Flight Coffee also just so happens to be the home of 2013 NZBC winner Nick Clark, who will be representing his home nation at the 2013 World Barista Championship next week in Melbourne. Mr. Clark is competing using a Kenya Special Prep French Mission Natural coffee sourced by Cafe Imports, whose own Noah Namowicz (@scratchpaper on Instagram) visited Flight a few days ago. He snapped this picture of the stunning rainbow Slayer:

We’ll leave you last with this inspiring speech from New Zealand MP Maurice Williamson, whose good humor and no-nonsense approach to the issue is worth your consideration and humor as well, regardless of where you might fall on the political spectrum. Thanks for respecting our ongoing coverage of #YesEqual on Sprudge.com..

Let me repeat to them now: All we are doing with this bill is allowing two people who love each other to have that love recognized by way of marriage.

That is all we are doing. We are not declaring nuclear war on a foreign state. We are not bringing a virus in that could wipe out our agricultural sector forever. We are allowing two people who love each other to have that recognized, and I can’t see what’s wrong with that for love nor money.

I give a promise to those people who are opposed to this bill right now. I give you a watertight guaranteed promise; the sun will still rise tomorrow, your teenage daughter will still argue back with you as if she knows everything, your mortgage will not grow, you will not have skin diseases or rashes or toads in your bed. The world will just carry on.

The post #YesEqual: Rainbow Wrapped Slayer At New Zealand’s Flight Coffee appeared first on Sprudge.com.

Cupcake Royale, a baked goods boutique serving Stumptown Coffee, have donated hundreds of cupcakes to Seattle’s City Hall in celebration of Washington’s first day of legal gay marriage. They’ve also donated cake treats to the big Gay Marriage celebration at Q Bar. (Above image via Mayor Mike McGinn’s Twitter)

Back in June, Cupcake Royale was lauded for raising $7,000 to support gay marriage. Royale sold a cupcake called “The Gay”, with $1 of each sale going to support measure R-74, which passed in November. Cupcake Royale’s owner Jody Hall has also supported the anti-gay bullying campaign “It Gets Better”.

The Gay

Planning on getting married in Washington soon? Cupcake Royale can totally help with that. And they make a mean affogato!

The post Seattle: Cupcake Royale Donates Treats For Gay Marriage appeared first on Sprudge.com.

We got to run around with the folks at Dogwood Coffee Company a whole heck of a lot lot when we were in Minnesota a few time zones ago (for Hüsker Brew!), and seriously, it was a lot of fun hanging out with them (and also hurling dodgeballs at their heads, etc). They have a lot of interesting stuff going on in the immediate future, but first and foremost, click through that slideshow right above this paragraph. Go ahead, do it.

Dogwood really does have one of the more beautiful roastery / office spaces we’ve ever had the pleasure of visiting. It’s quintessentially perfectly Minnesota prairie industrial, and we’re kind of jealous of everyone who gets to work there. Here, we made a video:

Right? Such a beautiful space. You wouldn’t fault Dogwood for staying home, and yet, they’ve planned a series of traveling parties to promote their new Neon Espresso blend, in the shape of a 3 night touring engagement across the Upper Midwest. Here’s the tour dates:

* Tuesday Oct 23rd Chicago, IL: Wormhole Coffee (1462 North Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago) – The Dogwoodies will be pulling shots from 1pm-7pm at the Wizzy Hizzy, and then there’s a bar crawl that starts at 8pm at The Boiler Room, concluding with a dance party and more alcohol at the brand new Gaslight Coffee Roasters (one of our Build Outs of Summer cafes, and the first from that series we’ll have the pleasure of visiting!). Oh wait, “pleasure of visiting”, that copy sort of buried the surprise, but yeah, big surprise! We’ll actually be there in Chicago for this night of the tour – our Kenya Dig It? party with Intelligentsia is like 2 days later. Chicago is clearly the place to be next week.

* Wednesday Oct 24th Milwaukee, WI: Roast Coffee Co. (2132 E Locust St, Milwaukee, WI) 1pm-6pm – after which the staff at Dogwood will re-enact Wayne & Garth re-enacting Laverne & Shirley.

* Thursday Oct 25th Madison, WI: Bradbury’s Coffee (127 N. Hamilton Madison, WI) will host what the D-woodz called a “good new-fashioned hootenanny”, which means a bunch of Neon Espresso from 2:3o-6:30, and then after that everyone will eat food & drink beer & hang out. Sounds fun!

