Honolulu Coffee Archives - Page 32 of 74 - The Curb Kaimuki

You might remember last week’s Polar Vortex, the cold front that wreaked havoc across much of the Midwest, sending the news media into a bit of a tizzy as it went. At the same time as temperatures in Fargo, North Dakota, were bottoming out at -31°, a few thousand miles to the south the Brazilian robusta harvest was literally burning on the trees.

In the eastern states of Bahia and Espirito Santo, which together produce more than 80 percent of Brazil’s robusta crop, maximum temperatures have been as much as 14° above average for this time of year. According to Bloomberg, coffee trees are enduring nine hours a day of high-80s temperatures in full sun, essentially roasting the beans inside their cherries while still on the branch.

Although robusta is notoriously hardier than its more fussy cousin arabica, the lack of shade crops on these enormous farms work against it in the case of drought or intense heat. While rain is forecast for the coming week, it probably won’t be enough to bring real respite, which means the exposed trees will continue to blister in the sun for the time being

A record robusta harvest had been predicted for Brazil this year, with the high production being suggested as one of the reasons for the collapse of the C price in the fall. What this mini heatwave does to coffee prices in the short term remains to be seen, but the reality is that climate change will continue to unleash more extreme, increasingly unpredictable weather patterns. It seems as though this sort of story, like the shattering cold of the Polar Vortex, is likely to become routine.

Fionn Pooler is a journalist based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and the publisher of The Pourover. Read more Fionn Pooler on Sprudge.

Top image via Bloomberg.

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Source: Coffee News

Ron Joyce (left) with co-founder Tim Horton.

Ron Joyce, the co-founder of Canada’s Tim Hortons, has died. The Nova Scotia native passed away at age 88 on Thursday, January 31st, per the CBC.

The name Ron Joyce may not be as immediately recognizable Alfred Peet or the growing-more-sullied-by-the-minute Howard Schultz, at least on the south side of the Canadian border, but it plays no less a role in the popularity of coffee in North America. Starting as the first franchisee working alongside co-founder and NHL hockey player Tim Horton—whom, as per a note from our website’s founders, “could get it“—Joyce started with a single shop in 1964, “[knowing] ‘zero’ about making doughnuts when he went in for his first shift,” quoth the CBC.

10 years later, after Horton’s death in a car crash, Joyce took over full ownership of the business, building it into the billion-dollar global brand it is today. There are currently over 4,500 locations worldwide, not including the scheduled 1,500 new storefronts planned to open in China over the next decade.

Robert Thompson, the co-author of Joyce’s autobiography tells of the indispensable role Joyce played in creating the Tim Hortons brand:

We probably won’t see that kind of invention — somebody just create something that has such broad appeal across Canada that’s so instantaneously relatable to the Canadian experience. We just don’t see that now, and we probably won’t see it again. And so in that regard, he’s a legend.

In a statement released by the family, Joyce is said to have passed on peacefully in his Burlington, Ontario home surrounded by loved ones.

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 Tim Hortons

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Source: Coffee News

“Our goal is to be part of the fabric of the Arts District.”

That’s the word of Kyle Glanville, co-founder and co-entrepreneur at Go Get Em Tiger, an independent Los Angeles roaster-retail cafe brand. I’m speaking to him today from inside GGET’s newest cafe, a 400-square-foot space in the heart of LA’s teeming Arts District. We’re just a few blocks from where, all the way back in 2011, Handsome Coffee (RIP) planted a flag for specialty coffee in this neighborhood at 582 Mateo. (It is now a Blue Bottle.)

The vibe here at Go Get Em feels industrial and hip—there is a Shinola retail store next door, natch—but shot through with an approach to clean space and line art that evokes the company’s first cafe space in LA, over on Larchmont. The two cafes are about six miles apart, but the aesthetic difference between neighborhoods cannot be overstated. There is also another new GGET in Highland Park, east of the Los Angeles River, in the same building as Highland Park Natural Wine. The brand plans to open several new cafes (plural) across the Los Angeles region in 2019 and 2020.

Kyle Glanville (right) with co-founder Charles Babinski, photographed in Highland Park.

But here on E. 3rd, the bar is outfitted with GGET’s favorite La Marzocco PB, in deep tiger orange, paired with Mazzer grinders. There is house-made almond milk, freshly turned. Watching over the baristas stands a female boxer with her fists raised. The simple line art stands out thanks to her red gloves, drawing your eyes to the corner where she waits. The art evokes a classic, knowingly retro Pee-Chee folders style, which Glanville describes as a fundamental part of the brand. “We want characters who are doing something remarkable,” he tells me.

