Keep It Kaimuki Archives - Page 15 of 23 - The Curb Kaimuki

Although it is the world’s second-largest coffee producer, Vietnam has never had a reputation for producing high-quality Arabica. Robusta accounts for the majority of beans grown in the country, meaning that the likeliest place you’ve experienced Vietnamese coffee is in espresso blends—where it’s added for crema-improving qualities—or as instant, freeze-dried powder.

This year, three domestic producers are hoping to change that. Tran Nhat Quang from La Viet Coffee, Nguyen Dung from The Workshop, and Nguyen Canh Hung from Bosgaurus Coffee share a mutual vision of bringing Vietnamese Arabica’s overall quality up to specialty standards. By innovating growing and processing practices in Vietnam’s central highlands, they hope to develop a high-quality coffee production model that can scale. 

Bosgaurus Coffee’s Nguyen Canh Hung

The three chose to hone in on a single varietal for improvement—Catimor. Catimor, often typecast by the specialty coffee industry for its characteristics inherited from Robusta, is nonetheless widely planted in Vietnam due to its high yield and leaf rust resistance. Its quality improvement could, as a result, have a major impact on the country’s overall coffee quality, and affect a greater number of producers than that of any other varietal. 

The First Brick In The Wall

Broad changes to industry take time and effort. This year, the three producers focused on improving the cup quality from a single farm—owned and operated by Pham Manh Hung. They helped Pham implement harvesting and processing best practices across his five-hectare land area (about the size of seven soccer fields), which has a production capacity of 10 tons of Catimor per year.

Pham’s farm is located at 1,450 meters above sea level, in the Lam Dong region’s Cau Dat area—Lam Dong is where the majority of Arabica is cultivated in Vietnam, with varietals overwhelmingly constituted of Red and Yellow Catimor. Prior to this year, Pham had been planting commodity-grade coffee for 10 years. He decided to collaborate with La Viet, The Workshop, and Bosgaurus to raise his coffee quality to specialty standards. 

They began with the harvest.

Because strip harvesting is the norm in Vietnam, it is vital to provide producers with skills in selective picking. Wages for harvesting are typically paid by weight of picked cherry—to increase quality, that metric has to be shifted to cherry quality.

“Old habits die hard,” Bosgaurus Coffee owner Nguyen Canh Hung says of the implementation of quality-focused picking on Pham’s farm. “Although we paid pickers higher wages than the market standard, close monitoring and incentives to reward pickers were needed to improve quality. We gradually increased the percentage of ripe cherries picked, achieving 99% by the end of the harvest.”

Trust The Processing

Bosgaurus Coffee

For the owners of Bosgaurus, La Viet, and The Workshop, acquiring ripe cherries was just the first step in a longer journey to scale specialty grade coffee to Vietnam. The next step was applying innovative processing methods. Generally, processing is overlooked by the country’s coffee industry, and in fact is regarded as a potential risk to quality rather than a tool with which to improve it. The industry’s assumption as a whole is that the longer a coffee’s processing time, the higher the risk of beans being subject to unexpected weather changes. Bosgaurus’ Nguyen believes that changing this mindset is crucial, and that processing could become a positive agent of increasing quality if he can reduce its variability.

The three producers started by experimenting with a processing method borrowed from wine production called yeast fermentation. They bought yeasts from Fermentis—a company specializing in producing yeasts for beer and wine processing. Yeasts were hydrated and injected into fermentation tanks along with coffee seeds for different durations, between 22 and 72 hours. Every two hours during the fermentation process, data on moisture content, humidity, temperature, water quality, pH, and degrees Brix were measured and recorded.

After, washed beans were dried on raised beds for 20 days. Typically, Vietnamese Catimor tends to have a sharp acidity, with a woody and nutty flavor. Coffee from one recent batch of 72-hour yeast-processed Catimor prepared with a Hario V60, however, dazzled with a bright and fruity acidity more akin to Kenyan coffees—the mouthfeel was juicy and the aftertaste sweet. And although this particular brew had some of the varietal’s signature woody flavor, once cooled, the cup’s overall complexity was remarkable.

