is something that brings us together. If you've grown up in a Mexican household you have most certainly heard the adults ask the question "¿gustas un cafecito?" If you haven't grown up this lucky, find yourself a good Mexican family that will take you in (I'm happy to take you in.) Coffee certainly played a major role in my upbringing, which now as an adult it is everything that encompasses the ultimate act of hospitality. It just so happens that I am currently in Guadalajara, Jalisco, a city where I grew up many years ago. In honor of "La Perla Tapatia", I will share with you some of my favorite places for great coffee and introduce to some of the people that make it incredible. I hope to capture some of what I love so much about it all. Feliz dia de los Muertos! Angel

A post shared by Sprudge (@sprudge) on Nov 1, 2018 at 8:02am PDT

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It’s #rawwineweek in North America, and that means events and parties galore plus the legendary @rawwineworld fairs in NYC, LA and for the first time ever, Montreal! Get the deets and follow along for coverage over the next week, including IG takeovers from @grapewitches (Montreal) @jennyeagleton (NYC) and @yaydylan (LA) — we’ll see you at RAW.

A post shared by Sprudge Wine (@sprudgewine) on Oct 31, 2018 at 12:41pm PDT

We also sit down to learn more about Indaba Coffee roasters with founder Bobby Enslow. Bobby dishes on Indaba’s new Riverside cafe location here in downtown Spokane, as we talk toast, coffee, urban planning and kimchi. All this and much more on this week’s episode of the Coffee Sprudgecast. Thanks for listening and come see us over the next few weekends in California!

Bobby Enslow of Indaba Coffee.

Sign up now as a subscriber to the Coffee Sprudgecast and never miss an episode. 

Listen, subscribe and review The Coffee Sprudgecast on iTunes.

Download the episode here.

The post The Coffee Sprudgecast: Live From Indaba Coffee In Spokane, WA appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Sometimes real life is scarier than fiction. The Moka Pot, arguably one of the most iconic pieces of coffee equipment to be created in the last century, is in danger of being no more.

According to EuroNews, the stovetop coffee maker—your grandparents’ favorite coffeemaker that they love to bring up when they find out you are into coffee—from Italian manufacturer Bialetti is facing a decline in sales as consumers are making the switch to the convenience of capsule machines. The company recently announced measures to “tackle a €68 million debt amid ‘significant doubts’ about its ‘business continuity.’” The company admits to a €15.3 million loss over the first half of the year due to declining sales both in Italy and abroad.

And it’s not that people are drinking less coffee, they are just switching how they make it.

“When it comes to large-scale distribution, sales of the capsules are growing rapidly while sales of ground coffee for the moka are declining, even here in Italy where 70% of families have a moka in their home,” said Francesca Arcuri, communications director for Italian coffee company Filicori Zecchini.

Sales of the Moka Pot saw 5% decrease during 2017, the same timeframe where capsules had a 16.8% jump in sales.

Will this be the end of the Moka Pot, and with it the end of stovetop coffee itself? [EDITORS NOTE: SPRUDGE COFOUNDER ZACHARY CARLSEN WOULD LIKE TO ONCE AND FOR ALL DISPEL THE MISCONCEPTION THAT MOKA POTS ARE PERCOLATORS. “DIFFERENT BREW MECHANICS ENTIRELY,” CARLSEN TELLS SPRUDGE] Will these sturdy and once ubiquitous brewers go quietly into that good night, becoming actual coffee heirlooms and not just coffee junk you find at antique stores? And for what? Capsules? Now that’s truly terrifying.

But we want to know, do you have feelings about this news? Sound off in the comments below.

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 Goombanomics

The post Bye-aletti: The Death Of The Moka Pot? appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

We are just one short week away from the start of the Los Angeles Coffee Festival (and the RAW WINE Fair LA, which will be covered by our sister site Sprudge Wine; the Sprudge Media Network is going to be in a full-on beverage frenzy). And like any coffee festival worth its salt, there are going to be fun, non-festival happenings outside the 100,000-square-foot Magic Box convention center. One such event that Sprudge is proud to be a part of is bringing some great tastes from the Pacific Northwest to the City of Angels. Taking place Saturday, November 10th, Bellingham’s Camber Coffee is taking over Coffee Hall Chinatown for a full-day pop-up of doughnuts, competition, and a splash or two of natural wine.

