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The Sprudge Guide To Coffee In Toronto

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toronto canada coffee guide

Toronto is the fourth largest city in North America and the (multi)cultural centre of Canada. The city has become an incredibly diverse melting pot for food and drink culture driven by individuals inspired to share their traditions and ideas. But in a city that prides itself on its eclectic offerings, there is one industry that has been a bit late to the party: coffee. In a province that is dominated by large coffee chains, enforcing notions of convenience over quality, it has been difficult to convert this coffee-drinking populace into specialty coffee consumers. The average customer has no problem spending a premium on a higher quality meal or a higher quality beer but has hesitated to try out the shop around the corner serving single-origin espressos and handmade pour-overs. Thankfully, things are starting to change. The shops listed here have been on the forefront of educating their city about specialty coffee for years and are providing flavors and experiences that live up to Toronto’s lofty reputation. It has been a long road to success and popularity, but the hard work is finally paying off, as these cafes are just a few examples of the ever-growing number of shops around Toronto serving up some fantastic coffee.

Pilot Coffee Roasters

toronto canada coffee guide

Pilot opened in 2009 and was originally named Te Aro Coffee Roasters, after owner Andy Wilkins’ upbringing in the neighborhood by the same name in his native Wellington, New Zealand. After visiting shops around New Zealand and the US, the ownership group was inspired by businesses roasting and serving coffee with complete transparency throughout the process. Once opened in Toronto, they quickly became an industry leader in the city and have since scaled up their business to be a major player in the Canadian market.

After eight years in their former location called Crafted, the cafe and team have moved a block south on Ossington Ave into their brand new digs. The space feels very open with natural light flooding in the large front windows. The most striking design feature are the geometric ceiling accents that resemble the brand’s logo of a paper airplane. A shiny Modbar array stretches the length of the shop and includes bar seating to encourage interaction with customers during the pour-over process.

toronto canada coffee guide

The roaster plans to release a single-origin coffee processed three different ways near the end of this year as well as coffee bags for steeping. And with the goal to announce more retail locations in 2019, Pilot is continuing its status as a heavy hitter in Toronto.

Pilot Coffee Roasters has multiple locations in Toronto. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Sam James Coffee Bar

toronto canada coffee guide

For both industry professionals and casual coffee drinkers, Sam James Coffee Bar is a name that quickly comes to mind when talking about Toronto coffee. It’s not just because they serve great coffee, but also because of a style and culture that fits Toronto as a city.

Owner Sam James comes from a background in the skateboard industry and brought much of that inspiration and culture into his business. What has worked so successfully in Toronto is the marriage of coffee and street culture. As an example, James partnered with clothing company Stüssy to open a collaborative retail location in Chinatown in 2017. A similar vibe can be felt at each of the cafe’s locations, with subtle, minimalist design.

toronto canada coffee guide

Although functioning through a different brand, Sam James also roasts under the name Cut Coffee. The idea was to develop a brand alongside Sam James Coffee Bar, but keep the same energy within the overall business. Having recently celebrated their nine-year anniversary, the original Harbord St location still remains the heart of their business and the best representation of what the company stands for—a modest space entrenched in its community and serving up delicious brews. As James said, “it’s just a super-simple coffee shop. Espresso machine, grinders, the works. Everything you need, nothing you don’t.”

Sam James Coffee Bar has multiple locations in Toronto. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook and Instagram.

Neo Coffee Bar

toronto canada coffee guide

Neo was first featured on Sprudge back in 2016 and two years later, they haven’t missed a step. Still considered by many to be a contender for best shop in the city, their quality remains consistently high and their space is always buzzing. Although technically a multi-roaster, they have partnered with Toronto’s De Mello Palheta Coffee Roasters to make them available as a permanent offering. The partnership has been so successful that De Mello even roasts an exclusive Neo Espresso Blend. Alongside the rotating selection of De Mello, Neo will also feature other local and international roasters. Currently Tokyo’s Onibus Coffee is available both for retail sales and on bar.

toronto canada coffee guide

Aside from their coffee, Neo offers a tantalizing display of handmade cakes, pastries, and sandwiches. All are prepared from scratch in-house with locally sourced ingredients and similar to the coffee program, are Japanese-inspired, like the Neo Heavenly Banana, a sponge crepe with white chocolate cream steeped with heavenly cream tea from Sloane Fine Tea Merchants.

Neo’s message from day one has always been about fostering a sense of community and creating a space for social interaction. For this reason, you’ll find Neo laptop- and tablet-free on weekends and statutory holidays between 12:00pm and 4:00pm.

Neo Coffee Bar is located at Unit 100, 161 Frederick Street, Toronto. Visit their official website and follow them on FacebookTwitter, and Instagram.