“For now, the exact effect of yeasts on coffee flavor remains to be seen,” Bosgaurus’ Nguyen says. “As this is a novel approach to coffee processing, we cannot say for sure which yeast strain will contribute which flavor to the coffee.”

He went on to explain that through a relationship with Lucia Solis, a prominent coffee fermentation designer currently experimenting with yeast fermentation processing in countries across South America, he was developing specific processing techniques to bring sweetness to Catimor’s flavor profile. They’re also finding that longer fermentation times appear to lend more complexity and higher cupping scores to coffees.

The quality specialists in Vietnam are also experimenting with a method of juice fermentation, which entails flushing fermentation tanks with water, yeast, and fresh, concentrated pineapple juice for a period of 36 hours. The juice provides nutrition for the yeasts, accelerating their microbial activity to add fruitier flavors to coffee. The end result of one juice fermentation trial was a sample aptly named “Pineapple,” whose cups had an aroma of tropical fruit, a citrus-like acidity, a hint of orange sweetness, tea-like body, and a chocolatey finish.

Along with the batches of yeast and juice-fermented coffees, a sample of anaerobic, naturally fermented Catimor was recently served at Bosgaurus in limited quantity. Nguyen says the goal for developing this particular method is to promote cup consistency.

Looking Forward

Vietnam’s reigning Barista Champion, Tran Han

Measuring the experiments on Pham’s farm in terms of their impact on cupping scores is already taking place.

“We sent samples to Johan & Nyström in Sweden, Toby’s Estate in Australia, and partners in Germany and Japan for blind cuppings,” Nguyen says. “In the United States, with the help of Modbar‘s Will Frith, our coffee was cupped at Sustainable Harvest.”

The results of these blind cuppings were striking. All samples received cupping scores between 82 and 84. As details about each coffee was revealed, those who had taken part in the exercise were surprised.  

“The change we achieved this year was promising,” Nguyen says. “We owe this success to the hard work of farmers and baristas from La Viet, The Workshop, and Bosgaurus. Next year, we want to keep up the good work and establish a stable production model, before replicating it on other farms in the region.”

For now, new facilities, equipment, and plans are already being prepared for Pham’s next crop.

Tung Nguyen is a freelance journalist based in Vietnam. This is Tung Nguyen’s first feature for Sprudge Media Network. 

The post Improving Vietnam’s Coffee Quality, One Variety At A Time appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Are you ready to Crush the Rush? No, I’m not talking about beating your YYZ high score on Guitar Hero, I’m talking about the new fast-paced espresso drink making competition by La Marzocco. Pitting teams of three in a head-to-head, bracket-style competition, Crush the Rush is making 10 stops on a US tour, and it is rolling through Portland June 26th. Sprudge Media Network is the official media sponsor of Crush the Rush, and along with national sponsor Oatly, we’ll be there every step of the way to gush about the rush crush.

The game is simple: you and two of your efficiency beast barista friends (Beastristas? Rabeastas? You get where I’m going with this) will go head-to-head against another team of three to see who can make eight randomly generated espresso-based drinks the fastest. But it’s not just speed, it’s quality. Each drink will be judged by both a technical and a visual judge to ensure all shots falls within competition parameters and to assess drinks based on cleanliness, microfoam quality, and fills level, respectively. If both judges vote “pass”, this the drink counts. If not, well then consider yourself wrapped up in the remake-it blanket. The last team standing will be crowned the winners and receive the $300 cash prize.

Both teams will be working on La Marzocco’s Strada AV (with scale technology) and a Mazzer E grinder to create their drinks. Teams are to bring five pounds of coffee to be used in the competition, but beyond that, nothing additional is required (other than the entry fee); in fact, teams are expressly prohibited from bringing anything else.

