We are delighted to welcome you to the official announcement of The Sprudge Twenty, presented by Sprudge and Pacific Barista Series.
This is the eighth class of Sprudge Twenty honorees, part of an annual tradition honoring and amplifying leaders in the global coffee community. Pacific Barista Series is dedicated to championing leadership and excellence in the coffee industry and to supporting coffee culture as it happens worldwide, and their partnership makes this work possible.
In the coming weeks and months we’ll present interviews with each of the members of the Sprudge Twenty class of 2026—a chance to reflect on their careers, talk about goals for the future, and share what matters to them as coffee professionals in 2026. Read on to discover the Sprudge Twenty for 2026, and thank you.
The Sprudge Twenty is presented in partnership with Pacific Barista Series.
Vava Angwenyi
Daniel Borrás
Esteban Cristancho
Chris Diskin
Tio Fallen
Tommy Gallagher
Pack Katisomsakul
Leo Koski
Elliott Lau
Hafiz Mangalji
Maxwell Mooney
Kathy Muir
Emily Potter
Luciano Repetto
Seidy Selivanow
Ivan Solis
Richelle Taylor
Edrey Vega
Stephen Vick
Janette Waston
Vava Angwenyi
Nominated by Stephanie Haughey
Vava Angwenyi is a Kenyan social entrepreneur, sustainable farming advocate, and the founder of Vava Coffee. Established in 2009, her company is a social enterprise that focuses on creating sustainable livelihoods for smallholder coffee farmers. Her key initiatives and impact focus on decolonizing empowerment, ensuring farmers—particularly women and youth—are not dependent on beneficiaries but instead take ownership of their crops and stories. She is a co-founder of the group Gente del Futuro, which amplifies the voices of youth in coffee, providing economic empowerment and cross-cultural training between producers in Tanzania, Kenya, and Colombia. She is the author of the book Coffee Milk Blood, which explores the personal stories and complex power dynamics within the coffee industry through a visual and narrative lens. And she’s established La Dulce Toro, a specialty coffee school and cafe located in Lamu, Kenya, further promoting local coffee education and consumption.
Daniel Borrás
Nominated by Addison Mathis
Daniel is truly one-of-a-kind, a tender-hearted anomaly in a sea of coffee people feeling “a little burnt out on it all.” From our first shift together, Daniel proved himself to be what I believe the best coffee people are: everyone’s #1 fan. He is encouraging and deeply knowledgeable, and he always leads with humility and passion in his endeavors.
A few years back, Daniel started Flow Coffee Roasters, a long time dream of his that he now operates with his wife, Taylor Lafitte. Flow sources and roasts Colombian coffees, not so much a nod to Daniel’s Colombian roots but a deep honorific of them. He showcases the breadth of flavors from the region, from the perfect clean washed Caturra to the candy-like natural anaerobic Ombligon. Flow Coffee Roasters’s bags are often hand-painted in colors reflecting the flavors of the coffee inside. It’s these kind of intentional, subtle curiosity-sparking touches that make Dani’s work so beautiful. He knows how to walk the line of excellence and approachability, but he isn’t one to sing his own praises. The people who have the privilege of drinking coffee with or from him will sing them though, all day long.
Daniel’s Instagram bio says that he believes that coffee can change the world (Creo que el café puede cambiar el mundo). It’s been that way the entire time I’ve known him, and he embodies this belief through his work with Flow, and the other roasting and barista jobs he maintains to keep his roasting business up and running. More recently with Flow, Daniel has begun offering workshops for espresso and latte art to the public, both in English and in Spanish. He leads these with kindness, enthusiasm, and deep knowledge, encouraging everyone to be the best version of themself. He believes deeply in people’s potential and their goodness. This is how it feels to interact with Dani on an interpersonal level, and his ripple effects in the Atlanta coffee community cannot be understated. Our community is better off for having him in it.
Esteban Cristancho
Nominated by Jonathan C. Mitchell
Esteban has been the head barista and COO of Elevation Coffee Roasters in Tampa for 6.5 years and a barista in Tampa for roughly a decade. Born in Colombia, he moved to Tampa as a teenager and began working in coffee as a young creative expressing his art through coffee and hospitality.