Boxcar Social

toronto canada coffee guide

For Toronto’s home brewers and for anyone who loves to try new coffees, there may be no better place than Boxcar Social. Now with four locations around the city, this multi-roaster is serving up the likes of Phil and Sebastian, Lüna, The Barn, Monogram, Sey, and Transcend, to name a few.

The idea for Boxcar came from a gap in the city for a place that could provide great coffee and great wine. “We wanted to contribute something different to the Toronto coffee scene,” said Alex Castellani, one of four owners of Boxcar. “We care a lot about food in Toronto, but we need to care more about coffee.” Each of the owners brought their own fields of expertise into the company and this targeted approach has led to a well thought out and beautifully executed business. The only other thing that can match their coffee, wine, beer, and whiskey offerings are the spaces themselves, as the owners have expanded to strategic locations around the city. Starting in their Summerhill location, and furthered by newer cafes like in Riverside, they focus on finding spaces and neighborhoods with character and want to “exist in the history of an urban space,” said Castellani. No matter your drink of choice, Boxcar Social will be serving it at its highest potential in a stunning location.

Boxcar Social has multiple locations in Toronto. Visit their official website and follow them Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

The Library Specialty Coffee

toronto canada coffee guide

“This is a place to learn about coffee, about beans, about roasting. A resource for those who want to learn more. That’s why I called it The Library,” says owner Jeffrey Ji. Ji first came across specialty coffee while studying in Melbourne over a decade ago. After working with and learning from roaster St. Ali and Matt Perger for six years, Ji returned to his native Shanghai and opened one of the city’s first specialty coffee shops with the city’s first La Marzocco Linea PB. His coffee travels have delivered him to Toronto, where Ji wanted to bring his Australian and Japanese influences, along with his experiences in Shanghai, to the Canadian market. Upon arriving in Canada he noticed locals were drinking a lot of coffee but weren’t as concerned with, or aware of, the quality. Enter The Library Specialty Coffee.

toronto canada coffee guide

With education and quality being the top priority, Ji designed the shop to have the espresso bar near the front for quicker drinks and a slow bar in the back for those looking for a more in-depth experience. Ji even roasts in the very back on a Diedrich IR-2.5. After only eight months in business, The Library has already established itself as serving up some of the best coffee in Toronto.

The Library Specialty Coffee is located at 281 Dundas St W, Toronto. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook and Instagram.

Peter de Vooght is a freelance journalist and photographer based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Read more Peter de Vooght on Sprudge.

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Source: Coffee News

Watch The Black Coffee NYC + DC Videos Now

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It’s here! A complete video presentation of Black Coffee events in NYC and DC is now available via Sprudge Media Network on YouTube.

From creative director Michelle Johnson (The Chocolate Barista), Black Coffee centers the voices and perspectives of Black coffee professionals from around the world, each one with unique perspectives from up and down the value chain. These most recent live events took place in New York City (October 15th) and Washington DC (October 19th) at the Classic Stage Company in lower Manhattan and The Line Hotel in Adams Morgan, respectively. Each event was hosted by Michelle Johnson and produced by Sprudge, with video presentation directed by Lanny Huang.

Watch Black Coffee NYC here!

Watch Black Coffee DC here!

And now, a word from creative director Michelle Johnson:

It’s been an amazing year for Black Coffee.

We broke ground on unfamiliar territory; for the first time, there’s a coffee event solely centered around Black people and our relationship to coffee culture as a whole. What started as a conversation on a couch in an historic theatre in Portland in the spring led to another off-Broadway in New York, and a third at Washington, D.C.’s prime boutique hotel in the fall. Looking back, so much has been achieved on and off stage.  

Black Coffee NYC and D.C. were special each in their own ways. In New York, we focused on career longevity for Black coffee professionals. It wasn’t just about the barriers that kept people from upward mobility, but also what one deals with when they stick around for a while. Many of the panelists have worked in coffee for quite some time or moved up quickly in their careers and had a lot to say.

New York was deeply personal, cathartic, and soothing. Being in the presence of two legendary coffee professionals—Candice Madison and Lem Butler—was so moving, as they spoke candidly about their experiences working in coffee for over a decade.

D.C. was unique in that the conversation centered around its own community and the incredible amount of Blackness displayed on both sides of the bar. The audience was the majority Black and filled with new baristas, coffee consumers, and folks from the public who found this topic interesting enough to come listen.

Since D.C. is my hometown, it was important to celebrate the amount of pride the area has in its coffee scene. But the realities of starting a business in an expensive city rapidly gentrifying still holds many back, a topic my co-host Adam JacksonBey and panelists like Candy Schibli spoke about candidly.

One of my favorite parts from Black Coffee D.C. was Aisha Pew and her refreshing perspective on opening a cafe to take back our neighborhoods. Her spot in Baltimore, Dovecote Cafe, is an example of what a Black cafe can be and is for its community. “There are Dovecotes all over, you just gotta look for them,” she says.

