Walking the stalls of the historic Farmers Market at 3rd and Fairfax in Los Angeles, the aisles are filled with stalls that have been in the market for decades, stretching all the way back to the 1940s. These include butcher shops, Bob’s Coffee and Donuts, Magee’s House of Nuts, and Littlejohn’s English Toffee House, to name just a few. The nostalgia of these original market stalls have been joined more recently by chains like Loteria, Starbucks, and Pinkberry.

In November of 2011, the late Amy Pressman and Nancy Silverton’s Short Order took over the Southwest corner of the market, offering up craft cocktails, burgers made with organic pastured meat, and milkshakes concocted with ultra-creamy Strauss ice cream. Short Order also included one of Pressman’s pet projects: a bakery featuring recipes she had developed over her lifetime. In a nod to its connectivity with Short Order, she planned to name the space Short Cake.

In a tragic stroke of fate, Amy Pressman did not live to see the opening of Short Order and Short Cake. But she left the space in good hands, namely those of her bakery protege Hourie Sahakian, who took the reigns to make sure that the bakery of Pressman’s dreams would be a reality. Both Sahakian and Pressman were devout coffee lovers, and in the early planing phases of Short Cake, they hatched a plan to make sure that their coffee program would live up to the level they aimed to achieve with the baked goods. To that end, they enlisted Silverton’s nephew Nik Krankl – a well-known coffee professional who placed second nationally at the 2011 USBC – to plan, design, and open a coffee called Single Origin as an intrinsic part of their Market bakery space.

The end result is something of a dream team: A menu of considered, professional, and delicious coffee drinks from Single Origin, alongside the serious baking skills of Short Cake. Scones come in sesame date, feta scallion, and the ultra fun campfire s’mores variety. Chocolate treats are made with TCHO, including Amy’s family favorite chocolate chip cookies and brownie recipes. Sahakian makes her own seasonal tarts and a stellar orange chiffon cake with meringue. There is granola for breakfast and sandwiches on crispy croissants for lunch, all served along side single origin pour-overs and espresso drinks. Single Origin has also become known for their lattes hot and cold, sweetened with their own salted caramel, vanilla syrup, and chocolate ganache.

The end result is seriously crush-worthy. Single Origin / Short Cake is one of my favorite cafes in Los Angeles, and my Sprudge Editors agree – I think a lot more people would agree, actually, were it not for the unconventional setting. This is a special place, a holistically perfect combination of bakery and espresso bar, housed in a truly unique and bustling urban farmers market. I take out of towners here with the same enthusiasm as I would my own daughter on a quiet afternoon. Being a consumer here is really, truly, a joy.

But there’s always more to the story than the consumer’s experience. To learn more about Short Cake / Single Origin, I sat down with Hourie Sahakain over some seriously delicious cups of Verve coffee and a bevy of croissants, scones, and cookies (it’s a tough job, I know). This is a  ‘no short cuts’ bakery and coffee shop: how do they do it?

How did the concepts for fully realized bakery and coffee bar side by side get developed?

Sahakian: That was the initial vision from the beginning. Amy and I both always really cared about good coffee. Amy’s children cared about coffee. It was in her mind and everyone who got involved at the beginning we knew that part could not be compromised. She knew she needed help so she reached out to Nancy Silverton’s nephew Nik Krankl. Nik and I started working with Amy in the opening and planning of this bakery. We all tasted beans together. Everything from day one was a group effort.

Why do you care about coffee so much? Why does it matter to you that next to all of these pastries to serve high quality coffee?

Sahakian: I wanted it to be at a level that meets everything else in my life. I have always loved coffee. When I met Amy and talked about opening this bakery, she cared just as much about coffee as me. Amy and I used to have our planning meetings for this bakery at Intelligentsia. We were part of the coffee culture there, and now Intelligentsia carries our baked goods at their Venice, Silver Lake, and Pasadena cafes. Amy used to give me Intelligentsia gift cards or buy me a bag of Stumptown beans… we’ve always cared, even before we were operating a coffee program.

When did you decide that Verve would be the coffee you would serve at Single Origin/ Short Cake?

