Sprudge.com » andy sprenger

Last Week With Ben Blake: Week Of April 20th, 2013

Llewellyn Sinclair — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 20:05:31 +0000

Ben Blake continues his service as our fabulous Sprudge intern – check out more of his work at drawcoffee.com.

On Boston…

This past week has been an unthinkable one for the people of Boston—no words or actions can erase the unfair amounts of pain, fear, and confusion taken on by an entire city. Times like these bring to light the worst in people, and show us what happens when lives become warped and perspective is lost—but these moments also reveal the best in humanity, and gives us a reminder of things that are truly important. When you strip away all the junk we get tangled up in, it’s a little bit easier to appreciate the things we do have, and to see the commonalities that lace together humanity.

On the day of the attacks, just one day after SCAA ended and coffee folk from all over were headed out of Boston, our colleague and friend Ric Rhinehart, Executive Director of the Specialty Coffee Association of America penned these words at Boston’s Logan Airport:

“We have much to appreciate, much to celebrate and much to overcome. In spite of it all, I remain convinced that reason can overcome fanaticism, that dialog trumps violence, and that most enduring of all, love will always outshine hate. Bless you all wherever you find yourselves today and thank you for all the positive energy you generate.”

You can read more of Ric’s words here, and share your own Boston experiences in the comments of that post. We love you, Boston.

Baristas! Brewers! Champions!
No introduction needed. Here it is…

Your 2013 United States Barista Champion is Mr. Pete Licata!

Power Pete (hailing from Kansas City’s Parisi Coffee) is arguably the most seasoned, experienced barista competitor in US competition history—with 7 career USBC appearances, two USBC victories in the last three years, and a second place WBC finish in 2011. Mr. Licata performed with the poise and confidence of a true professional, and emerged as the victor in a seriously talented field of baristas.

Andy Sprenger’s Winning Aeropress Method

Llewellyn Sinclair — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 16:49:50 +0000

Seasoned brewing champion Andy Sprenger, formerly of Ceremony Coffee Roasters, now embarking on a brand new roasting business, has won the 2013 US Aeropress Championship – taking home two trophies, for both first place as well as “most innovative brew”.

The World Aeropress Championship began in 2008, and has grown today into several national competitions taking place around the world. The 2013 US Competition was held at the Marco and Bunn booth at the SCAA Event in Boston.

Joshua Wismans of Alterra Coffee organized this year’s event with support from Able Brewing, Aerobie, Barista Magazine, Baratza, Bunn, and EspressoParts. For more on the organization of the event and some of its history, check out Barista Magazine’s recent interview with Joshua Wismans.

We’ve put together this video tutorial on Andy Sprenger’s winning brew, with instructions written out below. Now you can brew like Andy!

Andy’s Brew Method
Coffee used: Cerro Azul Geisha

Place inverted Aeropress on a scale, tare, add 10 grams of coffee. “I used a fine drip grind,” Andy tells us after the competition. Trim down and pre-wet a V60 filter and carefully fold it on top of the Aeropress chamber. Add an additional 8 grams of coffee to the V60 filter.

Start your timer, and pre-infuse the V60 filter for about ten seconds with 203-205 degree water. Pulse pour 120 grams of water total over the course of a minute and a half. Carefully remove the V60 filter. Add an additional 150 grams of water to the Aeropress chamber (this’ll take around 20-25 seconds).

Pre-wet that Aeropress paper filter, cap the chamber, invert the Aeropress – and very slowly press it down. Gentle. Pour and enjoy.

Andy takes home a Preciso grinder, Esatto scale, Able Gold Disks, an Aeropress, two prized trophy Aeropresses signed by inventor Alan Alder. This year, Aerobie will sponsor travel for Andy to compete in the World Aeropress Championship in Melbourne, Australia.

The post Andy Sprenger’s Winning Aeropress Method appeared first on Sprudge.com.

Feelin’ Fines: Breaking Down Matt Perger’s World Brewers Cup Win

Llewellyn Sinclair — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 17:30:51 +0000

As some have quite correctly pointed out, the 2012 Brewers Cup sort of got the international attention shaft in terms of coverage and attention last week in Vienna. That’s a shame, because it was by all accounts a heated battle of talent, an onslaught of competitive geekery, and an exhibition of the new heights to which brewed coffee has risen in recent years. We were personally buried under a mountain of WBC coverage, but that’s why the archived video services provided by the team at World Coffee Events are so gosh darn valuable. The smoke now cleared from WBC 2012, we had a moment to look back and pick apart Matt Perger’s winning routine in the 2012 World Brewers Cup. Mr. Perger is a representative of St. Ali, a specialty coffee boutique in South Melbourne.