There are countless moments and words of wisdom shared at all three shows that I go back to often. But the most valuable thing about Black Coffee is the network created as a result. Black coffee professionals, enthusiasts, and the coffee curious from all over are finding each other. They’re collaborating and helping out one another. They’re starting to see a place for themselves in coffee.

This was the goal of Black Coffee all along, and it feels like a success.

Black Coffee NYC

The NYC event was sponsored by La Marzocco USA, Revelator CoffeeOatly, Everyman Espresso, and Oren’s Coffee Co. and featured co-hosts Tymika Lawrence (Atlas Coffee) and Ezra Baker (Oren’s Coffee Co.), alongside panel guests Lem Butler (Black & White Roasters), Kristina Hollie (Intelligentsia), Winston Thomas (Barista Champion of South Africa/Urnex Ambassador), and Candice Madison (Irving Farm). Ticket sales for this event benefitted Brownsville Community Culinary Center. Extra special thanks to the team at Everyman Espresso and Classic Stage Company for helping support this event onsite, and to Oren’s Coffee Co., Discovery Wines and Make My Cake for afterparty support. Live Instagram coverage and event photography was produced by Noemie Tshinaga.

Black Coffee DC

The DC event was sponsored by La Marzocco USA, Oatly, Revelator Coffee, and The Line Hotel, and featured co-host Adam JacksonBey (The Potter’s House, Barista Guild of America Executive Council) alongside panelists including Aisha Pew (Dovecote Cafe), Candy Schibli (Southeastern Roastery), Reggie Elliott (Foreign National), Victoria Smith (The Cup We All Race 4), and Donte Gardner (Vigilante Coffee Company). Ticket sales at this event benefited Collective Action for Safe Spaces. Special thanks to everyone at The Line Hotel for their incredible support and accommodation for this event—particularly Farrah Skeiky for her exceptional coordination and consideration—and to Gran Cata and Danielle’s Desserts for afterparty support. Live Instagram coverage and event photography was produced by Kayla Butler.

All images from Black Coffee NYC by Noemie Tshinaga.

All images from Black Coffee DC by Kayla Butler.

The post Watch The Black Coffee NYC + DC Videos Now appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Coffee Design: Tectonic Coffee In Los Angeles, California

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Among the many highlights at the Los Angeles Coffee Festival, one that stood out was getting my hands upon the new packaging of Tectonic Coffee. Tectonic Coffee, formerly Take Flight Coffee, is a California-based roaster founded by Deaton Pigot. The package debuted recently and is more than pretty colors and beautiful art—no, what takes this to the next level is the clever implementation of QR codes found upon each box. A scan of the code takes any consumer armed with a mobile device deeper into the coffee’s story, complete with detailed descriptions of its origin and roast and even goes into specific brew parameters. It’s the future—we’ve arrived! We scanned Founder and CEO Deaton Pigot’s QR code to learn more.

Tell us a bit about your company.

We are a small but mighty team of six with a combined coffee experience of 55+ years. Hailing from the likes of Intelligentsia, Toby’s Estate Coffee USA, Handsome Coffee, and Verve just to name a few. We have long-lasting Direct Trade relationships throughout Central and South America and roast to perfection here in Los Angeles CA since 2016.

We’re also making big strides into Technology with software that promote transparency, accountability, education, and aid our wholesale partners in their quest to increase online sales.


Who designed the package?

Julie Ticknor of J+T Design did the bones of the design, with some finessing from our in-house team.

What coffee information do you share on the package?

We share a lot! ­

Label:

  • Country
  • Farm/ producer
  • Process
  • Altitude
  • Variety
  • Tasting Notes

On the bag inside we have unique QR codes for all of our Single Origin Coffees which share more metadata.

  • Coffees Story
  • Sensorial Graph
  • Customer ratings
  • Roasting Curves
  • Roast Time
  • Roast Development
  • End Time
  • End Temp
  • Roasters name
  • Brew Recipes
  • Chemex
  • V60
  • Espresso
  • Photo of the day (a fun way to bring personality to each day we roast)

What’s the motivation behind that?

We are looking for ways to engage with our customers, not just with a label but with the ability to interact directly through their phones. This provides all the information right at their fingertips without having to type in URL’s or do a google search. It is a nice seamless way for our home coffee brewers to be involved and engaged.

Why are aesthetics in coffee packaging so important?

It is an expression of our creativity and personality. We love this packaging because it provides a balance with the feel of Kraft paper and the texture of the embossed logo. Every aspect adds to the experience of our coffee.

Where is the bag manufactured?

Both the boxes are manufactured in the USA, we print the labels in house, using a Primera LX900 label
maker.

For package nerds, what type of package is it?