An in-house design team handled the space’s slight expansion and outfitting. This is the first time GGET has handled all the design work themselves, a sure sign the company is growing. The centerpiece of the industrial architecture is a floor-to-ceiling garage-style door with windows to let in light and framed by reinforced steel beams. Floating shelves on a wall across from the bar display all their retail coffee, the pastel bright packages serving as both tempting retail and cheery candy-colored decor. A rack of GGET shirts hangs in the window, and against the wall next to the bar are other shelves of home-brewing retail, as well as more swag. Like Larchmont, GGET Arts District has a long bar where customers can stand and order from anywhere. There are a couple of two-tops outside for soaking up the sun, and people watching the busy neighborhood.

The food menu here is more compact than say, at the brand’s Los Feliz spot, where food is a major focus. “We want to focus on the hits,” says Glanville, “but we’re walking a perilous line.” He means to make sure that GGET remains a coffee shop in the public eye, instead of being perceived as a restaurant. “Food here should orbit the gravitational pull of the coffee,” Glanville explains, which means you can get stuff like waffles, granola, or a frittata here in the Arts District. It’s food that wants to live with coffee.

This Arts District location opened in late 2018, and it marks just the latest growth iteration for a part of Los Angeles that’s become synonymous with generational change. In the last 15 years, this neighborhood has experienced a renaissance, moving from abandoned buildings, through artist lofts, to a more bourgeois crowd with the money for luxury lofts and curated boutiques. But the undercurrent remains friendly and a little bohemian—there’s a reason why Hollywood films so many New York City scenes on these blocks—and the staff reflects back the same vibe. Though by no means the only coffee shop in the area (there are three other shops serving coffee within spitting distance), GGET has already drawn their regulars and is consistently busy.

“The most gratifying experience is when you can be early to a neighborhood that is coming into itself,” Glanville says, and you can see it happening before your very eyes through the cafe’s windows onto 3rd. The block is bustling, and streams naturally into part of the SCI-Arc campus, the gallery Hauser & Wirth, and the half-dozen boutiques and dozen restaurants nearby. “The Arts District chews up and spits out coffee shops,” he laughs, the implication being—but not this one. Only time will tell, but a strong set of opening months seems to portend well for the future of Go Get Em in the Arts District. They seem ready to sink their claws in and stick around for the long haul.

Valorie Clark (@TheValorieClark) is a freelance journalist based in Los Angeles. Read more Valorie Clark on Sprudge.

Photos courtesy of Go Get Em Tiger. 

The post In The Los Angeles Arts District, Go Get Em Tiger Feels Right At Home appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Prague is a city of meeting points: east and west, old and new, ornate and understated, meticulously restored and graffitied. The city is small—you can explore most of it in a day. It’s charming, and during prime tourist season, crowded. Prague’s architecture also has a sort of Disney World feel. For that reason, the city’s cafes feel like havens in a storm—they are windows into the everyday Prague—the native city frequented by residents alone.

That’s not to say that the tourist’s Prague isn’t worth a visit. It is. There’s the Astronomical Clock and Tyn Church in Old Town, Wenceslas Square in New Town, and the Charles Bridge on the way to Mala Strana and Prague Castle. They are destinations that make Prague itself. Tyn Church’s high Gothic architecture makes it look like Maleficent’s castle. Wenceslas Square is where Vaclav Havel addressed the people at the end of the Velvet Revolution to welcome the end of Communism. And Prague Castle is not just impressive but also affords some of the best views of the city.

The city doesn’t seem to really wake up until mid-morning, so if you rise a little early, it’s likely you’ll only have to share these spots with a few other people—or possibly with no one but yourself. But be advised, Prague’s late wakeup time also applies to most cafes. Of course, they also tend to stay open later and usually serve beer and wine in addition to coffee.

Speaking of beer, or pivo, it’s cheap, abundant, and really good in Prague. So is gulas (think goulash), knedliky (bread dumplings), and schnitzel. And so, of course, is coffee.

Whatever you’re looking for, this guide will help you navigate Prague’s streets and abundant green spaces in its pursuit at the city’s various cafes.

