Specialty Coffee Archives - Page 24 of 35 - The Curb Kaimuki

If you ask your favorite coffee professional to list the best cafes in America, there is a good chance that Amethyst Coffee in Denver would be one of the first spots you’ll hear about. Beyond good coffee, which of course they have—anchored by another local favorite Commonwealth Coffee—Amethyst and owner Elle Jensen have become well-known advocates for coffee professionals, particularly women, gender non-conforming, gender queer, and transgender individuals through their work with Cherry Roast. In short, they are your favorite barista’s favorite barista-driven coffee shop.

Now it is shops, plural, with a forthcoming location in Denver’s Berkeley neighborhood. But if you’re expecting a carbon copy of the original cafe, think again. Whereas Amethyst is known for their “any coffee, any way you want it” service model at the original location, the new shop is option for a more streamlined approach, eschewing pour-overs all together in favor of batch brews. It’s a significant shift in concept, one that shows Jensen and Amethyst aren’t satisfied with resting on their laurels and are always examining the idea of service in the cafe context. We are still a few weeks out from the official opening, but in the mean time, let’s find out a little more about what we can expect at the brand new Amethyst coffee in Denver, Colorado.

As told to Sprudge by Elle Jensen.

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

We are a woman-owned and operated cafe in Denver, CO focused on the treatment of our staff and making specialty coffee accessible to all.

Can you tell us a bit about the new space?

It’s in a building that was built in the ’20s, right next to a beautiful art deco theater. The space was used as a piano showroom until the ’60s/’70s and has been vacant since. We are excited to lend our hand to making this space a community space again!

What’s your approach to coffee?

We believe that good coffee should be approachable and that it’s our job as baristas to make people a drink they will enjoy, rather than the drink we think they should enjoy. Conversation is paramount when serving coffee, and we do our best to facilitate that conversation. We use Commonwealth Coffee as our house roaster and rotate our out-of-state guest roaster every quarter. We try to keep guest roasters on a little longer so that we can build a real relationship with them and their coffees. We spend a lot of time thinking about the difference between what is good coffee, what coffee do we prefer, and how to build a balanced coffee offering list.

Any machines, coffees, special equipment lined up?

We’ll be using a Synesso MVP, which we are SO excited about, a Curtis batch brewer, and a Taylor Soft Serve Ice Cream Machine. We’ll also have a stellar four-bay sink. We will not be doing pour-overs at our new location, but we will offer two batch brews and larger format batch brew service.

What’s your hopeful target opening date/month?

July 14th…

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

Yes! We are working with Art Builders Guild, Slate Construction, Paper Airplane (architects), Breezy Sanchez from Go!Go!Good!, Push Designs, and the tiny Scandinavian company Ikea.

Thank you!

No, thank YOU!

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

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Source: Coffee News

As reported this week an article appearing in them.—a Condé Nast publication devoted to “the lens of today’s LGBTQ community”—the Seattle-based international coffee brand Starbucks is said to have just adopted the “most comprehensive trans health policy in the world.”

According to the article, the new policy is a “direct parallel” with the World Professional Association for Transgender Health’s (WPATH) international recommendations for trans healthcare. This is the result of Starbucks working directly with WPATH to create the new benefits package, expanding the company’s trans benefits that have included gender reassignment surgery since 2012. The new packages, called “Starbucks Transgender Medical Benefits,” extends to “lifetime coverage for everything from hair graft and voice therapy to facial feminization and breast augmentation—services considered vital for transgender healthcare but often listed as ‘cosmetic’ and not covered by health insurance.”

Per the article, Starbucks is the first company to approach WPATH about turning their Standards of Care—a 120-page document list of care guidelines and provider recommendations—into a corporate policy. Much like with their findings that led the company to 100% pay equity, Starbucks is hoping to share these new policies created in tandem with WPATH with other employers looking to provide more trans-inclusive benefits.

For more information on the Starbucks Transgender Medical Benefits, the company’s announcement can be found here.

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 Starbucks.

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Source: Coffee News

It’s summertime and the living is easy for those on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, Canada. That’s the home of the brand new location for Beachcomber Coffee, a coffee company who does all their roasting on the mainland in Vancouver before shipping it over via ferry to the chiller side of things.