Our box is made from .024 Kraft Bending Chipboard, which is a 100% recycled material made from 50% post waist and is 100% recyclable.

Is the package recyclable/compostable?

Yes

Where is it currently available?

We are available worldwide for wholesale and the home user, with online ordering for both B2B and B2C. If you want our coffee we have you covered wherever you are!

If you want to enjoy our coffee made by your favorite barista let us know where and we’ll try to make it happen for you.

Company: Tectonic Coffee
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Country: United States
Release Date: August 2018
Designer: Julie Ticknor, J+T Design

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

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Source: Coffee News

Ice-T Having His First Coffee Is All Of Us Having Our First Coffee

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We’re a little late to this whole “Ice-T tries coffee for the first time” party, but now that we’re here, we don’t want to leave. The original video by Coffee Meets Bagel—the dating app who put the rapper-turned-actor up to the challenge—was posted a month ago, but Ice-T’s reaction to his first sip is so pure it bears bringing back up. He is all of us at the start of our coffee journey.



For his first ever taste of coffee in his 60 years on this earth, Ice-T does the unadvisable thing and dives straight into coffee by taking it black. No cream, no sugar. I say “unadvisable” because this is how I had my first taste of coffee as well, though mine came at a much younger age, when I thought I would be a “big kid” if I took a pull off of Mom’s morning cuppa. It went about as well as expected.

So what was Ice’s response to his maiden coffee voyage? “It tastes like water, with something… another taste kicked in later,“ a phrase that is now the gold standard against which all Brewers Cup flavor calls will be judged.

“I can tell you this’ll pretty much be the last time I drink black coffee.”

Were that the end of the story, though, there would be no story; a guy whose name bears a striking resemblance to a non-coffee beverage not drinking a coffee beverage hardly makes the editorial cut. But a second video, this one released by BuzzFeed, finds Ice making the second step in the journey: “[putting] some shit in it.” The shit, of course, being cream—which he has also never had before!?!—and sugar. Sugar alone didn’t quite turn him into a coffee drinker but the magical alchemy of cream and sugar gives Ice-T (and all of us by proxy, really) that special moment of realization—seen in the in Buzzfeed video at around the 1:20 mark—one which we all know so well, that coffee in the right circumstances can be pretty, pretty, pretty good.

“Coffee, sugar, and cream: not bad.”

Don’t be surprised if Sargent Fin Tutuola starts appearing in Law and Order: SVU episodes with increasingly smaller coffee cups: first a 20oz Starbucks cup with a little whip on top, then a 12oz no whip, next maybe a 6oz cappuccino, until finally Tutuola is walking around crime scenes with his own demitasse (because he knows espresso to-go is a cardinal sin but there are perps to be caught).

Or maybe not. Either way, we’ll always have this video. It’s the pure wholesomeness (and a few curses) that the coffee world needs right now.

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

There’s Still Time To Vote For The 10th Annual Sprudgie Awards

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We are up to our ears in ballots here at Sprudge Studios campaign headquarters. Still with two short weeks from the closing of the polls for the 10th Annual Sprudgie Awards presented by Oatly and we can already unequivocally that the number of votes cast this year is going to be the largest in history.

But don’t let the record-setting turnout deter you from letting your voice be heard; you’ve still gotta rock the sprote. Yours may be the difference between your favorite coffee person/shop/thing winning or losing to that coffee person/shop/thing. You know the one. There’s still time! Vote for your faves, start a grassroots campaign, hire a few bad actors to spread disinformation about your opponents (don’t actually do that). But whatever you do, don’t not vote.

Vote here for the Tenth Annual Sprudgie Awards presented by Oatly. 

If you’ve yet to pick your ponies for the 10th Annual Sprudgies, we’ve listed the finalists for each of the 12 categories below. Don’t see who you are looking for? Do you feel like someone else is more deserving? You’re in luck. This year we’ve opened up the awards for write-in candidates. In a coffee scene where write-in candidates can ascend to the SCA Board of Directors we absolutely want to make the same campaigning available for The Sprudgies.

Once you’re ready, head over here to let your voice be heard and celebrate those helping to push the industry forward. Happy voting!

Voting for the 10th Annual Sprudgie Awards presented by Oatly closes at 11:59 PM PST on Friday, January 4th 2019.

