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Kickstart Your Weekend With These Coffee Crowdfunders

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It’s Friday. We did it, y’all, we made it to yet another weekend mostly unscathed by work and entirely unexploded by a maniac with a nuclear football, which means it’s time to start thinking about our bounty: the weekend and what it will have in store. For some, this means getting out into the world, seeing new sights and having new experiences. For others, it means staying in the city but looking oh so good doing it. Whatever the weekend holds for you, there’s a coffee Kickstarter to help you, well, kickstart it. We’ve rounded up a few of our favorites—all of whom have made their funding goals so you’re essentially just buying at a discount at this point—to help you treat yourself this weekend. You’ve earned it.

Pakt Coffee Kit

As anyone serious about good coffee no matter where they may find themselves can attest, travel coffee setups can be clunky and consume a lot of space, something that comes at a premium when trying to pack light. Enter Pakt, a (mostly) all-in-one coffee brewing system. Using Russian nesting doll technology, Pakt includes an electric kettle, conical pour-over brewer a la v60, mug, reusable filter, and coffee storage canister that all collapse together into a space no larger than a pair of shoes. Weighing in at a total 3.76lb, Pakt measures just 12.5” long and 4.5” wide, making it a pretty ideal travel companion. My only beef is that there is no grinder, meaning you’ll have to bring pre-ground coffee. There certainly seems like there would be room in the nested coffee canister to fit a portable Porlex-type grinder, alas there is none.

The Pakt Coffee Kit has already blown through its $25,000 goal with a whopping $135,000 in funding, which means all the really, really good deals have been scooped up. But you can still grab your own Pakt for $139, 26% off the $189 MSRP. Backer rewards have an expected delivery of December 2019.

Voyager Kettle

Maybe you don’t need an entire travel coffee kit. Maybe you are like me and are only missing one component—and the clunkiest one at that—the kettle. For we coffee sojourners there is the new Voyager Kettle, a portable electronic variable temperature kettle. With its collapsible design, the food-grade silicone kettle can be compressed down to a slim 2” when packed and then popped up to 6” in height. The Voyager can heat 20 ounces of water at a time to a user-set temperature and can hold it at that temp for 30 minutes. The only drawback—and one that kinda gets downplayed in all the campaign photos—is that the kettle requires electricity; there’s no battery-powered option, which limits its outdoor/camping utility. But, if you’re super serious about making it work, this limitation can be overcome with a travel solar-powered battery.

There are only two days left on the campaign, and the Voyager Kettle has met its $25,000 funding goal; it’s only $9,000 away from its $50,000 stretch goal and with it two new kettle colors—light blue and navy—which is great for those who aren’t fans of lime green. Retailing at $130, all interested parties can still get their hands on a Voyager at a discounted price of $109. Expected delivery for all backers is June 2020.

Rens Recycled Coffee Shoes

Maybe your weekend warrioring doesn’t involve leaving the cozy confines of the city. For you, the Kickstarter gods have offered up Rens, waterproof—and admitted pretty decent looking—shoes made from recycled coffee grounds. Lightweight, odor proof, antibacterial, UV blocking, and quick-drying, Rens use some sort of magic called “AquaScreen Tech™” that keeps water from passing through the material while still letting air through. It makes no sense whatsoever.

Each pair of the 100% vegan shoe is made of “300g of coffee waste and six recycled plastic bottles.” Currently, Rens come in a total of nine different colorways.

Their Kickstarter has already raised an astounding $308,000, which is roughly a million times their $19,000 goal. Nonetheless, there are still good backer rewards available. You can grab your own pair of Rens (in any size and color) for $99, 50% the $149 MSRP, with free shipping worldwide. Expected delivery for backers is November 2019.

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

The post Kickstart Your Weekend With These Coffee Crowdfunders appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Coffee At The Movies: The Lion King

By Coffee No Comments

Nants ingonyama, y’all! It’s been a minute since I last snuck coffee and booze into a movie but the call of photorealistic animals singing the songs of my youth was too much to resist. Sprudge may have slightly ruined a few filmgoers’ Saturday afternoons by sending T. Ben Fischer and me to get caffeinated and a little sloppy at a matinee of the reanimated The Lion King, but like an even gayer Statler and Waldorf, we ventured into the Cobble Hill Cinemas in Brooklyn, NY armed with Stumptown cold brew stubbies and rosé and ready to work out all of our emotions while we watched with different expectations. I’m a hardcore modern Disney skeptic while T. Ben’s favorite movie is Frozen and his Disney shareholder certificate hangs proudly in our apartment. What follows is a conversation we had after we sobered up:

ERIC J. GRIMM: Well, T. Ben, I told you you couldn’t possibly get me to see this flick and now you’ve gotten your wish. Are you happy?