Beachcomber touts themselves as much of a lifestyle brand as a coffee company, and it is easy to see why. Being out on Gibsons—so close to the big city but still so very far away—is by its very nature a lifestyle. Any company that can successfully embody that vibe has the lifestyle part down; all it needs is the brand. And does Beachcomber ever have that. Let’s mosey on in, shall we, and check out the brand new Beachcomber Coffee in Gibsons, British Columbia.

As told to Sprudge by Martin DesRosiers.

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

Founded in 2015, Beachcomber Coffee is an award-winning craft coffee company based on the Sunshine Coast, BC! Roasted in Vancouver but based in Gibsons, Beachcomber Coffee represents the Sunshine Coast lifestyle and produces a proprietary blend of Certified Organic, Certified Fairtrade, Certified Kosher, and Certified Halal coffee. Beachcomber is unique in that it doesn’t offer different blends and roasts but instead focuses on its unique blend appealing to the daily Canadian coffee drinker.

Can you tell us a bit about the new space?

Having lived/worked in Gastown (Vancouver, BC), we wanted to take a slice of it and drop it into Gibsons Landing. Our space is located a stone’s throw from the ocean, situated at the epicenter of historic seaside village called Gibsons Landing. The location has been a coffee shop since 1979 and we purchased it late last year to convert it into our home base. Our model is coffee-first with complementary food options including exclusive baked goods from a local baker (two doors down) as well as grilled wraps and sandwiches. We sell our beans as well as merchandise as we consider ourselves a lifestyle brand.

What’s your approach to coffee?

Our approach from day one has been to create a coffee company rooted within the area we grew up tailored to the average Canadian coffee drinker. Our coffees have always been “medium” on the roast spectrum with notes of chocolate, caramel, and nuts. We set out to create a lifestyle brand leveraging the power of marketing and social media and spent months analyzing the Canadian coffee market. We’ve won numerous awards for our coffees and late last year we pivoted and completely redesigned our packaging and our signature blend. We are now Certified Organic, Certified Fairtrade, Certified Kosher, and Certified Halal. Our brand represents the Sunshine Coast lifestyle, a community nestled so close (40-minute ferry ride), yet so far away from downtown Vancouver, BC. The juxtaposition between concrete jungle and small town seaside community is what we’re all about and our approach to coffee has always been more than just a bag of beans, it’s about making people feel good and tap into that feeling of West Coast living. Our slogan is it’s not just a coffee, it’s a lifestyle…

Any machines, coffees, special equipment lined up?

We’re using a FETCO Batch Brewer, custom Victoria Arduino White Eagle, as well as Victoria Arduino espresso grinders. We are the first coffee shop in British Columbia Canada to be working with the purpose-built chocolate waffle cone called “coffee in a cone.” We are also about to launch a cold brew in a bottle (355ml beer bottle) within the next couple of weeks. We’ve decided to focus on efficiency and encourage a take a go model (as we are in a desirable tourist area) and is why you won’t find pour-overs and other methods.

What’s your hopeful target opening date/month?

Grand Opening June 16th, 2018 (currently in soft-open phase)

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

Definitely would like to shoutout a few people: John Lieffers from Blenheim Construction who was our contractor on the project, Ethan Luc Goosen who was our architect/designer on the project, and Ben Tour (local artist) for the murals within the space.

Thank you!

No, THANK YOU 😀

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

Photos by Dolf Vermeulen.

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Source: Coffee News

Coffee Masters has gone from a scrappy upstart coffee competition to one of the premier events on both sides of the Atlantic. This popularity has seen the interest in competing skyrocket even while available spots holds fast at 24. It’s a tough ticket to get, especially when vying against multiple national Barista and Brewers Cup champions. That’s why Allegra Events—the team behind Coffee Masters—have created their first regional-style event. Taking place at the Milan Coffee Festival in Italy between November 30th and December 2nd, CMx is a national level event with the winner earning a guaranteed spot at next year’s London Coffee Masters.

Unlike previous Coffee Masters events where anyone can apply to compete, CMx Milan is only open to Italian competitors. (side note: how many times will you have to hear CMx before you starting sing the Ruff Ryders Anthem? It was two for me). The competition itself remains similar to that of other Coffee Masters; competitors will be tested in seven different disciplines: cupping, brewing, latte art, the order challenge, signature drink, espresso blend, and origin. A total of 16 baristas will face off on a Faema E71, using coffees from HMC, Gardelli, and Ditta Artigianale. The last barista standing will win the €1,000 cash prize and the coveted spot at the 2019 London Coffee Masters.