Full videos for each of the 6 WBC finalists are linked at the bottom of this post, including the equally fascinating 2nd place routine from two-time United States Brewers Cup champion Andy Sprenger, of Ceremony Coffee Roasters in Annapolis, Maryland.

Equipment:

Hario Buono Kettle
Curtis Hot Water tower
Glass Hario V60
Hario #4 White Filter
250 micron sieve
Scale
Hario Range Servers (for “focused smelling” of aromatics of brewed coffee)
Glass mugs

Parameters:

11.8 grams of coffee
200ml of 110ppm TDS water
50 grams of water every 30 seconds
2:30-2:35 minute total brew time

Coffee: Panama Finca Santa Teresa Washed Gesha

Secrets:

Post-performance Sprite soft drink.

Brewed coffee to achieve an extraction percentage of 23% at 1.45TDS. Due to the removal of fines using the sieve, an extraction below 22%, according to Perger in his post-performance interview “doesn’t taste very good”.

Used 110ppm TDS water. Using different combinations of locally sourced water, Perger discovered wildly different flavor notes using the exact same brew recipe and achieving the exact same 23% extraction and 1.4-1.45 TDS refractometer reading.

Flavor Notes:

“More robust than usual” washed gesha coffees. Juicy, clean, sweet.

Videos:

1st Place: Matthew Perger AUSTRALIA

2nd Place: Andy Sprenger UNITED STATES

3rd Place: Christos Loukakis GREECE

4th Place: Anthony Benda CANADA

5th Place: James Bailey UNITED KINGDOM

6th Place: Robert Gruber AUSTRIA

Award Ceremony

Further reading:

DCILY – “2012 World Brewers Cup Champ – Matt Perger!”

Official World Brewers Cup homepage.

The post Feelin’ Fines: Breaking Down Matt Perger’s World Brewers Cup Win appeared first on Sprudge.com.

Andy Sprenger, Brewers Cup King: The Exclusive Interview

Llewellyn Sinclair — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 18:59:20 +0000

There’s no greater competitive authority on the Brewers Cup than Andy Sprenger. For the second year in a row, Mr. Sprenger is the US Brewers Cup champion, meaning that in its short 2 year history, he is the only person to have won this competition. Pretty impressive stuff.

Andy is part of the team behind Ceremony Coffee, formerly Caffe Pronto, a boutique roastery in Annapolis, Maryland, with wholesale clients spanning the East Coast. Mr. Sprenger won the Brewers Cup using Ceremony’s Cerro Azul Geisha, a micro-lot from Colombia sourced specifically for 2012 Brewers Cup.

We had a chance to sit down digitally with Mr. Sprenger a bit earlier this week, and pick his brain on his routine, history in the industry, and advice for future Brewers Cup competitors. As you might expect, Andy is exacting and precise when it comes to coffee – but he’s also candid, friendly, and inspirationally devoted to self-improvement and advancement on the World Brewers Cup stage. Congratulations to Andy and everyone at Ceremony Coffee; we’ll see you in Vienna!

1. Can you explain your brew recipe? Were those Beehouse drippers?

“Yes, they were the large Beehouse drippers – same brewers I used last year in the US comp.”

Mr. Sprenger’s Winning Brew Method

Coffee Grind: “‘Fine drip’ to ‘drip’, roughly the coarseness of refined white sugar. Err on the side of too coarse than too fine.”

Coffee Dose: 12 grams

Water Volume: 205 grams (1:17 ratio)

Water Temperature: “I used an electric Bonavita kettle and my pours began ~30 seconds to a min past the kettle turning off, so around 205 degrees, but I was not measuring prior to pour. This is something I’ll likely be playing with in the next few months prepping for the Worlds.”

Bloom Time / Contact Time / Draw Down Time: “I use a fairly quick bloom time (~20-30 sec) to keep the bloom soft and easy to pour into (the crust continues to rise on second and third pours). With the small dose, I find about a 2:30 contact time to be perfect, with a draw down time between 15-25 seconds. If my total brew time is around 2:45, I’m pretty confident the cup is going to be good.”

Additional Instructions: “I maintain the coffee bed quite low in the brewer. I think this helps with heat retention and more consistent contact with water to grounds (minimizes high and dry grounds). For the first 2/3 of the brew I like to pour very gently right into the center of the brew bed (no stirs, swirls or circular dripping). I try and let gravity be the force behind the extraction (think of the force of a wave pulling your feet into the sand – that is a lot of force). So no swirls or zig zags until the last part of brew when I want to make sure that the crust that remains and any higher grounds have had their share of hot water.”