Crush the Rush will be visiting the following cities:
Portland, OR: June 26
San Francisco, CA: July 2
Los Angeles, CA: July 6
Houston, TX: July 17
Atlanta, GA: July 24
Washington, DC: July 30
Chicago, IL: August 7
Kansas City, MO: August 10
Denver, CO: August 14

Entry fee for Crush the Rush is $30 per team. Teams can sign up for their preferred city by following the links above. For more information and the full list of rules, visit La Marzocco’s official site. So grab your friends—the good ones, not the ones texting during the lunch rush—and prove your workflow dominance.

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

*all media via La Marzocco

The post Crush The Rush: A Ferociously Fast Barista Battle From La Marzocco appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

There are few things in this world better than starting your day with really good coffee and a really good bagel. But this, inexplicably, is exceedingly rare. It’s either a good cafe with a disappointing bread round or it’s a delicious, fluffy bagel but served with a side of black char water. And then there is Pavement Coffeehouse in Boston, Massachusetts, who started out as a bagel company before expanding their horizons into the world of coffee. It’s a match made in heaven.

And now, with their seventh location, Pavement is getting into the roasting game. Having long been a Counter Culture stalwart in the greater Boston area, Pavement is moving to the other side of the roaster to produce coffee for their own cafes, including their brand new roastery/cafe in a former warehouse for Harvard University. Roasting, baking, a cafe, everything that is right and good is all under one roof at the brand new Pavement Coffeehouse in Boston.

As told to Sprudge by Larry Margulies.

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

We are a local Boston company with seven cafe locations. We have our roots in the bagel business, providing our customers with fresh, kettle-boiled bagels. For the last 10 years we have been continually focused on pushing our coffee program forward to accompany our bagel program. We served Counter Culture Coffee at all locations and have recently built our own roasting facility.

Can you tell us a bit about the new space?

Our new space is the culmination of many years of planning. We’ve wanted to roast since 2011, but the company had other growth opportunities that had to come first. In time, we found ourselves with two separate bakery locations, a separate office location, and 6 cafes to manage. It took us a couple years to find the perfect location for us to bring the whole company together in a 5,000-square-foot building that could house our baking facilities, an office headquarters, a cafe, and most importantly a roasting space.

In 2016, Harvard University approached us about an old warehouse that they own. They were looking to invest in the building and “activate” it for the local community. The building needed a lot of work, but the location and size made it the perfect space for us. The partnership proved successful as we transformed a dilapidated, windowless warehouse, into a 20 seat cafe with patio, coffee roastery, bakery with a commissary kitchen, and office HQ.

What’s your approach to coffee?

Our customers are coming to us for our cafe environment, our bagels, and our coffee, so we serve coffees on our batch brewer that are delicious and approachable for a broad audience. For espresso, our Rathskeller Blend is typically a 50/50 blend of two washed coffees—one from Ethiopia and one from Central or South America. For the rest of our coffees, which we offer by the cup on a Poursteady in our new cafe and offered in retail bags at all of our locations, we look for interesting, dynamic, sparkly coffees from a variety of origins.

Any machines, coffees, special equipment lined up?

We are roasting on a Loring S15. We are loving the consistency of the roast and repeatability of workflow that the software and design allows. We are also psyched about Boston’s first Poursteady three-cup brewing system that we had installed. This lets us roast and feature coffees that are more unique and interesting in a single-cup format, while mitigating some of the service bottlenecks that can accompany manual brewing services.

What’s your hopeful target opening date/month?

We are open!

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

Shout out to Lana Kirby at Lana Kirby Design. She has designed all seven of our locations.

Thank you!

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

The post Build-Outs Of Summer: Pavement Coffeehouse In Boston, MA appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

June is Pride Month, and for a rad coffee expression of all that’s good about Pride (and not just another free shipping code), look no further than Boston. That’s where QC: Queer Coffee Events has teamed up with the Boston Intersectional Coffee Collective (BICC) for QC: Boston, “a panel discussion on being queer + coffee + Boston.”