Nik had narrowed it down to a couple of different options. In the end it was a decision between Nik, Amy, and I to go with with Verve.

In term of Verve was it all taste, or also some thought to the fact that there were not many places in LA serving their coffee at the time?

It was the fact that they were based in California, because our other option wasn’t. It went with our whole ethos here of sourcing the best ingredients. It helped that it was from our state, but we also considered taste of course. And also, at the time Verve did not have a strong presence in Southern California – this has changed since 2011.

[For more on the coffee program, I turned to its principal architect, Nik Krankl. This interview happened at a later date than my chat with Hourie, as Mr. Krankl is currently hard at work outside LA in the California wine industry. Mr. Krankl shared some insights into his thoughts about the planning of Single Origin alongside Short Cake.]

Why did you choose Verve?

Krankl: I had seen them at competitions both regionally and nationally and tasted their coffee. For me they were a brand that really reflected something that I like, which is they are quality to the highest degree and they are the types of people you would want to go grab a drink with after work. To me they are very likeable people and their personalities came through. They are down to earth guys. They are surfers.

How did you decide what to serve for the Single Origin menu?

I definitely wanted keep it simple. A lot of coffee bars throughout LA and the US at that point were focusing on big rotating coffee menus. So you go into places and they will have their espresso, their guest espresso, and their guest’s guest espresso – they could be pulling coffees eight different ways. In my opinion, when you have a lot of different hands on bar, simplicity is the secret. You can get training across very well, and you can dial in on a brew recipe and execute it with efficiency.

I didn’t want to do twelve different espressos each day at Single Origin. I wanted to go at it with a simple, no-nonsense approach. To me, it shouldn’t matter who is on bar or at what time of day you come -  the espresso should be on point. One of the things I like about our menu is that the purists can have their pour-over or an espresso, but there is also several very accessible menu that will make sense to people in the market.

Was that the inspirations for the vanilla and caramel lattes on the menu?

I think there is a reason those drinks are popular. There is a reason Starbucks is what it is. There is a reason that a caramel frappuccino is probably one of the highest selling coffee drinks in the world. It is silly to not acknowledge that people like those drinks and have a sweet tooth.

How did those recipes get developed?

I wanted to approach those drinks the same way that maybe you’d walk into one of Julian Cox’s cocktail bars. Maybe a Cosmopolitan is not his favorite drink, but he understands that there can be a demand for a drink like that. So he takes the essence of what people are attracted to and offers it at a gourmet level. He nails the flavor, aroma and mouth feel. I feel the same way with drink like our salted caramel latte. I drink strait shots of espresso and make myself cups of black coffee all the time, and I also like the salted caramel latte.

We make a delicious caramel with our skilled baking team at Short Cake, and a vanilla bean simple syrup using tons of whole vanilla beans. It is insanely expensive to create, but you only have to use a little bit of it to get the flavor. We take the essence of those drinks from Starbucks and make them on a gourmet artisanal level. 

And the mocha?

We came into this space with a really unique skill set and mindset, and I got to pair that with what Hourie, Amy, and Nancy were doing. I thought it would be great to make delicious chocolate ganache using the same TCHO chocolate we are baking with. Then we could incorporate it into our coffee menu – the two work together seamlessly. That was so fortunate to have that opportunity. I had owned my own coffee shop in the past. It’s a really hard thing to pull off.

Some of the equipment in the space has been customized. How was that area designed?

The Farmers Market is a very visual place. If we had our own storefront with four walls, you would be able to more properly “walk in” to our Single Origin / Short Cake space. We’d have furniture and artwork on the walls to help tell you who we are, but that can’t happen where we are – in the Farmers Market there are so many stands, and so much stimulation happening around you. You can get lost as a consumer, so I wanted to make our space a little extra special to stand out. To get someone to walk over and take some time out of their Farmers Market trip to come see us.

So my philosophy was to put our pour-over bar out front and do it in a way that looks a little laboratory-ish, putting the glass in front so people can watch. Our Espresso Parts custom powder-coated La Marzocco Strada has clear sides. We needed to give people some eye candy in an environment where there was so much eye candy already.  It was partly to distinguish us and to captivate someone, for even a moment.

