Quality-focused retail has been seeing a huge boom in entrepreneurship recently, with tons of new shops opening all over the country, and many more established brands looking to expand or having already expanded their operations. Most interesting for me though is the increasing entrepreneurial viability of quality-focused ventures outside the retail sector.

In my design round-up article I discussed the impressive success relative new-comer Bonavita has had in responding to customer demand and rapidly bringing new products to market. The Modbar system, subject of such explosive excitement at the show, was developed under an agile start-up model, backed by big name investors like La Marzocco and Marco. Though not shrouded in the same secrecy, this hardware start-up approach is also being pursued by two different brewers, the Alpha Dominche Steampunk and the Blossom One. It’s now been about a year since the big reveal for both these brewers, and so I decided to check in with them and see how the process of getting to market is going for them.

I had a chance to check out the Alpha Dominche Steampunk at last year’s SCAA, and was left with a positive impression of the technology but worries about cup quality and usability. It made me happy, then, when my talk with Alpha Dominche started off with them talking about how they had addressed each of those concerns. They’ve clearly been taking people’s criticism to heart. In the last year AD has produced three interchangeable metal filters with various hole sizes, as well as paper filters, allowing the ability to target an increased range of cup body and clarity. They’ve also introduced a new piston that is much lighter and easier to maneuver and provides gentler agitation. Khristian Bombeck, the lead designer, said that they initially created a machine that was as manual as possible, but based on roaster feedback they’ve made the system more automated. Internally, they’ve made the system easier to service with a very cool, easily-removable boiler and electronics system. They also introduced a new version that mounts the boiler under the counter, leaving just the brew chambers attractively mounted above.

Alpha Dominche has obviously been reacting to customer feedback in a flexible and responsive way, and I think it will pay off well for them. They’ve spent the last year growing the company to three times its original number of employees, setting up distribution relationships and getting ready to go into full production right after SCAA. The machines just launched nationally at Verve Coffee Roasters, La Colombe Torrefaction, Portola Coffee Lab’s Seventh Tea Bar, and Nobrow Coffee Werks.

Blossom also had a busy year, going from two to five employees, working to initiate distribution relationships and taking their brewer from early prototype to a more final product. Though they were still making coffee on their Dev2 prototype devices at the show, they had a very pretty final physical design on display that was just waiting on some internal finishing touches.

Jeremy Kuempel of Blossom says that in the last year he’s been really focusing on coffee brew science, learning everything he can from the community and working on ways to bring that knowledge to a wider audience. In this pursuit, he sees the Blossom as a “Porsche 911” that really lets you hone in on the effect of temperature as a variable. Compared to Alpha Dominche’s full launch, the Blossom is clearly a bit further away from market, but it sounds like they are making good progress finalizing their design and setting up manufacturing.

Talking to attendees about Alpha Dominche and Blossom, a lot of people questioned the idea of a $10k+ brewer. To be honest, I too am a little skeptical of our industry’s current ability to support two competing brewers at that price point. But regardless, it says big things about the growth of the quality-focused coffee sector that people are even trying for that market, and I’ll be interested to see where brewing equipment like the Steampunk and Blossom wind up out in the wild – top end cafes, sure, but maybe QC labs as well, or curious home users with money to spend.

Modbar, Baratza, Bonavita, Breville, and Alpha Dominche all launched new high-end quality-focused products on the SCAA show-floor this year. With the new Linea and Swift, La Marzocco showed serious interest in making their quality innovations accessible to a wider swath of the market. Unic and Stella diCaffee had a strong showing at their Barista Nation Satellite Cafe with their Stella DCL. Nuova Simonelli demonstrated an increased interest in positioning their products for the high-end customer with their Mythos modifications and the upcoming Aurelia physical refresh, rumored to include a sleeker, lower profile.

A focus on absolute premium quality and presentation used to be seen as the purview of a relative lunatic fringe in the industry, but the explosion of new entrepreneurial activity targeting this market at SCAA 2013 shows that this segment is increasingly becoming big business. We here at Sprudge are obviously big believers in the importance of an increasing focus on quality and the potential it has to create a more sustainable, vibrant community of coffee producers, consumers and professionals. SCAA 2013 was packed full of information, attended by pretty much everyone I wanted to see. The energy and excitement going on in quality coffee right now is literally amazing, in that I am amazed by it. Here’s hoping that the raft of new products on display are a good indication of this industry’s continued potential for growth.

