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michaelfallcon · 4 years
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Announcing The Sprudge Twenty Class Of 2020—Presented By Pacific Barista Series
Hello! Welcome to the official announcement of The Sprudge Twenty, presented by Sprudge and Pacific Barista Series.
This is the second class of Sprudge Twenty honorees, part of a new annual tradition honoring and amplifying leaders in the global coffee community in partnership with Pacific Barista Series. Pacific is dedicated to championing leadership and excellence in the coffee industry, and to supporting coffee culture as it happens worldwide.
That support and commitment happens in good times and bad. Here in the spring of 2020 the global coffee industry and the people behind it are threatened with an unprecedented challenge in the face of COVID-19. And yet, this moment makes highlighting the incredible work of individuals around the world even more important. These twenty people are changing the game in coffee, doing work that challenges and excites us, from every step of the coffee value chain: entrepreneurs and coffee producers, baristas and cafe owners, career coffee professionals, and those whose careers are just starting, competition success stories, and folks working quietly behind the scenes, leading by example. All of them have been impacted by current events; all of them have stories worth championing as loud as possible, now more than ever.
From a massive list of nominees around the world, below please find the Second Annual Sprudge Twenty class presented by Pacific Barista Series. We hope these stories will bring a smile to your face—as they have to ours—but many also include a call to action, a way to get involved to support the various projects and causes represented by our incredible global class. Each one of these members will receive a spotlight feature in the coming weeks on Sprudge, so get ready to know them a little better. For now, read on to discover the Sprudge Twenty presented alphabetically, and thank you.
Want to nominate someone in your community for the next Sprudge Twenty class? The nomination schedule for the 2021 Sprudge Twenty presented by Pacific Barista Series will be announced this fall. Sign up for the Sprudge Newsletter and never miss an update. 
Kat Adams, Cold Brew City Fest
Kat Adams (Photo courtesy Kat Adams)
“Kat Adams participates in the USBC Championships, is one of the organizers of Cold Brew City Fest, and has brought attention to gender identity to the coffee community in southern California. Recipient of the Q-Grader scholarship from Wrecking Ball and an amazing and talented coffee professional.” Nominated by Pablo Lara
Kathy Altamirano, Counter Culture Coffee
Kathy Altamirano (Photo by Sprudge)
“Kathy Altamirano exemplifies everything that the Sprudge Twenty is about. She works as tirelessly and enthusiastically at building a stronger, more inclusive local coffee community as she does judging the Finals at the World Brewers Cup and every step in between. When I would organize local coffee events, Kathy was always the first to volunteer, and she would be the first person to arrive and the last to leave. I’ve never met anyone who genuinely cares about building a better coffee community at all levels as much as Kathy does, and more importantly, she actively works (often thanklessly) toward creating it.” Nominated by Zac Cadwalader
Brittany Amell, Royal Coffee NY
Brittany Amell (Photo courtesy Brittany Amell)
“She is the super friendly barista that makes coffee approachable, but the green coffee version. Treating customers like you want to help them, and answer questions and be a totally great human being while doing it. If there was green coffee trading competitions she would blow everyone away.” Nominated by Arsalan Pourmand
Dandy Anderson, Stumptown Coffee
Dandy Anderson (Photo by Liz Dean)
“Dandy exudes quiet, unassuming leadership and that is exactly what makes them such a needed voice in our industry. Dandy is empathetic, understanding, patient, firm, and also pragmatic.They are generous with their time, energy, spirit, kindness, and heart. Their ideologies on the workplace, team dynamics, and what it means to be a leader makes me hope there’s a day I can call them a colleague. For now, I’m so lucky to call them a peer and also a friend.” Nominated by Kendra Sledzinski
Virginia Bauman, Go Get Em Tiger
Virginia Bauman (Photo by Jessica Zollman)
“I joined Go Get Em Tiger in July 2018 thanks to my now manager, Virginia Bauman, seeing a Facebook post I’d made announcing I was looking for steady work. I’d been pursuing a career in freelance commercial photography since 2007 and it was time for me to take my skills into a structured space that would still provide me with some creative freedom. Virginia brought me in as Visual Coordinator at GGET and has done so much more than given me room to take creative risks; she’s actively encouraged, supported, and pushed me to think beyond what I believe is possible. She’s fostered a culture of transparency, vulnerability, accountability and personal growth that has allowed me and my co-workers to flourish. All while operating an LGBTQIA+ coffee shop of her own, Cuties Coffee, in the heart of Los Angeles. Virginia exemplifies the future of coffee.” Nominated by Jessica Zollman
Noa Berger, Paris, France
Noa Berger (Photo by Lucie Sassiat)
“Noa Berger is a Ph.D. candidate at the EHESS Paris, studying the social construction of quality in the Brazilian and French specialty coffee markets. She is incredibly active within the French coffee scene but also the larger specialty coffee industry. Noa is one of the main reasons I have opened up my mind to many of the anthropological questions coffee asks and she is responsible for many in-depth conversations …we are so grateful to have someone like her invest her mind, time, and energy in our industry. Noa is definitely someone to look up to and be inspired by.” Nominated by Mihaela Iordache
Estelle Bright, La Marzocco UK
Estelle Bright (Photo courtesy Estelle Bright)
“Estelle has been in the industry for fifteen years, once an incredible barista pacing the way for the young baristas in the London scene today—she’s done everything from barista, trainer, coffee delivery driver and now heads up all things technical for La Marzocco UK.” Nominated by James Stelling
Allie Caran, Partners Coffee
Allie Caran (Photo courtesy Allie Caran)
“Allie Caran is the Director of Coffee Education at Partners Coffee and has been with the company since 2012. At Partners Coffee, Allie oversees the company’s broad range of educational offerings, from their public Brew School courses for consumers to Partners Coffee’s wholesale barista training programs and more.” Nominated by Angela Pizzimenti
Amaris Guttierez-Ray, Women In Coffee
Amaris Guttierez-Ray (Photo by Roberta Duarte)
“While Amaris’s Central American heritage and direct family ties in Nicaragua give passion and a unique perspective to her work, she has applied her academic training in research techniques to the science of coffee roasting, QA/QC systems, and the complicated business of the coffee supply chain.
Amaris started at Joe Coffee Company in 2015 as a part-time barista at our Pro Shop. In 2016, she joined our roasting team as a Production Roaster, bringing some years of roasting and management experience, and quickly moved into the Director of Roasting position. She has also established herself in the larger coffee community by creating the Women in Coffee project, a volunteer-run project aiming to highlight the voices of women throughout the coffee supply chain. In her “downtime” from work at Joe, Amaris puts her academic skills to use galvanizing the coffee community by cultivating transparency and providing forums for women to share the stories and experiences that would otherwise be obscured by innate and inequitable gender dynamics.” Nominated by Jonathan Rubinstein
Bartholomew Jones, Cxffeeblack
Bartholomew Jones (Photo by Erin Kim)
“I first stumbled on Bart via his project Cxffeeblack late 2019. He released this coffee that was called “Guji Mane”, a natural process coffee with a very punny name. Didn’t think much of my man passed that but I started following him and his coffee project. The longer I followed him the more I came to realize that his genuine positive mindset and knack for education for sure set him apart from any of my newer peers. He has tasked himself to educate this surrounding area about their connection to coffee(which in Memphis, can’t be easy) and did so without othering anyone.” Nominated by Cameron Heath
Lauren Lathrop, Mill City Roasters
Lauren Lathrop (Photo by Mill City Roasters)
“There are a plethora of wonderful head judges on the US Barista Competition Committee, but Lauren’s linguistic talents, when supporting her judging panels, is why she was the perfect person to lead us. Lauren has the wonderful ability to speak with articulate, complex, brevity yet makes the subject entertaining and digestible.