More recently, Single Origin and Short Cake have added Handsome Coffee to their menu alongside Verve. I asked Michael Phillips about his thoughts on working with Short Cake and Single Origin, and it turns out he’s every bit as lovey-dovey about the place as I. “From the beginning they were a crush for us. We wanted to be part of it,” said Phillips. “The product they make is awesome. Everything is delicious. The foundation was set for their coffee program even having the name Single Origin.”

Single Origin / Short Cake are open daily at 8am in stall #316 of the world famous Original Farmers Market, at the corner of 3rd and Fairfax. Come and visit the next time you’re in town, and there’s a a good chance you’ll see me there, swooning.

Julie Wolfson is a contributor to Cool Hunting, CBS Los Angeles, Tasting Table, and Sprudge.com. A native Californian, she lives and writes in Los Angeles.

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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.

Imagine waking up each morning in Costa Rica to the sounds and smells of hand-ground coffee, brewed via Aeropress by a certified barista champion. This was our reality on the Cafe Imports Origin trip, and it came courtesy of Cuvee Coffee‘s own Lorenzo Perkins.

Throughout the trip, it was dubbed Cafe Lorenzo, and each day the cafe was situated in a different hotel, lodge, or beach-front. Every service felt a little different. Some days featured a soundtrack of Leonard Cohen, on others, the Cure. On days the pop-up opened at Jaco Beach, Mr. Perkins was spinning Bob Marley.

Cafe Lorezo Day Three featured a walk-up window and a soundtrack by Rhianna.

The pop-up cafe also set up shop at the Aguilera Brother’s El Toño farm in the West Valley, as well as the Riojorco mill and a grand Riojorco dinner meeting in Tarrazu. Guests were treated to a wide assortment of coffees from the champion’s cafes and roasteries, and folks from Costa Rica were particularly interested in the Kenyan and Ethiopian offerings.

We sat down with Mr. Perkins for this exclusive interview as he finished his last shift, before packing up his brewing supplies and heading home to Austin, Texas.

How do you feel your project went?

Lorenzo Perkins: I feel like it was really successful, you know. I was a little worried about being an Aeropress only cafe – because it’s kind of a divisive brew method. But it seems like people really took to it. We had some really beautiful coffees and I think we showcased them spectacularly.

What coffees were used during the week?

Lorenzo Perkins: Oh man, so, we had a washed Yirg and a Kenya from Verve. We were rocking a Guat and some El Sals from Coava and a really rad Burundi from Counter Culture, a naturally processed Guatemala from Raul Rodas’ Paradigma and the Colombia San Sebastian from MadCap.

Tell us more about your guest barista program.

Lorenzo Perkins: Yeah, our first guest barista was [2012 US Champion] Katie Carguilo. The awesome thing about running a guest barista program is they’re always going to bring something new or different to the cafe. She actually brewed iced Aeropresses, which was appropriate for how hot it’s been.

Today, actually, we had the NW Brewers Cup champion Devin Chapman from Coava who expanded our menu again and brought some sweet V-60s to the program.

Devin Chapman: It was a dream, you know? Just make it work. Grip it and rip it. Step up to the plate. Grab the bull by the horns.

What did you brew while you were on bar?

DC: I brewed a V-City with the Santa Sofia Peaberry. Like I said, grip it and rip it. I was pouring out of the orange Bodum kettle into the V60 that was drained into poured over into a Hario Buono kettle that we used as a brewer. Cowboy’d up a little bit, which is what I tend to do in these circumstances and tend to love. So you know, when in doubt. When you don’t have the stuff? Just cowboy up.

LP: I think that’s kind of been the theme for Cafe Lorenzo: pulling all the resources that we have available and really making it work. It’s been kind of a boot-strap kind of cafe but, like I said, the coffee has been delicious, the response from all our guests have been spectacular. I’m looking forward to maybe doing this again. So just keep an eye out for Cafe Lorenzo.

We sure as heck will.

