This year, your Sprudge intern was proud to team up with his awesome designer friend Josh Kennedy (@jshknndy) and sister Lauren Bergman (@Inbergman) to design the La Marzocco, Cafe Imports, Barismo, and George Howell Coffee SCAA party poster and ticket. If you’re headed to Boston, be sure to attend!

#SCAA2013 Party Preview - SCAA is next week, and there’s no doubt that the entire event will be jam-packed with awesomeness. But there’s even more excitement and merriment happening after hours. Sprudge has put together a most excellent guide to parties, get-togethers, soirées, happenings, and much more—its even better than summer camp! In other SCAA news, Sprudge is proud to announce that it’s partnering with the SCAA for the Symposium Video Series. Check it out!

Charles Babinski (Sprudge)

5 Questions With… This week, Sprudge took some time to chat with two really talented and fantastic coffee folks, Charles Babinksy (G&B Coffee) and Colby Barr (Verve Coffee). Check out the interviews for some inside info, insight, and interesting ideas.

JD Goes #2Dto3D - Our good friend Jason Dominy has always been a welcoming, well-networked guy who doesn’t hesitate to go out of his way to spend time with people. Mr. Dominy has taken his social media prowess, and combined it with the 3D world to create something really genuine: 2D to 3D. The idea is simple—meet the people you interact with on social media. Here’s a bit more from Mr. Dominy:

“One thing that I’ve always believed in, as far as social media goes, is that social should always build social. It should never be the end to the means, but the means to the end. It should be used as a tool for communication and engagement, not a replacement for real relationships that can only happen with face to face time. Social media is a great tool for creating new friendships, but if that relationship is based solely on words typed into a Twitter tweet, or a Facebook status or profile page, a friendship it is not. It is an acquaintance.”

Check out our interview with the man himself.

The shade of it all.

DD Goes OD - So here’s something…coffee market leader Dunkin’ Donuts has overdosed on sugar to bring their latest offering to test markets—the Glazed Donut Breakfast Sandwich. Eater.com had the scoop, and asked a Dunkin’ Donuts representative, ”Why make a doughnut breakfast sandwich?” Their answer: “We constantly strive to offer a wide variety of products to satisfy the needs of our guests.“

Other Voices, Other Dining Rooms: Hoffmann, Tacy, & Knox On Restaurant Coffee - Last week, Oliver Strand wrote on article here on Sprudge talking about the massive gap between good coffee and good restaurants. Over the last few days, some well-known coffee folks have offered some insight and input, as well as some strong opinions on the matter. We’ve collected their responses and written a bit about the subject—food for thought!

Coming soon to a show floor near you. (Instagram)

Speaking of restaurant coffee, Artifact Coffee has a pretty dope dinner service these days…

The post Last Week With Ben Blake: Week of April 6th, 2013 appeared first on Sprudge.com.

The more we write about Colby Barr, co-founder and green buyer for Verve Coffee Roasters, the more we wind up just heavily excerpting his own words. He’s a fantastic interview (see this Q&A with Stephen Vick), a brilliant public speaker (see 2013 Good Food Awards speech for coffee) and deftly excellent at getting the skateboard guys to move aside so there can be a dance floor (link unavailable).

We had some questions for Mr. Barr during our weekend in Santa Cruz for the Southwest Regionals, because Verve has been cooking up to a lot of stuff in the last few months. Remember that expansion to LA? Did you hear about them hiring a new CO? We ask Colby about all that and more, plus where he’s headed next and why maybe, just maybe, we can all look forward to another trip to Santa Cruz for next year’s Regional Barista competition.

Colby, we’ve heard there was a new hire for the front office at Verve – is that true? What’s the deal? Tell us more. 

Sure thing. We recently hired Chris Jordan to come on board as our Chief of Operations. Chris is a really talented, deeply invested coffee professional that has an incredible back story in coffee.

A lot of people in our industry already know Chris, but for those who don’t, he is actually moving to California from Kenya with his wife Taya after 13 years abroad.  He has most recently been working for Dormans Coffee, growing their trading and supply chain business in Ethiopia and Rwanda and spearheading a really dynamic brand refresh for their wholesale and retail business that is just getting launched.