EMA Espresso Bar

Conveniently located near the city’s main train station, EMA can easily be your entree into Prague’s coffee scene. Owned by roastery Alf&Bet along with two other businesses, including the Cafe Lounge and EMA II, EMA is a bustling cafe that retains a laidback air despite high traffic. Unusually, EMA doesn’t just serve Alf&Bet coffee, but also JB Kaffe, SlowMov, Drop, Candycane, Double Shot, and Gardelli.

A La Marzocco Strada produces two daily espresso options on EMA’s menu. They use a Moccamaster, V60, and AeroPress for drip coffee, and offer a food menu of mostly sandwiches, salads, and baked goods. If you’re craving something else, EMA is just a block away from Manifesto Market.

EMA is certainly known by visitors to the city, but as barista and sensory development coach Anna Markova says, EMA is still a Czech hangout and meeting spot.

Kavarna Misto 

Tucked into the residential part of the Bubenec neighborhood right behind Prague Castle, Misto achieves the intimacy of a Victorian house while still remaining light, bright, and open. Illustrator Katerina Kynclova’s colorful hand-drawn wallpaper and simple Scandi-mod furniture help to open up the private feel of the space.

Misto exclusively serves coffee from its own roastery, Double Shot, which also has four other locations, one of which is in the aforementioned Manifesto Market. They offer batch brew made on a Marco Shuttle Brewer or single cups of coffee made with a rotating selection of brewing methods—Clever, V60, or AeroPress. The bar sports a Kees van der Westen Spirit Triplette. Misto features table service, not unlike many Czech cafes, and offers excellent food, baked goods, and alcohol menus.

Their coffee menu changes constantly, and always includes a featured drink. Ask long-time Double Shot barista and green buyer Ondrej Hurtik what his favorite Irish coffee is at the moment—during a recent visit, it was a concoction of Nikka Japanese whiskey, coconut blossom nectar sugar, and Double Shot’s washed Burundi or Ethiopia espresso. They also serve coffee flights with an accompanying palette quiz!

OneSip Coffee 

OneSip is delightfully tiny and invites the use of the word “quaint.” Though the cafe owners Adam Gaszczyk and Zdenek Hybl founded their own roastery, Candycane, in 2017, the cafe has continued to use Round Hill Roastery’s coffee in addition to its own. In fact, OneSip was Eddie Twitchett’s first international Round Hill wholesale account. Though small, everything about this cafe has a thoughtful and bespoke feel, from the beverages served to their Acme cups. A Kees van der Westen Mirage Idrocompresso is the focal point of OneSip’s bar—batch brew is made with a FETCO. Baked goods come from Cafe Jen and are accompanied by a selection of Ajala chocolate bars.

Though located in the heart of Old Town, this cafe is on a quiet side street. Looking through its open window, past the bouquet of fresh flowers, you can fool yourself into thinking you’re in a much smaller city than Prague, despite the popular club, a gigantic shopping center, and Old Town Hilton all within walking distance.

Double B

Just between Narodni Muzeum and Namesti Miru sits Double B. A perfect space to chill and do work, this cafe has window seats with tables custom made to suit. Double B is actually a Russian coffee house franchise, with locations in Russia and several countries throughout Europe and the Middle East. While Double B has a couple of locations in Prague, this one is the oldest and is also home to their roastery, which supplies coffee to their cafes and many of their wholesale accounts outside of Russia.

Part-owner and manager Evelyn Beinarovicha says each cafe is designed differently, according to the owner’s taste, but all of them have the same bar. There is no batch brew here, because Beinarovicha, “Likes to prepare every coffee in a special way.” V60, AeroPress, Bonavita, and Lungo are all offered alongside a menu of seasonal drinks made with in-house syrups and flavors. In summer, the cafe has a large outdoor terrace and is always dog-friendly.

Original Coffee

Nestled in Old Town, just south of the Sex Machines Museum between Charles and Legion Bridge is Original Coffee. A minimalist, sans-serif, Kinfolk-y vibe reminds you of the apartments of those friends (everyone has them) who have Etsy shops and use their apartments to shoot beautiful product photographs.

The walls here are white and display polaroid photos hung on twine with binder clips as well as local artists’ work. Original serves its own roastery’s coffee, which has beautifully nice packaging. Filter coffee comes courtesy of a Moccamaster, AeroPress, Chemex, V60, or French press. Espresso is made on a Fiorenzato Ducale. Homemade lemonades and special hot chocolates are also on the menu, as well as soups, sandwiches, pastries, beer, and wine. Even on the busiest days, Original feels tucked away from the madding crowd.