She displays compassion for all her judges, and empathy for all the competitors. She encourages us all to be better people, not just judges, through her unconscious bias training, and general demeanor….She is a specialty coffee role model, and professional inspiration, and thoroughly deserves the recognition that a Sprudgie would provide.” Nominated by Barnaby Holmes
Angie Katherine Molina Ospina, Insignia Coffee
Angie Katherine Molina Ospina (Photo by Paula Molina)
“Angie and her husband Jhon founded Insignia Coffee. Angie is a dedicated, passionate, and exceptional in the specialty coffee industry in Colombia. She volunteers her time to help others, is a dedicated volunteer in coffee events, and works with many coffee farmers and organizations.” Nominated by Paul Kevin Doyle
Jacob King, GYST Coffee Training
Jake King (Photo courtesy Jake King)
“Glitter Cat alum Jacob King is working on a free training project called GYST, has been heavily involved in the Black coffee community and is just a genuine dude. I am excited to see him grow as a barista and how he pushes the community forward for coffee in the southeast.” Nominated by Connan Moody
Ellan Kline, Ritual Coffee
Ellan Kline (Photo by RJ Joseph)
“In her five years in the Bay, Ellan has been instrumental in building a large, thriving community of trans coffee professionals at various tiers of the industry. When she moved here, she was the only visibly trans person in her company. Over the 5 years since, she has persisted in her growth and worked her way into various roles through sheer undeniability, skill, and dedication, and left the door wide open for others, fighting to help them see themselves and the growth they deserve. Now, it’s easy to go into a coffee shop in the Bay Area and find multiple trans baristas behind the bar. She would never take even the smallest amount of credit for that, but I’ve watched her work, her humility, and her persistence, and I see the series of stepping stones she’s laid for others. She is humble yet unapologetic about her skills and experience. She never felt the need to prove anything to anyone, and yet she has. She works quietly without the need for recognition, but she deserves it.” Nominated by RJ Joseph
Ever Meister, Cafe Imports
Ever Meister (Photo by Victor J. Pagán)
“Ever is a force for good in our industry: She’s a thoughtful, empathetic, and intuitive communicator focused on many of the complex issues at hand today. Outside of her work as Editorial Manager and Director of Education at Café Imports, Ever has produced valuable content across written features, presentations, and podcasts. Right now, she’s leaning into some really big questions around specialty coffee marketing ethics and grappling with how we can work towards a more equitable coffee industry. Ever is one of those rare communicators who manages both prolificacy and quality.” Nominated by Jenn Rugolo
Felipe Sardi, La Palma y El Tucan
Felipe Sardi (Photo by Felipe Sardi)
“I would like to nominate Felipé because first, he is a great human. He shares his knowledge and he is very open to sharing his experience. His farm is following sustainable processes and a permaculture system. The farm is admirable. He is taking a big part in his community with the neighbors and crops program, and in the process changing the processes and quality in the Cundinamarca region. He also participates in the Glitter Cat Project providing coffees. He is a big actor in specialty coffee in Colombia and tries at maximum to make the community and the share of knowledge in the first place.” Nominated by Clementine Labussiere
Kendra Sledzinski, Philadelphia
Kendra Sledzinski (Photo courtesy Kendra Sledzinski)
“How do I put into words how Kendra has affected my life and countless others? We met at Joe Coffee in New York five years ago and hit it off right away. Who was this friendly person, I wanted to know! Soon I became aware of Kendra’s influence in the coffee community of Philadelphia. When I went to visit her, everywhere we went, she knew someone. Kendra constantly went above and beyond in Philly to encourage professional development and community with the Joe staff and baristas of Philly—doing palate development and cuppings that were never required, but she knew how to make baristas stay. She works hard for her community, and works hard to lift other people up—and she does so selflessly. Thank you Kendra!” Nominated by Kayla Baird
Ramsey Smith, Virgin Islands Coffee Roasters
Ramsey Smith (Photo courtesy Ramsey Smith)
“The dividends of Ramsey’s labor and sacrifice are just now beginning to start paying off. His business, Virgin Islands Coffee Roasters, is now in many of the local resorts, grocery stores, and even the airport. His company was now apart of the U.S Virgin Island experience and culture. However, his business and all of his customer business was devastated by Hurricane Irma which struck on September 6, 2017. However they now bigger than ever and have exceed their size prior to the storms. They have a brand new café that you recently did a piece on and they also opened another roastery in Florida as well as the roastery in the U.S Virgin Islands. This is why he is my hero. He has weathered the storm and never lost faith.” Nominated by John Coyne
Oliver Stormshak, Olympia Coffee
Oliver Stormshak (Photo by Charlie Voohris)
“I’d like to nominate Oliver Stormshak, owner of Olympia Coffee, for his work with coffee producers and the Fair For All initiative. Fair For All is the culmination of years of hard work and passion for Oliver. He pushes the boundaries of our industry norm and continuously strives for higher quality of life for everyone involved in the supply chain. Guaranteeing things like sustainable wages for everyone involved, only choosing to work with producers who support the kind of quality of life and transparency he believes in and taking the time, energy, and resources to visit producers every year to provide feedback and develop relationships; Fair For All is true step towards a sustainable future for our industry ensuring that people see coffee farming as a viable career option.” Nominated by Richelle Parker
La Nisa Williams, Barista Life LA
La Nisa Williams (Photo courtesy La Nisa Williams)
“La Nisa is a long time coffee professional and freelance trainer who has helped built the coffee programs of many cafes and restaurants in the LA area, most notably places owned and operated by Black people and people of color. Her work here in LA resonates throughout the community and she inspires people who initially have little interest in coffee into a deep appreciation. I see her at every nearby event working, volunteering, soaking up information, and offering her expertise to become a better professional just so she can share it with others. Her focus on businesses that are often overlooked to the rest of the specialty coffee scene here is beyond just admirable—it’s the Lord’s work (lol) and she makes our coffee community here as a whole so much better.” Nominated by Michelle Johnson
Visit Sprudge.com/twenty for more on the Sprudge Twenty presented by Pacific Barista Series. Watch for upcoming interviews with each member of the 2020 class right here on Sprudge! 
Announcing The Sprudge Twenty Class Of 2020—Presented By Pacific Barista Series published first on https://medium.com/@LinLinCoffee
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shebreathesslowly · 4 years
Text
Announcing The Sprudge Twenty Class Of 2020—Presented By Pacific Barista Series
Hello! Welcome to the official announcement of The Sprudge Twenty, presented by Sprudge and Pacific Barista Series.
This is the second class of Sprudge Twenty honorees, part of a new annual tradition honoring and amplifying leaders in the global coffee community in partnership with Pacific Barista Series. Pacific is dedicated to championing leadership and excellence in the coffee industry, and to supporting coffee culture as it happens worldwide.
That support and commitment happens in good times and bad. Here in the spring of 2020 the global coffee industry and the people behind it are threatened with an unprecedented challenge in the face of COVID-19. And yet, this moment makes highlighting the incredible work of individuals around the world even more important. These twenty people are changing the game in coffee, doing work that challenges and excites us, from every step of the coffee value chain: entrepreneurs and coffee producers, baristas and cafe owners, career coffee professionals, and those whose careers are just starting, competition success stories, and folks working quietly behind the scenes, leading by example. All of them have been impacted by current events; all of them have stories worth championing as loud as possible, now more than ever.
From a massive list of nominees around the world, below please find the Second Annual Sprudge Twenty class presented by Pacific Barista Series. We hope these stories will bring a smile to your face—as they have to ours—but many also include a call to action, a way to get involved to support the various projects and causes represented by our incredible global class. Each one of these members will receive a spotlight feature in the coming weeks on Sprudge, so get ready to know them a little better. For now, read on to discover the Sprudge Twenty presented alphabetically, and thank you.
Want to nominate someone in your community for the next Sprudge Twenty class? The nomination schedule for the 2021 Sprudge Twenty presented by Pacific Barista Series will be announced this fall. Sign up for the Sprudge Newsletter and never miss an update. 
Kat Adams, Cold Brew City Fest
Kat Adams (Photo courtesy Kat Adams)
“Kat Adams participates in the USBC Championships, is one of the organizers of Cold Brew City Fest, and has brought attention to gender identity to the coffee community in southern California. Recipient of the Q-Grader scholarship from Wrecking Ball and an amazing and talented coffee professional.” Nominated by Pablo Lara
Kathy Altamirano, Counter Culture Coffee
Kathy Altamirano (Photo by Sprudge)
“Kathy Altamirano exemplifies everything that the Sprudge Twenty is about. She works as tirelessly and enthusiastically at building a stronger, more inclusive local coffee community as she does judging the Finals at the World Brewers Cup and every step in between. When I would organize local coffee events, Kathy was always the first to volunteer, and she would be the first person to arrive and the last to leave. I’ve never met anyone who genuinely cares about building a better coffee community at all levels as much as Kathy does, and more importantly, she actively works (often thanklessly) toward creating it.” Nominated by Zac Cadwalader
Brittany Amell, Royal Coffee NY
Brittany Amell (Photo courtesy Brittany Amell)
“She is the super friendly barista that makes coffee approachable, but the green coffee version. Treating customers like you want to help them, and answer questions and be a totally great human being while doing it. If there was green coffee trading competitions she would blow everyone away.” Nominated by Arsalan Pourmand
Dandy Anderson, Stumptown Coffee
Dandy Anderson (Photo by Liz Dean)
“Dandy exudes quiet, unassuming leadership and that is exactly what makes them such a needed voice in our industry. Dandy is empathetic, understanding, patient, firm, and also pragmatic.They are generous with their time, energy, spirit, kindness, and heart. Their ideologies on the workplace, team dynamics, and what it means to be a leader makes me hope there’s a day I can call them a colleague. For now, I’m so lucky to call them a peer and also a friend.” Nominated by Kendra Sledzinski
Virginia Bauman, Go Get Em Tiger
Virginia Bauman (Photo by Jessica Zollman)
“I joined Go Get Em Tiger in July 2018 thanks to my now manager, Virginia Bauman, seeing a Facebook post I’d made announcing I was looking for steady work. I’d been pursuing a career in freelance commercial photography since 2007 and it was time for me to take my skills into a structured space that would still provide me with some creative freedom. Virginia brought me in as Visual Coordinator at GGET and has done so much more than given me room to take creative risks; she’s actively encouraged, supported, and pushed me to think beyond what I believe is possible. She’s fostered a culture of transparency, vulnerability, accountability and personal growth that has allowed me and my co-workers to flourish. All while operating an LGBTQIA+ coffee shop of her own, Cuties Coffee, in the heart of Los Angeles. Virginia exemplifies the future of coffee.” Nominated by Jessica Zollman
Noa Berger, Paris, France
Noa Berger (Photo by Lucie Sassiat)
“Noa Berger is a Ph.D. candidate at the EHESS Paris, studying the social construction of quality in the Brazilian and French specialty coffee markets. She is incredibly active within the French coffee scene but also the larger specialty coffee industry. Noa is one of the main reasons I have opened up my mind to many of the anthropological questions coffee asks and she is responsible for many in-depth conversations …we are so grateful to have someone like her invest her mind, time, and energy in our industry. Noa is definitely someone to look up to and be inspired by.” Nominated by Mihaela Iordache
Estelle Bright, La Marzocco UK
Estelle Bright (Photo courtesy Estelle Bright)
“Estelle has been in the industry for fifteen years, once an incredible barista pacing the way for the young baristas in the London scene today—she��s done everything from barista, trainer, coffee delivery driver and now heads up all things technical for La Marzocco UK.” Nominated by James Stelling
Allie Caran, Partners Coffee
Allie Caran (Photo courtesy Allie Caran)
“Allie Caran is the Director of Coffee Education at Partners Coffee and has been with the company since 2012. At Partners Coffee, Allie oversees the company’s broad range of educational offerings, from their public Brew School courses for consumers to Partners Coffee’s wholesale barista training programs and more.” Nominated by Angela Pizzimenti
Amaris Guttierez-Ray, Women In Coffee
Amaris Guttierez-Ray (Photo by Roberta Duarte)
“While Amaris’s Central American heritage and direct family ties in Nicaragua give passion and a unique perspective to her work, she has applied her academic training in research techniques to the science of coffee roasting, QA/QC systems, and the complicated business of the coffee supply chain.