Prior to that he was the Regional Director for TechnoServe’s East Africa Coffee Initiative where he supported 180,000 farmers and helped develop a lot of the coffees we are now seeing in the West (think Michiti, Nano Challa, Duromina, etc). And even before THAT, he actually spent 15 years at Starbucks where he wore many hats (including barista when he was just a wee lad), and his last position, which was Head of Global Quality.

We’re excited and fortunate to be working with Chris, but at the end of the day, the most important part is that he also happens to be a really good friend.

How did you guys meet? How do y’all know each other? Is he secretly from Santa Cruz or something? Did you guys meet at the Charlie Hong Kong?

We actually met a while back in Ethiopia and then just kept in touch via email, and spent some time together at events like the SCAA Symposium. We of course connected in Kenya, and even spent some time camping in Western Ethiopia in December with some other good friends in search of stellar white honey – and a bit of coffee. At some point, the idea came up, and it just clicked. We really see things in a similar light, and there couldn’t possibly be a better cultural fit. We’re a pretty lucky bunch.

What’s next for Verve? We’ve previously reported on some movement from you guys down in Los Angeles, how is that progressing?

We’re definitely an ambitious crew, but what’s next for Verve is pretty much more of what we already do: find the best coffees in the world, roast them in our style, and serve them to people with smiles, whether it be to our amazing wholesale partners or in our own cafes.

Regarding Los Angeles, yeah that is absolutely happening. There is so much to say, but maybe it’s better left for another story…

OK, we will bug you more about that later. This last year was a super successful SWRBC, and we love it when you guys host – great parties, very organized, and that ineffable mellow NorCal vibe. Can we look forward to another trip back to Santa Cruz?

Well, first of all, thank you for being such incredible media sponsors and taking what has traditionally been a pretty insular event to a wider audience. I think the more the information is available, the more engaged people will be with the event, itself.
As far as us hosting it again, we would love to. It is kind of nice to have the event someplace where people actually all hang out every night in the same place and aren’t diluted across a metropolis.

Where are you heading on your next buying trip? What coffees should we be stoked about in the coming weeks & months?

Actually, I am in Antigua right now cupping day-lots. No volcano or flooding this time, so we’re good. Before this I was in Costa Rica which has incredibly developed sugars this harvest, and then Panama where I tasted our fresh crop, Elida green-tip gesha. This will be its third harvest and I think it’s only getting better. After this, I will head to El Salvador and then to Boston. Busy weeks right now.

As far as current offerings, we are right in the midst of our Southern Hemisphere menu, showing some stellar coffees from Rwanda, Colombia, Burundi, and Peru. Also our Streetlevel espresso is currently a 2-part Colombia, so there’s that. Centrals, Ethis, and Kenyas are starting to hit the water this month so we should see them fairly soon – and the cycle continues. Can’t stop, won’t stop.

The post 5 Questions For Colby Barr of Verve Coffee Roasters appeared first on Sprudge.com.

On January 21, a panel discussion on sustainability issues in coffee was attended by over 100 people at San Francisco’s Ferry Building. Panelists included Chris Bacon, an environmental social scientist at Santa Clara University and co-author of Confronting the Coffee Crisis; Steven Vick, quality control manager at Blue Bottle Coffee Co. and a 2009 Sprudgie Award winner; and Colby Barr, co-owner of Verve Coffee Roasters, winner of two Good Food Awards in 2013 and the Sprudgie for “Notable Roaster” in 2011.

The panel was moderated by Hanna Neuschwander, author of Left Coast Roast, who also contributes this original reporting to Sprudge. The event was sponsored by CUESA.

I first started drinking coffee as a fresh-faced high school graduate in 1999. If anyone I knew talked about coffee at all (and very few did), sustainability was what they talked about. Our sense of what Fair Trade and organic meant was vague, but we felt it was at least something to consider.

How different from today. I just returned from a coffee-drinking trip to LA, where I witnessed more than one enthralling, spiraling confab about varietals, brew methods, and ingredients. Noticing how far the conversation about coffee has migrated to aesthetic issues and a focus on quality.