Dos Mundos Cafe

Dos Mundos has a cafe/roastery located near Namesti Miru, as well as a cafe near Stromovka Park, Exhibition Palace, and, fittingly, Coffee Museum Prague. The lattermost cafe has some beautiful graphic design elements, including a black and white wall mural, unique floor tiles, and gold-accented built-in shelves, giving the place a clean design and modern feel. Plus, there are swing seats. Yes, you read that correctly. Some of the seats in the cafe are actually red swings suspended from the ceiling.

The cafe exclusively serves Dos Mundos coffee. Every day it features two filter coffees, both as batch brew made on a Moccamaster and also as V60 and AeroPress. They also offer cold brew made in a drip tower. A San Remo Opera espresso machine fronts the bar. Like many cafes, they also serve beer and wine as well as pastries. The surrounding neighborhood has some excellent examples of Brutalist architecture and just around the corner is Mr. HotDoG, a cheap and great spot for anyone who comes down with a craving for that particularly American cuisine. Dos Mundos is the perfect haven to enjoy a refreshing drink after exploring nearby parks and museums on a hot day.

Honorable Mentions:

La Boheme Cafe: owned by an American and located near Namesti Miru, the cafe has a shabby chic eclectic vibe and exclusively serves its own coffee, each order of which comes with an information card.

Urban Cafe: walking distance to EMA Espresso Bar, Urban Cafe has a cool design and an industrial feel with a feature wall of plants and neon purple lights. They serve Fjord Coffee from Berlin.

Rachel Grozanick is a freelance journalist based in Portland, Oregon. Grozanick has contributed previously to Bitch Magazine, 90.5 WESA in Pittsburgh, and 90.7 KBOO in Portland. Read more Rachel Grozanick on Sprudge.

The post The Sprudge Guide To Coffee In Prague appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

The Polar Vortex happened. It was really, really cold. So cold, in fact, that Chicago, a place of both extreme heat and cold, said, “screw it, we’re not doing coffee today.” It was so cold that the temperatures in Chicago were lower than the temperatures in Antarctica (and don’t let Joe Marrocco tell you otherwise).

Humans have developed a few quirky attributes during their time on this rock. One time-honored trait—wearing shorts in the freezing cold—has been well–documented during this most recent flurry. But a new trait has emerged. Presumably stemming from whatever part of the brain makes people wear shorts in sub-zero temperatures has produced a new breed of humans, ones who drink iced coffee as the Arctic Tundra falls down around them.

And it’s not an isolated event. Reports are coming in from New York and Washington, D.C. that folks are not only braving the elements to get coffee, but are, of their own recognizance, ordering cold coffee. It’s truly baffling. And as the Gothamist reports, even TV stars like the Daily Show’s Roy Wood Jr. are making iced coffee pit stops. I guess iced coffee is still technically warmer than it is outside? I have no idea what’s going on.

According to GayStarNews, there is only one answer to this rash of unexplainable coffee behavior: gay people. The article notes a penchant for iced coffee amongst the gay community, a trope explored elsewhere online, such as the popular Instagram account @Best_Of_Grindr. And while it doesn’t say for sure that any of the folks taking part in this current trend are queer, they aren’t not saying it either. My baptist music minister once told teenaged me that the gays would lead to society’s downfall (true story), but I don’t think he meant via frostbite from an iced coffee run.

Thankfully, the coldest days appear to be behind us. Now everyone can return to drinking coffee in temperatures only slightly below that of their beloved iced coffee. Because let’s be honest, it seems you were going to do it anyway, regardless of the current climate.

As I write this, I’m realizing the harsh truth that I have and will forever and ever drink hot coffee during the heat of the Texas summers. I see now what a hypocrite I am. So go enjoy your cold in the cold coffee, you holy fools. Know that your brother from another weather supports you.

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 the City of New York

The post The Polar Vortex Didn’t Stop People From Drinking Iced Coffee appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

We’re looking for twenty people who are changing the world of coffee. And we need your help.

Welcome to The Sprudge Twenty—presented by Pacific Foods Barista Series. The Sprudge Twenty is a new annual initiative honoring and amplifying leaders in the specialty coffee community. We believe that the future of coffee is being written right now, by the people who work in the coffee every day. The strength of this community is in its membership: the mentors and leaders as well as the young strivers and future game-changers. Baristas and farmers, traders and teachers, entrepreneurs and original voices—our hope is that by identifying those exemplifying what’s special about coffee, we will be able to uplift and center their stories to the entire world.