Notable Roaster

This award honors a roaster doing exemplary work in 2018. This may include roasted coffee quality, strength of e-commerce, cafe locations (if applicable) and all other facets of running a successful coffee roaster. This year’s nominees are:

Devoción (Brooklyn, NY),
Go Get Em Tiger (Los Angeles)
Black & White Coffee Roasters (Wake Forest, NC)
Square Mile Coffee (London, UK)
Red Bay Coffee (Oakland, CA)
Gardelli Coffee (Forlì, Italy)
Sey Coffee (Brooklyn, NY)
Coffee Manufactory (San Francisco and Los Angeles, CA)

Notable Coffee Producer

This awards honors outstanding work by a coffee producer at origin. This year’s nominees are:

Daterra Coffee (Brazil)
Benjamin Paz (Honduras)
Long Miles Coffee Project (Burundi)
Gesha Village (Ethiopia)
La Palma y El Tucan (Colombia)
Juan Peña (Ecuador)
Gilberto Baraona (El Salvador)
Aida Batlle (El Salvador)

Best New Product

This awards honors a new coffee product released for public use in the year 2018. This year’s nominees are:

Minor Figures Oat M*lk
Atmos Vacuum Canister by Fellow Products
Melodrip
Yes Plz Coffee Subscription
Modbar AV
DrinkTrade.com
Huskee Cup
Umeshiso Cupping Spoons

Best Coffee Video/Film

This award honors an original coffee video or film released in the year 2018. This can include feature films, short films, promotional videos or social media clips. The nominees are:

AeroPress Movie
Gender In Coffee
Chris Baca on YouTube
James Hoffmann on YouTube
Go Get Em Tiger on YouTube
Cafe Imports Roasting Concepts Series
Flower Of Flowers by Stumptown Coffee
Unpacking Coffee

Best Coffee Writing

This award celebrates the best coffee writing of the year. Please nominate an individual, or a specific feature. If you nominate a feature, please add a link for review. This year’s nominees are:

RJ Joseph for The Knockbox
Phyllis Johnson for Strong Black Coffee originally appearing in Roast Magazine
Sabine Parrish for She’s A Lady originally appearing in Standart Magazine
Dear Coffee Buyer by Ryan Brown
The Monk Of Mokha by Dave Eggars and Mokhtar Alkhanshali
Ashley Rodriguez for Barista Magazine Online
Jenn Chen for Newsletter and Collected Works
James Hoffmann for JimSeven.com

Best Coffee Magazine

This award honors an outstanding coffee magazine or print publication release. This year’s nominees are:

Drift Magazine (USA)
Solo Magazine (Spain)
Caffeine (UK)
Coffee People Zine (USA)
Standart (Slovakia)
Roast Magazine (USA)
Barista Magazine (USA)
Pour Over by Califia Farms (USA)

Best Coffee Instagram/Twitter

This award honors outstanding work across social media platforms. This year’s nominees are:

@umeshiso_
@fellowproducts
@coffeefeedpdx
@dapperandwise
@catcloudcoffee
@symmetrybreakfast
@perfectdailygrind
@coffeetablemags

Best Coffee Podcast

This award honors outstanding work in the podcast medium. This year’s nominees are:

The Coffee Podcast
Cat & Cloud
Boss Barista
Keys To The Shop
Coffea
Coffee People MX
Coffee With April
SproCast

Best Design/Packaging

This work honors notable design or packaging work in coffee. Nominees may include coffee products, coffee bags, coffee logo or graphic design work, or any other example of outstanding coffee design. This year’s nominees are:

Coffee Manufactory (San Francisco and Los Angeles, CA)
Sweet Bloom Coffee Roasters (Lakewood, CO)
Brandywine Coffee Roasters (Wilmington, DE)
Kaffa (Oslo, Norway)
Fjord Coffee Roasters (Berlin, Germany)
Onyx Coffee Lab (Bentonville, AR)
Lüna Coffee (Vancouver, Canada)
Friedhats (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

Best New Cafe

This award is presented to a cafe that has opened in 2018. Nominations for cafes that have opened before January 2018 will not be eligible for this category. This year’s nominees are:

Ladder Coffee (Spokane, WA)
Dayglow (Los Angeles, CA)
Mane Coffee (Boca Raton, FL)
Misión Café (Madrid, Spain)
Provider (Indianapolis, IN)
Stumptown Coffee Cobble Hill (Brooklyn, NY)
Center Coffee Myeongdong (Seoul, South Korea)
Rosslyn Coffee (London, UK)

Sustainable Cafe

This award is presented to a cafe for prioritizing sustainable environmental stewardship. This can include zero waste practices, pursuing a reduced carbon footprint, and highlighting sustainable coffees and products. This year’s nominees are:

Isla Cafe (Berlin, Germany)
Casa Quilha (Brasilia, Brazil)
Bar Nine (Los Angeles, CA)
Madcap Coffee (Grand Rapids, MI)
Houndstooth Coffee Walnut Hill (Dallas, TX)
Kokako Organic (Auckland, New Zealand)
Smith Canteen (Brooklyn, NY)
Miir Flagship (Seattle, WA)

Outstanding Achievement In The Field of Excellence

This award is presented each year to a remarkable coffee person, organization, cause, or entity that embodies coffee excellence. This is our most prestigious award. This year’s nominees are:

T. Ben Fischer
Phyllis Johnson
Coleen Anunu
Umeko Motoyoshi
Agnieszka Rojewska
Adam JacksonBey
Michelle Johnson
Erna Knutsen (posthumous)

Vote here.