That interests me. For a number of reasons, coffee is held do a different standard than other agricultural crops. Despite the fact that pretty much everything we consume involves the labor of the poor, and that the success of all agriculture is contingent upon the continued viability of ecological systems, on the whole people want their coffee to be “sustainable.” That was the motivation behind convening a panel of both experts on quality and sustainability and giving them a public forum in which to hash it out. Fittingly, the panel was framed as a sort of follow-up to the Good Food Awards, which celebrates the intersection of sustainability and quality—and has reminded us more than once that the confluence of these waters can make for tippy canoes.

Perhaps the most moving and enduring definition of sustainability I’ve come across is the admonition to “meet the needs of the present, without compromising the needs of the future.” It’s good because it makes clear how broad both problems and solutions are. Sustainability is not limited to watershed management or carbon emissions—it encompasses human needs and folly.

The discussion was exciting because it brought together the informal, experiential expertise of coffee professionals (Colby Barr and Stephen Vick) and the formal, scholarly expertise of an academic who studies these issues (Chris Bacon). This conversation took place in public, not only in room full of industry folks; like all vexing conversations, it raised more questions than it answered.

What follows is a heavily edited selection of the conversation.

Do certifications really deliver on their promises?

Chris Bacon: I think we’re getting to the point where there’s a breakdown in trust. I think we should be honest that we don’t exactly know the answer. Certification itself is not a guarantor of sustainability; it sets up criteria which should move us closer to sustainability. If you look at the data, there is still quite a long way to go.

We need to be allowed to have more honest conversation about the trade offs. On the whole, I would say a certified coffee is probably better than a non-certified coffee. The Smithsonian Institute’s Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center “shade grown” certification, on paper and mostly in practice, has the highest standards for diversity of shade on coffee farms. Unfortunately they charge roasters a very high fee. I think organic has a lot of integrity. Fair trade of some kind is better than not.

What’s happening with “fair trade” and why is it important?

Chris Bacon: There is a sort of row going on about what the meaning of “fair trade” will be. This has consequences for the impact on the ground in farmer associations. But fair trade has incredible potential in terms of promoting smallholder empowerment, and there are important democracy questions associated with this. Coffee holds dramatic power inequalities. I mean, how many times has an Ethiopian coffee farmer showed up at your doorstep, here? Why I celebrate fair trade is it’s one of the few certifications to raise the issue of justice in the food system.

What are some of the complexities in viewing “direct trade” through a sustainability lens?

Cobly Barr: For one, it’s a loose term and everyone is generating their own definition. And if you don’t have a sticker on the bag, many people maybe don’t think it’s fair. Okay, well, right now the Fair Trade floor price is at $1.56 and the cost of production is like $1.60/$1.80. For direct trade, people have to develop a trust in the company and their brand, and what they stand for—you either believe them or don’t.

I believe in the supply chain totally. The supply chain can’t go away, it has to exist. Importers and exporters aren’t middlemen bad guys. They are an important tool that provides important logistics and financing to help expedite coffee. But the most important people in this whole link are the two bookends: the people at farm level, the people at street level. Not the barista, not the roaster. The farmer and the consumer are the most important and they’re the most disconnected, geographically and emotionally. The first person that puts down the $3 or $4 for the cup of coffee—that factor right there determines everything.

Mr. Barr delivers the keynote at the 2013 Good Food Awards.

So, why focus on quality?

Colby Barr: Good food is good business. Quality makes sense because cash is king. My parents are farmers. If you ask my dad or go to Guatemala and ask a farmer, “What could I do to really help you more?” I guarantee every farmer is going to say, “Pay me more.” Every farmer on planet Earth will say, “Pay me more.” And they’re not trying to be greedy. It’s the plight of the farmer—you may break even.

But you can have social impact and be sustainable and use quality as the lever. We think that with quality first, we can generate higher prices and build relationships and use that to increase qaulity standards, with environmental and social impacts. We have a say in what farmers are doing because we’re paying premiums and they are more likely to listen.

It’s hard to find the right answer. I had a professor in college tell me once, “You know, man—just commit to something.” We’re all searching for how to do what we feel is right. We’re trying to get focused and have a point of view.

How does the issue of quality look from a sustainability perspective?