But Sprudge and Pacific can’t do it alone—we need you, our readers, to tip us off to the individuals who best exemplify what makes coffee special in 2019. This is an open call to our global network of readers and partners: nominate people in your business or community who exemplify excellence, leadership, and the future of coffee. Mentors can nominate their young students; owners can nominate a member of their core staff; or cafe patrons/coffee lovers of all kinds can nominate their favorite baristas or roasters.

Nominations can be submitted in any language, in the form of an original essay, audio nomination, or video recording, so that there is no barrier to submission. Entry is 100% free for all thanks to the support of Pacific Foods Barista Series.

Winners will receive a series of spotlight features highlighting their stories and causes on Sprudge, as well as mentorship opportunities from Pacific Foods Barista Series, and much more to be announced in the weeks and months to come. Nominations are now open through March 4th, 2019.

To nominate someone in your community for The Sprudge Twenty, simply fill out this form below, and visit sprudge.com/twenty for updates in the weeks to come.

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Source: Coffee News

For all the good will former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has built up over the years, he’s wasted little time in throwing it all away in the whirlwind few days since announcing his potential presidential bid. After taking to Twitter to pre-announce his bid as a “centrist independent,” Schultz has been criticized for potentially splitting the democratic vote, effectively handing over re-election to the Republicans. He has since gone on to defend billionaires, refer to himself as “self-made,” and take aim at the progressive polices of New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. For a centrist, Schultz sure has spent a lot of time the past four days taking shots at those to his left, forgetting presumably what new hell sits at his right and the consequences of splitting its opposition.

Now, according to the Huffington Post, Starbucks is trying to get out in front of the blowback with their recent internal “Baristas Need-To-Know” updating with talking points on how to handle questions about Schultz’s potential presidential bid.

You really have to feel for Starbucks baristas. They already catch the brunt of the ire the conservatives want to fling toward Schultz. And now they’re going to hear about it from the other side. Their only friends, it seems, are the centrists, should such a group even exist in the current US political dichotomy.

For the coffee chain’s weekly internal update, partners (the Starbucks term for employees) are given instructions on how to handle customers’ questions about Schultz’s new book From the Ground Up as well as bullet points for redirecting any interactions that involve Schultz’s political aims:

Give the biggest non-answer you can muster, essentially. Which is probably a smart tack for the company, considering the Starbucks baristas quoted in the HuffPo article have called his potential bid “extremely awful” and saying things we are all already painfully aware of, “Just because you’re a businessman does not mean you’re also a stellar leader.” One barista even went as far as to say that voting for Schultz “would be voting against [their] family’s economic security.”

So please, no matter whether you’ve hated Howard Schultz for years or have only recently come to dislike him, please, please, please, don’t take it out on the baristas. They’re just trying to make coffee and pick up a pay check.

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

The post Starbucks Has Talking Points On How To Avoid Talking About Howard Schultz appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

News flash, breaking, extra extra: working on an espresso machine all day long is fucking bad for you.

Repetitive motions in the workplace that engage small muscle groups can lead to serious injury. This not a theoretical construct. It is a reality with which the coffee industry must grapple going forward if it intends to protect its own and develop paths to career longevity. It’s not going away.

So—what if we just said like, “no“? What if through a combination of research and implementation, the coffee industry stepped up and made a concerted choice not injure its own? The worst thing about “barista wrist” is that it is, at least in theory, largely an avoidable condition. We can, in theory, invent our way out of it, design and engineer our way into a better reality for the baristas who help drive coffee as a culture and community.

What’s changing is the “in theory” part. This style of new tech is fast emerging, and now today La Marzocco has stepped into the fray in a major way. Today they’ve launched a new espresso machine, the KB90, that addresses the ergonomic reality of the barista profession in what I think is a fundamentally transformative and disruptive way. They’ve done so by correcting one of the main stress points: the small muscle movement motion by which a portafilter locks into the espresso machine grouphead.

The result may be the most ergonomic espresso machine ever made.

Think about it with me for a minute. On a traditional espresso machine—any brand, including all versions heretofore of gear by La Marzocco—you have a portafilter in one hand, and it’s your job to get that portafilter to lock in to a little set of pin locks hidden in a grouphead. You place the portafilter unseen in the grouphead, then you twist a little bit with your wrist, maybe adjust with your thumb, and the portafilter locks into place.