We’d penned this whole expository essay on how nice everyone at Dogwood (and Cafe Imports and everywhere else) were to us when we hung out with them in Minneapolis, and about how this kindness was really refreshing but also slightly uncomfortable, because we’re Pacific Northwesterners, and we’re at lot more used to people being passive-aggressive all the time. Our scuttled essay concluded with us arriving at the point of, “Hey, maybe we should be okay with people being nice, because that’s how the world should be, and isn’t Minneapolis the best place ever?” But to be totally honest with you, this essay kind of got away from us; it was really long and kind of self-aggrandizing (or at the very least, solipsistic), and so we cut it out. But we DO still want to tell you about some other cool stuff Dogwood is working on, because there is no shortage of cool stuff that they are working on, including:

• Parka, a new restaurant from the folks at Dogwood Coffee Company, Victory 44, and Rustica Bakery. This will be chef Erick Harcey’s second restaurant, his first being the nationally-acclaimed (and certifiably delicious) Victory 44. No opening date as of yet, but they’ve scouted a location in the Longfellow neighborhood of Minneapolis. Watch Sprudge for more details as they’re made available.
• Stock & Badge, a provisions workshop housed inside the Dogwood roastworks. S&B is another collaboration between Dogwood and chef Erick Harcey, this one being a test kitchen for Mr. Harcey’s small-batch preserves, mustards, and assorted culinary accouterments.
• Honey Bar, a collaboration with local bee vomit titans Ames Farm, whose honey is 1. get-out-of-town delicious, 2. traceable back to the individual hutch cluster, and 3. distributed by Dogwood. Honey Bar will open inside the Rustica Bakery location at 3220 West Lake Street in Minneapolis.

Guess we have to come back to Minneapolis sometime soon, and have people be nice to us some more. Darn. Also, we weren’t kidding about the trampoline dodgeball:

Sprudge.com supports the campaign to “Vote No” on Minnesota’s Definition of Marriage Amendment. Please learn more here. #YesEqual #VoteNo

The post MPLS: A Neon Espresso Fueled Rompabout appeared first on Sprudge.com.

@procopecoffee was referring to some of the language used in Mr. Wendelboe’s Tamper Tantrum Live presentation the day before (this video is currently unavailable). The concept of Mr. Wendelboe’s speech was – ironically enough – what language means for quality in specialty coffee, and it’s true that Mr. Wendelboe, a noted Oslo-based roaster and 2004 World Barista Champion, used two separate gay slurs on stage during this speech. We were shocked not just because of the words, but because we know Mr. Wendelboe personally to be a tolerant and open-minded guy.

So what the hell happened here? We sat down with Tim, gave him a chance to apologize, and snapped a shot of him happily supporting our marriage equality #yesequal campaign:

Sprudge: Thanks for talking with us, Tim. Tell us in your own words what happened.

Tim: I was having a Tamper Tantrum lecture bout improving quality… and I think it was when I was talking about concepts, that third wavers are very hung up on improving concepts – especially in competition, where rules are very narrow, and sort of making things so the baristas have less freedom.

Uh, so, they have to sort of create concepts and explain concepts for the judges to understand what they serve. And then uh, it was a joke, I mean…I said “they’re all a bunch of homos”, it was a joke. It had nothing to do with gay people at all – it’s a use of the word I learned from Australians.

Sprudge: In this age, to be a gay or lesbian person, those words when said as a joke can be taken the wrong way, and people can take offense to that. There’s a lot of bullying in America, a lot of hateful speech. So to some who hear that or take offense to that, do you want to apologize?

Tim: Yes. That was really not my intent at all, and I have never thought about it like that way, and I’m actually glad that people are addressing it - I never want to offend people about sexual preference, because I don’t really care what sexual preference you have. I guess, my uh, in Norwegian we use a lot of swear words all the time, and for me, to speak English, you some times get swear words from movies and hear how those words are used, and it just came to mind while I was on stage. It is interesting to me, because I have never actually used those words in Norwegian – you know, like “gay”, in a bad way. It was not my intention to offend people.

Sprudge: I think, you know, this is something that a lot of people (and honestly we have been guilty of this) say in private, with friends, but we culturally have a different expectation when it’s in a public forum, when you’re talking live to thousands of people on the internet.

Tim: Well I’m not here to offend people, and the message of the whole lecture was not about this at all. I will for sure moderate my language when I am doing lectures; for some reason, I got a little bit carried away, and I am sorry for using that language, and sorry for the offense it has caused.

The post Exclusive: Tim Wendelboe’s Gay Slur Apology appeared first on Sprudge.com.

Starbucks is proud to join other leading Northwest employers in support of Washington State legislation recognizing marriage equality for same-sex couples … This important legislation is aligned with Starbucks business practices and upholds our belief in the equal treatment of partners.