Voting for the 10th Annual Sprudgie Awards presented by Oatly closes at 11:59 PM PST on Friday, January 4th 2019.

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Source: Coffee News

Meow Hear This: A Very Special Santa Claude Charity Auction

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Well, the time has come. Though he’s forever in our hearts, we’re sad to announce that sales of this year’s very special collaboration coffee, Santa Claude, featuring beloved British cat Claude himself (illustrated by Martin Kingdom) have now come to an end. But that’s no reason for to sunset the fun.

Thanks to your purchases worldwide, and with special help from Claude and the teams at Round Hill and Cafe Imports, we’ve raised a cool $1000 so far to support De Poezenboot, Amsterdam’s beloved floating cat rescue. To commemorate this momentous occasion—and to help raise just a little more scratch for the cat boat—we’re hosting a very special auction of a new original Martin Kingdom work right now over on the Sprudge Instagram, depicting Claude in all his glory. The auction begins at 12:00pm PST on December 19th, and ends 24 hours later, at 12:00pm PST Thursday, December 20th.

de poezenboot amsterdam netherlands

De Poezenboot. Photo courtesy of Djaro G.

de poezenboot amsterdam netherlands

Go follow Sprudge on Instagram to check out auction details and place your bid today. All amounts raised will be donated directly by the auction winner to De Poezenboot, our charitable partners throughout the Santa Claude campaign. See our Instagram for complete details on the auction.

We also thought we’d take this moment to chat a bit more with Martin Kingdom, who is coming up on a very big holiday weekend indeed—his art is featured in the hotly awaited new Mary Poppins film, starring Emily Blunt and Lin Manuel Miranda.

Hello Martin! Thank you for chatting with us, and thank you for helping create such lovely and adorable design work for this project. First, how did you get started as an illustrator?

Martin Kingdom: My background is more rooted in fine art really, I’m a bit of an imposter in the illustration world. I suppose you could say I straddle art and illustration. I studied art for a year in Oxford, and pretty soon after that landed a job as a silk screen printer, making fine art prints for some quite big-name artists. I moved from this into being an artist’s assistant, which involved oil painting on a daily basis, so I have put my 10,000 hours in on that front. From there I began making prints and producing my own work, and was asked to join an illustration collective called Puck. I began getting commissioned seriously from then, and at the moment I’m able to earn a living using my artistic skills, painting and illustrating.

What was your first coffee design project? 

My first coffee related drawing job was to illustrate the four-, six-, and eight-ounce cups for Prufrock Coffee, in I think 2009. They had a wonderful set up in a men’s clothes shop in Shoreditch, and one of the baristas, Jessie Fay, asked if I could draw a four-, six-, and eight-legged creature on to the three different sized takeaway cups. I don’t remember what animals I drew, as I’ve done several different sets because they kept getting stolen or lost! I’ve done bears, mice, lobsters, crabs, moths, bison, and of course the cute bunn, which Prufrock kept as their mascot.

What has been your very favorite design project to date? 

Well, this week sees the release of Mary Poppins Returns, the Disney sequel to Mary Poppins, and I was lucky enough to get to work on one of the main props in the film! I was commissioned to paint the scene on the magical Royal Doulton bowl which the characters get transported into as part of the story. It was an amazing thing to do, I got to meet the director and visit the studios at Shepperton in West London too. I saw the film a few days ago, and I’m pleased to say the bowl ends up in the hands of Meryl Streep!

And, of course, anything to do with Claude is always a great pleasure to do. He’s such a very nice cat. Despite all the coffee he drinks.

Ah yes, Claude. What special challenges does portraying Claude present?

The main challenge of portraying Claude is the fact that he drinks so much coffee, he just can’t sit still, so he’s constantly jumping off the chair, chasing rolled up sweet wrappers and messing about with his friend Patti.

The Prime Minister (of Great Britain) has a cat called Larry that is the official cabinet mouser, that lives at 10 Downing Street and is supposed to catch all the invading mice, but is in fact pretty useless. He has his own Wikipedia page. I’d love to paint his portrait, in oils, and have it hang in the National Portrait Gallery. I like to think of him sitting on Theresa May’s lap as she plots to destroy our country further (sorry, got a bit political there).

I think we can all agree on being pro Mouser. Thank you Martin! 

Cruise over to Instagram and check out today’s auction action. Bids close at 12:00 PST on Thursday, December 20th, 2018. 

Special thanks to Round Hill Roastery, Cafe Imports, Dutch Pack, Oli Bradshaw, and Claude. 