This motion, though intimidating as all get out for new baristas (and journalists!), has long been accepted as “the way things are done” when using an espresso machine. That’s despite the fact that injuries directly related to the motion are literally among the most costly and time consuming injuries in all of food and beverage service.

On the KB90 you are required to make no such blind twisting motion. Instead you get the portafilter to click into the grouphead by simply… sliding the portafilter straight forward. It is deceptively simple both in concept and practice, but the engineering, design, and concepting work around it took years to perfect.

Using the mechanism feels like clicking on a pair of ski boots, or plugging in the Rumble Pak attachment to the controller of your N64. (I realize this reference dates me.) There is a uniquely satisfying haptic response, with bumpers that give a wonderful “click” sensation when the portafilter pops into place. Kent Bakke—who served as CEO of La Marzocco for decades—has been working since the late 90s to perfect this technology, and now, in the hands of the La Marzocco R&D team, that work is a reality. There is a reason why this is the first La Marzocco espresso machine named after an American.

The overall effect is tough to put into words; you simply have to click in and try it for yourself, which you’ll be able to do at upcoming marquee trade shows like Host and the 2019 SCA Event in Boston. There you’ll have the chance to see some of the other cool stuff this machine can do, including an automated group flush option that increases efficiency; a “Pro Touch” steam wand that uses double walled stainless steel to regulate temperature (no more burning the shit out of yourself on accident!); drip prediction tech adapted from the Modbar AV; improved ease of access for maintenancing the steam wand; and a design aesthetic that evokes the square block retro-futurist techno-chunk of a 1980s Ferrari, or the motorbike from Akira.

But even sitting here, writing this, a week or so removed from my preview time with the machine at LM USA headquarters in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood, I can still hear and feel that satisfying *click*. There’s really nothing else quite like it.

“It’s fun,” Scott Guglielmino tells me. He’s a career espresso tech who has worked his way up through the company, starting first as an advisor on the Strada “street team,” to his role today as La Marzocco’s Global Product Manager. “Working on this machine is fun. But it also allows you to speed up while reducing hypertension—it’s supposed to be both fun and safe.”

Think about that for a second. Both fun and safe. Isn’t that the dream? In our shitshow of a toxic modern society, a slurry of constant aggressions both overt and micro, I think this might be all I really want in the world. For something to genuinely be both safe and fun.

La Marzocco conducted and outsourced a range of studies, including with the Italian ergonomics consultancy Faentia, that found the new tech in their filter holder required a lower amount of muscle engagement, could be used with the same efficiency by both left and right handed baristas, kept the forearm in a neutral position throughout usage of the machine, and engaged the whole arm-hand-wrist system while disengaging, as opposed to isolating movement to the hands and thumbs (a precursor for repetitive stress injury). It requires less total muscle engagement. It takes less time to train on. Execution time is shortened. As per the Faentia study this machine is safer and more efficient to use than the previous iteration of La Marzocco machines by a factor of twelve. 

It is both safe and fun.

There’s lots of ways to write about a new espresso machine, and at this point in my career (Sprudge turns ten years old this fall) I’ve done pretty much every version: technical, design-focused, brand-y, trade show beat, press release reblog, and on and on. But my response to the machine was above all else emotional. Technology in the right hands, in the right moment, has the power to make us feel stuff. That is an extraordinary power! The full summation of man’s command of the world around us! The orangutan fishing for grub worms with a stick dipped in honey, the Apollo space program engineer sending man to the moon and back on less computing power than an iPhone—a continuum of invention and innovation dating back before recorded memory, indeed, responsible for the technology to record memory in the first place. We can design and invent ourselves out of anything, from the earth to the heavens, including something as relatively conquerable and quantifiable as barista wrist.

The result is a sea change that I think is going to be integrated into the next several waves of espresso machine technology, wherein approaching any project with a health and safety mindset becomes not a novelty, not a disruption, but a basic tenet and focal point across the whole big wide world of coffee tech. This is a very good thing! Let’s see more R&D like this, more products dedicated to workplace safety for baristas, especially those without  subsidized access to healthcare. In twenty years I hope we look at “barista wrist” the same way we look at second hand smoke: a once-accepted workplace hazard of yesteryear. Big leaps in the interplay between tech and society quickly become mundane; that’s how you know they’ve been adopted. This is how you measure change.