Additional photography provided by Katie Carguilo and Noah Namowicz.

The post SCBRC Champion Opens “Cafe Lorenzo” Pop-Up In Costa Rica appeared first on Sprudge.com.

Africa takes the spotlight at this year’s coffee service. Colorado’s Allegro has their Kenya Kirinyaga. New York’s Irving Farm selected their Rwanda Lake Kivu. There are plenty of Ethiopian coffees on bar, with British Columbia roaster Salt Spring‘s Amaro Gayo, Blue Bottle’s Chalalacktu and Oromia, Chicago-based Metropolis‘ Suke Quto, and Verve Coffee‘s Yirgacheffe from the Konga Cooperative.

Cincinnati’s Deeper Roots offers the one of two Latin American coffees on bar, with their Guatemala Santa Maria La Aromonia Hermosa. MadCap Coffee brings Colombia La Plata. With the 38 brilliant baristas chosen to serve these drinks via pour over and espresso methods, this is arguably the best multi-roaster pop-up in the world.

In addition to these offerings, the TED Coffee team have assembled a blend including Blue Bottle’s Ethiopia Kemgin, Salt Spring‘s Ethiopia Amaro Gayo, and Deeper Roots‘ Guatemala La Armonia Hermosa.

To the baristas currently toiling away in SoCal, making coffee for the TED attendees, if you need us to order a pizza or some take-out for you, e-mail us at ineedapizza@sprudge.com. We’ll figure something out.

The post Full Menu Of Coffees Featured At The 2013 TED Conference appeared first on Sprudge.com.

Fox News reports:

Guatemala’s National Seismology, Vulcanology, Meteorology and Hydrology Institute said in a statement Saturday that Fuego shot ash 16,400 feet (5,000 meters) into the air. Lava flows reached up to 3,280 feet (1,000 meters) in length.

Digital Journal reported additional information that as of this morning, a flight advisory was issued, warning aircraft to stay out of a 25-mile radius of Fuego. Some highways have been closed due to the lava flow.

Verve Coffee has been in Guatemala for the 2012 Cup of Excellence, and posted an image of flooding via Instagram:

We spoke with Colby Barr, of Verve Coffee Roasters, who happens to be in Guatemala at this very moment. Mr. Barr told Sprudge, “[The flood] was in Antigua. It’s already receding but was just serious déjà vu.” During the 2010 Guatemala Cup Of Excellence, Pacaya covered Guatemala City in two inches of volcanic ash as three feet of rain poured over a three day period. In the last 24 hours, rains have calmed and no evacuations have been ordered.

The post Eruption In Guatemala, Flooding Reported appeared first on Sprudge.com.

Percy Ramirez

There seems to be no limit to the kindness and genuine enjoyment of the barista craft exuded by Percy Ramirez, of Intelligentsia’s Pasadena cafe. This was Percy’s first performance in the USBC regional cycle; Mr. Ramirez has competed twice before (and enjoys dual eligibility) in Guatemala, where he lived until he was four. Percy competed using an Intelligentsia sourced-and-roasted offering from Finca Matalapa, El Salvador – it is not currently commercially available. We’ll add that meeting and having a chance to share some conversation with Mr. Ramirez was a personal highlight for both your Sprudge editors last weekend. In an industry full of all manner of characters, Percy Ramirez is truly one of the nice guys.

Charles Babinski

One of our sport’s (or whatever you want to call it) most electric performers, Charles Babinski of Intelligentsia Silverlake turned in two absolutely captivating performances over the SWRBC weekend. He’s dancing as he pulls shots; he’s mugging for the cameras;  he’s the perfectly devilish flirty barkeep. The audience is educated by Mr. Babinski seemingly by osmosis, as if knowledge could be transferred by charisma alone. Charles’ routine broke down walls between judges and the competitor, by acknowledging the often very different expectations a barista encounters from his or her customers in a cafe setting. He encouraged sharing, dialogue, and playfulness among the judges, while advocating passionately for the very special coffee he was privileged to serve – Intelligentsia’s Bolivia Takesi microlot, which is as of yet not commercially available. Mr. Babinski is a very special competitor, a barista’s barista, and his is one of our very favorite routines of this year’s competition cycle.