Photography by James Hanna for Sprudge.com.

The post Alex Bernson’s SCAA 2013 Tech Wrap Up appeared first on Sprudge.com.

To be totally honest, we haven’t actually seen the new Linea PB yet. Truth is, unless you work directly for La Marzocco, you haven’t seen it either. It’s been a closely guarded secret until now, and the real big reveal for Linea PB comes this Friday, April 12th in Boston at the 2013 SCAA Event. You’d better believe that we’ll be there with cameras for a hands-on look at this beautiful new machine, but until then, we’ve got first-published photos up above in the slideshow, plus information from a heretofore embargoed press release made available for publication at midnight on 4/11/2013.

Linea PB features improved component longevity and new technology that gives the barista control over functions directly from the machine interface including boiler temperatures, brewing volume, hot water tap dose, and auto-backflush. The Linea PB also features Piero Bambi-designed group caps that ensure water never leaves the coffee boiler during the brewing process, which eliminates instability. A digital display incorporates intuitive programming and simplifies the adjustment of machine parameters.

The Linea PB is named for Piero Bambi, son of Giuseppe and nephew of Bruno, the famed “Fratelli Bambi” who founded La Marzocco in 1927. Piero Bambi helped design the original Linea in 1989; now 79 years of age, Mr. Bambi continues to have an active role in the design and engineering of La Marzocco’s espresso machines, including the new machine that bears his name.

La Marzocco celebrates the Linea lineage on the website “Linea Love“, where coffee professionals can publish essays, photographs, poetry, songs, and videos about their relationship with the legendary machine. Sprudge Studios produced several videos for the campaign in anticipation of the Linea PB’s big reveal on Friday. Take a look back at some of the voices whose careers in coffee have been directly impacted by this iconic espresso machine. One of our favorites comes from Sprudgie Award winner Stephen Vick (2009, Outstanding Achievement In The Field of Excellence), who reflected on his time with the rare five group Linea over a decade ago at Seattle’s Hines Public Market. There are all but ten of these machines in the wild today!

If you’re lucky enough to be in Boston for the Specialty Coffee Association of America Event, be sure to catch luminary and CEO of La Marzocco Kent Bakke introduce the Linea PB at 2:00PM on Friday, April 12th.

The post First Look Pictures Of The New La Marzocco Linea PB appeared first on Sprudge.com.

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.

For the last month, coffee enthusiasts of all stripes have been submitting writing, drawings, videos, pictures, and songs to Linea Love, a La Marzocco USA campaign to celebrate the La Marzocco Linea. Since 1990, the Linea has been the heart of so many cafes around the world, pumping and pumping, day in and day out, while shaping generations of quality-focused baristas.

Your Sprudge Editors were tapped by our partners at LM USA to produce a series of video interviews with leading folks in the industry who’ve developed a special bond with the La Marzocco Linea. These interviews feature some of the brightest coffee minds we know: Stephen Vick of Blue Bottle Coffee, 2004 USBC Champion Bronwen Serna, Mindy Farley of the North Portland’s own The Red E Cafe (a Sprudge.com editorial favorite), Skip Colombo of Stumptown Coffee Roasters, Devin Chapman of Coava Coffee Roasters, Andrew Barnett of Caffe Linea, Alex Powar of Four Barrel Coffee, and Nick Cho of Wrecking Ball Coffee Roasters.

Here they are, in all of their steaming glory.

Stephen Vick, of Blue Bottle Coffee, talks about his memories with the La Marzocco Linea, including the legendary 5-Group Linea from Seattle’s Hines Public Market Coffee (closed in 2005). Learn more about dear departed Hines Public Market in this adorable Mark Prince feature from 2003.

Bronwen Serna, 2004 USBC Champion, also worked for Hines Public Market in Seattle with Stephen Vick. Read her full essay here!

Mindy Farley, co-owner and manager at The Red E Cafe in Portland, Oregon has worked on the Linea for over a decade – first at the Albina Press (another landmark cafe in North Portland) and now at her own cafe up the road.

We spoke with Skip Colombo, Senior Account Manager at Stumptown Coffee Roasters. Skip has worked on a Linea since his days at the Fresh Pot sixteen years ago.

Two-time consecutive Northwest Regional Barista Champion Devin Chapman of Coava Coffee Roasters works on a custom black Linea. Clearly he is stoked about it.