Amaris started at Joe Coffee Company in 2015 as a part-time barista at our Pro Shop. In 2016, she joined our roasting team as a Production Roaster, bringing some years of roasting and management experience, and quickly moved into the Director of Roasting position. She has also established herself in the larger coffee community by creating the Women in Coffee project, a volunteer-run project aiming to highlight the voices of women throughout the coffee supply chain. In her “downtime” from work at Joe, Amaris puts her academic skills to use galvanizing the coffee community by cultivating transparency and providing forums for women to share the stories and experiences that would otherwise be obscured by innate and inequitable gender dynamics.” Nominated by Jonathan Rubinstein
Bartholomew Jones, Cxffeeblack
Bartholomew Jones (Photo by Erin Kim)
“I first stumbled on Bart via his project Cxffeeblack late 2019. He released this coffee that was called “Guji Mane”, a natural process coffee with a very punny name. Didn’t think much of my man passed that but I started following him and his coffee project. The longer I followed him the more I came to realize that his genuine positive mindset and knack for education for sure set him apart from any of my newer peers. He has tasked himself to educate this surrounding area about their connection to coffee(which in Memphis, can’t be easy) and did so without othering anyone.” Nominated by Cameron Heath
Lauren Lathrop, Mill City Roasters
Lauren Lathrop (Photo by Mill City Roasters)
“There are a plethora of wonderful head judges on the US Barista Competition Committee, but Lauren’s linguistic talents, when supporting her judging panels, is why she was the perfect person to lead us. Lauren has the wonderful ability to speak with articulate, complex, brevity yet makes the subject entertaining and digestible.
She displays compassion for all her judges, and empathy for all the competitors. She encourages us all to be better people, not just judges, through her unconscious bias training, and general demeanor….She is a specialty coffee role model, and professional inspiration, and thoroughly deserves the recognition that a Sprudgie would provide.” Nominated by Barnaby Holmes
Angie Katherine Molina Ospina, Insignia Coffee
Angie Katherine Molina Ospina (Photo by Paula Molina)
“Angie and her husband Jhon founded Insignia Coffee. Angie is a dedicated, passionate, and exceptional in the specialty coffee industry in Colombia. She volunteers her time to help others, is a dedicated volunteer in coffee events, and works with many coffee farmers and organizations.” Nominated by Paul Kevin Doyle
Jacob King, GYST Coffee Training
Jake King (Photo courtesy Jake King)
“Glitter Cat alum Jacob King is working on a free training project called GYST, has been heavily involved in the Black coffee community and is just a genuine dude. I am excited to see him grow as a barista and how he pushes the community forward for coffee in the southeast.” Nominated by Connan Moody
Ellan Kline, Ritual Coffee
Ellan Kline (Photo by RJ Joseph)
“In her five years in the Bay, Ellan has been instrumental in building a large, thriving community of trans coffee professionals at various tiers of the industry. When she moved here, she was the only visibly trans person in her company. Over the 5 years since, she has persisted in her growth and worked her way into various roles through sheer undeniability, skill, and dedication, and left the door wide open for others, fighting to help them see themselves and the growth they deserve. Now, it’s easy to go into a coffee shop in the Bay Area and find multiple trans baristas behind the bar. She would never take even the smallest amount of credit for that, but I’ve watched her work, her humility, and her persistence, and I see the series of stepping stones she’s laid for others. She is humble yet unapologetic about her skills and experience. She never felt the need to prove anything to anyone, and yet she has. She works quietly without the need for recognition, but she deserves it.” Nominated by RJ Joseph
Ever Meister, Cafe Imports
Ever Meister (Photo by Victor J. Pagán)
“Ever is a force for good in our industry: She’s a thoughtful, empathetic, and intuitive communicator focused on many of the complex issues at hand today. Outside of her work as Editorial Manager and Director of Education at Café Imports, Ever has produced valuable content across written features, presentations, and podcasts. Right now, she’s leaning into some really big questions around specialty coffee marketing ethics and grappling with how we can work towards a more equitable coffee industry. Ever is one of those rare communicators who manages both prolificacy and quality.” Nominated by Jenn Rugolo
Felipe Sardi, La Palma y El Tucan
Felipe Sardi (Photo by Felipe Sardi)
“I would like to nominate Felipé because first, he is a great human. He shares his knowledge and he is very open to sharing his experience. His farm is following sustainable processes and a permaculture system. The farm is admirable. He is taking a big part in his community with the neighbors and crops program, and in the process changing the processes and quality in the Cundinamarca region. He also participates in the Glitter Cat Project providing coffees. He is a big actor in specialty coffee in Colombia and tries at maximum to make the community and the share of knowledge in the first place.” Nominated by Clementine Labussiere
Kendra Sledzinski, Philadelphia
Kendra Sledzinski (Photo courtesy Kendra Sledzinski)
“How do I put into words how Kendra has affected my life and countless others? We met at Joe Coffee in New York five years ago and hit it off right away. Who was this friendly person, I wanted to know! Soon I became aware of Kendra’s influence in the coffee community of Philadelphia. When I went to visit her, everywhere we went, she knew someone. Kendra constantly went above and beyond in Philly to encourage professional development and community with the Joe staff and baristas of Philly—doing palate development and cuppings that were never required, but she knew how to make baristas stay. She works hard for her community, and works hard to lift other people up—and she does so selflessly. Thank you Kendra!” Nominated by Kayla Baird
Ramsey Smith, Virgin Islands Coffee Roasters
Ramsey Smith (Photo courtesy Ramsey Smith)
“The dividends of Ramsey’s labor and sacrifice are just now beginning to start paying off. His business, Virgin Islands Coffee Roasters, is now in many of the local resorts, grocery stores, and even the airport. His company was now apart of the U.S Virgin Island experience and culture. However, his business and all of his customer business was devastated by Hurricane Irma which struck on September 6, 2017. However they now bigger than ever and have exceed their size prior to the storms. They have a brand new café that you recently did a piece on and they also opened another roastery in Florida as well as the roastery in the U.S Virgin Islands. This is why he is my hero. He has weathered the storm and never lost faith.” Nominated by John Coyne
Oliver Stormshak, Olympia Coffee
Oliver Stormshak (Photo by Charlie Voohris)
“I’d like to nominate Oliver Stormshak, owner of Olympia Coffee, for his work with coffee producers and the Fair For All initiative. Fair For All is the culmination of years of hard work and passion for Oliver. He pushes the boundaries of our industry norm and continuously strives for higher quality of life for everyone involved in the supply chain. Guaranteeing things like sustainable wages for everyone involved, only choosing to work with producers who support the kind of quality of life and transparency he believes in and taking the time, energy, and resources to visit producers every year to provide feedback and develop relationships; Fair For All is true step towards a sustainable future for our industry ensuring that people see coffee farming as a viable career option.” Nominated by Richelle Parker
La Nisa Williams, Barista Life LA
La Nisa Williams (Photo courtesy La Nisa Williams)
“La Nisa is a long time coffee professional and freelance trainer who has helped built the coffee programs of many cafes and restaurants in the LA area, most notably places owned and operated by Black people and people of color. Her work here in LA resonates throughout the community and she inspires people who initially have little interest in coffee into a deep appreciation. I see her at every nearby event working, volunteering, soaking up information, and offering her expertise to become a better professional just so she can share it with others. Her focus on businesses that are often overlooked to the rest of the specialty coffee scene here is beyond just admirable—it’s the Lord’s work (lol) and she makes our coffee community here as a whole so much better.” Nominated by Michelle Johnson
Visit Sprudge.com/twenty for more on the Sprudge Twenty presented by Pacific Barista Series. Watch for upcoming interviews with each member of the 2020 class right here on Sprudge! 
from Sprudge https://ift.tt/3bOzhQM
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rafaelthompson · 4 years
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Nationwide Relief Efforts For Service Industry Workers Affected By COVID-19
As COVID-19’s long term impact on the global economy remains unclear, its short term effects are not, and they weigh heavily upon service industry workers: bartenders, restaurant workers, and yes, baristas. Bars, restaurants, and cafes worldwide are limiting service or outright closing (hopefully not for good), significantly decreasing the number of workable hours available to their employees. These folks are by and large paid an hourly wage and rely heavily upon tips to make ends meets, so the preventative measures against the spread of the coronavirus have a deleterious effect on their livelihoods. (This is to say nothing of the dangers members of the service industry face in their daily interactions with strangers nor of their inability to receive affordable treatment should their continued exposure result in them contracting the virus.)