Chris Bacon: We have the potential now of linking quality and sustainability, linking these flavors in the cup to the terroir of the land and they way it’s being farmed. But we can’t leave out basic facts like that many smallholders live through periods of seasonal hunger.

What happens when farmers don’t understand the quality they have?

Stephen Vick: There’s always going to be some bad coffee in any harvest. A big part of it for all of us to calibrate with the farmers and say, this is what we’re looking for, this is how we roast coffee, and this is what we’re going to pay more money for. Recently, I tasted an amazing coffee in Rwanda, scored a 93. And when I wanted to find out where that coffee was, I found out it had been consolidated in a container that was going to end up at Costco. And that was predominantly because the suppliers of Costco’s coffee forward contract 30 containers of coffee; they have to fill them. They were letting amazing coffees get bulked. That happens every day, everywhere, because people don’t understand. So a big part of it is trying to explain that quality.

Stephen Vick in his natural habitat – taking cupping notes.

If quality is a reasonable lever, and quality is determined on our side of the supply chain, how do you ensure that farmers understand that quality and have the power to negotiate fair prices?

Colby Barr: We don’t want this to be a one-way street. But it’s a challenge because most farmers we work with do not drink their own coffee. You’ll see the crazy, green, weird, rotten, twigged-out coffee in the corner and they’re like, “Oh, no no no, don’t worry, that’s just for local consumption.” They export the good stuff, drink the bad stuff. So to get them to develop a palate, it’s really a missing link. Again, it’s bookends of this supply chain that you want to bring around to a full circle.

Chris Bacon: True, some of these conversations have happened in some places, but they haven’t happened with enough people. Not enough farmers are cupping coffee with people that love and know coffee and can share that enthusiasm with them. [But it’s possible] to change the culture of local coffee consumption habits by being exposed to the qualities in the cup. That can happen. And that story is changing and playing out in different ways in different places through different initiatives.

As a consumer, how do I know where a quality premium is going, how it’s being delivered and whether it’s worth it?

Colby Barr: We talk about this all the time. How do we convey this information to people and not bury them in the first sentence? We aren’t doing a good job as a company necessarily or as a “wave”.  Our approach is to say hospitality and quality will equal loyalty and trust. Once we have that, we can have a conversation. People come in the first time, they just want a cup of coffee. We don’t want to bury people with information—“This farmer did that, and here’s an FOB contract, and we paid $3 for coffee.” Then you’re like, “Well, you’re charging me $18. How does that even work?” I think they click with a brand first by the taste, by the feel of a place, what’s in the cup.

But profits are sustainability. To have environmental sustainability and social sustainability, you have to be profitable. There’s no way around it.

“Big” is sort of a dirty word in both coffee and sustainability circles. But what are the benefits of size when it comes to sustainability?

Stephen Vick: Impact is what growth can do. There’s a gentleman who works for Green Mountain, Rick Peyser, and his full time job is measuring how balanced the diets are of the folks in the coops they are working with. They found that families were able to eat better during the harvest, because they had more money coming in, so they always had more protein. And then when the harvest and export season runs out, their diets are less balanced and more unhealthy. Green Mountain can [expend great effort on these studies] because they are so large.

They can also do things like have forward contracts. When you have a contract in your hand as a farmer, you can use that contract as collateral to get a loan for working capital, and then do the things we’re asking. We say, “We want this quality, you need to do this, separate lots like this.” It costs money to do that. The money to operate comes from forward contracts. [To do this] you generally need to be able to buy a container.

Why are forward contracts useful or important for farmers?

Stephen Vick: In Rwanda this year, I bought through a supplier that really understands the market and they have bankers that work for them that hedge on behalf of all of their farmers. If you didn’t hedge this year, you lost money. Why? During the harvest, the C market price was high. It’s the cherry price, the price cooperatives or the private mills are paying farmers for their cherry. A little later, it’s export season, when the processed coffee is ready to be shipped, and suddenly lots of people are buying coffee, paying lower prices. These are bigger buyers who are market driven [i.e., not paying quality differentials]. They are paying lower prices to the mills and coops than the mills and cooperatives paid for cherry. So, if you didn’t hedge during the harvest, you’re gonna sell your coffee for less than what you had to pay the farmer for the cherry. Then the coop as a whole is going to be in debt. That means they go into the next year with debt, and they don’t have money to pay for cherry the next year. Forward contracting, because it guarantees a price in advance, can really help balance the market out.