The day kicks off at 10:00am with a little help from Seattle’s General Porpoise, who will be providing the “doughnut” portion of Camber’s Coffee + Doughnut (and ping-pong) festivities. With a little help from a few Dayglow baristas, Camber will be offering pairings of a rose cardamom iced latte and vanilla custard doughnut as well as a mulled spice latte with lemon curd doughnut.

Then at 5:00pm, the gloves are coming off and the spoons are coming out for a Guess The TDS cupping. For a $5 buy-in, attendees will be able to participate in the triangulation cupping competition where they will have to pick out which cup of each set of three has a slightly different TDS than the rest. The grand prize for the Guess The TDS cupping is a Ratio Eight brewer, with other prizes including a gold Acaia Pearl scale, a Baratza Virtuoso grinder, a matte white Fellow Stagg EKG kettle, and a ton of goodies from Camber.

Once all the dust has settled from the rip-roaring, sip-slurping action, things are going to get considerable more chill with a natural wine happy hour. Starting at 7:00pm, a donation wine bar featuring a nice list from Amy Atwood Selections—provided by Oatly—will take over the space. Wines include Swick Wine‘s WB Pinot Noir, Holden’s Pretty Things Rosé, Chateau Barouillet’s Splash!, and Dufaitre’s Prémices 2017. All proceeds from the wine bar will go to Ground for Health, a non-profit organization working to treat and prevent cervical cancer in coffee origins.

After you’ve tied on one or two, join up with Portland’s Deadstock Coffee at 9:00pm for a little karaoke.

There are going to be so many cool things happening the weekend of November 10th in LA, but make sure you stop by Camber’s pop-up at Coffee Hall and have a splash with your friends at Sprudge. Because if there’s coffee and natural wine, you know we’ll be there.

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 Camber Is Popping Up At Coffee Hall During The LA Coffee Festival appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Casa Quilha is a place to come and linger with a coffee—or beer. Whether you want to read a book, meet a friend, or have a gathering, the great atmosphere and the cheery founders welcome you. Partners Luciana Araújo (former partner at Objeto Encontrado), Ricardo Theodoro, Kauê Blass, and Bruno Terra undeniably gave life to the somewhat uncharted part of Brasilia their cafe calls home.

“We wanted it to be a home, for us, our customers, and our projects,” Araújo says. She is in charge of the kitchen and the coffee bar. She has a passion for coffee, but now is also giving room to other passions, such as cooking—many of the cafe’s recipes are hers—and soon, possibly, sewing. Yes, sewing—Casa Quilha is meant to host its partners’ “makers” projects. The below-ground floor houses Theodoro’s woodwork atelier, showcasing beautiful Imbuia pieces, and the second floor will soon be used as Araújo’s atelier. The idea is to focus on sewing, but that might change too, following Casa Quilha’s natural pace. Araújo prefers to keep the mystery.

Casa Quilha is located in an area where there are many mechanic workshops, but no cozy cafes.

“It was just perfect,” says Araújo. “In the end of the street you suddenly bump into a cafe heaven, you see dogs, bikes, children running outside. It doesn’t resemble other cafes in the capital.” In fact, Casa Quilha doesn’t look like Brasília at all. Being a modernist planned city, all of Brasília’s commercial locations sort of look the same. It’s very difficult to make a place feel unique. But Casa Quilha figured it out naturally, with a public square acting as its backyard. “Everything felt just right, plus the rent prices here were way more affordable,” Araújo says. Casa Quilha’s is a mixed block, where there are houses and local commerces antithetical to the capital’s original planning.