To help these workers in need, groups around the country are stepping up. We’ve compiled a list of fundraising efforts taking place locally to assist businesses and workers whose financial futures. If you are able, consider donating to these causes.
Is there a fundraising effort taking place near you that should be included here? Give us a shout!
Restaurant Workers’ Community Foundation COVID-19 Crisis Relief Fund
The New York City-based Restaurant Workers’ Community Foundation (RWCF) exists to “to advocate for gender equality, racial justice, fair wages, and healthy work environments in the restaurant industry.” But in the wake of the global pandemic, their efforts have to pivoted to “supporting workers, small business owners, and an industry in crisis.”
With their newly established COVID-19 Crisis Relief Fund, the RWCF aims to “immediately direct money to organizations leading on-the-ground efforts in the restaurant community, to bolster our impact investing budget to provide zero-interest loans to businesses to maintain payroll during closure or re-open once this crisis has passed, [and] to establish a relief fund for individual workers facing economic hardships or health crises as a direct result of COVID-19.
Individual as well as company donations can be made here and can be made on a one-time-only or recurring basis.
Seattle Hospitality Emergency Fund
In Seattle, aid efforts are not being spearheaded by non-profit groups, but from within the service industry community itself. Created by industry vet Jessica Tousignant along with non-industry Communications Manager at Microsoft Candace Whitney-Morris, the Seattle Hospitality Emergency Fund has been setup to provide assistance to workers “whose hours have been curtailed because of this crisis and who are not being otherwise compensated,” prioritizing “BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, disabled, and immunocompromised members of our community.”
The efforts have currently raised $45,000 of their $100,000, to be distributed based as need dictates amongst those who have applied for and been granted aid. Grantees will also be asked to apply for unemployment coverage to make sure they are receiving the full breadth of assistance available to them. To apply for aid from Seattle Hospitality Emergency Fund, fill out the survey here. To donate to the fund, visit their GoFundMe page here.
We’ll be updating this story with more local relief efforts as they are brought to our attention.
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
Nationwide Relief Efforts For Service Industry Workers Affected By COVID-19 published first on https://espressoexpertsite.tumblr.com/
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deniscollins · 5 years
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How Banks Unwittingly Finance Mass Shootings
Banks and credit-card networks say it is not their responsibility to create systems to track legal gun purchases that would allow them to report suspicious patterns. Yet, several payment systems — including PayPal, Square and Apple Pay — already had established rules that ban the sale of guns and gun-related items using their systems. Should banks require retailers to transmit details on sales of guns and ammunition so they would be able to make more informed decisions about transactions: (1) Yes, (2) No? Why? What are the ethics underlying your decision?    
Omar Mateen used six credit cards to buy two guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition before he opened fire inside the Pulse nightclub.
James Holmes used credit to help buy more than $11,000 in guns, grenades, a gas mask and other military gear to attack a movie theater.
Stephen Paddock had two dozen guns inside the Mandalay Bay Resort when he rained fire on a music festival below. Police found four credit cards.
Two days before Omar Mateen killed 49 people and wounded 53 more at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, he went on Google and typed “Credit card unusual spending.”
Mr. Mateen had opened six new credit card accounts — including a Mastercard, an American Express card and three Visa cards — over the previous eight months. Twelve days before the shooting, he began a $26,532 buying spree: a Sig Sauer MCX .223-caliber rifle, a Glock 17 9-millimeter semiautomatic pistol, several large magazines, thousands of rounds of ammunition and a $7,500 ring for his wife that he bought on a jewelry store card. His average spending before that, on his only card, was $1,500 a month.
His web browsing history chronicled his anxiety: “Credit card reports all three bureaus,” “FBI,” and “Why banks stop your purchases.”
He needn’t have worried. None of the banks, credit-card network operators or payment processors alerted law enforcement officials about the purchases he thought were so suspicious.
Mass shootings routinely set off a national debate on guns, usually focused on regulating firearms and on troubled youths. Little attention is paid to the financial industry that has become an instrumental, if unwitting, enabler of carnage.
A New York Times examination of mass shootings since the Virginia Tech attack in 2007 reveals how credit cards have become a crucial part of the planning of these massacres. There have been 13 shootings that killed 10 or more people in the last decade, and in at least eight of them, the killers financed their attacks using credit cards. Some used credit to acquire firearms they could not otherwise have afforded.
Those eight shootings killed 217 people. The investigations undertaken in their aftermath uncovered a rich trove of information about the killers’ spending. There were plenty of red flags, if only someone were able to look for them, law enforcement experts say.
“Banks will complain this is the government’s job and it’s not our job, but you know what? They are the only ones with the ability to do this,” said Kevin Sullivan, a former New York Police fraud investigator who consults with banks as president of the Anti-Money Laundering Training Academy.
After the shooting last February at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., where 17 students and staff members were killed, this column suggested that financial firms had an opportunity to help reduce violence by pushing for more responsible practices by the gun industry. As a result, some banks ended their relationships with gunmakers and some investors pushed manufacturers for more transparency.
Financial firms have so far resisted changing the way they deal with the sale of guns.
Banks and credit-card networks say it is not their responsibility to create systems to track gun purchases that would allow them to report suspicious patterns.
“We do not believe Visa should be in the position of setting restrictions on the sale of lawful goods or services,” said Amanda Pires, a Visa spokeswoman. “Our role in commerce is to efficiently process, protect and settle all legal payments. Asking Visa or other payment networks to arbitrate what legal goods can be purchased sets a dangerous precedent.”
A spokesman for Mastercard echoed that sentiment, emphasizing its protection of “cardholders’ independence” and the “privacy of their own purchasing decisions.”
But the financial industry is uniquely positioned to see, if it chose to do so, a potential killer’s behavior in a way that retailers, law enforcement officials, concerned family members or mental health professionals cannot.
A little more than a month before James E. Holmes killed 12 people and injured 70 others at a Century 16 movie theater in Aurora, Colo., in 2012, a psychiatrist was considering having him involuntarily committed. Mr. Holmes quit his job, filed for unemployment benefits and used a new Mastercard issued by USAA to help buy more than $11,000 in weapons and military gear. He bought two tear-gas grenades, a gas mask and filter, a .40-caliber Glock handgun, a 12-gauge shotgun, a .223-caliber AR-15, a 100-round drum magazine, two 40-round magazines, a laser sight, a bulletproof vest, 5,000 rounds of ammunition, two sets of handcuffs and “road stars” meant to slice through car tires.
“This was a civilian making these orders, not the police and not the military,” said Sandy Phillips, whose daughter, Jessica, died in the attack. “Someone should have noticed.”
Finding Fraud, but Not Firearms
When it comes to certain crimes, banks are on the front lines. They crunch transaction data to protect their customers from fraudulent purchases — often identifying stolen credit cards within seconds — and to detect money laundering, funding of terrorist organizations and other crimes.
Banks are required to report transactions of $10,000 or more by a single person, even if those transactions are legal. And after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, the government enacted even stricter rules under the Patriot Act: Banks must file so-called Suspicious Activity Reports for transactions involving more than $5,000 that the financial institution “has reason to suspect” are part of a plan to “violate or evade any federal law.”
A labyrinth of rules prevents banks and credit-card networks — many of which also handle debit card transactions — from seeing exactly what customers are buying. Retailers have historically resisted providing item-by-item information — known as SKU-level data, a reference to the stock-keeping unit number of an item — for fear that banks would sell that information or use it to steer customers to rival merchants.
In the case of gun purchases, even the nature of the retailer can be obscure: The Merchant Category Code, which identifies the type of store that sold an item, is the same for gun shops and sporting goods stores.
But retailers have the ability to send far more detailed transaction information.
A feature known as a “boxcar” allows retailers to tag transactions with extra data. It is often used by online retailers to send the bank details about consumer behavior, such as the device used to make a purchase and the location of the buyer.
If banks required retailers to transmit details on sales of guns and ammunition, they would be able to make more informed decisions about transactions.
Walmart and Dick’s Sporting Goods this year announced that they would not sell firearms to anyone under 21. If banks chose to use the systems they already have in place, they might decide to monitor such customers, perhaps preventing them from buying multiple guns in a short period of time.
“They can fine-tune their own systems, because in these cases the suspicious purchasing patterns could have been picked up on and quite frankly should have been picked up on,” said Mr. Sullivan, the Anti-Money Laundering Training Academy president.
Banks could also add information about gun sales to the infrastructure they already use to help the government investigate other criminal activity.
“We need to step back and think about what tools we use to combat terrorism and money-laundering and think about the financial rules associated with the Patriot Act,” said John Streur, chief executive of Calvert Investments, a mutual fund firm that is an advocate for responsible investing. “In a very real sense, I think these mass shootings are terrorism.”
Moving Money and Buying Guns
The shooting at the Route 91 Harvest music festival in Las Vegas last year was described as the worst mass murder on American soil since the Sept. 11 terror attacks. The gunman, Stephen Paddock, killed 58 people and injured more than 800.
When his body was found on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, the police noticed four credit cards scattered across the kitchenette countertop next to his hotel key card.
His rooms were filled with two dozen firearms and thousands of rounds of ammunition. He spent nearly $95,000 on firearms and gun-related purchases in the year before the massacre, buying some 55 guns, according to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s report. Police have not disclosed details of how Mr. Paddock paid for his guns. Some transactions were in cash, but law enforcement officials said he also bought firearms online.