Taking place Sunday, June 24^th at Counter Culture’s Somerville Training Center, QC: Boston is the work of BICC founder Kristina Jackson and 2018 US Brewers Cup champion Becca Woodard. The evening is billed as “[discussion] and [celebration of] the queer coffee experience in the greater Boston area,” and for Jackson, it’s a chance to bring an event back home. “After I spoke at Queer Coffee in New York, I got some feedback and messages saying that a bunch of younger coffee workers were excited to come to something that was more for them. I wanted to bring something like that to Boston,” Jackson tells Sprudge via email. “I want it to be a celebration. But I also want it to be a reminder that there is a vibrant and diverse queer presence in this city.”

For Woodard, whose Brewers Cup win came during the most controversial times in the competition’s history (you can read all about it here), QC: Boston is a chance to celebrate the community. “We have a beautiful bunch of people coming together to make this event happen,” Woodard tells Sprudge, “to speak about being LGBTQIA in the coffee industry here in Boston, and to celebrate! There are so many different faces that make up the Boston coffee community and I’m so glad I get to celebrate with all of them.”

QC: Boston gets started at 2:30pm with some snacks, beverages, hangs, and music from DJ MATH3CA before moving into the featured event, a discussion hosted by Jackson with a panel of local coffee professionals including: Mea Johnson, Montana Gulbrand, Ciara Ventura, and Amanda Swaney. After the talk, there will be more mingling, snacks, and drinks.

QC: Boston is free to attend, but the organizers ask that those looking to join in on the celebration RSVP via Eventbrite, which can be done here. For more information, visit the QC: Boston Facebook event page. And get ready to celebrate. No promo codes needed.

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 QC: Boston

The post Celebrate Pride Month, Coffee, And Community At QC: Boston appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Whether you’ve worked in coffee shops or simply patronize them, it’s not rare to witness the amount of waste created.

Not only does your favorite to-go coffee spot most likely employ single-use plastic cups and straws for iced drinks, but the packaging used to ship these items to spaces is incredibly wasteful as well. According to the LA Times, “Half a billion plastic straws are used and discarded every day.”

Some lawmakers are finally taking this more seriously. So far, Malibu, Berkeley, San Luis Obispo, Seattle, Miami Beach, and Fort Myers, Florida are all cities that have banned or limited the use of plastic straws. According to The New York Times, “It’s not just happening in the United States. Scotland plans to be rid of plastic straws by 2019, and Taiwan is banning single-use plastic items, including straws, cups and shopping bags, by 2030.” Additionally, some restaurants are donning a straws-on-request-only format.

And in the coffee world, companies have emerged with creative strategies for sustainable straw alternatives.

Photo courtesy of Hay! Straws.

Some places such as Austin, Texas’ in.gredients is the country’s first zero-waste grocer, sell in bulk and requires customers to bring their own bags. Imagine if a coffee shop decided to operate under this model how much plastic we could save? Stores, such as Brooklyn’s Package Free Shop sell insulated coffee cups for under $20. Financially, it would be incredibly cheap business to run with onus on the customer but would obviously take a marketing hurdle to remind consumers to always have their reusable straws and cups on their person.

There are straws made out of cornstarch, hay, and even coffee grounds. Straws made by Oklahoma’s Hay! Straws are currently being used by Fair Fellow Coffee, in Tulsa, and are under experimentation by cocktail expert Arley Marks for a new menu item at New York’s Lalito restaurant. Hay! Straws are “a byproduct of wheat production. Once the wheat is harvested the stems are trimmed and made into hay for animal feed or, in our case, straws,” according to the company’s website. In May, Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group in New York (which has an interest in Joe Coffee Company) announced that all the group’s related restaurants would eliminate plastic straws and switch to biodegradeable options in 2018. 

While many new companies are creating biodegradables, few have focused the conversation around how they may potentially affect mouthfeel and flavor profiles in the coffee sphere.

Photo courtesy of Loliware.

Loliware, a company originally discovered and later funded by Mark Cuban on Shark Tank, makes edible, biodegradable products under the “biodegr(edible)” portmanteau. While the company originally started with flavored, biodegradeable cups in flavors like Matcha, Yuzu Citrus, and Vanilla Bean, they’ve moved into the straw sector, seeing a new opportunity to have their products used across the beverage space, habitually.