T. BEN FISCHER: NO! It was horrrrrible! I’m so angry we watched it!

EJG: But my Disney princess, it had all of your favorite songs! Mind you, with the exception of Beyoncé’s, they were all sung terribly…

TBF: Ter-rib-ly. I wanted to throw my coffee at the screen during “Be Prepared.” Who was Scar? He was the worst.

EJG: Chiwetel Ejiofor. He was nominated for an Oscar.

TBF: For this?!?

EJG: No, you can’t be nominated for an Oscar until the year is over. He was nominated in 2014.

TBF: Can he be un-nominated and never nominated for anything else ever?

EJG: I’ll make some calls. He definitely took Scar to the most boring depths imaginable. Jeremy Irons was so deliciously evil and campy!

TBF: I don’t know who Jeremy is but the old Scar is fabulous. All of the old characters are fabulous. Why were the new ones all so boring?

EJG: That definitely bugged me the whole time. It was as if they were mostly directed to tone it down so it wouldn’t sound the same as the original even though the script is almost identical. John Oliver (Zazu), Billy Eichner (Timon), and Seth Rogen (Pumbaa) all sounded like they had someone whispering into their ear while they were recording, “Don’t have fun. Pleeeeeease don’t have fun with this.”

TBF: They should’ve just reused the voices from the old movie. They would have saved so much money!

EJG: It definitely would’ve accomplished the same goal. But then you wouldn’t have Beyoncé as Nala or Donald Glover as Simba!

TBF: That new Beyoncé song was the only good part. Can we talk about how ugly the movie looked?

EJG: Wha– sure. So ugly. The original is so pretty and the musical numbers all have cute gags and some dancing. This one just has animals kind of running around while they badly sing our faves.

TBF: Badly? Try, ter-rib-ly.

EJG: Pretty much the same thing, but go on.

TBF: “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King” was an abomination. Young Simba [JD McCrary] was totally off-key. I sound better in kara’oke.

EJG: Well, you’re probably both equally… alternative in your understanding of musicality. That number definitely stuck out as a low point. Nothing like dead-eyed animals to take the joy out of the most exciting musical number in the movie. A lot of people think the movie looks technically amazing.

TBF: IT LOOKS TECHNICALLY TERRIBLE. Why would I want to see real animals just do the same movie when I could watch the old one? It just looks like they put the Snapchat puppy filter on all the animals!

EJG: The real animal concept doesn’t even make sense. Real lions don’t conspire to overthrow their kings with hyenas or befriend warthogs and meerkats and abandon their carnivore instincts.

TBF: They just did all the same things from the first one. The only thing I can think that they changed was that the women lions got to be hunters and fighters.

EJG: Which is cool, I guess, except when you realize that the plot of the movie hinges on a pride of all female lions who need their stoner estranged prince to save them from the sloppiest and most easily overthrown dictator.

TBF: They should have had Beyoncé just murder Scar and all of the hyenas. Why couldn’t we just get a Beyoncé Lion King?

EJG: Well, we kinda did! She recorded a whole Lion King inspired album. It’s pretty tight!

TBF: She did?!? Did she record all the songs?!?!

EJG: No, she made a bunch of new ones. It’s basically Lionade!

TBF: Okay, I’m done talking about the stupid movie. Let’s listen to Beyoncé.

EJG: You got it.

TBF: Oh, and you’re taking me to see Frozen 2 at least five times to make up for this.

EJG: Yes, dear.

Eric J. Grimm (@ericjgrimm) writes about pop culture and coffee for Sprudge Media Network, and lives in Manhattan. Read more Eric J. Grimm on Sprudge.

T. Ben Fischer is a coffee professional, US Barista Championship Finalists, and creator of Glitter Cat Barista Bootcamp. This is T. Ben Fischer’s first feature for Sprudge.

The post Coffee At The Movies: The Lion King appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Introducing Building: A Co-Roasting Space In Ho Chi Minh City By Will Frith

By Coffee No Comments

Back in April, we announced the inaugural class of the Sprudge Twenty, a score of coffee professionals from around the world who are progressing specialty coffee in new and exciting ways. One of those individuals is Will Frith. Frith is perhaps best known in the United States for his time with Modbar, but has since moved to Ho Chi Minh City to be a part of the exciting coffee scene exploding in Vietnam right now. And on July 20th, Frith announced what part that will be. Introducing Building, a roaster and co-roasting space in Ho Chi Minh City.