Lizzy Sampson

One of two competitors from Verve to reach the finals, Lizzy Sampson’s routine stood out for a couple of reasons: she was the only SWRBC finalist to compete with a blend, using Verve coffees sourced from Ethiopia, Sumatra and Guatemala; and her routine was the only one to speciically focus on traceability at origin. Watching her twice, we were blown away by some of the bigger questions she asked of the judges. It takes guts to openly admit – indeed, to spend time on such admissions from the ever-ticking 15 minute clock – that certain components in your competition coffee are less traceable than others. But the truth is, that’s often the truth, and we applaud Lizzy for acknowledging the complicated realities of many coffees from Ethiopia and Sumatra. For 15 minutes, Lizzy was able to compellingly argue that, while traceability in coffee sourcing is enormously important, so too is taste. Playing to a packed home crowd for both of her SWRBC performances, Lizzy Sampson and Verve were able to pull off an important, engaging pair of routines: the kind that makes you think.

Alfonso Portela

Hailing out of the burgeoning Central Valley specialty coffee scene in Sacramento, California, Alfonso Portela made heads turn on Selection Saturday at the SWRBC, earning a spot in the top six for himself and Chocolate Fish Coffee Roasters. A first time competitor, Mr. Portela’s routine was a premiere example of friendly, warm customer service in the superchared barista competition environment. One of the joys for us covering the USBC cycle is to learn more about shops in emerging cities, of which the Sacramento-Modesto area is certainly one. Just as the routine from Camilla Ramos at the SERBC made us want to visit Panther Coffee in Miami, so too did Mr. Portela pique our interest w/r/t Chocolate Fish. Once an Ecco account, CF is now a small roastery in Downtown Sacramento with a pronounced New Zealand vibe. Mr. Portela competed using a coffee from Honduras that is not currently available via Chocolate Fish, but you can learn more about their other offerings here. 

As a last note on Fonzy’s performance, we present a hypothetical: pretend you’re taking a friend out for coffee, and that this friend is a civilian, entirely unconnected from the specialty coffee industry and with very little experience visiting nice cafes. If we could draft pick a barista to spend time with that friend from behind the bar, we’d have to consider Alfonso Portela. We hope this is the first of many competition successes for him and the crew at Chocolate Fish.

Kevin “Tex” Bohlin

Sometimes barista routines have a very disparate set of influences. In the case of Ritual Coffee’s “Tex” Bohlin, his 15 minutes on stage were a delightful melange, equal parts Guatemalan adventure and Hollywood picture, poured through a San Francisco filter. All coffees tell a story, but for Mr. Bohlin, the coffee WAS the story; watch the above interview to learn more about Tex’s work in Guatemala at Finca La Merced. (For the full experience, pull this song from the “Drive” soundtrack up in another tab.) You were a pleasure to watch, Tex.

Jared Truby

It sort of felt like destiny, for Jared Truby to win this year’s SWRBC. A seasoned competitor who has lived and worked for years as part of Verve Coffee Roasters, Mr. Truby’s routines were standing-room only affairs on the competition floor in Santa Cruz. He used a remarkable coffee, Verve’s Costa Rica Finale de Cosecha – we had a chance to write it up already here – and finished his routine with one of the more notably complex signature drinks we’ve seen all year, a multi-step experience involving cascara and molasses tea, vanilla cream espresso foam, and a re-imagined spherical coffee “cherry” made from apple and cherry juices. Mr. Truby never loses focus on stage, never breaks a sweat; he is a natural competitor, and he makes that which is most decidedly not easy look it. The first-round bye and the confidence he’ll be bringing with him to Portland makes him a must-watch Championship contender at this year’s USBC.

For more photos, please visit our Facebook album.