In an interview with Fast Company, Chelsea Briganti, one of the founders of Loliware, writes, “You can imagine drinking your cold-brewed coffee with a vanilla straw or a caramel straw…We think that will really increase this movement around plastic-free, because we’re not telling the consumer, ‘hey, you can’t have your straw.’ We’re providing them a solution to the plastic straw crisis while also giving them a fun experience on top of that. It’s not about the consumer sacrificing anymore, it’s about the consumer having fun and being sustainable at the same time.”

While coffee purists might not be the target market for caramel straws, Loliware and HAY! alike have begun to infiltrate their products into the cocktail space (Loliware just rolled out a new partnership with Pernod Ricard). I’m interested to see how this could potentially develop the coffee industry as well. Not only could these products create a more sustainable (and yes, whimsical) alternative to plastics, but they also represent a new era of the coffee shop as we know it. This goes beyond the “customer is always right” code of conduct or shifting menus subscribing to the latest coffee fad. Rather, the future of coffee shops must quench the thirst for transparency for their own good—to create a sustainable generation of engaged coffee enthusiasts.

Emma Orlow is a freelance journalist based in Brooklyn, writing for Saveur, Dazed Magazine, and MOLD. This is Emma Orlow’s first feature for Sprudge. 

Top photo courtesy of Hay Straws.

The post The Last Straw: Creative Strategies For Sustainable Straw Alternatives appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

There’s a new podcast being released today and it has the coffee professional (or budding coffee professional) in mind. Created by April Coffee Roasters founder Patrik Rolf and Joseph Fisher, “Coffee with April” features some of the biggest names in European specialty coffee who sit down with Patrik Rolf to discuss “integrity, business, and coffee.”

For season one—which have all been released at once a la Netflix—Coffee with April is focusing on entrepreneurship and what it takes to start a coffee business. “It is about the process of starting and operating some of the most interesting coffee companies in coffee,” Patrik Rolf tells Sprudge via email. “All the questions are unique and individual for each person and episode. It is structured as a conversation more so than an interview. We wanted it to be two professionals sharing and talking with each other.”

To glean this incite, Patrik Rolf sits down with a roster of heavy hitters in the European (read: based in Europe but globally renowned) coffee world, including: Tim Wendelboe, James Hoffmann (Square Mile), Nadine Rasch (Primavera), Colin Harmon (3fe), Kaan Bergsen (Petra Roasting), Klaus Thomsen (Coffee Collective), and Joanna Alm (Drop Coffee).

With a focus on entrepreneurship, Patrik Rolf and guests will give “an honest insight and perspective on how it is to start, run and operate a roastery/coffee business,” all through a lens of real-life experiences. “We get to listen to how James Hoffman and the Square Mile team came up with the Red Brick Espresso, how Tim Wendelboe created what is probably the best roastery in the world, how Colin Harmon joined forces with Steve Leighton to start one of the strongest roasteries in Ireland,” Patrik Rolf says of the first season.

All seven episodes of season one of Coffee with April are out now and are available for listen and/or download via April Coffee’s official website, Soundcloud, or iTunes. So if you are thinking about hanging a shingle of your own or if you just want to hear some of the most high-profile names in the coffee biz talk about the trials and tribulations of coming up, Coffee with April may be a good way for you to spend an hour.

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 April Coffee Roasters

Disclosure: April Coffee Roasters is an advertising partner with the Sprudge Media Network

The post Coffee With April: Binge This New Podcast All About The Business Of Coffee appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

The Build-Outs of Summer is always a global affair, and we are happy to bring your our first international entry for 2018. This one has been almost 200 years in the making. Atkinsons Coffee Roasters began its life many, many moons ago as a Lancaster, England-based importer of tea and spices and exporter of roasted coffee. Now, some 180+ years later, Atkinsons has refined it aim to only include specialty coffee and teas and they’ve got a brand new build-out to boot.

