As dictated by the wonks at our Marketing Analysis, Research Product Development and Integration Department, we’re being proudly forced to bring you our very first annual Sprudge.com Readership Survey. The decision to issue this survey was reached unanimously by the Dolcepump LLC Board of Directors, of whom Sprudge.com is a wholly owned subsidiary.

In all honesty, this survey will help us grow and give us information to better serve you, our readers, who we do this for, not us, together. These eleven questions shouldn’t take longer than a minute or two to answer, so push the big red button below. DO IT NOW!

Thanks!

The post Development Department: The Annual Sprudge Reader Survey appeared first on Sprudge.com.

Friends, after seven weeks of extensive and thorough market research, we’ve decided that on our much-loved (and also occasionally much-maligned) live Twitter event coverage will happen from now on under the newly created mantle of @SprudgeLive!

Go ahead and add @SprudgeLive to your Twitter feed, and join us tonight for the first-ever @SprudgeLive broadcast, where we’ll be live-tweeting the premiere of Todd Carmichael’s “Dangerous Grounds” program on The Travel Channel. The West Coast Live-feed starts at 10pm PST.

Follow @SprudgeLive today!

@SprudgeLive will be your go-to source for our groundbreaking barista competition coverage throughout the 2013 competitive cycle. We were going to announce this last week, but then Hurricane Sandy happened and the NERBC was canceled. Watch for @SprudgeLive all year long as we cover the regional barista competitions, the USBC in Boston, and the WBC in Melbourne.

@SprudgeLive – follow us today!

The post @SprudgeLive – Your Source For Sprudge Live Tweets appeared first on Sprudge.com.

Record Players = Chemex

8 Tracks = Percolators

MiniDisc Recorders = VacPots

Cassette Tapes = French Presses

Compact Discs = Super Automatic Machines

Satellite Radios = K Cups

iPods = Clevers

45s = Single-Use Kantan Drippers

Demo Tapes = Sample Roasts

Compilation Discs = Subscription Services

Lester Bangs = Ken Davids

Columbia House = GoCoffeeGo

Tiger Beat = Barista Magazine

1991 MTV = Sprudge

The post “Chemex Is Like Vinyl” and Other Coffee / Music Analogies appeared first on Sprudge.com.

A look back at our favorite stories on Sprudge in 2011, culled from close to 700 original features written in cafes in Portland, condos in San Francisco, haciendas in the Colombian jungle, gigantic convention halls in Houston, bars in New York City, lofts in Philadelphia, road trips to Santa Barbara, VIP tents in Red Square, and various forms of public transit. Thank you to our readers and sponsors for making 2011 an incredible year – and get ready for some unbelievable stuff from us in 2012, as we unveil a new form of coverage unrivaled in specialty coffee media: the 24 Hour Brews Cycle.

Most talked about stories of 2011:

Bladdergate: An End to Lot Separation In Ethiopia? (November 30th)

#YesEqual – and – #YesEqual: A Week In Photos (June 30th -July 10th)

DieHipster.Wordpress.com Hates Mike Jones, Itself (May 17th)

Deus Ex Machina: The Strada EP (October 5th)

Editorial: Is Your Bodum Blown Out? (November 21st)

Top headlines from 2011:

Our Groins, Ourselves: Coffee Crotch Shots (November 3rd)

Extra Hotter Than Hell: KISS Coffee Shop Coming To NYC? (August 18th)

Big Brown Stink: Deplorable Homophobic Tweet From Texas Roaster (June 28th)

Schmuck Of The Week: “Devious” Antavious And The Caribou Bugaboo (April 25th)

Starbucks Turns 40, Stays In, Calls Friends (March 10th)

Our personal favorite features from 2011:

Sprudge Op-Ed: The New York Post’s Aesthetique Du Schlock (September 14th)

Video: True Camp Pull-A-Shot Confessions (October 26th)

Moscowabunga! (September 5th)

#Slurparama: Top 10 Coffees And The Scene At Hacienda El Roble (June 1st)

New York Stories: The Worst $5.34 Espresso I Ever Had (August 12th)

The post Our Favorite 2011 Stories and Headlines appeared first on Sprudge.com.