Made public via his personal website, Frith has teamed up folks from The Workshop (as well as his wife) for the creation of Building. Modeled after Buckman Coffee Factory, Pulley Collective, and Bay Area CoRoasters, Frith’s new venture is a co-roasting facility that wants “homegrown brands to be born here, to grow here, and to go out into this gigantic city and get bigger and be cooler than anything [he] could ever do.” Per the post, the new space, officially open as of July 22nd, holds “three coffee roasters, four espresso machines, proper green coffee storage, a training lab, two cupping labs, and a production space.”

More than just a space for others, Building is also a coffee roasting company in their own right. Currently they toll roast for customers in Vietnam.

Per Frith’s post, more details will be forthcoming in the days and weeks to follow. But for now, more information on Building can be found on their official website, Facebook page, and Frith’s personal website.

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

The post Introducing Building: A Co-Roasting Space In Ho Chi Minh City By Will Frith appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Build-Outs Of Summer: Tenfold Coffee Company In Houston, TX

By Coffee No Comments

tenfold coffee houston texas

tenfold coffee houston texas

Though Austin is the easy answer to “best coffee scene in Texas,” Houston has quietly been very, very good for some time now. This is due, in part, to the fact that it is a coffee scene that largely keeps to itself; you won’t find cafes from Dallas, Austin, or San Antonio trying to make moves inside H-town, nor will you find Houston cafes looking to expand across city lines either. But don’t let the city’s insular nature fool you, Houston is home to a handful of cafes that would excel just about anywhere in the United States but nonetheless feel the most at home right where they are.

Adding to the menagerie that is the coffee scene in Texas’s largest city is a brand new outfit, Tenfold Coffee Company. After spending well over a decade as a coffee professional in Seattle and Melbourne, owner Jacob Ibarra opted to head down south and break ground on a coffee company of his own. Building off his time in big name coffee markets, Ibarra states his goal is to increase coffee education and accessibility in ways that haven’t yet been done in Houston. This will come via a completely refinished 3,000-square-foot warehouse expected to open some time in September. To learn more about Tenfold Coffee, we spoke with Jacob Ibarra digitally.

The 2019 Build-Outs of Summer is presented by Pacific Barista SeriesnotNeutralKeepCup, and Mill City Roasters.

As told to Sprudge by Jacob Ibarra.

tenfold coffee houston texas

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

At the heart of it all, what we are trying to do is build better supply chains. We want to be advocates and great partners for the producers we step into relationships with, but believe to make it sustainable and profitable for all involved there has to be some strategy behind it. Practically, we understand that if we want the good we hope to do to be long lasting and profitable we need the consuming side to buy in. Thus, as our first step we are building a cafe/roastery that is more akin to a craft brewery. In Houston, there are just a few who readily invite people into the craft of coffee making and we believe no one has stepped into education and making coffee accessible like we plan. The hope is that with all this we begin to build an audience and customer base that is committed to the craft and genuinely curious about coffee at large. From here we hope this helps us take them on a coffee journey that leads to Tenfold creating better supply chains and more hopeful producer relationships.

Can you tell us a bit about the new space?

Our warehouse is within a three building development in a great, inner-city Houston neighborhood, the Heights. Currently there is an existing craft cocktail bar and in construction are a gym and barber shop in another building. We have the third building which is a 3,000-square-foot warehouse that has been ‘”re-skinned”. We will be taking over the interior and plan to finish it in a modern, yet fun way—taking many cues from the many years I spent in the Australian cafe scene. We have lots of natural light—nearly three whole walls—which gives the space warmth and great perspective. Also, we have a side room attached to the main space that is being converted into a lab. The lab and the main cafe/roastery space is attached by a deck, which will have a very clean yet artistic pergola and seating area that welcomes the neighborhood from the street and invites consumers to enjoy the outdoors.

What’s your approach to coffee?

Wow. Big question but as I have been hiring I have been sharing these three words a lot: quality, sustainability, and hospitality. We have named the company Tenfold because we believe it speaks to excellence. We want everything we produce, including those experiences we give a customer, to speak quality. Quality is a leading way we can distinguish ourselves from the rest of the coffee market. Regarding sustainability, I’d say that Houston is generally behind the curve from the cities I have been in over the last 15 years—Seattle and Melbourne. But, I come at it from a procurement perspective and it would clearly be ironic for me to tell farmers to take care of their land and then trash it with improper practices and culture on the consuming side. Thus, we are taking steps to have a sustainable lens in all the we do and am excited to see how we will grow in this. As for hospitality, I have witnessed too many specialty coffee shops forget the notion that we actually exist in the hospitality industry. At the core of it, we are called to be hospitable and if we can do this well, I fully believe we can progress our vision and aims within specialty coffee.

tenfold coffee houston texas

Any machines, coffees, special equipment lined up?