Like with all Coffee Masters events, potential candidates for CMx Milan are required to submit a one to two minute video that showcases a coffee-based signature beverage, this time “inspired by Milan,” as well as fill out an application form on the Coffee Masters website. And be Italian (read: currently living or working in Italy). Applications are currently open and due by October 19th.

For more information about CMx Milan or to apply, visit the Coffee Masters 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 Coffee Masters

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Source: Coffee News

Curitiba, the capital of Paraná state, is well known in Brazil for its intense coffee culture. The newest addition to the already effervescent coffee scene is the Supernova Hub: a collective roastery—where coffee lovers/cafe owners can rent out the equipment to roast their own green coffee, a cafe, a business incubator for coffee-related startups, and a soon-to-be certified Specialty Coffee Association campus. 

Luiz Eduardo Melo, Supernova founder, is a lawyer by training and an entrepreneur by trade. In 2014 he started learning about roasting and opened the first Supernova location in 2015, together with his partner Bruno Regalo. Since then, Melo has opened two other cafes, led the production of a coffee documentary film (“Coffee Isn’t Just Coffee”—watch the trailer here), finished his SCA instructor certification in the US, and now opened the Supernova Hub.

Luiz Eduardo Melo

Melo’s three prior Supernova cafes are focused on the “coffee to go” concept—to the extreme. “I needed to stand apart from the other already established roasteries from Curitiba and offer something new to our customers,” explains Melo. They eschew WiFi and table service, and only serve in to-go cups, focusing solely on coffee quality and customer experience, which Melo today recognizes was really risky. Thankfully, it has worked out so far.

The Supernova Hub came about for many reasons, Melo tells me. The roastery space in the flagship store was overcrowded with green coffee storage. The stock space for cafe supplies and green coffee was divided among the stores, which made it logistically challenging to distribute supplies. Melo began to conceive of a space where he could centralize the roastery operations and the stock together, and at the same time, he got a nudge from the Brazil Specialty Coffee Association to become an authorized SCA trainer. And he found an amazing, spacious location in downtown Curitiba, then somewhat of a desert for specialty coffee. That was it: the Supernova Coffee Hub would host his SCA training lab, roastery, green and roasted coffee storage center, and also a cafe.

The Hub cafe initially opened in October 2017, and Melo and his team of baristas quickly learned that customers in this part of Curitiba were different than those they’d served elsewhere. Low-income downtown workers were not used to specialty coffee, the beverages offered, let alone the pricing. They took the opportunity to rethink the Hub’s cafe operation when they had to briefly close to build out the roastery and the training lab upstairs.

Much of the Hub format today came from this rethinking period, says Melo. One of the important decisions—that was suggested by baristas Amandha Locathelli and Daniel Munari—was to leave it up to the customer to decide how much the beverage they order is worth. Inspired by other initiatives such as Curto Café, this allowed them to make specialty coffee more affordable for their clientele. Focused on making the space an accessible space for people of all backgrounds and income levels to experience specialty coffee, The Hub will also host free cuppings and events, as well as allocate one vacancy in every coffee course for low-income coffee professionals. 

The structure of their collaborative roasting space, too, came from this period of renovation and reflection. The Supernova Hub offers members usage plans that include roasting training as well as roastery hours, so that students can practice what they learn during classes.

To tie this all together, Melo realized he needed a tool that could facilitate the access to specialty green coffee by the roasters who would rent out the roastery equipment. His newest startup initiative is a web platform for the specialty coffee trade: Baerter. The idea is to provide a link between roasters and specialty coffee producers, where they can buy green coffee online with guaranteed delivery, and also post reviews of the coffee quality and so forth. All parties are held accountable—both producers and buyers have the opportunity to review the transaction and thus a reputation is slowly built within the platform. All samples are submitted by producers to the Supernova Hub, where they evaluate green quality and grade the coffee, attesting to its quality, before it can be posted online for sale.

“I remember all the difficulties I had to go through when trying to open my coffee business,” recalls Melo, “and I am thus trying to solve all of them for the newcomers to the industry: access to roasting and barista courses, access to roastery equipment, access to high quality green coffee from all over the country—without necessarily having to travel all the way to the farm in order to buy directly from the farmer.”

