A short vignette of Yoshi Masuda–a coffee enthusiast who is sharing his passion for coffee with victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami.

(Sourced via ShotZombies)

We’ll be hanging out with folks all weekend at the glorious Greater Tacoma Convention Center in fabulous Western Washington.

His most recent video, part of Francesco’s ongoing series “Sunday At Home…A Good Coffee In My Cup!” features reigning World Barista Champion Alejandro Mendez. Francesco is dashing in his grey pageboy cap; Allejandro joins via Skype to try Salvadoran coffee, and appears to be having a ball. Highlights include a transcontinental cheers, Allejandro’s explanation of why he loves to be a barista, and Francesco’s obvious love and friendship for his pal in Latin America.

“We wait this moment, Allejandro. Welcome to my home.”

Directed by Joseph Herscher, a Brooklyn-based Rube Goldberg genius. Full breakdown of the device here via The New York Times.

Technovorm and “Coffee Hunters” have teamed up to make a Todd Carmichael-esque travel video, using a lame impression of Anthony Bourdain and an Euro-Andy Richter sidekick. (And not even the good era, “Staring Contest” Andy Richter – we’re talking like Conan on TBS Andy Richter here.)

Anyway, pop culture asides aside, this video sucks. This is another entry in a terrifying recent trend of “green buyer washing” videos, “documentaries” that attempt to reduce the job of sourcing quality coffee to an episode of “Finding Bigfoot”.

“We left our roaster in Sweden!” Apparently, these experts think the only way you can evaluate quality coffee on the farm-level is by pan-roasting on site. Legitimate coffee buyers can tell you of at least ten places in Kigali that have sample roasters on hand.

Later, the Danish Andy Richter complains of a six hour SUV ride. He’s hurting all over. Long drives are par for the course when traveling to coffee growing areas. Relax, Andy Richter. Hit up the catering tent off-camera and down a few juice boxes. You’ll be fine.

In the car, the Swedish Anthony Bourdain talks about a mythical “bay or island” that’s “covered in coffee plants”. “This might be the best coffee in Rwanda.”

Listen, fake Tony, you achieve quality coffee by paying attention, having smart producers, proper management and care. You don’t just walk into the jungle and stumble upon “the best coffee in Rwanda” with a used fry-pan and four sweaty white guys. You were well-funded here! That European auto-drip company has a lotta euros! Why on earth did this video turn out so completely brain dead awful? And who the hell are any of these people in the first place? Richard Lindh, the “coffee expert”, is an SCAE “Certified Level 1 Gold Cup Brewmaster” who competed in the Swedish Nationals in 2007 for Tre Med Cafe and Catering – this is about all we could find out about him.

Do green buyers actually say things like “up country” when they’re getting ready to visit farms? Is it possible for these videos to suck any more than they already do? How did this happen? Why did this happen? How much money did these people pay for 2,000 YouTube hits? Words fail us; this very article has buckled beneath the weight of that video’s stupidity.

These morons are going to make Todd Carmichael’s upcoming “Let’s Go Coffee Huntin’ With Todd” TV show look like the first season of “No Reservations”, and pardon our french, but that’s a real fucking shame.

In case you didn’t know, Live Links is telephone-based dating service, describing itself as “A fun and easy way to meet singles in your city.” We can’t imagine who actually uses it - maybe old people – but really, haven’t you heard of Grindr? Or OkCupid, Grindr’s neurotic, less-fun, provisionally straight cousin?

Well look at that – he’s got her drink order DOWN, people, and she’s like permed-up putty in his hands. Now, we’re willing to bet he doesn’t care THAT much about pleasing her [Ed. note: nomo, mormo, or almo in limbo] but STILL, he just made that PYT’s day, and she’s all ready to head off into the world and get busy on Live Links for like $2.79 a minute. This hunky, smiling, definitely ambiguous barista boy has made a grand display of his kindness for all to see, and now Miss Thang has a wiggle in her step, which means she’ll prolly flirt some more with the next person she interacts with, and there will be even more wiggles in steps, until eventually someone somewhere falls in love and we all go home with flowers for our boo-boo. Call it the Flirtatious Butterfly Effect – Baristas really can make the world a better place.

First, the gang at Transcend Coffee in Edmonton, Alberta are offering the above charming feature, put together by the production team Rob and Lauren. Watch as their coffee dances a sprightly tarantella through the many stages of production, from tearing open the jute bag, to their Apollo 13-lookin’ landing capsule roaster, to the cupping table, and finally, a charming macchiato at the final destination cafe. It’s a great video, and those coffees they’re roasting, cupping and bagging aren’t bad either. Transcend are truly one of North America’s roasters to watch in 2012.

We were also contacted by the folks at MadCap Coffee in Grand Rapids, Michigan, who passed along the above Hario V60 video. The ever-charming (Ed note: a hyphen is used to modify the adjective in this usage, as in “ever-lovely,” or “ever-preachy”) Ryan Knapp is your host, and though you might be saying, groan, “ANOTHER V60 video?”, go ahead and give this one a watch; there’s a sparse aesthetic and educational vibe going here, and the results are perhaps a cut above your average V60 diatribe (especially nice to see Ryan offer a visual comparison of his grind). This video was produced for MadCap by the folks at Hybrid Media – maybe you want to hire them to make YOUR coffee marketing video? Check them out here.

Send us more! We love it! Who knows, maybe you’ll take home the coveted Sprudgie Award for Best Film? Look for our Sprudgie Awards announcement ceremony in the coming weeks.