Andrew Barnett, the legendary green coffee buyer, roaster, and now owner of Caffe Linea in San Francisco, first set his eyes on a La Marzocco Linea at CoffeeFest in 1993. David Schomer of Espresso Vivace was pulling shots, and the cosmos shifted ever so slightly. Read Mr. Barnett’s full essay here!

Young buck Alex Powar works on a La Marzocco Linea at Four Barrel Coffee in San Francisco, where he’s an educator for both staff and wholesale clients.

Nick Cho, of Wrecking Ball Coffee Roasters in San Francisco, had Lineas at his murky coffee locations in Washington, DC. An impressive and diverse array of coffee professionals worked on these murky machines, including 2012 USBC Champion Katie Carguilo, Ultimo Coffee owner Aaron Ultimo, noted NYC hair stylist Janet Konz, Ryan Goodrow of Four Barrel, Peregrine Espresso owner Ryan Jensen, David Nigel Flynn of Frog Fight fame, and Sprudge.com co-founder Zachary Carlsen.

In need of some more Linea Lovin’? Check out these other great submissions from the last few weeks:

Michael Phillips
Chris Baca
Conrad Altman, Sr
Ryan Willbur
Cabin Coffee
Joe Monaghan
John Blackwell
Matt Brown
Roast Coffee Company
Ilya Schnaydman
Taylor Threatt
Mike Chapman
Just David
Jimmy The Chop
Phil Goodlaxon
Sandy Hughes
Lars Kolstad Huse
Chelsea Thoumsin
Pete Milne
Henry Foote
Daniel Read
Blake McKinney

“There’s nothing else like it. It’s beautiful, simple, approachable, reliable, and, surprisingly, affordable. The Linea has made it possible for coffee-loving dreamers to start their own shops without settling for lousy equipment or breaking the bank.” -  Chris Elliott

“The coffee culture of cafes, drive-thrus, stands, stalls, and carts from that era captured my boyhood imagination. Above all espresso carts – many of whom were equipped with a Linea. There was something magical about the lone barista serving up hot coffee to a long line of appreciative customers on the sidewalk.” – Chris Phelps

“Years later, working now in training and education, the Linea still remains my number one recommendation for coffee bars to consider when pricing out equipment. Minor tweaks here and there to the machine (PID! Vacuum breakers!) have given polite finesse to this non-stop workhorse, still at an incredible value.” – Jesse Raub

“Walking up to a Linea, a barista feels empowered. There is no confusion about it. On, off, rinse, repeat. All day. Break it down, clean it, and start over. It is ready to handle more than you can give it. You will wear out before it does.” - Tony Querio

Check out the rest of the drawings, photos, essays, and more at LineaLove.com. La Marzocco’s next-generation Linea PB will be unveiled at the grand SCAA Event in Boston in just a few short weeks.

The post La Marzocco Linea Love Campaign – A Look Back At All The Lovin’ appeared first on Sprudge.com.

In the battle of man against machine – the machine usually has the upper hand. But what it lacks? Heart. But what if the machine had both? 

Now that the trend is shifting towards espresso parameters based on a fixed ratio for a desired extraction yield, wouldn’t it be easier to leave the machine to dispense a fixed amount of water, rather than relying on a scale in the drip tray? That’s what Matt Perger, Australian barista champion of St. Ali, considered. He posted his findings on Vimeo a few months ago:

In his study, like Deep Blue and that chainsaw, the machine was superior than man alone. La Marzocco USA wanted to learn more, so they asked specialty coffee gadabout and espresso experimenter Ben Kaminsky to do some more research in their labs in Seattle.

His findings are now available online via the La Marzocco USA blog:

Whether you choose to subscribe to the SCAA’s guidelines on extraction or not, one thing is for sure–whatever you do like, the goal is to repeat it over and over again in order to deliver the same coffee experience to each customer. That, in scientific terms, means repeating every extraction yield, on every espresso brewed and served, potentially hundreds of times in a day in rapid succession.

In his results, in the battle of man versus machine, who was this victor? Find out via the LM Blog.

The post La Marzocco Blog: Will Volumetric Groups Make A Comeback In 2013? appeared first on Sprudge.com.

“The Kardashians are downstairs,” someone whispers in the elevator. Of course they are. This is Siren Studios, home of Emmy’s after-parties, where papparazzos shot some infamous photos of Lindsay Lohan, and where a Southwest Regional Barista Competition crowned Pete Licata.