On the main bar we will have a Marco Uber Boiler, two Nuova Simonelli Mythos Two grinders, a Mahlkönig EK43 grinder, Curtis G4 batch brewer, and the new La Marzocco KB90. The lab will have a Uber Boiler, La Marzocco Linea PB, Mythos One, two Baratza Settes, and an Ikawa sample roaster.

How is your project considering sustainability?

As mentioned previously, this is one of the bigger lens we are trying to look through. Also, we are trying to do this quite holistically. We are soon to start the B Corp “Pending” process, which is geared toward early stage businesses. We have a lot of respect for the B Corp community and know it will help shape our business practices. On the roastery/production side, we have picked up some newer technology called a VortX. Via this machine we will reduce our roasting production gas usage by more than half. The VortX uses water to cleanse exhaust from the roaster instead of a traditional natural gas burning afterburner. In the cafe we will heavily promote and incentivize customers to buy and utilize reusable cups. We are in discussion with Huskee and Frank Green to use and sell in the cafe and retail shelves. Both of these products do a tremendous job of blending beauty with function and in the cafe we will discount orders from those customers who utilize a reusable cup. Also, if you buy a reusable cup from our retail shelves we will grant the customer a free cup of coffee with that purchase. The last thing I will mention is that we will be exploring a “Greater Heights” series of merchandise where all proceeds go to a sustainable endeavor at origin and within one of the coffee communities we work with. I am quite close to the Long Miles Project of Burundi, and Ben Carlson is one my investors and strategic leaders at Tenfold. Ben is leading a new 50 year project to plants trees and re-flourish the Kibira National Forest. The Kibira forest is losing trees at an alarming rate and will change the environmental landscape for coffee farmers so dramatically that production might cease to exist in the province. We want to help and thus for the foreseeable future the proceeds from the the Greater Heights series will head to Burundi and the Trees for Kibira project.

tenfold coffee houston texas

What’s your hopeful target opening date/month?

Late September

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

Yes, Swerdt Design Group was my architect. Fly Wheel Co collaborated on my brand identity and packaging. Vanessa Farris (who is actually also training to be our roaster) is a woodworker and building a number of our larger more communal tables.

Thank you!

Thank you!

Tenfold Coffee Company is located at 101 Aurora St, Houston. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

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 Vincent Mercer Jr

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Source: Coffee News

“More Than 35” Dead In Ethiopia’s Sidama Zone Following Civil Unrest

By Coffee No Comments

There is civil unrest in Ethiopia’s Sidama Zone. According to the Ethiopia Observer, the past week has seen protests across the southern Ethiopian region—many of them violent—following the murder of a young man on July 18th. One protest in the Hagere Selam town of Hula Woreda was met with gunfire from federal police, killing 14 people, according to a witness on the scene.

New reports from the Addis Standard state the death total has reached “more than 35,” with hundreds more displaced.

Much of the unrest stems from the Sidama Liberation Movement (SLM), a group seeking an “autonomous region for Sidama ethnic group.” The Ethiopia Observer notes that many of the attacks seen in the Sidama Zone have been carried out along ethnic lines. “Non-Sidama ethnic communities were targeted, houses and government buildings burned, shops looted by an organized group.”

Among the buildings destroy were three orthodox churches in Hagere Selam, “Vehicles belonging to Yirga Alem town’s administration,” and a flour factory owned by a person born in a different region of Ethiopia. Also caught in the crossfire is the Aregash Lodge, “a popular tourist destination located in the outskirts of Yirga Alem” that was a frequent stopover for coffee travelers on origin trips. One member of the Aregash Lodge management tells the Ethiopia Observer that two of their vans (as well as one of their client’s vehicles) were burned and all of their tukuls—round mud huts with thatched cone roofs where visitors would stay—were looted; none were burned in the fires.

A referendum is expected to be held to decide the Sidama Zone’s quest for statehood, but many of the Sidama activists believe it is coming too late, per the article.

There is currently no official count of those who lost their lives as the violence continues to be carried out by protestors and police alike. According to the Addis Standard, internet has been disable across the entire zone and cell service is “hardly available,” so the final total may not be known for a while.

This story is developing…

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

Top image via the Ethiopia Observer

The post “More Than 35” Dead In Ethiopia’s Sidama Zone Following Civil Unrest appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

The 1907: Inside Onyx Coffee Lab’s Stunning, Soaring New Arkansas HQ

By Coffee No Comments

the 1907 rogers arkansas onyx coffee lab

the 1907 rogers arkansas onyx coffee lab

Northwest Arkansas’s Onyx Coffee Lab doesn’t operate in half measures. Anything they do, they do fully. When they compete at the US Coffee Championships, they are after the big trophies; to date, they have two national titles and too many finals appearances to count (across all five competitions), including a staggering total of five from the 2019 season alone. When they open a new cafe—as with their Bentonville lab a few years back, featured here on Sprudge—it exists somewhere in the realm between fantastical and extravagant.

