Last Week With Ben Blake - Week Of December 7th, 2013

Maybe you were too busy digging yourself out of a snowstorm, or maybe you trying to come up with the latest, greatest curated collaboration, or heck—maybe you were just plain busy. Whatever the case may be, we’ve got you covered. Here’s the last seven days of coffee news—all in one spot.

Beautiful Coffee Brewer

We sat down with Ratio Coffee’s Mark Hellweg to find out a bit more on the company’s first product launch—the Ratio Coffee Brewer. You might know Mr. Hellweg from Clive Coffee, a Portland-based espresso and coffee equipment company. He’s taken his love for design, simplicity, and coffee, and merged them into a beautiful new 8-cup coffee maker that features a base made of aluminum with a nickel-plated finish, and Oregon black walnut.

California Dreamin’ With Nicely Abel

Our LA staff writer Julie Wolfson teamed up with talented photographer Bonnie Tsang for a glimpse into the daily life of Christopher “Nicely” Abel Alameda. Nicely is not only known for his gorgeous milk pouring skills, but for his reputation as a humble and all around nice guy in the coffee industry. Mr. Alameda is now heading up the coffee program at Menotti’s in Venice Beach.

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Holiday Gift Guide: NYC Style

For the ultimate NYC Coffee Gift Guide, look no further—Liz Clayton compiled a list of must-haves for the coffee drinkin’, New York thinkin’ individual in your life. #plushcoffeebeans

How To Discreetly Poop in a Cafe

If you’ve ever spent any time in a cafe, you’re probably aware of the number one problem that faces most cafe dwellers—how to do a number two without anyone knowing. Well, we’ve got a few pointers on how to pull off this difficult feat. Follow our lead. This is great #OTP reading material.

Awesome Coffee Brew Method Videos

The folks over at Mistobox have been busy putting together some fantastic and consumer-accessible brew method videos. More from our coverage:

“Maybe the best feature of the whole situation is their awesome visual guide to grind-size in each brew-method video. Grind size is one of those things that can be really hard to communicate to customers, with the answer often being left at a nebulous variation on “coarse-ish, and if it drains too slow, it’s too fine.” If you’ve worked on a brew-bar and made eight million Chemexes and Aeropresses, you can get a strong intuitive feel for appropriate grind size, but Mistobox’s visual guide is a great shortcut to that knowledge.”

A Trip To An Australian Dairy

Eileen P. Kenny took a visit to Timboon, Australia home to one of the most well respected dairies in Victoria – Schulz Organic Dairy. She gave us a fantastic, in-depth look into all the work that goes into producing great milk. This is basically required reading for baristas.

Big East Competitors!

The Big Eastern Regional Barista Championship is just around the corner! Baristas and brewers alike are scurrying about trying to form routines, recipes, and speeches in the remaining 6 short weeks before the competition. Just to drive the point home, the SCAA + BGA’s “US Coffee Championships” website has been updated with photos and info on many of the competitors.

Washington D.C. Thursday Night Throwdown

Peregrine Espresso at Union Market is hosting the final Thursday Night Throwdown of the year in the DC TNT league. More from DMV Coffee:

“We’re closing the year out in style with all kinds of fun food, drinks and prizes. Rappahannok Oyster Bar will be serving up drink specials and Neopol Smokery will being staying open late to serve food. &Pizza is a sponsor and providing some free pizza that will be first come first serve. The prizes for the evening include goodies from a number of the Union Market vendors, swag from Peregrine and the December winner will also be taking home a Baratza Vario-W grinder compliments of MadCap Coffee! So be sure not to miss out on the last throw-down of the year!”

If you find yourself in the Nation’s Capitol, be sure to stop by and say hi to your favorite Sprudge Recapper/Doodler!

Ben Blake (@DrawCoffee) is our weekly recapper / doodler. See more of Ben’s doodles over at DrawCoffee.com.