In the main floor garage sits a welcome desk, just past the fleet of Lexuses (Lexi?) and assorted luxury vehicles in VIP parking. It’s 10am on a Wednesday in Hollywood, and we’re here with a couple of hundred other folks throughout the day to attend La Marzocco’s “Pressure + Flow” event on Sunset Boulevard.

When La Marzocco throws events, folks turn out in droves, be it in Chicago, Atlanta, New York City, Seattle, or pretty much anywhere else. The sun is shining, and you can see the Hollywood sign from the rooftop deck. This shindig in LA is the first in an ongoing tour of La Marzocco events happening in the next few weeks, with dates set for San Francisco, Chicago, and New York City. Folks are particularly well dressed here in LA – lots of nice shoes, smart jeans, collared shirts, color-coordinated baseball hats (the LM t-shirt for this event just so happens to be Dodger blue).

The format and information they’re offering is pretty different from what we’ve seen before. Like previous events we’ve covered, the La Marzocco’s Strada EP takes center stage. It’s a fascinating new piece of equipment with a story behind it, and LM wants to tell that story. But Pressure + Flow LA was about much more than that. It’s a showcase for some seriously delicious Atlas Coffees. It’s a primer on water quality. It’s a call-in talk show, ala “Loveline”. One thing’s for certain about La Marzocco: they definitely know how to work a crowd.

If you want to know more about the EP, these events are a great way to learn. It’s also the only place we’ve ever had the opportunity to taste three espressos pulled by Michael Phillips on three GS/3s equipped with three different varieties of water. If you want to hang out with some coffee folks, network, drink some beer in a gorgeous setting and ask Scott Guglielmino embarrassing questions, you can totally do that too.

Here’s our five take-aways from Pressure & Flow in Los Angeles.

5. Ryan Willbur is great on stage.

Ryan Willbur – a sharp son-of-a-gun and one of the newest members at the La Marzocco team newest. Mr. Willbur gave a zippy presentation on the Strada’s history and functionality. He’s positively TED-esque on stage, with the same kind of cool confidence and professionalism that served him well as a highly regarded barista competitor.

Mr. Willbur talked the audience through the formation of the “La Marzocco Street Team”, an informal group of industry leaders – some 300 in total – whose feedback and insight helped inform the creation of the Strada. His remarks anchored the “Pressure” portion of the event programming, leading directly into hands-on EP demos using four distinct coffees imported and roasted by Atlas Coffee: Permato Gayo Cooperative Sumatra, Las Praderas Nicaragua, Don Amado Honduras, and Techno & Wolenso Cooperatives Ethiopia. The team at LM had X/Y pressure parameters for each, and they used them to demo the EP’s prowess.

4. The Strada has a story.

The Strada has a story, beginning with the “change in coffee vocabulary” that started in high-end coffee around 10 years ago. The folks at LM see this a shift from “traditional mentality”, in which coffee is roasted specifically for an espresso machine, to a kind of “new mentality”, in which the espresso machine serves to express all that’s good about coffee in the first place. You could argue this sentiment captures a lot of popular sentiment for how folks think about coffee these days, as seen by a wide variety of brewing trends, espresso machine advancements, and new roasting mentalities. Simply put, coffee itself – and the sourcing, processing, and roasting of coffee – is getting better, and La Marzocco built the Strada EP to reflect that. “Strada” means “street” in Italian; the Street Team literally gave the Strada EP and MP its name.

3. You gotta know your water.

The “Flow” portion of this event was handled by Scott Guglielmino, La Marzocco USA’s resident machine tech guru and man of many trades.  show. Scott compared and contrasted water from three different sources: Seattle water, Los Angeles water, and water dialed in to meet SCAA approved water specifications. The main idea behind this was to show how important water is, and how wildly it varies from aquifer to aquifer. Mr. Guglielmino discussed a variety of methods for dialing in your water source, including mechanical filtration, activated carbon absorption, and ion exchange.

Scott also talked about “scale”, the white powder-like stuff that appears wherever there are temperature or pressure differentials. Scale is a “crystalline matrix”, we learned, which means that scale begets further scale, as crystals latch on to each other and multiply. Mr. Guglielmino had some positive words for those concerned about scale in their espresso machines: “The thing to remember about scale is that some scale isn’t necessarily bad. Scale is a problem when it prevents something from working, and only when it prevents something from working – until then, I don’t care! And neither should you! You should never be concerned when you pop off your group cap and see scale, so long as it’s working.”