Filter Type: “I tested many different filters over the past year and the clear winner for me is the white Melitta. It imparts the least paper taint (we cupped a lot of “filter tea”) and won out on overall quality of cup delivered. I also cut any unnecessary paper away from the filter (the extra ridge they built in to reduce risk of filter splitting at seem) so that it sits clean and low in the Beehouse.”

2. Did you adjust your brew method with the “mystery coffee”? Do you change your brew methods depending on which coffee is used?

“The only thing I worked hard on adjusting was the grind. I tried to keep all other variables the same when practicing but looked at three pours at a time with different grind settings. Then I tasted and took TDS readings.

The closest I came to switching brew methods was last year at the World competition where I was considering using the small Kone. Unfortunately, I did not make it into the finals, so ultimately I did not have to make that decision.”

3. What coffee did you choose to compete with?

“I used the Colombia Cerro Azul – a coffee from western Colombia and the Valle del Cauca district. It is a Geisha varietal and took second place in COTY this year. The producers are Rigoberto and Luis Herrera and the farm is managed by Miguel Jimenez.

They were amazingly helpful in working with me to pick the coffee I wanted to compete with prior to the competition, and I can’t begin to tell you how much it meant to have them attending the show and my performance. A big ol’ bear hug from Rigoberto after the competition was one of the most meaningful experiences I’ve had in coffee.”

4. What’s your secret to taking the title twice? Your method struck us as something that’d be easily replicated at home and accessible to consumers. Do you think there’s a magic correlation between accessibility and deliciousness?

“One of the coolest things I saw all weekend was early Saturday morning while I was starting my prep work for the finals. Jared Gum, who unfortunately didn’t make it into the finals this year, walked in and started brewing coffee. I thought he was just making his morning cup, but then he proceeded to brew cup after cup, working and tweaking his brew method on the Kalita. He was already preparing for Boston. Dedication is part of the secret.

I guess the more simple you make things, the more repeatable they become and more accessible they are for others to repeat. As my co-worker pointed out, a good barista minimizes variables which usually leads to a better coffee experience. So a $15 brewer, with good water, a decent grinder, proper ratios, good coffee and a simple pouring technique, should deliver a pretty delicious cup of coffee every time.”

5. What advice would you give to someone who wants to win big at Brewers Cup next year?

“I think my tendency has been to focus too much on my own coffee and presentation and not enough on the first round compulsory coffee. This competition is designed to prove that you can do a good job brewing any coffee that is handed to you. So read Lingle’s and Rao’s brewing books, practice with a variety of different roast degrees and origins, play with different brew methods and compare side to side, and try and take TDS readings if possible.

And don’t give up. If I chose to quit after my poor performances in regionals, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

6. How do you see the Brewers Cup evolving in the next five years?

“First, the level of competition this year I believe was much stronger than last year and I see this trend continuing.

Second, the Brewers Cup will continue to drive the trend towards single cup brewing and highlighting single origin coffees. When I started my work in coffee ten years ago, a large part of what defined a roaster was how good their espresso was. But more and more I see a trend of roasters being defined by the quality of their single origin offerings. Even on a personal level I drink way more drip coffee than espresso or milk based espresso drinks than I used to. So, obviously we are also considering ways of making the best drip cup possible.

I think the Brewers Cup was perfectly timed to carry this forward and really highlight what manual brewers and methods/techniques are out there and which deliver the best cup. At the same time, the science of single cup brewing will be pushed forward as people write and blog about their experiments and findings as they prepare for and reflect on their competitions.

And third, hopefully this competition will generate more and more involvement from “outsiders”. Perhaps part of the judging panel should be a group of culinary experts? How about a booth in the exhibit hall that is manned by the competitors showcasing their brew methods/coffees and interacting with the attendees? The stands and hall floor should have been absolutely packed with people watching the finals of these competitions. How do we make that happen?”

7. We’d like to know more about your background, both in coffee and in competition. Can you tell us how you got your start in coffee? And will you tell us a bit about your competition history? Was your BC method different last year?

“I started working for Caffe Pronto nearly ten years ago now, after my wife and I spent three years in Lebanon doing environmental conservation. What started as a barista job to hold me over until I could find something in my field, eventually became a passion, and I am ever thankful to God for allowing me to provide for my family while following this passion.

I grew up playing a lot of sports and had two older brothers, so this might be where the competitive side of me comes from. I’ve competed in everything from latte art competitions to the Roasters Choice and Tasters Cup competitions and have done well in these, although I bombed at this year’s Tasters Cup Competition.

My method for this year’s competition was nearly identical to last years – despite a lot of tinkering with other brewers in-between.”

The post Andy Sprenger, Brewers Cup King: The Exclusive Interview appeared first on Sprudge.com.