If you’re anything like me, you spent the last week eating tons of candy while watching horror flicks,ย making espresso drinks and pouring milk in your first week on bar(!), and dressing up your helpless dog in funny little costumes.ย But that’s just me. I can’t speak for everyone. What I do know, however, to be universally true, is that this was a busy last week in coffee news – and Sprudge was there, like a dutiful labrador, fetching the news for you and bringing it back with your slippers. Let’s relive the week, shall we?
This list of the 12 Big Central Competitors who are now eligible for the United States Barista Championship is perhaps the most important takeaway from our weekend spent covering the 2014 United States Big Central Barista Competition. You can look back at this event – every competitor, every routine – in our 2014 Big Central archives.
A recap of some of our favorite moments from the Counter Culture Variety Show.ย
Julie Wolfson’s awesome, coffee/fashion-centric chat with Project Runway’s Tim Gunn.
Our list of 15 coffee x clothing collaborations that need to happen.ย
A super-complete checklist of things you need to think about, coffee-wise, before going fully off the grid. I mean just losing it – buying a solar powered van, heading off into the mountains, and not even leaving a forwarding address. They’ll never find you.
This look inside of San Francisco’s new Four Barrel Portola location, courtesy of Leif Haven.
These five questions for the 2013 North Central Brewer’s Cup ChampโGeorge Burnett of Intelligentsia.
These other five questions for the 2013 South Central Brewer’s Cup ChampโLorenzo Perkins! Really, they were the same 5 questions for both, but can we talk about that photo of Lorenzo Perkins for a second? Holy moly – what a shot, taken by our esteemed, industry leading (industry dominating, really) photographer Charlie Burt, whose photos anchored the entirety of our 2014 Big Central coverage.
The world’s first look inside the brand new Heart Roasters in downtown Portland, with yet more lovely photos by Joanna Han. We really publish some nice photography on Sprudge, no?
Our pop-in at the new Verve Coffee pop-up in NYC, courtesy of our NYC bureau chief Liz Clayton.ย
Intelligentsia’s release of brand new Celebration Blend gift boxesโjust in time for the holidays.
And last but not least, how about Alex Bernson’s running log of things happening at the Let’s Talk Coffee Conferenceย in Elย Salvador. That’s Oliver Strand up there – he was the event’s keynote speaker.
As always, follow @Sprudge on Instagram and Twitter for a heaping helping of additional content from our wide world of reportage! Thank you for reading Sprudge.com.
Ben Blake is the genius behind Draw Coffee (@drawcoffee) and a weekly recap contributor to Sprudge. Read more Ben Blake on Sprudge right here.