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Well folks, the 2012 Southwest Brewers Cup is in the books, and Mr. John Martin of Intelligentsia Pasadena has been crowned the winner. We’re excited to share with you an in-depth look at the brew methods and parameters for all six finalists, many of whose coffee’s we were able to try thanks to public demos brewed up on the Curtis Gold Cup brewer. We hope these recipes make it so that you, too, can be a Brewers Cup Champion at home. You could perhaps also use this info as a training reference for your own upcoming Brewers Cup routine. Without further ado, here your six Southwest Brewers Cup finalists:

Alexandra Littlejohn, Cafecito Organico, Costa Mesa, CA -@ravenspeaking

Alexanda Littlejohn competed this weekend for Cafecito Organico, a roaster-retailer with cafes in suburban Los Angeles and a presence at multiple SoCal farmers markets. Ms. Littlejohn used Cafecito Organico’s Miralvalle Pacamara microlot, from the Urrutia Estate in the Ahuachapan area of El Salvador. In her routine she employed a Clever dripper, calling for 26 grams coffee to 380 ml of water, with a two-minute steep time. Alexandra’s grind setting was medium (a “9″ on the provided Mahlkoenig Guatemala with settings from 1-22), and her water temp was between 201 and 203. There were murmurings in the crowd about Alexandra forgetting to dump the filter rinse water, but it evidently didn’t matter, as Ms. Littlejohn’s routine was good enough to earn her a second-place finish at the Southwest Region Brewers Cup. It should also be noted, she was responsible for the quote of the day from Finals Sunday:

“This coffee is kind of like my ex-boyfriend: if you agitate it too much, it turns bitter.”

Ant Walach, Sightglass Coffee Roasters, San Francisco – @_bustedknuckle

Ant Walach competed for Sightglass Coffee Roasters, a boutique roastery in San Francisco’s SOMA neighborhood – they are a longstanding Sprudge.com sponsor, and if you don’t mind us saying so, they generally roast dope coffee. Mr. Walach competed using the Sightglass Rwanda Kibuye, a washed bourbon coffee from the Gitesi Cooperative. When asked, Ant described his grind ratio as “slightly coarser than espresso grind” and he used water straight from the tower, at around 209 degrees. Mr. Walach brewed via Aeropress, using a ratio 17.5 grams of coffee to 200 ml of water. He stirred the Aeropress 5 times and plunged after 30 seconds.

Amber Johnson, Fix Coffee, LA – @barista_amber

Amber Johnson hails out of Fix Coffee, a cafe in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. For her competition routine, she used Verve’s Kenya Githongo, a coffee comprised of SL28, SL34, and Ruiru 11 varieties from the Aberdare Mountain Region, produced by the Komothai Coffee Growers Co-Operative Society. In her routine, Amber used a good ol’ fashioned Hario V60, filled with 22 grams of coffee, set to a coarse grind on the provided Mahlkonig Guatemala, and with a temperature of around 202. She chose not to measure water, and instead free-poured a 1.30 second brew time to yield 8 ounces of coffee per V60.

Andrew Villa, Bellano Coffee, Santa Clara, CA – @villaphoto

Andrew Villa competed representing Bellano Coffee, a cafe in Santa Clara, California, serving Verve and Sightglass coffees. In his Brewers Cup routine, Mr. Villa used Verve’s Guatemala Puerta Verde, which is not commercially available at this time.

Mr. Villa brewed on the Able Kone filter into a standard 6 cup glass Chemex, using his own Mazzer Robur grinder set to a “fairly coarse grind.” Mr. Villa used 25 grams of coffee and 400 ml of total water from the water tower, with an 100ml / 45 second bloom time, and a 50ml per 15 second pour time. Mr. Villa’s brew time totaled out at around 2:15 – he passed along to us that these parameters were based on those originally published by Coava on their website (now unavailable), and that these parameters “seem to have done well for multiple cups.” A third place finish in this year’s SW Brewers Cup more than backs up this claim!