Unlike most other mass killers, Mr. Paddock was wealthy. He spent over $600,000 at casinos in the two years leading up to the massacre, and paid over $170,000 to credit card companies. Law enforcement officials saw the full picture of his gun purchases only after they talked to the banks, but they wish they could have connected the dots in advance.
“They have all the infrastructure in place,” said Joseph Moreno, a former federal counterterrorism prosecutor and a staff member of the F.B.I.’s 9/11 Review Commission who is now a partner at Cadwalader. “A.T.F. is already involved in S.A.R.s task forces,” he said, referring to suspicious-activity reports. “It would just be tweaking it to consider firearm-related information.”
An Industry Falls Silent
Over the last several months, I have spoken to senior executives at the country’s largest banks and credit card companies who were taken aback when I presented them with the list of shootings that involved their cards: Virginia Tech in 2007, Binghamton in 2009, Fort Hood in 2009, Aurora in 2012, San Bernardino in 2015, Orlando in 2016, Sutherland Springs in 2017 and Las Vegas in 2017. That list is based on interviews and hundreds of documents including police reports and credit card receipts. It may actually underreport the use of credit cards in shootings: In some cases the payment method could not be learned.
While some executives expressed grief and were open to discussing possible solutions, virtually none were willing to speak about them on the record for fear of upsetting gun-rights advocates and politicians invoking the Second Amendment. Some raised the prospect that by trying to help they would be held responsible if the system failed. Others made a slippery-slope argument: If they were to police gun sales, should they do the same for alcohol in an effort to prevent drunk-driving deaths?
After the school shooting in Parkland, Citibank and Bank of America said they would no longer finance or advise gun manufacturers, while investment firms like BlackRock and pension funds like Calpers, the retirement fund for public employees in California, said they would demand more information from the gunmakers they invested in.
Several payment systems — including PayPal, Square and Apple Pay — already had established rules that ban the sale of guns and gun-related items using their systems.
But no bank has instituted a ban or committed to tracking gun purchases.
John Shrewsberry, chief financial officer of Wells Fargo — which counts the National Rifle Association as a client — has dismissed the notion that banks should regulate the use of its credit cards for gun purchases.
“The best way to make progress on these issues is through the political and legislative process,” he said in April on a conference call with investors.
There may be good reason that no bank executive wants to talk out loud about guns: In October, Senator John Kennedy, Republican of Louisiana, introduced a bill, the No Red and Blue Banks Act, which would “prohibit the federal government from giving contracts to banks that discriminate against lawful businesses based solely on social policy considerations.”
The bill was directed at banks that changed their policies regarding guns.
“Our friends at Citigroup and Bank of America apparently aren’t busy enough with their banking business; they have decided that they are going to set policy for the Second Amendment,” Mr. Kennedy wrote on Twitter.
And a policy expert at the American Civil Liberties Union recently expressed concern about how efforts to prevent mass shootings could infringe on individual rights.
“The implication of expecting the government to detect and prevent every mass shooting is believing the government should play an enormously intrusive role in American life,” Jay Stanley, senior policy analyst at the A.C.L.U. Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, wrote in July.
Not all the concerns involve privacy or politics. Some are practical.
George Brauchler, the district attorney who oversaw the investigation of Mr. Holmes after the Aurora shooting, said the deluge of data the police receive already presents challenge.
“To some extent we are looking for a needle in a haystack and that haystack keeps getting bigger and bigger,” he said.
The data could inform old-fashioned police work that might or might not lead to something more, he said.
“Do I wish someone from law enforcement had been able to go to his door and knock on his door and figure out a way to talk their way into it or to freak him out?" he said of Mr. Holmes. “Yeah, absolutely.”
Lives and Opportunities Lost
Jared L. Loughner had the Chase Visa he used to buy a 9-millimeter Glock handgun in the pocket of his jeans when he shot Representative Gabrielle Giffords in the head outside a Tucson supermarket on Jan. 8, 2011. She survived, but six people died.
“There are a lot of steps that credit card companies can take that could prevent some of the tragic gun violence in the country,” said Adam Skaggs, chief counsel of the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. “For companies to say they can’t solve the entire problem and therefore shouldn’t take any steps is just blindly ignoring what they can contribute to the solution.”
Elected officials could force the financial system to act.
In 29 states, consumers cannot use credit cards to buy lottery tickets because legislators don’t want consumers wracking up debt gambling. And under the Gun Control Act of 1968, firearms dealers must report if someone buys two or more handguns in a span of five business days.
That requirement can be evaded simply by buying at more than one store, but a system involving the banks and credit card networks could have the opportunity to flag the purchases.
After the Pulse shooting, JPMorgan Chase committed more than $300,000 to support the victims and their families. One of the 49 people killed was a Chase employee: Christopher Sanfeliz, 24, a personal banker at a branch in Tampa who had worked his way up from teller after taking business classes at Hillsborough Community College.
Mr. Sanfeliz’s father, Carlos, was surprised to learn that the same industry that once employed his son had unwittingly bankrolled other shootings.
“Something needs to be done to prevent more attacks,” he said. “I live with this torment every day of my life.”
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mrwilliamcharley · 5 years
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The Essential Sprudge 2018 Holiday Gift Guide
It’s here! The 2018 holiday season is finally here, and with it, a swarm of gift guides great and cheap, big and small, for you and not even remotely for you at all.
Here at Sprudge holiday gift guides are a long-running tradition, dating back to the internet’s earlier, simpler, arguably less evil times. To kick the Guidesapalooza off this year, we tapped three of our favorite regular contributors: Jenn Chen, Zac Cadwalader, and Anna Brones. We asked them some very simple questions: What moves you? What coffee gifts would you give to a loved one? Does this spark joy?
Read on to find out, and happy holiday-ing from all of us at Sprudge.
Image by Sam Lee.
Handmade Mug and Dripper by Sam Lee
There is something particular about drinking coffee out of a handmade mug, something that helps to turn it from routine into ritual. San Francisco-based artist and ceramicist Sam Lee creates beautiful everyday objects, including those made for making and drinking coffee, and I love her style. Her work is simple yet stunning, like in the V60 dripper, glazed to balance the texture of both the smooth glaze and the rough ceramic. Any morning would be made just a little more beautiful with Lee’s work in it. – Anna Brones
Photo courtesy Umeshiso.
Rainbow Cupping Spoon
Born out of a desire to empower themselves and other marginalized folks in the industry at the cupping table, Umeko Motoyoshi created the Rainbow Spoon project. Their store, Umeshiso, has a wide array of pins, cupping spoons, and stickers for your favorite coffee professional. Sold as a single spoon or a set of six, these rainbow spoons offer a perfect bowl depth for a dip and slurp. The spoons are offered on a sliding scale basis to reflect the store’s inclusive mission. Choose to pay the at-cost fee or a few dollars more to contribute back into the project. – Jenn Chen
Terroir Coffee Chocolate and Coffee Blossom Honey
Coffee gifts don’t always have to be coffee. They can also be chocolate and honey. Coffee chocolate and coffee honey. From Terroir—the sister company of Onyx Coffee Lab—comes two tasty sweets cultivated on actual coffee farms. The cacao comes from one of three origins—Colombia, Uganda, and Guatemala—and each bean-to-bar dark chocolate is made with coffee from the same farm. The honey is from Finca El Apiario in Guatemala, produced by bees who only pollinate coffee blossoms. Not only are these products really tasty (I eat the honey on my morning yogurt daily), they are also providing auxiliary revenue streams for the farmers producing them. It’s a great coffee gift for non-coffee people that brings in additional money to the coffeelands. Win win win. – Zac Cadwalader
Image via Snow Peak.
Field Barista kit from Snow Peak
There’s a clear intersection between outdoor lovers and coffee drinkers, and Japanese lifestyle brand Snow Peak caters to the nature enthusiasts who want to ensure that their coffee game is as strong outside as it is at home. The brand’s Field Barista kit is the ultimate in outdoor coffee brewing setup, including a dripper, grinder, and kettle. You don’t have to opt for the entire set, each piece can be purchased separately. The dripper is cone shaped—which will keep your filters from collapsing—and disassembles to fit in a small bag, and the grinder’s handle easily folds down, which makes packing easier. The weight of the kit makes it geared at the kind adventures that include a base camp, or just a morning coffee brew in the local park, as opposed to journeys where weight is a consideration, but if you’ve got the whole set, you just might start to prefer brewing in your backyard to your kitchen counter. – Anna Brones
Photo courtesy Standart.
Standart Subscription
Creative types will appreciate an annual subscription (four issues) to Standart, a beautiful independent print magazine (and 2017 Sprudgie Award winner) dedicated to the art of coffee. The stories, illustrations, and photographs within its pages cover a wide range of global issues and perspectives. You’ll just as easily read a profile with a barista champion right after a piece exploring tasseography, the art of reading tea and coffee leaves. Content is at the forefront in Standart and there’s something for everyone. The subscription is available globally and comes with a bag of coffee roasted exclusively for subscribers. – Jenn Chen
Courtesy of Agate Publishing
Craft Coffee: A Manual
Getting into coffee can be intimidating. It feels like there is an entire lexicon to memorize just to learn how to make a pour-over. Luckily, there is Craft Coffee: A Manual by Jessica Easto. Easto is “not a coffee person,” as she described to Sprudge in our interview with her earlier this year, and that’s the perspective she brings to the pages of Craft Coffee. With the help of her husband and “coffee person” Andreas Willhoff, Easto covers just about everything you need to know to get started on your coffee journey, including: brewing basics, equipment, processing, and step-by-step guides for making coffee with 10 different brewing devices. It’s all the coffee info, none of the intimidation. – Zac Cadwalader
Image by Lindsey Shea.