So, what’s missing from the conversation?

Stephen Vick: I think what’s missing from the direct trade piece is tangibility. Not just “we paid this high price.” Two thousand dollars would pay for organic compost for all of the farmers in a coop in Rwanda. A company like Verve could easily afford that and be able to say, “When you’re buying this coffee, you’re paying for the organic compost these farmers used.” Fifteen thousand dollars will build a washing station in Uganda. That’s what’s missing from the direct trade model—where the money directly connects to an actual thing, whether it’s improving quality or improving social livelihoods. Later this year, you’ll be able to walk into Walmart, buy a bag of Rwandan coffee, scan a QR code and get all of the sustainability information and the story of where that coffee came from. It doesn’t have a third party certification, but the company doing this is vertically integrated [they own all parts of the supply chain].

Chris Bacon: That is powerful and that is transparent. But that brings me back to the way we started, which is the democracy question as well. Is it democratic?

Chris Bacon – photo from Santa Clara University.

Ideas for a way forward?

Chris Bacon: We need to rethink some of our economic models. Maybe there are shared ownership possibilities for different actors in the supply chain. One thing I think direct trade roasters can do is partner with grassroots organizations to innovate. You are close enough that you know the two ends of the value chain. This is an advantage of the scale at which you’re operating—you don’t have 500 people on your staffs. You can build these partnerships for better equality, or better education, sustainability. Work with some of the grassroots organizations out there that are helping balance out the democracy question—especially when you’re not there. I think that’s a real opportunity. I liked when you said that that’s what the direct model is missing—some kind of model around impact. Maybe it’s a little bit different than some of the larger companies. Right?

Maybe it’s some of the grassroots, innovation, experimentation things. I imagine it’s part of what has worked for you guys [meaning Mr. Barr & Mr. Vick]—experimentation, playing around. That could carry over in different ways and different contexts. It could be kind of cool. Can we renew this partnership with citizens and consumers as active participants in the process?

Listen to the full talk at CUESA.

The post Sustainability: Q&A With Colby Barr, Stephen Vick, and More! appeared first on Sprudge.com.

The Good Food Awards have announced their third year of winning products – cheeses, beer, spirits, wine, charcuterie, chocolate, confections, preserves, pickles, and coffee. This year, over 160 roasters submitted coffee and sixteen walked away with GFA medals, plus given honorarium during the GFA Gala at the Ferry Building in San Francisco.

Your 2013 Good Food Award Winners in the coffee category:

Flying Goat Coffee (California)
Ethiopia: Sidama – Wottuna Boltuma

Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea (California)
Kenya: Nyeri District, Iraini, Gikanda Cooperative – Kangocho

Verve Coffee Roasters (California)
Panama: Boquete, Chiriqui – Elida Estate Green-Tip Gesha

Ethiopia: Yirgacheffe, Birhanu – Birhanu Bali Jilo

Panther Coffee (Florida)
Colombia: El Higuerón, Huila – Finca El Ventilador

1000 Faces Coffee (Georgia)
Ethiopia: Shakiso – Mora Mora

Evans Brothers Coffee (Idaho)
Ethiopia: Yirgacheffe

Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea (Illinois)
Kenya: Nyeri District, Iraini, Gikanda Cooperative – Gichathaini

PT’s Coffee Roasting Co. (Kansas)
Ethiopia: Gera District – Nanno Challa Heirloom

Gimme! Coffee (New York)
Colombia: Líbano, Finca San Luis – La Gloria

Joe Bean Coffee Roasters (New York)
Nicaragua: Jinotega – Don Roger

Joe New York (New York)
Ethiopia: Illubabor – Camp Cooperative

Case Coffee Roasters (Oregon)
Kenya: Nyeri, Gaturiri Cooperative – Peaberry

Heart Roasters (Oregon)
Kenya: Aberdares Mountains, Ndumberi
Ethiopia: Yukro

Portland Roasting Coffee (Oregon)
Ethiopia: Sidamo

Cuvee Coffee (Texas)
El Salvador: Ahuachapán, El Molino – Witness Project Fall

Kickapoo Coffee (Wisconsin)
Ethiopia: Yirgacheffe – Haru Cooperative

A complete list of all Good Food Awards coffee finalists can be found here.