Mike Mierzejewski, Single Origin Coffee, LA – @mikemierz

Mike Mierzejewski represented Single Origin Coffee, a cafe in LA partially owned by well-known coffee gadabout Nikolas Krankl. Mr. Mierzejewski competed using Verve’s El Salvador La Palma, which is not currently commercially available. Mr. Mierzejewski used a multi-step method in his Brewers Cup routine: first, after grinding the La Prima at a medium-coarse setting, he brewed 16 grams of coffee in 300 grams of water in a French press, for a total of 4 minutes; he then “re-filtered” that extraction through a Hario Woodneck for another 45 seconds before serving. Mr. Mierzejewski told us that he “didn’t mess” with the water temperature, though he did tell us that the water tower at the SW Brewers Cup “floated between 208-211 all weekend,” which sounds about right based on the information from other competitors.

John Martin, Intelligentsia Coffee, Pasadena – @johnlikescoffee

John Martin was the winner of this year’s SW Brewers Cup, and he competed out of Intelligentsia’s cafe-restaurant-wine bar space in Pasadena, California. Like his brother-in-arms Charles Babinski, Mr. Martin competed using Intelli’s Bolivia Takesi microlot, an exceedingly rare (and currently commercially unavailable) coffee grown at the high elevation of 2400 meters. Mr. Martin’s method employed the Kalita Wave with its standard paper filter; he ground his coffee to a “7″ on the provided Mahlkonig Guatemala grinder. His winning ratio called for 22 grams of coffee to 365 grams of water, with a 3 minute extraction time, using water from the trusty old water tower, floating around 210 degrees. Nothing flashy, but good enough to win the SW Brewers Cup!

We hope these ratios and methods have been helpful – obviously there’s a lot of room for variance with these recipes, so we’ll open this post up for comments and invite you to ask questions below. We’ve also included each competitor’s Twitter handle, so feel free to direct questions and compliments their way.

A sincere congratulations to all the finalists in this year’s Southwest Brewers Cup, and a thank you from us at Sprudge, for answering our questions and revealing your secrets for the betterment of all who brew

The post SW Brewers Cup: Methods and Madness appeared first on Sprudge.com.

When Verve opened their doors in November 2007 in the sleepy surf-side neighborhood of Pleasure Point, there was a dearth of specialty coffee in the Santa Cruz area – more elephant seals than baristas, more boardwalk dwellers than cafe haunters. The last four years have brought Verve international acclaim and a loyal nationwide customer base, while cultivating loyalty among fiercly local Santa Cruzans, dominating in barista competitions, and earning a spot as a darling of the specialty coffee industry. It seems as though Verve has been around forever, and we mean that as a very, very good thing.

Now, four years later, Verve has expanded their footprint with gracious surfer ease, opening an impressive roasting facility and jaw-dropping showroom location in downtown Santa Cruz, California. We love seeing our friends succeed, and holy smokes is this new cafe a success.

The new Pacific Avenue cafe is a massive 2,350 square foot space, not counting the mezzanine area they built, located in a historical flatiron building. Colby told Sprudge, “It is a bit bigger then we would normally seek but we were too in love with the space to pass up. It’s hard to find good, natural light in the stores down on Pac Ave. The stores are normally narrow and deep with minimal frontage and thereby windows.”

Verve’s new space is situated directly across from Santa Cruz staple Lulu’s, a second wave Italian themed cafe. “Yes,” Colby admits, “we opened up across from our competition. What are you going to do?  The space was too good and we had been looking for too long.”

Verve paired up with Fuse Architecture for the build-out. Colby adds, “We wanted to embrace the style of the building which feels very industrial era, early 1900s and carry that through the space, while making it current and also feel like Verve.  That led to the high tin ceilings that we installed, and the use of a lot of repurposed factory pieces (lighting, tables, etc). We embraced the odd angles of the space. To fight it was futile.”

All of the wood in the space was salvaged from their Seabright Roastery and remilled. The wood is one hundred year-old Douglas Fir.

“Other than the play on shape, the industrial influences, the salvaged wood, and the more modern elements, really we just wanted function of the workspace and room for people to breathe – and at the end of the day, for it to feel like Verve. Hopefully we achieved that.”

After nearly a year of work, Verve’s new roast works began operations at the end of September. The facility is Verve’s green storage, training room, office space, and cupping lab, and the space itself is located in the Seabright neighborhood of Santa Cruz, one of few industrial parcels of the city. Verve’s owner Colby Barr told Sprudge,  “[It] was really important to us as we like to remain neighborhood based as a company,” and that this ethos informed their decision to keep their second location in Santa Cruz.