Setting up shop inside the Mackie Mayor in Manchester—a dining hall-type establishment featuring a handful of restaurants, wine bars, breweries, and of course a coffee shop—this is the fourth cafe for Atkinsons, their first outside Lancaster. And with their white Sanremo Opera with matching Nuova Simonelli Mythos One grinders, this new location is a thing of beauty. So grab a steamed bun from neighboring Baohouse and check out the brand new Atkinsons Coffee Roasters inside the Mackie Mayor in Manchster, England.

As told to Sprudge by Caspar Steel.

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

Atkinsons started out in 1837 in Lancaster importing tea and spices and roasting coffee, most of which was shipped straight into the Georgian port at the time. Fast forward about 170 years and speciality coffee is just about to kick off (again!) in the UK. Since 2010 we have opened The Music Room cafe, The Hall cafe, and our new eco-roastery which houses our new Loring Kestral, which sits between The Hall and our original shop, which has been on that site since 1901. Our newest project is our first venture into a different city with the Mackie Mayor in Manchester.

Can you tell us a bit about the new space?

The Mackie Mayor was built in 1858 as part of Manchester’s Smithfield Markets and has now been developed by the folks behind Altrincham Market, into a food hall with 500 covers and 10 different independent businesses. Our roastery cafe occupies one corner of the building, lined with floor to ceiling windows and super high ceilings. Our concept was to bring some of our 180-year legacy to the Mancs and also showcase all things new and exciting in speciality coffee. As there are 500 seats inside the food hall, this meant we could dedicate most of our space to one obscenely long bar, kind of like an alter to the coffee gods. The room is an L-shape, and round the corner from the bar is our Shop and Roastery where we usually have about 10 coffees, all roasted onsite, 20 teas, and a wide range of brew methods from the likes of Torch, Hasami, Hario, Wilfa, Munieq, Moon Rabbit, and some local pottery wares too. The cladding of the bar is a homage to the Georgian counter in our shop, our menu board was made by local makers and mates Super Marché, and we have 10 Victorian canisters from our original Shop storing fresh roasts.

What’s your approach to coffee?

Over the last 12 years we’ve managed to visit a lot the producers we work with at origin and now most of our 20-ish coffees are Relationship Coffees, and there’s always tonnes of interesting stories behind them. Telling these stories is really important, so we include as much of this as we can on the bags, printed postcards, the website, and blog, but mostly in conversation with our baristas at the bar and our weekly public cuppings that are free. In the last cafe we opened, The Hall, we put a big focus on brew methods, using syphons and Chemexes to engage customers with black coffee, but this time around we wanted to simplify the brewing and put more focus on the coffees themselves. So here offer four to five single origins all brewed on Marco SP9’s with Kalitas, we also offer two different espressos that change regularly, nitro cold brew coffee and tea, kombucha made with our tea, and coffee- and tea-based cocktails.

Any machines, coffees, special equipment lined up?

A few years ago we found a tiny little roaster, almost exactly the same as our original Shop roaster but smaller, a 1919 Uno 7lb. This little 99-year-old guy now roasts up all of the coffee on-site for our new location! Uno doesn’t exist anymore so to get this little beauty up and running we teamed up the Lancaster University’s 3D printing guys and the genius who installed our Loring Roaster last year, Malcolm Qualeri. On our white marble bar we have a white three-group Sanremo Opera with scales, three white Nuova Simonelli Mythos One grinders, a white Mahlkönig EK43, and 4 custom white Marco SP9s and an under-counter Marco Mix.

What’s your hopeful target opening date/month?

We opened the doors to serve coffee in November as a long soft launch, and this May we finally finished the Roastery and Shop to complete the full picture!

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

My brother Maitland and I designed the cafe and we worked with Ducketts for the build out. They’ve now built three cafes with us and a beautiful Roastery. We also worked with local sign writer Gregg Johnson for the artwork on our walls, Super Marché for the menu wall, and Malcolm Qualeri for the roaster rebuild.