Ebb Filter by GDS Cloth Goods
Coffee is a product that centers around origin, but while we focus on where our coffee comes from, we don’t always apply the same principles to our brewing equipment. For the coffee drinker who cares about how things are made and where they’re from, Ebb Filter is the perfect gift. This reusable filter is made from organic cotton grown in Texas, processed and woven into fabric in the Carolinas and sewn into final product the Bay Area by GDS Cloth Goods. The filters come in a variety of sizes to fit all types of brew methods, and are wrapped in biodegradable packaging. – Anna Brones
Courtesy of Melodrip
Melodrip
Buying gadgets for a coffee tinkerer can be a tall order because 1) geeky gear is often prohibitively expensive and 2) what even is that thing and how does it make coffee? For those wanting to gift something brewing-related that won’t break the bank, look no further than the Melodrip. Essentially just a dispersion screen on a stick, the Melodrip allows you to drastically cut down on the amount of agitation in the brewing process, which leads to a cleaner cup of coffee, according to the creators. After a successful Kickstarter campaign (of which I backed with my own actual dollars), the Melodrip is now in full production and available for purchase for a cool $45. – Zac Cadwalader
Photo courtesy IWCA.
Charitable Donation
A thoughtful gift for the coffee lover who doesn’t want any physical products, a charitable donation in their name goes a long way to supporting the communities who create your morning brew. Did you know that over 80% of women newly diagnosed with cervical cancer live in developing countries and that 70% of coffee farm laborers are women? Grounds for Health provides cervical cancer screenings at coffee farms. For a more general contribution to the coffeelands, the International Women’s Coffee Alliance (IWCA) works in 22 countries to empower women at the local community level. And if you’d like to invest in the next generation of farmers, Coffee Kids works with young farmers on business training and seed capital. – Jenn Chen
via It’s A Mod, Mod, Mod, Mod World
Commandante Hand Grinder
I have more hand grinders than I care to mention in polite company, but whenever I go out of town and need a way to pulverize some whole beans, the Commandante manual grinder is always the one I bring with me. Besides being one of the most aesthetically pleasing grinders on the market—just look at all that wood grain!—the German-engineered Commandante is the perfect mix of portable and dependable, making it the ideal suitcase (or day pack) companion. At $250, this isn’t exactly a small gift, but, speaking from opinion here, it’s worth every penny. – Zac Cadwalader
Coffee Isn’t Rocket Science by Sebastien Racineux and Chung-Leng Tran
Have you ever been asked by friends and family how to make better coffee at home? Get them this book. Coffee Isn’t Rocket Science by Sebastien Racineux and Chung-Leng Tran (both co-owners of Hexagone Cafe in Paris) is a well-rounded guide to better understanding and making coffee. For the newly coffee acquainted, it’s a helpful tool for navigating the world of coffee, the kind of book that can always be kept close to the coffee brewing equipment. And for well-versed coffee lovers, it’s a fun resource to include in your coffee library, particular for those moments when you forget some of the basic details of the drink you love. – Anna Brones
Kaffe Box Subscription
Sometimes the best coffee gift is simply just coffee. For those who want to gift coffee but don’t know what is “good,” a subscription is always a solid place to start. As an American who makes primarily filter coffee, I have yet to find a subscription service more up my alley than Norway’s Kaffe Box. Each month, the subscription service works with a different Scandinavian roaster to deliver light-roasted coffee directly to your doorstep. Past roasters include big names like Tim Wendelboe, La Cabra, The Coffee Collective, and Koppi as well as lesser-known micro-roasters like Jacobsen og Svart, Nord, and Talor & Jorgen. To me, this is THE subscription service for lighter-roast filter coffee drinkers. But if you are buying for someone who is an espresso drinker or likes more developed coffees, Trade Coffee is where I would start. – Zac Cadwalader
Via Seal Press.
“So You Want to Talk About Race” by Ijeoma Oluo
A New York Times bestseller and book that transcends any industry lines, “So You Want to Talk About Race” is a must-read for the well-meaning ally. The book isn’t about coffee, yet like any industry built on colonialism and capitalism, race is inextricably tied to coffee. Oluo breaks down key concepts in a straightforward manner and provides the reader with tangible ways to talk about race. This is a great place to start for those who find themselves saying things like, “But what can I do?” and “I don’t know what that means” after listening to the Black Coffee podcast episodes. – Jenn Chen
The post The Essential Sprudge 2018 Holiday Gift Guide appeared first on Sprudge.
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epchapman89 · 6 years
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Coffee Books: The Sprudge Holiday Buying Guide
They say that knowledge is power. Books are like 90 percent knowledge by weight, so this holiday season, give the gift of mostly-power to your loved ones. “Power do to what?” you ask rhetorically. Why, the power to be better at coffee of course. Whether you’re making it, finding it, or talking about it, there have been a host of wonderful books to be published recently on one of the many facets of coffeedom.
And the best part about giving coffee books as gifts is that is a completely selfish act in the guise of thoughtfulness. The giftee will be all like, “Oh what a thoughtful gift. You really get me!” And you can be all, “Yep, I sure do. Hey, this one seems to say that you need to work on your pouring technique; maybe you should give that a try now.” And boom, you’re getting better coffee served at your every beck and call because you are the giver of such a thoughtful and indebting gift.
Being scholars (and sometimes contributors) to the dark arts, we at Sprudge have already devoured these new coffee texts and can confirm that they are of the utmost quality, sure to make the reader a better coffee person, and you look like a thoughtful gift giver. It’s a win-win (but you win more).
Coffee Art
Say what you will about the importance of latte art, a really lovely rosetta served to a family member is the surest way to exhibit your home coffee prowess. Coffee Art, a new book from five-time UK Latte Art Champion Dhan Tamang, will teach you not only how to pour better hearts, tulips, and rosettas, but it also provides tutorials on more obscure etchings and 3D art, all accompanied with beautiful color photography examples. From the fundamentals of achieving proper milk texture to step-by-step guides to recreating some of Tamang’s signature pours, Coffee Art is sure to take your latte art to a whole new level.
Coffee Art retails for £10 ($12.99 USD) and is available through Octopus Books and major book retailers.
Where To Drink Coffee
One of the scariest parts of visiting a new city is having no idea where you can actually get good coffee. Not all specialty cafes are created equally and no one wants to schlep to the other side of a new town on a suspect recommendation only to be left wanting. Where To Drink Coffee makes sure this won’t ever happen to you no matter where you are in the world. Published by Phaidon—the folks behind such guidebooks as Where Chefs Eat and Where Bartenders Drink—Where To Drink Coffee is authored by Avidan Ross and Sprudge associate editor Liz Clayton and features contributions from some of your favorite Sprudge writers (a well-traveled and worldly lot if I’ve ever seen one) as well as veritable who’s who of coffee pros. If ever there were a group of people you’d want coffee shop suggestions from, it would be these folks.
Where To Drink Coffee retails for $29.95 and is available through Phaidon and major book retailers. 
What I Know About Running Coffee Shops
Colin Harmon is a four-time Irish Barista Champion and founder of 3fe Coffee in Dublin, a cafe that has provided some of my best coffee shop experiences to date. Basically, when Harmon offers advice on how to run a successful coffee shop, you listen. What I Know About Running Coffee Shops is all of his years of coffee experience categorized and collated, in print form. Though perhaps unsexy topics, Harmon’s book tackles issues on choosing buildings, staffing, milk, marketing, culture, and just about everything else needed to keep a cafe afloat in the nefarious world of thin margins. For anyone toying with the idea of taking the plunge into cafe ownership, this book is a must-read.
What I Know About Running Coffee Shops retails for €30 and is available through the book’s official website.
Craft Coffee: A Manual
Despite its ubiquity amongst home users, brewed coffee is often a lackluster affair outside of a cafe setting. But thanks to Craft Coffee: A Manual, that may not be the case for much longer. Written by Jessica Easto—not a “coffee professional—with the help of her husband and coffee educator at Halfwit Coffee Andreas Willhoff, Craft Coffee is a beautifully written guide to improving your home coffee no matter what your brew method or current coffee setup. Whether you’re buying your first v60 or have every piece of brewing equipment on earth, Easto and Willholf provide clear steps to improving your cup as well as the theories underlying them. If this book doesn’t make your brew better, then I’m coming over to your house every morning, because your coffee is already top notch.
Craft Coffee: A Manual retails for $19.95 and is available through Agate Publishing and major book retailers.
Coffeeography: The Coffee Producers
Not all coffee books have to be about making coffee, you know. Some can enhance your appreciation for the world’s most popular beverage by providing you with a more complete view of the people who make it all possible. That’s the idea behind Coffeeography: The Coffee Producers by Stephen Leighton. The founder of Hasbean, co-owner of 3fe and Drop Coffee, co-host of Tamper Tantrum, and emcee of many World Barista Championships, Leighton is a man of many interests, and most of them are coffee-related. Relying on his many years visiting origin and 30,000+ photos taken during those trips, Leighton’s newest project profiles 40 coffee producers from 11 different countries. Through beautiful color photos and interview-style discussion, Coffeeography: The Coffee Producers brings to life stories not often told but nonetheless some of the most important in coffee.
Coffeeography: The Coffee Producers retails for £19.99 and is available through Hasbean.co.uk.