The post Meow Hear This: A Very Special Santa Claude Charity Auction appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Madcap Teams Up With Long Road Distilling For A Coffee Amaro

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Ahhhh amaro. Is there a better way to finish off a meal than with a little herbal digestif? If you are reading this one, at least one of two things is true: 1. You like coffee, and/or 2. You may have a large holiday meal in your future. If either of these are correct, then have I ever got good news for you. Madcap Coffee have teamed up with fellow Grand Rapidians Long Road Distillers to create Amaro Pazzo, a coffee-based Italian-inspired Michigan-born liqueur.

It’s been a busy month for Madcap in the way of news. Hot on the heels of the big announcement that the coffee company will be opening their first Detroit cafe inside the Shinola Hotel (though technically they did first mention that they were moving somewhere in Detroit back in October), now they dropping some booze news. According to the press release, Long Road and Madcap devoted a chunk of the yearlong process in bringing Amaro Pazzo to tasting coffees in order to find the best fit. Ultimately, they opted for the wash processed Reko from the eponymous washing station in the Kochere region of Ethiopia. With notes of citrus, lemongrass, and ginger, the Reko is said to help create a balance of sweetness and bitterness in the liqueur.

“Few put as much time and dedication into their craft as Madcap,” said Jon O’Connor, co-owner and co-founder of Long Road Distillers. “Amaro Pazzo is an ode to our shared commitment to take the time to do things right, and to craft the exceptional. We can’t wait to introduce people to what we’ve been able to create together.”

Clocking in at a very drinkable 57 proof, Amaro Pazzo adds to the flavors in the Reko with myrrh, turkey rhubarb, two types of orange, wormwood, “and a blend of other ingredients.”

We’re pretty big fans of amaro here at Sprudge, be it mixed with hot coffee, cold brew, or with coffee as an ingredient during distillation. Unfortunately for us, Amarzo Pazzo is only in distribution inside Michigan at the current moment, though the companies are looking to cast a wider net in early 2019. I guess this bottle of Caffé Amaro from J. Rieger & Co. and Thou Mayest will just have to keep me warm until Amarzo Pazzo moseys its way on down to Texas.

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 Madcap

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Source: Coffee News

Colombia Is Beginning To Experiment With Growing Robusta

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There’s a new threat to the growth of Arabica coffee in Colombia. It’s not climate change or leaf rust or unsustainably low prices. It’s Robusta.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Robusta hasn’t exactly been popular amongst Colombian coffee growers, going so far as to call it “reviled” in the “country that invented Arabica snobbery.” The revulsion, according to the article, comes from the perceived inferiority of the coffee’s flavor compared to that of Arabica. The article doesn’t outright say Robusta doesn’t taste good; the WSJ lets Andrew Hetzel do it.

“People say it tastes like tires. Like petroleum barrels,” said Andrew Hetzel, a consultant in the specialty coffee industry. “I’ve even heard it described as ‘the tears of children.’”

But the economics of growing Arabica are becoming less and less tenable, especially in the face of a viable alternative. Colombian Arabica averaged a price of $1.39 per pound, over half a dollar above the average Robusta price of $.87. But Robusta is easier to grow with a higher yield (and more disease-resistant) than Arabica. Couple that with the fact that Asia, the fastest growing coffee market, is dominated by Robusta and the move starts to make sense.

In the face of this changing market, some Colombian farmers and scientists are experimenting with Robusta. Nestlé has shipped 3,000 Robusta seedlings to Colombia that agronomists with the Agriculture Ministry are currently tending to under hyper-sanitary lab conditions; think sanitary smocks, hairnets, iodine foot baths, and three-stage entry “to keep out insects and microbes.” One businessman, Diego López, has been the last decade planting small amounts of Robusta around Colombia to find the conditions where it grows best.

And while the country originally balked at the idea of growing Robusta lest it taint the perception of their coffee quality, the Colombian government has since espoused growing it, thanks in no small part to an increase in Robusta’s quality. In fact, Sustainable Harvest‘s Chief Coffee Official Jorge Cuevas says that a good Robusta can be “creamy and intense, with a full, syrupy mouthfeel.”

[Cuevas] put it this way: If robusta and arabica walked into a bar, arabica would blend in, but robusta “would be bigger, louder, funny and charismatic. It would draw a lot of attention. You can’t miss it.”

Soon enough, specialty Robusta may be a much more common sight than it currently is. Imagine a coffee shop promoting “100% Colombian Robusta”—that could be your children’s future. Fucking climate change is real y’all.

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 from What Is Natural Coffee? Let’s Find Out From Counter Culture Coffee Expert Tim Hill

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Source: Coffee News

An Australian Experience For Japan At Deakin St Coffee Stand In Tokyo

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deakin st coffee stand tokyo japan

deakin st coffee stand tokyo japan

As high-quality specialty coffee spreads across Japan, the city center is becoming more and more competitive. As a result, we’re seeing more specialty coffee shops in Tokyo opening in local neighborhoods, where instead of fighting for a spot among the heavy hitters, the convenience stores, and the vending machines, coffee shop owners can instead gradually make themselves a part of the local community.