Everything served at the cafe is made in-house. Don’t dare leave without trying their dark and white chocolate cookie, perhaps the best in Brazil, and the lime and almond cake, a recipe by Blass. Casa Quilha serves a salt smoked with Imbuia wood offcuts—courtesy of Theodoro—which is used to smoke salmon that tops bruschetta. Theodoro’s woodwork is everywhere, from the benches to the balcony to the storefront, and many of his pieces are for sale. In fact, demand has been so high he can’t keep up. “It’s been really amazing, people come for coffee and end up taking a piece of art home,” Araújo says.

Although the cookies and the cake are already the house’s signatures, Casa Quilha’s menu will change seasonally. They are listening to their customers’ needs and will adapt however feels natural for them and for their community. The menu will grow and change as Casa Quilha’s partners grow and change as well.

“We have a backbone menu that is fixed, which are the hot drinks, cakes, sandwiches, and cookies, and the rest will evolve and change with time,” Araújo says. This is in part because Casa Quilha is a place made of connections—with suppliers and customers. The coffee used is sourced by Aha! Cafés, the first quality-focused micro-roastery in Brasilia. João Pedro Freitas, one of Aha! Cafés’ partners, even authored a drink recipe to be served at Casa Quilha: the Zest Brew. It’s a double shot of espresso, lemon juice, ginger syrup, gin, and lime zest, and has already become part of the fixed drinks menu.

“We do our best to follow our suppliers and respect their timing. Some things that we serve are cyclical, such as our kombucha, ceramics, and coffee. Everything must follow its seasonality, and will change accordingly. That’s the beauty of it,” Araújo says. The goods sold at Casa Quilha rotate too. At any given time, you’ll find them selling anything from preserves to natural cosmetics to ceramics to tiles, all made by local “makers” who are close to Quilha’s founders. 

“It’s not that we specifically chose to sell this jewelry here, for example,” Araújo says. “It’s the supplier’s philosophy that matched ours, therefore making it a fit to be sold here.” As for Casa Quilha’s in-house ceramics, they’re made by Araújo’s mom, and each piece is slightly different from the last.

Araújo doesn’t own a car, and only rides her bike in the capital. Casa Quilha encourages customers to do the same: they offer a free espresso—or cookies, depending on the day—for customers who come riding their bikes. Fellow partner Terra is also “pro-bike,” and works with issues of urban mobility. Casa Quilha’s bike rewards are intended to be a small solution for Brazil’s dependence on fossil fuels, as well as its frequent economic and political-based fuel shortages.

“We need to rethink our transportation options, and by offering an espresso we are trying, little by little, to incentivize that,” Araújo says.

Once a week, Casa Quilha promotes a Happy Hour celebration and stays open until 10pm. You come for the coffee and stay for the beer, and the vibe. And the incredible cookies. Don’t forget the cookies.

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

Photos by Ricardo Theodoro.

The post In Brasília, Casa Quilha Is A Space For Makers appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Have you ever thought about joining the ranks of the competition barista but weren’t sure if it was for you? How do I pick a coffee? What should my theme be? How much time and money will it cost to compete? Am I even going to enjoy it? If this is you, Counter Culture is here to help. Tomorrow, November 1st at 1:00pm PST (4:00pm EST), all Counter Culture training centers in the United States will host Pro Tips: A Guide To Barista Competition and Brewers Cup.

Taking place in 12 cities across the country—Asheville, Atlanta, the Bay Area, Boston, Charleston, Chicago, Dallas (happening at The Common Desk in Deep Ellum), Durham, Los Angeles, New York, Seattle, and Washington DC—each Pro Tips event will feature ”local experts giving us the rundown on current competition structure, scoresheets, and the tips they’ve picked up over the years,” per the Facebook event page.

Participants will then be able to submit questions to “former champions and current judges from both competitions” who will answer them over a livestreamed Q&A.

Pro Tips: A Guide To Barista Competition and Brewers Cup is free to attend for all interested parties. To find the Counter Culture training center nearest you, visit their official website. For more information on the event, check out the Facebook event page here.

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

Disclosure: Counter Culture is an advertising partner with the Sprudge Media Network.

The post Learn The Coffee Competition Ropes From Counter Culture appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News