And how will he measure Supernova’s success? Melo will know—when specialty coffee in Brazil gets even more competitive.

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

Photos by Bruno Regert.

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Source: Coffee News

It has been three weeks since Volcán de Fuego erupted just outside Antigua, Guatemala, killing over 110 people with some 200+ still unaccounted for. In total, the devastation wrought by Volcán de Fuego is expected to affect 1.7 million people, many of whom are coffee farmers. In an effort to assist those in this time of need, New York’s Joe Coffee Company has teamed up with Counter Culture to host a throwdown this Thursday, June 28th, with all the proceeds going to relief efforts.

Taking place at Counter Culture’s NYC Training Lab, all funds raised at the TNT will be given to Funcafé, the Foundation of Coffee for Rural Development. According to their website, Funcafé will use these funds to buy “unprocessed food, water, toilet paper, diapers, clothes and shoes, blankets, personal hygiene products, medicine and more” to distribute to those impacted by the eruption.

For those looking to throw down, the entry fee to compete is $10, and Joe Coffee and Counter Culture are asking a $10 suggested donation for those who just want to come hang (but you may as well compete and see if you can win some of the prizes the two coffee companies have in store). And for anyone not in the NYC area that would still like to help relief efforts, Funcafé is taking direct donations via credit card or Paypal.

The Joe Coffee Company and Counter Culture throwdown gets going at 6:30pm for sign-ups, with the competition beginning promptly at 7:00pm. For more information, visit the Throwdown for Guatemala Facebook event page.

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

All images via Joe Coffee Company.

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Source: Coffee News

In Brazil, the largest coffee-producing country in the world, it is not always easy to find a good cup of coffee at the end of a meal. Restaurants do not always take into account the quality of the coffee they serve—forgetting that the cup of coffee is the last taste that the customer will take from that experience.

But fortunately, this scenario is beginning to change: more and more restaurants are looking to partner with good roasters to serve fresher, better beans. And there are also those who prefer to buy and roast their own, controlling the whole process. And there are those doing all of those things in a converted parking garage.

When it opened its doors last January, Futuro Refeitório (Future Cafeteria, in a literal English translation), an all-day restaurant located in the Pinheiros neighborhood in São Paulo, already had an Atilla 5 Gold Plus roaster in the middle of the room, along with all the kitchen equipment. Usually relegated to the backstage, here the roaster is the center of the show, for the public to see—and smell, and look, and be part of the preparation. When talking about coffee, this is an important move, as it brings customers closer to its entire culture.

That’s what Natalia Braga, head barista at Futuro, wanted from the beginning, when she was invited to join the team. Besides the two owners, the sisters Gabriela and Karina Barretto, the restaurant also has a head baker, Hanny Guimarães, who is responsible for all batches of bread. “I’ve always wanted to bring people closer to the coffee world,” says Braga, who first started working in coffee at Starbucks. She went on to work for many coffee shops in São Paulo until she moved to Minas Gerais in order to learn more about coffee and its agricultural processes. “Since we started, I always wanted to add value and shorten the path from product to consumer,” says Braga.

Natalia Braga

The invitation to join the team came from Karina Baretto, an HR manager who is passionate about coffee. Her family was always involved in coffee production and she wanted to bring that relationship to Futuro. “I always knew that I didn’t want to only buy coffee from a good roaster. I wanted our relationship with coffee to go deeper. So, like a miracle, Natalia showed up, and we decided to get into the whole process,” she explains.

Months before Futuro opened, its team literally hit the road to visit farmers who could become their coffee suppliers. First, they visited the region of Chapada Diamantina, in the interior of Bahia State, and met producers such as Michael Alcântara, from Divino Espírito Santo Estate and Renato Rodrigues, from Chácara Vista Alegre. “We thought that Bahia could be a good region to emphasize at Futuro, since it has great coffee and is not much known in São Paulo,” Braga says. Following this line, from Minas Gerais, one of the largest states with coffee production in Brazil, they also serve beans harvested in lesser-known regions, such as Serra da Careta, which has been notable for the production of excellent coffee.

Photo by Gui Galembeck.

From those regions comes the coffee full of personality that they serve in the restaurant, in varieties like Obatã, Pacamara, Piatã, among others. “We came back with 65 samples and the arduous job of analyzing all of them,” she points out. They made a point to explain to the producers that the batches couldn’t be mixed, which is very common in regions where there isn’t a specific request to do otherwise. “In the roasting trials, it was difficult to define the roast profiles of many beans because of this.”