This new espresso machine, the La Marzocco KB90, makes me optimistic about the future of coffee. What else is there really left to say?

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

For more on the La Marzocco KB90 visits its official website. 

Disclosure: La Marzocco is an advertising partner with the Sprudge Media Network

The post The La Marzocco KB90: Better Living Through Ergonomics appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

It is the great catch 22 of finding employment in the coffee industry (any industry really). In order to get a job you need experience, but you can’t get that experience without having a job. But the climb isn’t over yet. Baristas who want to transition to other areas of the coffee industry can find themselves facing the same conundrum. But in a new event, the Houston Coffee Collective is helping to close the gap between experience needed and experience possessed. Happening Tuesday, February 5^th, Lift and Learn is a free event teaching tech, barista, and brewing skills to coffee professionals and would-be professionals alike.

Taking place at GEVA Coffee, Lift and Learn is a collaborative effort between the HCC, Urnex, and Counter Culture that will give attendees a chance to learn “tech building preventative maintenance skills” and “barista brewing and espresso skills.” Led by Pit Crew’s Allen Leibowitz, Counter Culture’s Eli Ramirez, and Blacksmith’s Antoine Franklin, folks can sign up for classes on steam wand rebuilds, grinder preventative maintenance, basic hand skills, and espresso fundamentals.

It’s not all learning (and lifting) though, food trucks will be on-site for anyone who works up an appetite, and beer is being sponsored by Slow Pour Supply. A hard day’s works deserves a coldie, y’know.

The event gets started at 6:00pm at GEVA Coffee on Tuesday, February 5^th. Attendance is free, but an RSVP is required via Eventbrite, which can be done here. For more information, visit the Houston Coffee Collective’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 the Houston Coffee Collective

Disclosure: Counter Culture and Urnex are advertising partners with the Sprudge Media Network

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Source: Coffee News

The social and political climates of every economy in our world are undergoing widespread change. Whether or not it’s realized, the laws of our lands and the commentary that comes with them affect every facet of our lives. Coffee isn’t immune to this—as a global industry, it depends on the exploitation of black and brown farmers and international laws of trade to thrive.

We look to coffee professionals in Iran, who are currently barred from participating in SCA events and WCE competitions thanks to the Trump administration, and Guatemalans leaving coffee behind in search for a better, safer life. Not only are these examples of the close relationship coffee has with politics, but the way our media portrays these people and events often demonizes them instead of informing the general public. As a result, portions of this public sometimes feel emboldened to react in dangerous ways.

In the state of Victoria in Australia, similar things are happening. Over the last year, unfair, racist media and political persecution has heavily affected Sudanese-Australians. Apparently, Melbourne is experiencing a rise in violence due to “African gangs,” but this is a myth. The sensationalism by Australian media outlets is doing more harm to these communities than good.

In the world of coffee, stepping in to stand up for the underserved and wrongly persecuted has become a new norm. It’s an acknowledgement of the very communities that produce the fruit an entire industry is built off of. From Sprudge’s multiple national fundraisers for refugees and asylum seekers to Department of Brewology’s Filter Coffee, Not People campaign—both helped send a message in strong support of people banned at US borders.

1951 Coffee Company in Berkeley, California offers employment to refugees also. Across the world in Singapore, Bettr Barista puts its focus on at-risk youth and marginalised women within their own community.

Despite the industry as a whole often toeing the line of humanitarianism and White savior complexes, it’s needless to say: the world of coffee has a heart to act for the social good of people because people are its core.

But in Melbourne—a city globally known and highly revered for its cafe culture—there rings a silence toward mobilizing for this cause in the coffee scene.

This isn’t true for every cause—there was an outpouring of community support for Australia’s vote to legalize gay marriage, and cafes have worked together nationally to raise money for the homeless. Richmond cafe Long Street Coffee also joins the list of places that employ refugees and recent migrants to Australia. Since we are in the age of coffee businesses utilizing their place in society as social third spaces to take strong stances for marginalized people everywhere, this could be an opportunity for Melbourne to join in. But as time passes, the current silence is beginning to speak volumes.

i.O.G.

In North Melbourne at Auction Rooms Cafe, three Sudanese-Australian artists—members of the collective Burn City Movement: Wantu Tha One, i.O.G, and Prince Leo—gather over coffee. They speak openly with Sprudge about their experience being seen as outsiders in a society they grew up in, and how the coffee community could play a role in fighting back against the political and media circus.

