Maybe you spent the week recovering from all the Big Eastern festivities, or maybe you were just too busy compiling your coffee bucket list. Whatever the case, here’s the coffee news you missed here on Sprudge, all in one spot.
Congrats to Counter Culture’s J. Park Brannen and Panther Coffee’s Camila Ramos! They’re your 2014 Northeast and Southeast Barista Champions. Taking the crowns in the NE and SE Brewer’s Cups were Todd Carmichael and Jonathan Bonchak.
We were on site at the Big Eastern Regional Barista Championship last weekend in Durham, and we have all the latest news, including recaps from each day and interviews with the champs.
Our Interview With NE Brewer’s Cup Champ Todd Carmichael
Our Interview With SE Brewer’s Cup Champ Jonathan Bonchak
Day One At The 2014 Big Eastern Barista Competition
The Good Coffee Lover’s Guide To Sydney: Eileen P. Kenny recently spent 36 hours gallivanting through Sydney, Australia’s coffee scene. She gave us a look at seven great specialty coffee spots in Sydney, as well as a brief rundown of non-coffee things to do in the city.
Tierra Mia Expands to Oakland: Our own Leif Haven chatted with Tierra Mia’s Ulysses Romero about the company’s brand new cafe in Oakland. Tierra Mia is in the midst of building a pretty impressive fleet of cafés, mostly centered in LA. We caught Mr. Romero as he was waiting for the final go-ahead from the health inspector before opening.
An Update On The Looming Coffee Crisis In Nyeri, Kenya: We have all the latest news on the coffee crisis in Kenya, including statements from Dormans Coffee representative Mette-Marie Hansen with news from the capitol, where the weekly Tuesday coffee auction was cancelled. This story is developing.
The Tricked Out Cafe in Brooklyn’s Whole Foods: Liz Clayton spent some time in what may be one of the most technologically advanced and expensive speciality coffee setups in all of Brooklyn. No joke. The cafe is staffed with five baristas, mirror image La Marzocca Strada MPs on either side, five grinders (two Mazzer Roburs, two Mazzer Minis, a Ditting), and an Alpha Dominche Steampunk. The space, branded as Allegro Coffee, also roasts micro lots of coffee in house.
Intelligentsia’s Cafe Inmaculada: Alex Bernson has the scoop on a brand new project by Intelligentsia:
26 Coffee Things To Do Before You Die: There are two things we all have in common: we all love coffee and we’re all going to die. Instead of dwelling on the morbidity of the latter, we decided to create a bucket list of coffee things you need to do before you kick the bucket. We came up with 26, so you’d better hurry up and get going. Time is ticking.
8 Signs You’re A French Press: While you’re busy plotting the ways in which you’ll tackle the next item on your coffee bucket list, you might as well check to see whether or not you’re a French Press—we have 8 sure-fire signs that you are, in fact, a French Press. You read all of that correctly.
Cat Cafe On Its Way In San Francisco: A cat cafe is coming to San Francisco. Local blog SFist believes that this “could very well be the best to happen to San Francisco since sourdough bread, that bridge, and gay people.” The cafe is called KitTea and is set to open sometime this year. The space will house up to ten cats, will serve tea, and plans to provide an “urban oasis” amidst the other “buzzery” cafes in the region.
Speaking of Cat Cafés, here are 10 Cat Cafés around the world that you just gotta see.