Today, with the restaurant already in operation, it has become easier for them to get the results they seek. “It is a relationship that is built slowly, so it needs patience and a lot of talks, exchanges. But it is something we are willing to do and it has paid off,” she says.

At Futuro, the team of five baristas (including Braga) prepares only two coffee methods, which are served all day long, from morning till night: espresso and V60. “We are not a coffee shop, but we do have a full coffee operation inside the restaurant, so we had to simplify to do a good job. With the crowds we get, it would be difficult to serve many other methods with quality,” Karina says.

In addition to a brewing station (in front of which many clients prefer to drink their cups), they have a La Marzocco Linea to prepare espresso beverages. “Today we have a balance between espresso and brewed coffee sales. Since we receive lots of people for lunch or dinner, Brazilians in general still have a close relationship with espresso to finish their meal. It is something cultural. But we serve many brewed coffees as well,” Braga explains.

At Futuro, brewed coffee is served in a glass—“it is a way to democratize the service, to allow the customer to see more of the coffee, its color, etc.,” as Karina says—while espressos are served in cups. The menu also includes some cocktails and drinks made with in-house roasted coffees, such as cold brew and the Gin Brew—a mixture of gin, tonic, and a punch of cold brew—and Bourbon Milk, made with bourbon, coffee, and almond milk. There is also an affogato in the desserts section, with the perfect amount of espresso spilled over artisanal vanilla ice cream.

Still on the menu, detailed information and many descriptions are avoided. “We have a lot of people who come to eat and are not too worried about the sensorial characteristics of each of the beans,” Braga says. “At first, we wanted to go into more details, but we understood that the most interested customers would ask for them, so we opted for basic information such as region, producer name, variety, and two descriptive words.” “Light and fruity” are used to describe Alcantara’s beans, while “soft and elegant” are used to refer to Rodrigues’.  

For the house blend, Braga preferred to go for a more, let’s say, conceptual description to explain the blend that she roasts at least twice a week—to ensure the freshness of the beans. “We say it is a mixture of Pedro Almodóvar and Talking Heads,” she laughs.

“Maybe it’s a good way to make people think about what I mean when they taste the coffee, right?”

Rafael Tonon is a freelance journalist based in Brazil. Read more Rafael Tonon on Sprudge.

Photos by Fran Parente unless otherwise noted.

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Source: Coffee News

Coffee is good for you, a meta-study has already proven as much. But beyond its inherent healthful properties, scientists are now figuring out ways to use coffee to combat medical conditions. Still in its early stages of research, scientists have successfully treated type 2 diabetes in lab mice with coffee.

As explained by a recent Ars Technica article, a team of researchers led by Dr. Martin Fussenegger of ETH Zurich in Basel is using caffeine to trigger responses from synthetic genetic systems. To do this, the researchers needed to find a molecule that would respond to caffeine, and they found one. In camels. Using an antibody generated in camelids—camels and llamas—they now had a means of detecting caffeine molecules that would then trigger the gene response.

To treat the mice—who all had “diet-induced type 2 diabetes”—researchers inserted a permeable capsule filled with insulin-producing stem cells into the mouse’s body cavity. Thanks to the camelid antibodies, these cells were trained to recognize and respond to the presence of caffeine. So whenever the mice were given a sip of coffee, it triggered their bodies to produce insulin. The result was that the diabetic mice “had blood sugar level similar to normal, wild-type mice” and “had much higher levels of insulin in their blood compare to diabetic mice with the [insulin]-producing implant.”

And this is just the beginning. Researchers believe this methodology can be used to treat other medical conditions. It’s still a long way away from being ready for human use, but this new research may be the key to combating a multitude of illnesses. All with your morning cup of coffee.

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 Scientists Use Coffee To Trigger Synthetic Genes To Treat Diabetes appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Less than an hour’s drive from San Cristobal de Las Casas, near Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala, is Los Altos de Chiapas. San Cristobal, a small, romantic town, is beloved by tourists to the greater Chiapas region for its food as much as the colors of its buildings, but Jesus Salazar loves it for a different reason.

Salazar, who runs coffee hotel Casa Cafeòlogo, is here for the weather, altitude, and soil.