Thank you!

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

The post Build-Outs Of Summer: Atkinsons Coffee Roasters In Manchester, England appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Erika Lee Vonie, winner of the 2017 New York Coffee Masters.

It’s been a little over two months since Agnieszka Rojewska’s stunning win at London Coffee Masters, and it is already time to turn our attention across the pond, to the 2018 New York Coffee Masters competition just around the corner. Though still four months away—taking place October 12-14th at the New York Coffee Festival at the Metropolitan Pavilion—applications to compete in one of the world’s most fun coffee competitions are now open.

Like with previous iterations of the Coffee Masters tournament—both in London and New York—all prospective competitors are required to submit a one-to-two minute video introducing themselves as well as a coffee-based signature beverage of their own design. The theme for this year’s sig bevs is “New York City;” all drinks must be inspired by the Big Apple. Maybe a coffee Manhattan or a drink literally served in a big apple. If your drink is good enough, you’ll get a chance to battle it out for the title of Coffee Masters champion and a $5,000 cash prize.

All videos and online applications must be completed by August 31^st in order to be considered for one of the coveted spots on the Metropolitan Pavilion stage.

And for non-competitors, Allegra Events—creators of the New York, London, Amsterdam, and soon-to-be Los Angeles Coffee Festivals—has created a Facebook page for the NY Coffee Festival, where they will be posting ticket discounts, news, and drink recipes ahead of the big event.

For more information or to apply to compete, visit the Coffee Masters official website. And to keep up with the New York Coffee Festival, check out their Facebook event page.

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

The post Applications For The 2018 New York Coffee Masters Are Now Open appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

When I was living that apartment life, I would have paid untold amounts of money in extra each month to have a high-quality coffee bar in the complex. And then to have that coffee bar serve Sweet Bloom Coffee Roasters, well, for my bank account’s sake, it’s probably best that such amenities were never afforded to me.

But that’s what Coffee Theorem in Parker, Colorado are offering. Located inside the clubhouse of the Montane Apartments, Coffee Theorem is a full-service coffee bar—featuring a La Marzocco GS3 and a host of Mahlkönig grinders—and is a go-to coffee hub for tenants and non-tenants alike. So let’s check it out, shall we? And maybe see if there are any one-bedrooms available for rent.

As told to Sprudge by Emily Wuckert.

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

Coffee Theorem is a small-business that focuses on the craft and precision of coffee (and tea). We support and source from local businesses and use quality ingredients that are the base canvas for our work. We strive to provide our customers with the proof of good coffee by measured accuracy in every grind, dose, tamp, and pour.

Can you tell us a bit about the new space?

Located in the clubhouse of the Montane Apartments, Coffee Theorem has bar seating, comfortable sitting areas, and a quiet meeting room where our customers and the tenants can enjoy their coffee. The floor above is a small gym area and just outside is a lazy river and pool. (Tenant access only.) The open bar seating is wonderful for people who would like to watch our baristas work and the sitting areas are perfect for groups of all sizes. We are kid-friendly, dog-friendly, and wheelchair accessible.

What’s your approach to coffee?

The craft of coffee should be just as enjoyable as drinking it. The fun is in the slow perfection over time and tinkering, but the proof of success is in the mouth-watering taste that we acquire through measured accuracy. Every coffee shop I admire is at its best when the barista truly cares. That’s why Coffee Theorem is determined to be consistently passionate and strives for every cup to taste like it was crafted from the heart.

Any machines, coffees, special equipment lined up?

La Marzocco GS3, Mahlkönig Peak and EK-43 grinders, and BUNN Trifecta.

What’s your hopeful target opening date/month?

May 1st, 2018

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

I’ve commissioned Atelier Forma to craft custom mugs for the shop.

Thank you!