It was in a community just like this, near Mizue station in the Edogawa area, that I found Deakin St Coffee Stand.

Owned and operated by Simon James French and Chie Kamiya, Deakin St Coffee Stand is a relaxed space for coffee and chilling out, built into the first floor of the building the couple calls home. It’s an easygoing, friendly space with a small counter and a comfortable couch, and a bench outside for when the weather is nice.

deakin st coffee stand tokyo japan

French and Kamiya

“When we started here, a designer told us that Deakin St was our ‘life’ work, and that our day jobs were our ‘rice’ work, in that it puts rice on the table,” says French. “And he was right; Deakin St is our passion project.”

French says he’d been thinking of starting a coffee shop for a while, though initially he envisioned saving money and starting a shop in Kyoto; having only arrived in Tokyo last October in 2017, French was expecting a coffee shop to be a long-term goal and something later down the line. However, when looking for a place to live, he and Kamiya discovered the shop space in Edogawa, and found that with a little help from Allpress—where he splits his time roasting when not at Deakin St—they could start up much sooner than expected, and so they did.

deakin st coffee stand tokyo japan

Naturally then, the coffee selection comes courtesy of the Allpress roastery in Kiba, in the form of Americanos, lattes, hand drip, and cold brew, though French says he’d like to share coffee from Australian roasters in the future, also. Together with the coffee, Deakin St offers a selection of cakes from Kathy’s Kitchen, based in Kyoto and available only at Deakin St.

The name Deakin St, French says, is a nod to the place he and Kamiya called home for a year and a half in Australia.

“When we were living in Australia, we lived at 1 Deakin Street, which was our home and was really special; we have really good memories. We lived with an older professor; super friendly and loud and cool and very Aussie, and we had a really great relationship for the year and a half we spent together. When we started talking about our goal of one day opening a cafe, Deakin St felt right.”

“We wanted to create that Deakin St experience for Japan,” adds Kamiya.

deakin st coffee stand tokyo japan

The style then is like the area; mellow and relaxed. French handles the coffee, and Kamiya handles the counter, but both are always happy to talk and hang out with the locals passing by, many of whom have already made the place their regular go-to coffee shop.

And when you visit Deakin St, you get a real sense for why specialty coffee shops make so much sense in residential areas, and in the corners of local communities: it’s an experience that acts as a point of connection, bringing a moment of relaxation or easy conversation to everyday life. It’s the kind of environment and feel in which a coffee can be savored without a rush.

Deakin St Coffee Stand is located at MADO TERRACE 06, 3 Chome-2−8 Nishimizue, Edogawa, Tokyo. Follow them on Facebook and Instagram.

Hengtee Lim (@Hent03) is a Sprudge.com staff writer based in Tokyo. Read more Hengtee Lim on Sprudge.

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Source: Coffee News

Coming In 2019, Starbucks Is Bringing Coffee Delivery To The States

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Interns of the world rejoice! (Or maybe cower in fear, depending upon how much importance you place on your coffee-running abilities.) Starbucks has announced that they are teaming up with Uber Eats to offer delivery coffee from nearly a quarter of their company-owned US stores.

According to Forbes, the Seattle coffee chain will roll out delivery at nearly 2,000 stores during the first quarter of 2019. After a successful expansion into China that was bolstered by a delivery partnership with Alibaba, Starbucks is leaning more heavily on delivery, which is already showing signs of profitability domestically. From Forbes:

In the past two years, U.S. mobile orders for delivery and pay at Starbucks’ U.S. company-owned stores have more than doubled to 12% of those stores’ total sales, from 5%. That outpaced the growth in drive-through sales, which increased to 37% of the total, from 34%, during the same period, Starbucks said Thursday. Meanwhile, orders made at brick-and-mortar cafés declined to 51% of the business, from 61%.

Starbucks has been testing delivery with Uber Eats in Tokyo and Miami and is now ready to make the move nationwide. It’s part of the company’s 2019 growth strategy that also includes bringing nitro cold brew to all company-operated stores by the end of the 2019 fiscal year “to meet growing consumer demand” as well as opening its second US-based Starbucks Reserve Roastery—this one in New York’s Meatpacking district—to compete with “the growing crop of specialty coffee shops like Blue Bottle Coffee.”

Now, getting your mid-day Bux fix will be easier than ever. Too bad your drink will be dead by the time it gets to you. Hopefully by 2020, they will roll out a new “barista on a scooter” initiative to make drinks at your preferred destination. Or, you know, just got get the damn coffee yourself.

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 Skyscraperpage.

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Source: Coffee News