So when it was announced that Onyx would be opening a new headquarters, the question was not if they would try to clear the high bar they set for themselves, but how. What sort of wonders would they employ? Would there be Willy Wonka-esque tubes overhead shooting coffee around all nimbly bimbly? What about slides? Will they have those, y’know, just because? Their answer to how to out-Onyx themselves is The 1907, a three-story, 30,000-square-foot cafe/roasting lab/headquarters/shared space in downtown Rogers, where owners Andrea and Jon Allen—along with a few of their fellow NWA maker friends—house a variety of ventures both in- and outside of coffee. And yes, there are Willy Wonka coffee tubes; only one slide though.

the 1907 rogers arkansas onyx coffee lab

The 110-year-old building that now houses The 1907—named in reference to the year it was built—was originally a Rogers Wholesale Grocer before becoming a Dollar Saver variety store in the ‘70s; faded whispers of that past life still appear scribbled across a green backdrop at the top of the historic structure’s red-brick exterior. When the Dollar Saver shuttered in 2015, Onyx jumped on the opportunity to develop a space to “showcase all the [post-origin] aspects of the coffee industry… under one roof, from roasting, cupping, baristas, bakers, coffee baggers, etc,” as Jon Allen describes. Three-plus years later, that dream has come to fruition.

Along with other ventures backed by the Allens—including The Foreman, an upstairs cocktail bar run by former Onyx Head of R&D Brendon Glidden, and Doughp (pronounced “dope”), the French-inspired pastry shop churning out buttery deliciousness for all Onyx locations—The 1907 is also home to Heirloom, a 20-person, seasonally-inspired prix fixe restaurant by chef/co-owner Jason Paul as well as the soon-to-open new outpost for Yeyo’s, a mezcaleria and taqueria from chef/farmer Rafael Rios.

the 1907 rogers arkansas onyx coffee lab

“The Foreman” cocktail bar.

At the center of all this, both conceptually and literally, is coffee. The progressive standalone coffee station is the unmissable nucleus of the entire building. Adorned in slatted light wood and white marble, the floating coffee bar keeps things clean and minimalist with Modbar espresso, steam wand, and pour-over modules. A Mahlkönig EK43S and two Nuova Simonelli Mythos II grinders have all been moved to custom insets in the back bar, along with all batch brew from the 3Temp system.

Aesthetically thoughtful as the bar is, the coolest feature is around the corner, at the finishing station. There, the most tenured Onyx barista acts as expeditor, QCing and finishing all drinks to ensure quality. With a single Modbar steam module, the final touches are added to each drink, including any sugar requested by the customer and even gently steamed cream to match the temperature of the beverage.

the 1907 rogers arkansas onyx coffee lab

Continuing the innovation, one new feature to the Onyx menu is nitro. Not simply just a nitro cold brew or some such single beverage, Onyx offers customers the option to nitrogenate any drink on the spot (using the same system from Dylan Siemens’ Finals run at the 2019 US Barista Championship).

Continuing to draw inspiration from the restaurant world, the roasting facility behind the coffee bar is completely open concept at every step of the process (sans green coffee storage). Everything from sample roasting to bagging is on full display, even the daily QC cuppings, though these are normally performed in the open-air upstairs walkways sitting above the coffee bar.

the 1907 rogers arkansas onyx coffee lab

And the roasting operation puts on a bit of a show for any interested onlooker. After a batch of coffee is dropped from the brand new, custom-painted Diedrich CR-70 roaster—one of the staggering six roasters in the facility that includes two Stonghold S7 Pro sample roasters and two S9 roasters dedicated solely to cold brew profiles—the beans are transported via the aforementioned Willy Wonka tubes to Onyx’s other new toy, the Sōvda Pearl Mini color sorter. Using high-speed imaging, the Sōvda uses puffs of air to kick out any beans that don’t meet the defined parameters. Jon Allen states that for Onyx, there’s a loss of roughly two percent of the total roast, resulting in a much cleaner cup. The kicked out beans are then collected and donated to area shelters, halfway homes, and soup kitchens (and not used to make cold brew, as I half-jokingly asked).