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

The post Build-Outs Of Summer: Coffee Theorem In Parker, CO appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

If you’ve ever longed for a space that combines coffee, comics, and activism, you’re in luck: these are the super powers of Charlotte, North Carolina’s Comic Girl Coffee. Founded and run collectively by Lara Americo, Ashley Jarrett, Kayla Dance, and Allie Chudoba, the space is dedicated to being by and for coffee lovers of all stripes—especially those who feel marginalized in traditional cafe spaces. In terms of equity, Comic Girl shoots for the stars; not only is it collectively owned, it’s also queer/POC-centered, vegan, and accessible to people of all incomes.

Like so many organizations that exist to center marginalized people in coffee, the impetus for Comic Girl came from the lack of safe spaces for queer and trans people, especially those of color, in the Charlotte area. When the founders noticed that space missing from their lives, they decided to create it themselves. The inspiration came from a bookstore called Firestorm Collective in Asheville, North Carolina. “Firestorm Collective was a dream,” says Americo. “Having a queer safe space in the middle of the Appalachian Mountains was like an oasis in a desert. I knew that there had to be a space like this where I lived. Or else, what’s the point of living there?” 

Lara Americo. Photo courtesy of Comic Girl Coffee.

I ask Americo about the unique challenges of running Comic Girl as a cooperative. “Every decision has to be made collectively and all profits are shared,” she says. “Right now, that means we only have the capacity to open on the weekend. We are hoping for more members or for one of us to be able to work full-time so that the store can be open regularly.” The biggest challenge the Comic Girl crew has experienced is finding new co-op members. “We don’t use bank loans and we have no one to bankroll the shop. We are all marginalized people in some way trying to create a space for ourselves. Instead of pouring money into the shop, we have to use free labor until the shop is sustainable. Not everyone is willing or able to work for free in the hopes of future payoff unless they really believe in the concept.”

Another challenge is that it’s not always easy for workers to be their own boss. “Most people are trained from birth to work for someone. It is hard to break out of that mentality.” But she says the benefits are meaningful: “Everyone has an equal say, no one is taken advantage of, no one is told what to do, and no one profits off of other people’s labor.”

When it comes to being vegan, the owners feel strongly about how food production and food access play into equity. “Not many people realize that environmental challenges that mass meat production causes. In North Carolina, drinking water is being contaminated by hog waste. It’s a huge problem,” says Americo. She wants Comic Girl to be a center for food access that doesn’t transfer the harm elsewhere down the line. To make sure the food and beverages are accessible, Comic Girl has a Pay It Forward board, where patrons can purchase magnets that provide drinks and food for other guests who can’t afford to pay.

The books section, which centers writing by and about femmes, people of color, and/or queer people, follows through on this praxis. It’s run primarily on donated books and guests can pay what they want, so that higher-income patrons can support those who have less. They also use the space as a place to build community through events such as queer speed dating and D&D nights. Their goals for the future center on making the space more accessible more often. “We want to be open 24 hours a day in a bigger space,” Americo says. “That way more people to come in crying because they love the space so much.”

Charlotte itself plays a major role in Comic Girl’s mission and existence, providing not only the impetus but the support for the space to exist and succeed. “The local coffee community is a dream,” Americo tells me. “It has been so supportive from the start. Even though we are in competition, the community wants everyone to succeed—the way it should be. There is enough to go around, and somehow, Charlotte’s small coffee community is living that.”

The collective trauma experienced by marginalized communities in Charlotte has also played a part in the development of Comic Girl as a community space over time. This includes the HB2, the anti-transgender bathroom bill, which started in Charlotte, as well as the police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott. “The city is still traumatized in many ways,” says Americo. “Since the shop opened last September, we have seen that healing process happening.”

Allie Chudoba. Photo courtesy of Comic Girl Coffee.

Comic Girl occupies a unique space, at an equally unique time in Charlotte’s history. But there are universal lessons here as well. The space achieves its inclusivity goals by not hewing towards welcoming any single group. You can be yourself here—no matter who you are—and if you can’t afford a drink that day, the shop’s community has you covered. Sounds like superpowers to me. 

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.

All photos courtesy of Comic Girl Coffee. 

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Source: Coffee News