According to sources, Verve Coffee Roasters had the highest scoring coffee among them, with their stunning Panama: Boquete, Chiriqui – Elida Estate Green-Tip Gesha. As representatives of the roasters received their medals and took the stage, Verve co-owner Colby Barr took the pear-crate podium to speak on behalf of all the winners of the coffee category. We’ve transcribed his speech in its entirety:

After the awards were announced the audience trickled down from the second floor banquet hall to the building’s marketplace hallway below. There, volunteers from each category served small bites of award winning foods and beverages. Spirits were flowing, charcuterie was chomped on, and a cadre of Bay Area baristas diligently poured Kalitas of the fourteen available coffees into notNeutral ceramic ware for curious passer-bys.

The lovely folks of Case Coffee.

Judges of the coffee category were in attendance, like Ecco founder and San Francisco Chronicle blogger Andrew Barnett, Coffee Shrub green buyer Aleco Chigounis, Coffee Common co-founder Brent Fortune, Heart Roasters owner and roaster Wille Yliuoma, and vice president of coffee at Intelligentsia Coffee Geoff Watts.

Handsome fellas.

 Congratulations to all the winners and finalists! 

The post The 2013 Good Food Awards – Winners, Photos, and A Captivating Speech appeared first on Sprudge.com.

Image by Eater LA.

Verve’s trucking on down to Los Angeles to build out a roastery inside District Millworks (917 East 3rd Street), a super sweet fabrication and design shop in the Arts District. Eater LA scooped the world on this one:

At the moment there aren’t any plans for a retail component at this location. The arrangement is similar to the one at Portland’s Coava Coffee, nestled inside Bamboo Revolution, a flooring and furniture workshop in a more industrial part of the city.

From winning the 2012 Sprudgie Award for “Notable Roaster”, to expertly hosting a highly successful and well-attended Southwest Regional Barista Competition weekend, and now this – what a year for Verve! To be clear, we were completely skunked by Eater LA on breaking this story, but we do have the first public words on the matter from none other than Colby Barr, Verve’s co-founder and world-traversing green buyer. There’s no new images or drawings of the space to share quite yet, but keep an eye for all that good stuff in the coming weeks and months. Meanwhile, let’s chat with Colby.

Sprudge: Hey Colby! Thanks for talking to us. How did you guys get hooked up with District Millworks? That company has a pretty sweet looking portfolio. How close are you collaborating with them on the space itself?

Colby Barr, Verve Coffee Roasters: The guys at District Millworks do incredible work! Their showroom is absolutely beautiful and authentic as are their pieces. We met them through some mutual friends and hope to collaborate with them very closely on what we do. I think our aesthetic points of view as well as our brands, pair really well together. Plus, they’re just really cool, down to earth guys who value their craft.

The post Verve Coffee Roasters’ New LA Digs [Interview] appeared first on Sprudge.com.

Mr. Truby competed with Verve’s Costa Rica Finale de Cosecha – a coffee from the Helsar micromill, in the West Valley of Costa Rica. This micromill is one of many championed by Francisco Mena and his Exclusive Coffees “micromill revolution” program. Verve’s green buyer, Colby Barr, worked with Mr. Mena to cultivate a unique lot of beans from that mill. The cherries that became Finale de Cosecha were left on their trees for an extended maturation process. Then the ripest red cherries were set aside during the harvest process for Verve – the name, Finale de Cosecha, mean “final harvest”. This project resulted in less than 20 bags of coffee, and a win for Jared Truby at the 2012 SWRBC. This coffee is not currently commercial available, but will be offered by Verve in the coming weeks. Stay tuned to Sprudge.com for updates.

Congratulations to Mr. Truby, Mr. Barr, and everyone from Verve Coffee Roasters for both winning and hosting an extraordinary event here in Santa Cruz.

The post My Aim Is Truby: Verve’s Hometown Hero Wins SWRBC appeared first on Sprudge.com.