Go Starbucks! Now, we’ve been a little hunty to you in the past, but we gotta give it up for Starbucks getting on the gay marriage train in their home state. Good job, Howie and Co.

Unfortunately this sort of political support opens you up to all kinds of attacks, like from the gaycists at Opposing Views:

Coffee isn’t the only thing brewing at Starbucks. So is controversy–as customers learn about the company’s bold blend of liberal politics. This week, the coffeehouse jumped into a fierce battle over marriage in Washington State, home to the Seattle-based company. While the state is still sharply divided over same-sex “marriage,” Starbucks has decided to sweeten the pot for homosexual activists and join the attack on local families.

There’s no shortage of this sentiment on the web following that statement from Starbucks, but it’s okay, folks at Opposing Views and the Family Research Council – it’s your American right oppose to marriage equality for homosexuals. Just be aware that these homosexuals are the very same people who foam your cappuccinos, steep your Tazo Tea infusions, and whup that 3,000 calorie Frappuccino of yours within an inch of its life. If you’re really all that anti-gay marriage, we suggest that you forgo the convenience of your local Starbucks, and order your beans elsewhere.

Look for more from us in the coming weeks, as we organize the specialty coffee community to support marriage equality in the great state of Washington. #YesEqual onwards.

The post #YesEqual: Homophobes Attack Starbucks 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.

Really though, this is pretty cool:

Top U.S. companies including Google, Microsoft, and Starbucks took the unusual step on Thursday of legally documenting their opposition to the Defense of Marriage Act.

[..]

If companies don’t want to discriminate, because it hurts their recruiting efforts or they’re just opposed to it in principle, then DOMA causes a bunch of “workarounds” that come with wasteful administrative costs of their own.

Companies complain that when a same-sex couple legally marries, it requires them “to maintain two sets of books.” That’s because the couple is considered married under state law but not married under federal law. “The double entries ripple through human resources, payroll, and benefits administration,” they write.

Some of the companies have had to pay consultants to jury-rig systems used to track benefits and taxes so they can accommodate the double records. “These dual regimes have spawned an industry of costly compliance specialists,” they complain.

“The burden on the small employer is especially onerous,” the companies point out. Small businesses can’t afford to hire consultants, and “such burdens, standing alone, might chill a smaller employer from employing an otherwise qualified employee because she happens to be married to a same-sex spouse.”

The post Starbucks Joins 70 Companies Against DOMA appeared first on Sprudge.com.

First, tomorrow today (Thursday, July 28th) there’s an amazing event happening in New York. RBC NYC (71 Worth Street) will be hosting the #YesEqual Manual Brewdown – you can learn all about it here. All proceeds from the event go to benefit Equality Texas, and there’s an amazing group of coffee companies sponsoring the event, including Counter Culture Coffee,  MadCap, Ritual, Barismo, and Coava. This event is sponsored by Sprudge.com, and 1/2 of of us will be in attendance to write down funny things you say and drink beer with you. Event starts at 7:15!

Second, tomorrow today (Thursday, July 28th) there’s an #YesEqually amazing event happening in Olympia, Washington. Espresso Parts (600 4th Avenue East) is hosting an epic Thursday Night Throwdown, with all proceeds to benefit Stonewall Youth, an Olympia-based organization that promotes equality and provides a myriad of youth resources. This event is graciously sponsored by Espresso Parts, Batdorf and Bronson, Victrola, Dillanos, and Sunshine Dairy. Event sign-up starts at 6:30PM!

We’re beyond thrilled to be sponsoring and supporting these events, and we thank you all in advance for getting out there in person and making your voice heard. We are all #YesEqual, and we love you all.

The post #YesEqual Events Tomorrow TODAY: New York! Olympia! appeared first on Sprudge.com.

All proceeds from your $5 buy-in will be matched by Espresso Parts, and donated to Stonewall Youth, an Olympia-based organization that promotes equality and offers a number of programs and resources for kids in Olympia. We’re beyond thrilled to be sponsoring the PNW TNT - read more about it here on their official website - and we encourage West Coasters of all stripes to make the drive North, South or West to Olympia for this awesome event.

The post OMG: PNW TNT For #YesEqual appeared first on Sprudge.com.

We’re a little late to the party here, but we thought we should show our support and broaden the reach of #yesequal – thus – #ouiégale – David & Thomas

Tres bien, beau garcons! We can’t wait to see more chapeaux en papier pictures this week on Twitter!

The post Frog Fight Says “Oui Égale!” appeared first on Sprudge.com.