“Growing up in Australia was a wild experience,” i.O.G begins. He’s lived here almost half his life, having moved to Melbourne from South Sudan in 2006. “I grew up in the suburbs, where it was safer than most. Over the years, it’d been peaceful. But now it’s getting serious.”

I.O.G is referring to the recent rise in race-related incidents since the media’s reporting on the “African gang crisis” in the state of Victoria. This sensationalism has lingered in the media all year. Isolated incidents of South Sudanese youth committing crime have been exaggerated, so much so the Prime Minister himself spoke out against the so-called issue.

Wantu Tha One

“The Prime Minister of Australia is blurting out nonsense about African gangs and Sudanese-specific communities, while the police commissioner says this is far from a crisis; just a group of young people getting together now and again committing petty crimes,” says Wantu Tha One. “The statistics don’t add up to what they’re saying.”

And he’s right—crimes committed by Sudanese people in Victoria accounted for 1% of all crime in 2017. While many Victorians know and understand the demonization of South Sudanese people in Australia is to cause unwarranted fear for political party votes, Sudanese-Australians question why it comes at the expense of their own communities. At the same time, some are trying to find creative ways to address these problems while bringing everyone together.

This is where coffee can come in.

Wantu says, “The first thing—[Melbourne] coffee culture would have to find a way to welcome people of all backgrounds. And from there, we can feel more comfortable utilizing these spaces to come together.” Although they’re not the only black people in the cafe on this particular Sunday afternoon, they stand out. The stares from patrons of the cafe are glaringly apparent, but the vibe isn’t inherently unwelcoming.

“[Coffee shops] are more friendly in the city,” Wantu continues. “You find more open minds, and you’re greeted with a friendly smile. There are other areas where you walk into the shop and you feel out of place automatically.”

In the decades following the White Australia Policy ending in 1973, Australia promoted multiculturalism. The City of Melbourne proudly calls itself home to “one of the world’s most harmonious and culturally diverse communities,” reflected heavily in the city’s culinary spread, including coffee. But when you walk into one of the numerous cafes residents and tourists alike have to choose from, folks on both sides of the bar look mostly the same.

There’s a chance for Melbourne cafes to not only open their space to have these conversations and mobilize for the community, but offer jobs, as well. After all, being a barista is considered a serious profession in Australia—often viewed as a trade.

Certain politicians have suggested Sudanese people aren’t adjusting quickly enough to Australian culture. This is an interesting point to make considering the lack of support received overall after migration from a war-torn country to a society much different than their own. But maybe it’s here—at the coffee shop—where the lines that have clearly been drawn to divide Australians can begin to blur.

Prince Leo

Prince Leo asserts, “I don’t drink coffee on a daily basis, but I do respect the culture. Over here, it’s more than coffee. It’s social. It’s a vibe. We can use that to bring more awareness to what’s happening right now.”

The idea of spending time behind the espresso machine riles up the conversation as the group sips on cappuccinos and gazes at the baristas working. Wantu says, “Being a barista, you get to meet and connect with a lot of different people. And the idea of having coffee meet-ups to have a space for these connections could make a change.”

In a city where coffee is woven into the fabric of society, the amount of influence the coffee community has is immense. The community can take a stand for its fellow Australians and help change the narrative hurting Sudanese communities. If diversity is truly something we should champion and celebrate instead, standing by silently while certain groups of people are demonized is a step in the wrong direction.

Very recently, Victoria voted to re-elect Labor Party leader Daniel Andrews to office in the state elections. Similar to the American Democratic party, Victorians rejected “a campaign based on fear and division“ in overwhelming numbers. If this is truly the case, there’s no better time for the people of Victoria to band together and slow the ripple effects of this year’s political and media storm.

As Melbourne-based lawyer, activist, and Sudanese-Australian Nyadol Nyuon put it in the Saturday Paper:

“When the voting is done, and political careers are secured or lost, when the journalists put down their ‘pens’ and head to their families or bed, and when the publishers are onto the next story, the resultant scars from this episode of moral panic will still be carved into our lives. And they will still be there, weakening the ties that bind us into a shared identity as Victorians.”

Perhaps these ties can be strengthened again, if at the very least, over a cup of coffee.

Michelle Johnson (@thechocbarista) is the publisher of The Chocolate Barista. Read more Michelle Johnson on Sprudge.

The post In Melbourne, Debunking The African Gang “Crisis” Over Coffee appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News