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 Dame Magazine
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michaelfallcon · 4 years
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Nationwide Relief Efforts For Service Industry Workers Affected By COVID-19
As COVID-19’s long term impact on the global economy remains unclear, its short term effects are not, and they weigh heavily upon service industry workers: bartenders, restaurant workers, and yes, baristas. Bars, restaurants, and cafes worldwide are limiting service or outright closing (hopefully not for good), significantly decreasing the number of workable hours available to their employees. These folks are by and large paid an hourly wage and rely heavily upon tips to make ends meets, so the preventative measures against the spread of the coronavirus have a deleterious effect on their livelihoods. (This is to say nothing of the dangers members of the service industry face in their daily interactions with strangers nor of their inability to receive affordable treatment should their continued exposure result in them contracting the virus.)
To help these workers in need, groups around the country are stepping up. We’ve compiled a list of fundraising efforts taking place locally to assist businesses and workers whose financial futures. If you are able, consider donating to these causes.
Is there a fundraising effort taking place near you that should be included here? Give us a shout!
Restaurant Workers’ Community Foundation COVID-19 Crisis Relief Fund
The New York City-based Restaurant Workers’ Community Foundation (RWCF) exists to “to advocate for gender equality, racial justice, fair wages, and healthy work environments in the restaurant industry.” But in the wake of the global pandemic, their efforts have to pivoted to “supporting workers, small business owners, and an industry in crisis.”
With their newly established COVID-19 Crisis Relief Fund, the RWCF aims to “immediately direct money to organizations leading on-the-ground efforts in the restaurant community, to bolster our impact investing budget to provide zero-interest loans to businesses to maintain payroll during closure or re-open once this crisis has passed, [and] to establish a relief fund for individual workers facing economic hardships or health crises as a direct result of COVID-19.
Individual as well as company donations can be made here and can be made on a one-time-only or recurring basis.
Seattle Hospitality Emergency Fund
In Seattle, aid efforts are not being spearheaded by non-profit groups, but from within the service industry community itself. Created by industry vet Jessica Tousignant along with non-industry Communications Manager at Microsoft Candace Whitney-Morris, the Seattle Hospitality Emergency Fund has been setup to provide assistance to workers “whose hours have been curtailed because of this crisis and who are not being otherwise compensated,” prioritizing “BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, disabled, and immunocompromised members of our community.”
The efforts have currently raised $45,000 of their $100,000, to be distributed based as need dictates amongst those who have applied for and been granted aid. Grantees will also be asked to apply for unemployment coverage to make sure they are receiving the full breadth of assistance available to them. To apply for aid from Seattle Hospitality Emergency Fund, fill out the survey here. To donate to the fund, visit their GoFundMe page here.
We’ll be updating this story with more local relief efforts as they are brought to our attention.
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
Nationwide Relief Efforts For Service Industry Workers Affected By COVID-19 published first on https://medium.com/@LinLinCoffee
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shebreathesslowly · 4 years
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Nationwide Relief Efforts For Service Industry Workers Affected By COVID-19
As COVID-19’s long term impact on the global economy remains unclear, its short term effects are not, and they weigh heavily upon service industry workers: bartenders, restaurant workers, and yes, baristas. Bars, restaurants, and cafes worldwide are limiting service or outright closing (hopefully not for good), significantly decreasing the number of workable hours available to their employees. These folks are by and large paid an hourly wage and rely heavily upon tips to make ends meets, so the preventative measures against the spread of the coronavirus have a deleterious effect on their livelihoods. (This is to say nothing of the dangers members of the service industry face in their daily interactions with strangers nor of their inability to receive affordable treatment should their continued exposure result in them contracting the virus.)
To help these workers in need, groups around the country are stepping up. We’ve compiled a list of fundraising efforts taking place locally to assist businesses and workers whose financial futures. If you are able, consider donating to these causes.
Is there a fundraising effort taking place near you that should be included here? Give us a shout!
Restaurant Workers’ Community Foundation COVID-19 Crisis Relief Fund
The New York City-based Restaurant Workers’ Community Foundation (RWCF) exists to “to advocate for gender equality, racial justice, fair wages, and healthy work environments in the restaurant industry.” But in the wake of the global pandemic, their efforts have to pivoted to “supporting workers, small business owners, and an industry in crisis.”
With their newly established COVID-19 Crisis Relief Fund, the RWCF aims to “immediately direct money to organizations leading on-the-ground efforts in the restaurant community, to bolster our impact investing budget to provide zero-interest loans to businesses to maintain payroll during closure or re-open once this crisis has passed, [and] to establish a relief fund for individual workers facing economic hardships or health crises as a direct result of COVID-19.
Individual as well as company donations can be made here and can be made on a one-time-only or recurring basis.
Seattle Hospitality Emergency Fund
In Seattle, aid efforts are not being spearheaded by non-profit groups, but from within the service industry community itself. Created by industry vet Jessica Tousignant along with non-industry Communications Manager at Microsoft Candace Whitney-Morris, the Seattle Hospitality Emergency Fund has been setup to provide assistance to workers “whose hours have been curtailed because of this crisis and who are not being otherwise compensated,” prioritizing “BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, disabled, and immunocompromised members of our community.”
The efforts have currently raised $45,000 of their $100,000, to be distributed based as need dictates amongst those who have applied for and been granted aid. Grantees will also be asked to apply for unemployment coverage to make sure they are receiving the full breadth of assistance available to them. To apply for aid from Seattle Hospitality Emergency Fund, fill out the survey here. To donate to the fund, visit their GoFundMe page here.
We’ll be updating this story with more local relief efforts as they are brought to our attention.
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
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michaelfallcon · 5 years
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The Essential Sprudge 2018 Holiday Gift Guide
It’s here! The 2018 holiday season is finally here, and with it, a swarm of gift guides great and cheap, big and small, for you and not even remotely for you at all.
Here at Sprudge holiday gift guides are a long-running tradition, dating back to the internet’s earlier, simpler, arguably less evil times. To kick the Guidesapalooza off this year, we tapped three of our favorite regular contributors: Jenn Chen, Zac Cadwalader, and Anna Brones. We asked them some very simple questions: What moves you? What coffee gifts would you give to a loved one? Does this spark joy?
Read on to find out, and happy holiday-ing from all of us at Sprudge.
Image by Sam Lee.
Handmade Mug and Dripper by Sam Lee
There is something particular about drinking coffee out of a handmade mug, something that helps to turn it from routine into ritual. San Francisco-based artist and ceramicist Sam Lee creates beautiful everyday objects, including those made for making and drinking coffee, and I love her style. Her work is simple yet stunning, like in the V60 dripper, glazed to balance the texture of both the smooth glaze and the rough ceramic. Any morning would be made just a little more beautiful with Lee’s work in it. – Anna Brones
Photo courtesy Umeshiso.
Rainbow Cupping Spoon
Born out of a desire to empower themselves and other marginalized folks in the industry at the cupping table, Umeko Motoyoshi created the Rainbow Spoon project. Their store, Umeshiso, has a wide array of pins, cupping spoons, and stickers for your favorite coffee professional. Sold as a single spoon or a set of six, these rainbow spoons offer a perfect bowl depth for a dip and slurp. The spoons are offered on a sliding scale basis to reflect the store’s inclusive mission. Choose to pay the at-cost fee or a few dollars more to contribute back into the project. – Jenn Chen
Terroir Coffee Chocolate and Coffee Blossom Honey
Coffee gifts don’t always have to be coffee. They can also be chocolate and honey. Coffee chocolate and coffee honey. From Terroir—the sister company of Onyx Coffee Lab—comes two tasty sweets cultivated on actual coffee farms. The cacao comes from one of three origins—Colombia, Uganda, and Guatemala—and each bean-to-bar dark chocolate is made with coffee from the same farm. The honey is from Finca El Apiario in Guatemala, produced by bees who only pollinate coffee blossoms. Not only are these products really tasty (I eat the honey on my morning yogurt daily), they are also providing auxiliary revenue streams for the farmers producing them. It’s a great coffee gift for non-coffee people that brings in additional money to the coffeelands. Win win win. – Zac Cadwalader
Image via Snow Peak.
Field Barista kit from Snow Peak
There’s a clear intersection between outdoor lovers and coffee drinkers, and Japanese lifestyle brand Snow Peak caters to the nature enthusiasts who want to ensure that their coffee game is as strong outside as it is at home. The brand’s Field Barista kit is the ultimate in outdoor coffee brewing setup, including a dripper, grinder, and kettle. You don’t have to opt for the entire set, each piece can be purchased separately. The dripper is cone shaped—which will keep your filters from collapsing—and disassembles to fit in a small bag, and the grinder’s handle easily folds down, which makes packing easier. The weight of the kit makes it geared at the kind adventures that include a base camp, or just a morning coffee brew in the local park, as opposed to journeys where weight is a consideration, but if you’ve got the whole set, you just might start to prefer brewing in your backyard to your kitchen counter. – Anna Brones
Photo courtesy Standart.
Standart Subscription
Creative types will appreciate an annual subscription (four issues) to Standart, a beautiful independent print magazine (and 2017 Sprudgie Award winner) dedicated to the art of coffee. The stories, illustrations, and photographs within its pages cover a wide range of global issues and perspectives. You’ll just as easily read a profile with a barista champion right after a piece exploring tasseography, the art of reading tea and coffee leaves. Content is at the forefront in Standart and there’s something for everyone. The subscription is available globally and comes with a bag of coffee roasted exclusively for subscribers. – Jenn Chen
Courtesy of Agate Publishing
Craft Coffee: A Manual
Getting into coffee can be intimidating. It feels like there is an entire lexicon to memorize just to learn how to make a pour-over. Luckily, there is Craft Coffee: A Manual by Jessica Easto. Easto is “not a coffee person,” as she described to Sprudge in our interview with her earlier this year, and that’s the perspective she brings to the pages of Craft Coffee. With the help of her husband and “coffee person” Andreas Willhoff, Easto covers just about everything you need to know to get started on your coffee journey, including: brewing basics, equipment, processing, and step-by-step guides for making coffee with 10 different brewing devices. It’s all the coffee info, none of the intimidation. – Zac Cadwalader
Image by Lindsey Shea.