For Onyx, the open concept through line is done to promote transparency, and not just for transparency’s sake; the purpose, according to Jon, is as much for the customer as it is for themselves. “The intent is to show the level of detail, work, and talent that goes into running a roastery/cafe operation,” Allen tells me. “It’s been really good for the public to see and appreciate what we all do every day and I think good for our own staff culture to respect each others’ jobs and find camaraderie across the supply chain.”

the 1907 rogers arkansas onyx coffee lab

What is not seen but is as important to the guest experience, both in Onyx cafes and those of their wholesale partners, takes place out of plain sight, downstairs (or down the wooden slide if you’re feeling brave) in the training lab. In contrast to the clean-yet-cozy feel above, the training lab is dominated by stark whites. Enclosed in glass and very much looking like you would be required to wear a cleanroom suit to enter, the training lab is chockfull of all manner of espresso machines and grinders—all in white of course—to make sure they are able to train wholesale partners who come through on the machine combination they’ll be using back home. According to Siemens, Onyx’s Head of Training, everything is modular. The machine configurations can be moved to imitate—and if need be, suggest changes to—the physical layout of the home shops as well. It’s but another small but thoughtful detail in a 30,000-square-foot space full of them.

The 1907 is an encapsulation of who Onyx Coffee Lab is in 2019. Yes, there’s flash, a bit of a “why the hell not?” attitude that allows some of their more grandiose tendencies to play out in technicolor. Onyx’s flair for the dramatic is nothing new, mind you; this is the same company that shot the moon with their Bentonville build-out, the company that before that up and painted their portion of the strip mall façade, where their Fayetteville cafe is, in all black. But beneath it all—quite literally in the case of The 1907—there is a commitment to quality, to making sure the style is backed by substance.

the 1907 rogers arkansas onyx coffee lab

In the seven years since Onyx began their takeover of the Northwest Arkansas coffee scene, their relationship to the customer has undergone a seismic shift, from reactive to proactive. Where they were once the coffee shop with the drive-thru window to cater to the expectations of the clientele, they have become a brand that is constantly challenging—if not outright demanding—their guests to think about what they are drinking in ways they perhaps hadn’t previously. That mandate started in the coffee space with their Bentonville lab and continues today with The 1907, where it has expanded to include other food and beverage spheres. They are in no uncertain terms tastemakers, forward thinkers in Northwest Arkansas and the national coffee community at large.

And yet they still operate that same (largely unchanged) Fayetteville cafe. The evolution of Onyx is not one of outgrowth but of expansion, both geographically and thematically. It’s drive-thru windows and it’s Willy Wonka tubes, S’mores Gibraltars and finishing bars. It’s coffee—and cocktails and pastries and so on—for where you are and where you want to be.

the 1907 rogers arkansas onyx coffee lab

The 1907 is located at 101 E Walnut St, Rogers. Visit Onyx Coffee Lab’s official website and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

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

Disclosure: Onyx Coffee is an advertising partner on Sprudge Media Network.

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Source: Coffee News

Get STUMPED: A New Coffee Competition In Brooklyn

By News No Comments

Have you ever been watching a Barista Championship signature beverage course and been like, “I could have made that.” Well here’s your chance to put your nitrogenated aromatic smoke where your mouth is. Stumptown has teamed up with Oatly, La Marzocco, and Dona Chai for STUMPED, a Chopped-style challenge where teams have to use ingredients from a mystery basket to create the best signature beverage, and sign-ups to compete close Friday, July 19th.

Taking place on August 4th at Stumptown’s Brooklyn cafe, STUMPED will feature four teams of three people each competing “to make one incredible espresso signature beverage using all of the mystery basket ingredients provided & their ingenuity.” Each basket will include coffee from Stumptown as well as milk from Oatly—both required components of the ad-hoc sig bevs—as well as a smattering of mystery ingredients that competitors “must use.” Unlike the show, this competition will consist of one round per team. And waste will be taken into consideration by the judges when choosing the winner. Supplies and wares will be provided, and any additional supplies brought by competitors will be allowed on a case-by-case basis.

For those not lucky enough to be one of the 12 competitors, the fun abounds for all spectators. Emceed by the inimitable Becky Reeves, STUMPED will feature tons of raffle prizes, drinks by Dona, ice cream from Oatly, food by Ryan Wanslow “of La Marzocco fame,” and Maciej (Kasperowicz) on the ones and twos providing the sonic vibes.

Spectator tickets for STUMPED are technically free and registration can be done via Eventbrite, but the hosts are asking for a $5-10 sliding scale donation; they do note in the event page, though, that no one will be turned away for lack of funds. All proceeds from the night will go to Project Eats.

Teams will be decided lottery-style and submissions are due Friday July 19th, with winner announcements made the following Friday.

For more information, visit the STUMPED Eventbrite page. Time to get your roommate to throw a bunch of random shit in a bag for you to try to concoct something drinkable from, lest you get STUMPED!

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

All images via STUMPED

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Source: Coffee News

Sprudge Vintage: A Summer Coffee Clothing And Design Pop-Up

By News No Comments

The legacy of coffee is intertwined with design.

Welcome to Sprudge Vintage, a summer pop-up of curated coffee vintage from the third wave and beyond, drawing on today’s worldwide movement of vintage gallery resale. Coffee design deserves the same treatment, the same reverence—the coolest pieces from coffee’s rich design history, both wearable and collectible.