Los Altos de Chiapas began producing coffee only 70 years ago, which, relatively speaking, makes the growing region relatively young. Consequentially, the producers here are open to experimentation, and Salazar works with 16 different producers to this end to improve their quality. He teaches picking techniques, processing methods, roasting, and cupping. Some of his projects include cherry picking instruction, process experimentation, roasting, and cupping. In San Cristobal, Salazar owns and operates a roastery and cafe called Carajillo, where he employs the sons and daughters of some of the producers he works with—when they return to their parents’ farms, they’ll be better informed about the extension of the coffee chain, and able to inform larger decisions about production.

As of 2010, Mexico was the world’s largest producer of certified organic coffee by volume in the world, and that doesn’t factor in the large amount of coffee grown by producers who lack certification due to its cost, but adhere to organic production practices nonetheless. All the producers Salazar works with grow organic coffee.

Pedro Vázquez is one such producer, with his whole family involved in the farm. Two of his daughters work with Salazar at Carajillo, one as a roaster and cupper in-training and the other as a barista. His wife oversees the Vázquez farm’s harvest, while their other three daughters live on the farm.

Ann and Pedro Vázquez

The Vázquez farm used to grow sugar cane, but 30 years ago was converted to coffee production. The Vázquez family now grows Bourbon and Typica varieties, and has survived an outbreak of Coffee Leaf Rust, when two-thirds of their crop was destroyed. The Vázquez family hopes to produce Pacamara and Marago coffees in the future, and are now laying the groundwork for increased production quality by taking care of their soil and planting shade trees.

Pedro Vázquez is sometimes more a philosopher than a farmer—he believes producing organic coffees is better not only for the soil but also for the soul. He says every time someone drinks a sip of his family’s coffee, he is sharing a drop of life with them, because well-harvested coffee is life.

Inez Vázquez pulls a shot in Cafeòlogo’s cafe

The use of chemicals, Vázquez thinks, will destroy his soil, which he simply won’t tolerate—he hopes one day to leave the farm to his family. Although the farms Salazar works with are too small to compete in the Cup of Excellence competition, a coffee from Chiapas’s Finca Los Azahares won fourth place in Mexico’s competition, winning a presidential award, and so the quality of the region is not without recognition.

To promote the development in Los Altos de Chiapas, Salazar opened Cafeòlogo in the city center of San Cristóbal explicitly for the purpose of hosting green coffee buyers. Each bedroom is kitted out with a Kalita set and specialty coffee, and guests have access to a cupping and roasting lab, a barista training center, and a beautiful cafe, which itself features a one-group Slayer and the coffees of producers Salazar is partnered with.

Thanks in part to Salazar and the producers he represents, Chiapas may be coming into its golden years as a production region. If his hotel is good enough for Tim Wendelboe, who stayed there while visiting Chiapas on behalf of Noma Mexico, it’s good enough for the coffee lover in all of us—and is all the more reason to schedule a visit.

Ximena Rubio is a coffee professional based in Mexico City. Read more Ximena Rubio on Sprudge. 

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Source: Coffee News

For anyone who has spent any amount of in an ultra-cold, windowless casino, breathing in pumped in recycled air, you know that the house wants you awake enough to keep putting money on the table. For me, an ex-full-time-ish poker deviant (and now just an occasional deviant dabbler), my go-to was always coffee; alcohol was for suckers looking to have a good time throwing money away. But I wasn’t there for fun, I was there to win, so I needed my wits about me. At least six cups of free casino coffee should do the trick, no?

But according to Extra Crispy, a study shows consuming caffeine will actually make you worse at gambling.

Published in the journal Addictive Behaviors, the study is a joint effort between researchers at Cambridge and the University of Chicago. The researchers followed 60 “problem gamblers” and tracked their caffeine consumption during their gambling sessions and found that those consuming caffeine “exhibited a five percent greater likelihood of placing a bad bet.”

This dip in play may be caused by two things. From the article:

While a five percent dip seems nominal, gambling and poker are all about the numbers and knowing the odds. With even a one percent advantage, over a long enough period of time the house will bleed you dry. So drink coffee sparingly. When it’s 2:15am and half the table are sitting on some big stacks and are trying to bribe the server into one last round of shots, a coffee may not be a bad idea. But remember, jacked on caffeine or not, “but they were suited” is always a bad rationalization for talking yourself into a hand.

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

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Source: Coffee News