It wasn’t a simple job getting the building up and running Verve style. The facility is part of the original Santa Cruz Cannery complex, and is well over 100 years old. Verve is sharing the complex with two bakeries, a climbing gym, a sail company, and offices for Richard Novak, a famous Santa Cruzan with a surf, skate, and mountain bike empire (Mr. Novak also owns the building). The previous tenant in Verve’s space was the O’neill family, famous makers of wetsuits. Mr. Barr told us “They used to manufacture wetsuits here and then had used it as a storage unit for 18 years. Besides the crazy 80s posters all over, there was also Jack O’neill’s old hot air balloon that he used to launch from a boat. Straight Zissou. The guy is a maniac!”

The space was completely overhauled with a new concrete pad, seismic retrofit, windows, siding, insulation; basically everything. A 1000 square foot portion of the four-inch concrete second-story slab was removed to create vertical space for the roastery. The goal was to keep the materials raw, with a modern architectural look: sandblasted timbers line the lofty roof; poured concrete, raw and Corten steel hold the place together; huge expanses of glass and a shou sugi ban redwood exterior that Colby blowtorched himself. The building feels simultaneously raw and polished, but never artifical or forced. For the coup de grâce , roaster Sean White provided the finishing touches throughout with his unique silkscreened artwork. “This is our new and future headquarters and we wanted to make sure it was a great place to work,” Mr. Barr told Sprudge. ”So we approached the redesign more like a home than a warehouse, hence all of the windows and natural light.”

The total floorspace of the facility is 7,100 square feet. The roastery floor is 4,100 square feet. According to longtime Vervet Jared Truby, “We have a 1965 UG-15 installed and have a G45 being restored to accompany it, along with an L5.  We’re Probat crazy around here.” The training room is 750 square feet, which is as large as their previous roasting facility. It features training space for both staff and wholesale, as well as a competition layout with WBC certified equipment. The 500 square foot cupping lab adjoins the 1,500 square foot office space upstairs.

The facility is fronted by a frankly gorgeous 250 square foot (“that’s all the space we were allowed”) coffee kiosk, which serves wood-neck pourover coffee in addition to each one of Verve’s four current espresso offerings. Adds Mr. Truby: “Oh, and we have a forklift!  I’m very proud of that.”

Verve have created a truly opulent and functional coffee facility that will meet their needs as this company grows, while holding on tight to their unique status: international darling nestled in a small town.

The post Getting Our Verve On appeared first on Sprudge.com.

Santa Cruz based Verve Coffee Roasters (where “to go” is called “to shred”) have two Panama Geisha coffees available wrapped in gift-ready tins that are just drop dead classy. The custom tin is heavenly, the apothecary jar divine. Are you kidding me? I mean, really…

This is a hand-numbered, half pound bag, packaged in custom coffee tins made specifically for this coffee. Buy it today while supplies last. All orders will be roasted and shipped on Monday, December 19. Extremely limited quantities.

Pre-order here, brah.

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Gerard Butler, who starred as the top seaman in 1997′s Bond thriller “Tomorrow Never Dies”, was recently seen in Santa Cruz sipping on a cup of coffee sans shirt! But did Gerard’s steamy mouthful originate from Verve, the Santa Cruz boutique roaster of note? Can you imagine? Truby, Baca and Butler: We wouldn’t kick that 3-way out of bed for eating crackers. From Celebuzz:

Gerard Butler took a coffee break and snapped some photos before returning to hit the waves on the set of ‘Of Men, Almos and Mavericks’ in Santa Cruz, California on October 14, 2011.

A note to our readers: Sprudge.com is forever on a HunkShot™ Hunk Hunt. Send your hunky coffee-sipping swoonboats to HUNKS@sprudge.com, and we’ll be sure to print ‘em (once we pick our jaws up off the ground). Hubba hubba!

The post HunkShot™: Gerard’s Coffee Break appeared first on Sprudge.com.