This is a celebration of coffee clothing design in the guise of our most sincerest hook-up plug.  We’re bringing to you some of our favorite examples coffee graphic design in garment form, from indie third wave designers to throwbacks from the 80s and 90s. Our founders have personally shopped, scoured, thrifted, bartered, hunted, collected and searched for much of the last decade to curate the collection of pieces you’ll see over the coming weeks.

Sprudge Vintage ships weekly with restocks all summer long, showing you the stuff we love and shipping worldwide with regular updates announced via Instagram. Be sure to follow @Sprudge for new drops and discount codes. To kick things off—and as an early hint of the Sprudge 10 Year Anniversary fun we’ve got in store come fall—we’re offering our readers 10% off on all vintage orders using the code SPRUDGE10. Offer valid through Friday July 26th. Watch Instagram for more sales and disocunts throughout the summer.

There are some wild surprises in store for the shop over the weeks to come. Orders are processed first come, first serve, so please don’t sleep. (Perhaps drink some coffee?) Happy shopping and long live the beautiful world of original coffee design.

Are you sitting on an epic coffee shirt and / or collectibles collection? We’re buying select pieces now for the shop. Get in touch with us.

Here’s a couple of our favorite pieces from the first drop!

TK

Coffee Common T-Shirt
American Apparel
Size: Women S – 18″ chest (flat)

Limited edition t-shirt from the briefly influential Coffee Common, a specialty coffee live events collective active from 2011-2012. “Unique Collaborations. Exceptional Coffee. No Sugar.”

Shop here.

See

Starbucks Track Jacket
Size: Large – 22″ chest (flat)

Sunrise Identity corporate ware

Circa 1990s Starbucks promotional track jacket. Unique Mermaid tag paired with a “CoffeeGear” label. Designer unknown.

Shop here.

Ritual Coffee T-Shirt
American Apparel 50/50 Shirt
Size: XS – 16.5″ chest (flat)
50% Polyester 50% Cotton

Circa 2009 Ritual Coffee Roasters tee in a stunning peach, blade and blood colorway.

Shop here.

Shop the full collection at shop.sprudge.com

The post Sprudge Vintage: A Summer Coffee Clothing And Design Pop-Up appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

Colombia’s Federation of Coffee Growers Calls For $2 Minimum Price

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As of writing this, the price of coffee on the commodities market sits a $1.05 per pound. This number is criminally low, but still somehow almost 20 cents higher than the 88 cent mark hit in May, the lowest price in a decade (to speak nothing of inflation). To combat this, Colombia’s National Federation of Coffee Growers (FNC) has now suggested setting an international base price of $2 per pound.

As reported by Reuters, the Colombian government has set aside $79.5 million in subsidies for coffee producers who are currently feeling the weight of the pricing crisis. To stem the tide as well as “[preventing] farmers [from] abandoning the sector,” the FNC is advocating for the new price floor. Though almost double the current commodity price, the proposed baseline is still 50 cents below the “price threshold for profitably,” per the Specialty Coffee Association.

“Is it fair to trade when someone buys your product below the cost of production?” said the head of the National Federation of Coffee Growers, Roberto Vélez, at a fair trade conference in Bonn, Germany.

Reuters notes that the call for the increased price comes with few potential avenues for achieving it. In the past, Vélez has suggested “decoupling” high-quality Arabica coffee from the commodity price. But one single country opting into a pre-defined minimum won’t suffice; coffee companies would simply buy from other producing countries still operating within the confines of the commodities market pricing. The Wall Street Journal states that the international body of coffee producers may be heading toward an OPEC-style cartel to help fix the price. The article notes that farmers from Brazil, Colombia, and over two dozens other producing countries will meet in Brazil later this week to discuss “how to get more money to farmers suffering from the lowest prices on world markets in more than a decade.”

The call for a price floor is ambitious. Nearly doubling the price of coffee seemingly overnight would have a significant impact on a company’s bottom line, and much of the new fees would presumably be passed onto the consumer. Yet, not doing anything isn’t an option. If producers aren’t financially able to grow coffee, they won’t. As it stands, the price of coffee may put an end to production before global warming even gets a chance.

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

Top image via The World AeroPress Championship Recipe—And A Very Special Interview

The post Colombia’s Federation of Coffee Growers Calls For $2 Minimum Price appeared first on Sprudge.

Source: Coffee News

In Addis Ababa, YA Coffee Puts A Modern Spin On Traditional Brewing

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ya coffee addis ababa ethiopia

ya coffee addis ababa ethiopia

Ethiopia,­­ the birthplace of coffee, holds the additional distinction of being the only coffee-producing country in the world that consumes more than half of what it grows. Despite this, in the cosmopolitan capital of Addis Ababa, locals and tourists alike in search of a quality cup are often forced to settle for low-grade, reheated brews.