Ebb Filter by GDS Cloth Goods
Coffee is a product that centers around origin, but while we focus on where our coffee comes from, we don’t always apply the same principles to our brewing equipment. For the coffee drinker who cares about how things are made and where they’re from, Ebb Filter is the perfect gift. This reusable filter is made from organic cotton grown in Texas, processed and woven into fabric in the Carolinas and sewn into final product the Bay Area by GDS Cloth Goods. The filters come in a variety of sizes to fit all types of brew methods, and are wrapped in biodegradable packaging. – Anna Brones
Courtesy of Melodrip
Melodrip
Buying gadgets for a coffee tinkerer can be a tall order because 1) geeky gear is often prohibitively expensive and 2) what even is that thing and how does it make coffee? For those wanting to gift something brewing-related that won’t break the bank, look no further than the Melodrip. Essentially just a dispersion screen on a stick, the Melodrip allows you to drastically cut down on the amount of agitation in the brewing process, which leads to a cleaner cup of coffee, according to the creators. After a successful Kickstarter campaign (of which I backed with my own actual dollars), the Melodrip is now in full production and available for purchase for a cool $45. – Zac Cadwalader
Photo courtesy IWCA.
Charitable Donation
A thoughtful gift for the coffee lover who doesn’t want any physical products, a charitable donation in their name goes a long way to supporting the communities who create your morning brew. Did you know that over 80% of women newly diagnosed with cervical cancer live in developing countries and that 70% of coffee farm laborers are women? Grounds for Health provides cervical cancer screenings at coffee farms. For a more general contribution to the coffeelands, the International Women’s Coffee Alliance (IWCA) works in 22 countries to empower women at the local community level. And if you’d like to invest in the next generation of farmers, Coffee Kids works with young farmers on business training and seed capital. – Jenn Chen
via It’s A Mod, Mod, Mod, Mod World
Commandante Hand Grinder
I have more hand grinders than I care to mention in polite company, but whenever I go out of town and need a way to pulverize some whole beans, the Commandante manual grinder is always the one I bring with me. Besides being one of the most aesthetically pleasing grinders on the market—just look at all that wood grain!—the German-engineered Commandante is the perfect mix of portable and dependable, making it the ideal suitcase (or day pack) companion. At $250, this isn’t exactly a small gift, but, speaking from opinion here, it’s worth every penny. – Zac Cadwalader
Coffee Isn’t Rocket Science by Sebastien Racineux and Chung-Leng Tran
Have you ever been asked by friends and family how to make better coffee at home? Get them this book. Coffee Isn’t Rocket Science by Sebastien Racineux and Chung-Leng Tran (both co-owners of Hexagone Cafe in Paris) is a well-rounded guide to better understanding and making coffee. For the newly coffee acquainted, it’s a helpful tool for navigating the world of coffee, the kind of book that can always be kept close to the coffee brewing equipment. And for well-versed coffee lovers, it’s a fun resource to include in your coffee library, particular for those moments when you forget some of the basic details of the drink you love. – Anna Brones
Kaffe Box Subscription
Sometimes the best coffee gift is simply just coffee. For those who want to gift coffee but don’t know what is “good,” a subscription is always a solid place to start. As an American who makes primarily filter coffee, I have yet to find a subscription service more up my alley than Norway’s Kaffe Box. Each month, the subscription service works with a different Scandinavian roaster to deliver light-roasted coffee directly to your doorstep. Past roasters include big names like Tim Wendelboe, La Cabra, The Coffee Collective, and Koppi as well as lesser-known micro-roasters like Jacobsen og Svart, Nord, and Talor & Jorgen. To me, this is THE subscription service for lighter-roast filter coffee drinkers. But if you are buying for someone who is an espresso drinker or likes more developed coffees, Trade Coffee is where I would start. – Zac Cadwalader
Via Seal Press.
“So You Want to Talk About Race” by Ijeoma Oluo
A New York Times bestseller and book that transcends any industry lines, “So You Want to Talk About Race” is a must-read for the well-meaning ally. The book isn’t about coffee, yet like any industry built on colonialism and capitalism, race is inextricably tied to coffee. Oluo breaks down key concepts in a straightforward manner and provides the reader with tangible ways to talk about race. This is a great place to start for those who find themselves saying things like, “But what can I do?” and “I don’t know what that means” after listening to the Black Coffee podcast episodes. – Jenn Chen
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epchapman89 · 7 years
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Here’s Everyone Moving On From Knoxville #CoffeeChamps
On January 21st and 22nd of 2017 a legion of baristas descended upon the charming Tennessee college town of Knoxville, each with one goal in mind: to excel on the US Coffee Championships stage, and advance to compete at nationals April 21st-23rd in Seattle. Sprudge’s live coverage team from Knoxville brought you industry-leading play by play action of the event all weekend long over on SprudgeLive.com, our sister website dedicated to competitive coffee, as well as via the @SprudgeLive Twitter feed and @Sprudge Instagram. Now we’re thrilled to bring you the advancing competitors across four competitions at #CoffeeChamps Knoxville.
Sprudge Media Network’s coverage of the 2017 US Coffee Champs is made possible by Urnex Brands and Nuova Simonelli. Sprudge is an official media partner of the Specialty Coffee Association and #CoffeeChamps. 
So here they are! Let’s meet the coffee competitors moving on from this first round of qualifiers in Knoxville.
Barista Competition
Samuel Lewontin, Everyman Espresso, New York, NY
Cole McBride, Independent, Las Vegas, NV
Kyle Ramage, Mahlkonig USA, Raleigh, NC
Bethany Hargrove, Wrecking Ball Coffee Roasters, San Franciso, CA
Matthew Barahura, Intelligentsia Coffee, Los Angeles, CA
Shane Hess, Jubala Coffee, Raleigh, NC
Ben Fisher, La Colombe Coffee Roasters, Philadelphia, PA
Micah Sherer, Ally Coffee, Greenville, SC
Hannah Craig, Quills Coffee, Louisville, KY
Steph Caronna, New World Café, Apex, NC
Eli Ramirez, Halfwit Coffee, Chicago, IL
Maxwell Mooney, Narrative Coffee, Everett, WA
Andrew McCaslin, Kaldi’s Coffee Roasting Co., St Louis, MO
Collin Schneider, Bespoken Coffee Roasters, Corvallis, OR
Cris Mendoza, Saint Frank Coffee, San Francisco, CA
Reef Bassette, Saint Frank Coffee, San Francisco, CA
Amelia Wimmer, Tried & True Coffee Co., Corvalis, OR
Marcos Iglesias, VP Coffee, Raleigh, NC
Brewers Cup
Jenna Gotthelf, Everyman Espresso, New York, NY
Wade Preston, Prevail Coffee Roasters, Auburn, AL
Jessica Rodriguez, Klatch Coffee, Ontario, CA
Greg Loring-Albright, Little Amps Coffee Roasters, Harrisburg, PA
Alex Meece, Steadfast Coffee, Louisville, KY
Brian Beyke, Independent, Louisville, KY
Adam Hubbell, Wrecking Ball Coffee Roasters, San Francisco, CA
Phillip Hatter, Red Rooster Coffee Roaster, Floyd, VA
Ashley Whelan, Keffa Coffee, Baltimore, MD
Don Lawrence, Intelligentsia Coffee, Chicago, IL
Dustin Thomas, Steadfast Coffee, Nashville, TN
Kevin Smith, Ultimo Coffee, Philadelphia, PA
Cup Tasters Championship
Samuel Demisse, Keffa Coffee, Baltimore, MD
Steve Cuevas, Black Oak Coffee Roasters, Ukiah, CA
Steve Latham, Everyman Espresso, New York, NY
Aaron Lerner, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Manlius, MA
Kenny Smith, Sunergos Coffee, Louisville, KY
Aaron MacDougall, Broadsheet Coffee Roasters, Cambridge, MA
Michael Burkarski, Blue Bottle Coffee, New York, NY
Jeremy Moore, Bonlife Coffee Roasters, Cleveland, TN
Zayne Dietterick, Keffa Coffee, Baltimore, MD
Bryan Belknap, Madcap Coffee, Grand Rapids, MI
Adam Snow, Beans and Bagels, Chicago, IL
Blake Nail, Seeds Coffee Co, Birmingham, AL
Roaster’s Competition
Cameron Heath, Revelator Coffee Company, Birmingham, AL
Eric Stone, Mudhouse Coffee Roasters, Charlottesville, VA
Hugh Morretta, La Colombe Coffee, Philadelphia, PA
Jeremias Paul, Broom Wagon Coffee, Charleston, SC
Sam Kayser, Lone Oak Coffee Co, Winchester, VA
Christ Vigilante, Vigilante Coffee, Hyattsville, MD
Coverage is produced by Zac Cadwalader. Photos by Charlie Burt and Elizabeth Chai for Sprudge Media Network. 
The post Here’s Everyone Moving On From Knoxville #CoffeeChamps appeared first on Sprudge.
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