2. You can pull shots with sugar and you can make scrambled eggs with a steam wand.

These were just some of the questions asked of Scott Guglielmino during the “Espresso Loveline” portion of the event, an informal Q&A hosted by our own Jordan Michelman. Other questions included:

“Should I turn off my espresso machine at night?” (Not recommended, says Scott.)

“How can I learn about preventative maintenance?” (Go here, says Scott.)

“If you were a rap star, would you be Pressure or Flow?” (Scott would be Flow.)

“What’s a great book for me to read about espresso machine science?” (Espresso Coffee: The Science of Quality by Andrea Illy.)

1. The LA coffee scene is sizzling.

Los Angeles makes perfect sense as the home of an event like this, because the coffee scene there is red hot right now. It’s a city where last year’s NKOTB are this year’s forefathers, and we saw it first hand on the days leading up to this event. Top shops right now in Los Angeles include Cognoscenti Coffee in Culver City (one of the better multi-roasters we’ve ever visited), SQIRL with G&B (coffee brunch heaven, with a seat at the church of Charles Babinski), and Short Cake (home to the world’s best scone and delicious coffees from Verve & Handsome). We were blown away by our coffee experiences in Los Angeles, and that sense of something special came to a head at the Pressure + Flow. Both sessions were packed; questions came fast and furious; the hands-on demos were lined up deep; and folks seemed convivial, friendly, and ready to learn.

Angelenos have this funny kind of reverse chip on their shoulders. They’re worried that outsiders will have to hunt and peck to find worthy new experiences, and they hate operating within stereotypes and negative expectations about their fair city. Well, we’re a couple of outsiders, and we think Los Angeles is the freaking bee’s knees, packed full of interesting people do interesting things, running fantastic and quality-focused businesses, and reveling in the diversity and weirdness of it all. Los Angeles is awesome, and Pressure + Flow fit right in.

The post Pressure + Flow In LA: La Marzocco On The Sunset Strip appeared first on Sprudge.com.

Big news today from our friends and partners at La Marzocco USA, where they’ve officially announced the 2013 debut the Linea PB, “the first full update to the technical and stylistic workings of the Linea in the nearly 25 years it has been in production.” Linea PB will make its first public appearance at the SCAA Expo in Boston, this coming April 11th-14th. Details are still being closely held by La Marzocco as to what exactly these new technical and stylistic elements will look and feel like, but SCAA attendees can expect hands-on demos and plenty more information in Boston.

La Marzocco has a proud history of naming their machines in honor of members of their founding family. For example, the FB series takes its name from “Fratelli Bambi”, or the Bambi brothers Giuseppe and Bruno, who founded the company in 1927. The Linea PB is named in honor of Piero Bambi, son of Giuseppe and nephew of Bruno, who has served as the longtime patriarch of the La Marzocco brand and is intimately involved in the design and development of each new La Marzocco machine. The original Linea was the first machine for which he led the design process, and the Linea PB has been named in tribute to him in advance of his upcoming 80th birthday.

So while we look forward to the launch of the Linea PB, La Marzocco USA is launching a campaign of nostalgia to remember and honor the much-loved lynchpin in the specialty coffee movement, the original Linea. They’re calling it “Linea Love”, and they’ve launched a website filled with tribute essays, video interviews, and even haikus dedicated to the role the Linea has played in specialty coffee culture worldwide in the last 25 years. There’s great content there already, and your Sprudge.com Editors will be contributing content to the project over the coming days and weeks, including original interviews with some of the biggest names in the industry. Best of all, “The Linea Love Campaign invites you to share your fondest memories of the La Marzocco Linea. Tell your story in writing, song, video, a photo, a drawing – whatever helps you express your Linea Love.” Submission is easy, just follow the link on the lower-left hand side of the Linea Love website.

Look for updates to the Linea Love project over the next few months – we’ll be sure to let folks know when our videos and interviews go live! Congrats to the team at LMUSA for their months of work and planning getting this project off the ground, and we can’t wait to finally see the new machine in Boston.

The post Linea Love: A New Machine & A Dose of Nostalgia With La Marzocco appeared first on Sprudge.com.