In a unique trade arrangement, the government of Ethiopia mandates the export of any coffee grown within the country above a certain quality threshold (read: anything even close to specialty grade). A policy driven by a need for access to foreign currency, the rule tends to be just fine for busy locals who prioritize speed and convenience when grabbing a quick cup at the stalls of brewed coffee vendors on every street corner. The result is low-quality beans, unevenly roasted over a fire, and then reheated for hours or days until it sells.

It is from this deep concern for Ethiopia’s most famous cultural touchstone that YA Coffee emerges.

An alcove nestled deep in the belly of a nondescript office building seems like an odd place for one of Addis Ababa’s lone specialty coffee experiences, but once you step into YA Coffee’s newly christened roastery and cafe you know you’re in the right spot. Bright pictures adorn the wall in a film strip that describes the story and processing of Ethiopia’s coffee and immediately forces you out of the drab office surroundings. Cozy, traditional furniture pieces are warmly scattered throughout the space. When you belly up to the bar, you’re greeted personally by either proprietor Dagmawi Iyasu or his wife and business partner Sara Yirga, who handles the roasting on their Ozturk Bay OKS-10 Roaster.

ya coffee addis ababa ethiopia

ya coffee addis ababa ethiopia

YA Coffee quickly reveals its uniqueness not just as one of the few specialty experiences in Addis Ababa, but also as a shop that seeks to bring you that experience while preserving the country’s rich cultural tradition. The owners of YA Coffee only serve local beans and brew them exclusively in the jebena–a bulbous, long-stemmed coffee pot that has been in use in Ethiopia for more than a millennium.

The ten-minute process for the coffee to be measured, ground, and heated may feel typical to a specialty coffee consumer from another country, but for local clientele accustomed to cheap, quick coffee, there is quite a learning curve. I talked with Iyasu and Yirga on a quiet Saturday morning, before the official opening of the roastery. Over the course of our conversation, three customers came in but all left before their coffee was ready, grumbling about the wait. That said, it’s certainly quicker than the traditional hours-long Ethiopian coffee ceremony, and the end product is just as good—or even better.

A cup of the jebena coffee comes in a demitasse fitting roughly double the volume of espresso but packing a slightly lower total dissolved solids ratio and caffeine content. The heating of the grounds and water together in the jebena allows for a longer extraction period which brings out more of the coffee’s caffeine than brew preparation methods from other parts of the world–something Iyasu and Yirga call “slow brew.” More importantly though, the extended exposure also brings out the bean’s complex flavors. “Ethiopia has over 6,000 varieties of coffee,” Iyasu likes to say, “and with that more than 6,000 flavors. We want to be able to offer you all of those flavors.” And if you ask Iyasu, the best way to sample that diversity is in the traditional jebena.

He doesn’t just speak as an uninformed fanatic of the preparation method, however. A biochemist by training, Isayu conducted “arguably the first ever comparative sensory analysis of jebena” coffee in 2016. He compared it with preparation in a Moka pot at the Illy University in Italy and even saw international members of the industry choose the Ethiopian brew as their preferred method in a blind tasting.

The reason to be in coffee for Yirga and Iyasu clearly extends far beyond the company itself. Yirga wrote the charter for, and is currently a board member of, the Ethiopian Women in Coffee Association. Isayu, apart from evangelizing the jebena abroad, also works as the East Africa regional director for the coffee-cum-cervical-cancer-screening organization Grounds for Health when not helping in the roastery.

ya coffee addis ababa ethiopia

Yirga and Isayu

Their broad involvement means that the vision for YA Coffee has to extend far beyond this nondescript office building in a calm corner of Addis Ababa. The business partners look to export roasted beans and enter coffee tourism amongst the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela by year’s end. Looking further to the future, the couple’s goals range from thermodynamically-optimized jebenas, their own demo farm, and, most ambitiously, a degree-granting coffee and leadership academy established by 2043 that extends far beyond coffee. “We want to train the younger generation,” Yirga explains, “upcoming entrepreneurs who want to be in business of any kind.”

In the end, this isn’t a project about a roastery, or even about coffee. This is a labor of love from a couple that is passionate about their country and culture and wants to share it with everyone who walks through their doors.

The business is coffee, but in Isayu and Yirga’s eyes, the mission is nothing less than the future of Ethiopia.

YA Coffee is located at CMC Road, Addis Ababa. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

Rob Hefferon is a freelance journalist. This is Rob Hefferon’s first feature for Sprudge.

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Source: Coffee News