A few weeks back, Sprudge.com had the distinct pleasure of joining our partners Counter Culture Coffee and La Marzocco on their inaugural “Works In Progress” road show, visiting Boston, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Durham, and points in between. We’re excited to announce that this week we’ll be hopping back in the Cortado Minivan and heading out to the second Fruit Bombs & Fermentation tour. We’ll be reporting from Asheville, Atlanta, and Chicago, and eating as much BBQ as possible along the way.

Everyone’s invited and expect dazzling presentations from CCC green buyer Tim Hill and USBC champion Katie Carguilo (who was recently profiled here in Slate) along with  once-in-a-lifetime cuppings (in the last tour, folks tasted some out of control naturally processed Rwandan coffees) as well as some USBC championship worthy signature drink realness. Carguilo and Hill are a dream team of info, and they’ll be taking all your stupid questions and answering them to the best of their ability.

Tim Hill leads a presentation at Fruit Bombs & Fermentation: Boston

Did we mention someone has a chance of winning a brand new La Marzocco GS/3? In the last tour, a lucky Bostonian named Sam took home a custom Fruit Bombs & Fermentation GS/3 and this time, another one is totes up for grabs again. Buy raffles tickets on site at the events in exchange for coffee/swag. Proceeds will go “to a sustainable project in one of the coffee farms featured in the tour.”

More information from Counter Culture Coffee:

“Tim is doing incredible work with farmers from El Salvador to Burundi that challenges what we know about how processing affects flavor,” observed 2012 USBC champ Katie. “And, I’m psyched to have the chance to present my USBC fermentation-inspired signature drink and take my deepening interest in and knowledge about the fermentation process to the coffee communities served by our training centers.”

Join us! RSVP on Facebook:

• November 14, Asheville Training Center
• November 15, Atlanta Training Center
• November 17, Chicago Training Center

Follow us on Twitter @sprudge hash tag #fruitbombs!

The post Counter Culture’s Fruit Bombs & Fermentation Part Deux appeared first on Sprudge.com.

La Marzocco USA continues their weekly Roasters Showcase series in Seattle this Friday at 10am, where they’ll be featuring Seattle’s newest coffee concern, a company called Slate Coffee Roasters. The project has a few intriguing resumes to boast, with an opening staff that includes Timothy Graham (ex-Victrola), Brandon Paul Weaver, and Nik Virrey (both former Zoka employees).

Additional info comes courtesy of email correspondence with Slate:

We at Slate Coffee Roasters cordially invite you to attend our Roaster’s Showcase at the La Marzocco factory in Ballard at 10 am, this Friday November 2nd. We are a brand new roaster in Seattle and our goal is to reframe coffee in a culinary context. After all, coffee is a tropical fruit and we think it should taste like it. We have some of these coffees and we would like to share them with you.

Attendees will be served what Slate calls “The Modern Menu”, which includes just three offerings: espresso, espresso with milk, and hand brewed coffee. You’ll also have a chance to ask about Slate’s impending retail space, their roasting operations, and the mobile coffee service Airstream trailer they’ve been working on.

A look at an airstream cafe from yesteryear.

RSVP on Facebook, and check out Slate’s “About” section for more on their worldview. La Marzocco USA is located in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood at 1553 Northwest Ballard Way, and the event begins at 10am.

The post Seattle: Slate Coffee Roasters To Debut At La Marzocco appeared first on Sprudge.com.

A few weeks back, Sprudge.com had the most exquisite and distinct pleasure of traveling with Scott Guglielmino, Kent Bakke, and Mike Del Gado of La Marzocco USA while traveling with the Counter Culture Coffee crew and their Works In Progress: Fermentation and Fruit Bombs East Coast Tour. We had a lot of fun, for reals, and you can relive all of our Fermentation & Fruit Bombs coverage here.

While on this tour, we noticed a phenomenon most curious: Kent Bakke, the intrepid leader of La Marzocco USA , likes to look at things. We couldn’t help but documented this occurance as it happened up and down the East Coast. With no further ado, we’re proud to present Kent Bakke Looking At Things.

Kent looks at photography inside Pavement Coffee House in Boston.

Kent checks out the goods at Terrain Garden Cafe Coffee Bar in Connecticut.

Kent catches up on e-mails outside Sabrina’s Cafe in Philadelphia.

Kent reads Sprudge.com on his iPad at Elixr Coffee in Philadelphia. Wait, is that Seth Lester in the purple sweatshirt?

The post EXCLUSIVE: Kent Bakke Looking At Things appeared first on Sprudge.com.