When I started Elevation Coffee Roasters in 2019, I began searching for the person that I wanted to impact our community with and Esteban was the only choice. The first time I met him at a cafe he left an unforgettable mark on me, not just because of his barista skills, but because of his hospitality and care for people.
He now trains our staff, runs the day-to-day operations, teaches latte art classes, sensory classes, palate training, and so much more. Esteban isn’t just the face of Elevation Coffee Roasters, he’s the face of the Tampa coffee community.
Chris Diskin
Nominated by April Strogen
Chris Diskin is the lead engineer that developed the OXO Rapid Brewer and several other OXO coffee and tea brewers. His deep technical expertise, paired with a genuine passion for specialty coffee, led him to create something that is changing the way people enjoy coffee around the world. His idea was born out of making cold brew quickly but over time, coffee lovers took a different approach to the brewing method and “soup” was born.
The coffee produced from this brewer provides dramatically intense flavor and clarity, while also being quick and consistent. Developing the product required overcoming significant technical hurdles, from managing pressure and flow rates of multiple different grind sizes to ensuring consistent extraction and safe, repeatable use for the end consumer.
Chris led the engineering effort from concept to production, developing and evaluating countless prototypes. Early iterations repurposed components from an OXO wine opener and at one point he was even using bike pump parts as he tested pressure mechanisms and sealing approaches. Along the way, Chris did everything from mechanical sketches, CAD models, 3D prints, hand-assembled test units, attended focus groups and brewed and evaluated thousands of cups of coffee to fine-tune performance.
Beyond functionality, Chris tackled durability and longevity. He designed custom test rigs to lifecycle early samples, validating that the final design could withstand years of daily use. The Rapid Brewer’s success reflects not only its innovative brewing approach, but the meticulous engineering, problem-solving, and perseverance required to bring it to life, which wouldn’t be possible without Chris.
I’d like to nominate him for this aware as I’ve personally been in coffee product manufacturing for over 20 years and have never seen such excitement around a product and new brewing method and Chris is such a humble and passionate guy. I’ve seen so much love from the coffee community around this product and Chris’s effort should be rewarded.
Tio Fallen
Nominated by Alisher Kamalov
Tio is the co-owner of Three Keys Coffee and heads up their coffee program. I mentored under Tio when I was just getting into coffee roasting and he continues to be my mentor and inspiration to this day. Watching Tio build Three Keys and learning from him along the way has been invaluable to me as a hopeful coffee leader/professional. His lessons spanned every facet of running a coffee roasting operation, from the creative mission and vision to the business operations and logistics to the community outreach and customer relationships, he took the time to nurture and teach me and the team (even while figuring it out himself in real time).
Tio’s approach to coffee is inspirational. His ability to blend a creative, jazz, and improv approach with a methodical, scientific, and result-driven mindset seems counterintuitive but he makes the formula work. His accomplishments in the coffee space are not just anecdotal; he has placed at the SCA US Roasting finals and been nominated and won various industry awards and commendations.
Tio deserves to be in this class of The Sprudge Twenty because HE IS a mentor, inspirational leader, game-changer, teacher, entrepreneur, and an original voice in coffee.
Tommy Gallagher
Nominated by James Simmons
I could tell you all about Tommy’s mastery of coffee equipment, which he’s acquired through years of hard work guided by a natural curiosity and humility. But it’s willingness to answer questions and share knowledge that most stands out. I’ve worked with a number of accomplished coffee techs and none of them are as well rounded as Tommy. Tommy has led classes, found and fixed problems which have eluded many others and designed his own gear. That alone is worth recognizing.
But knowing how coffee equipment works is not the extent of his expertise. Tommy has an impressively strong knowledge of coffee brewing, coffee origins, and coffee history. He’s been a resource for his colleagues with their own impressive coffee chops. The knowledge he acquired wasn’t done to impress anyone. He has seen the work of the companies for which he’s worked and wanted to learn more to be a valuable part of the supply chain. To round it all out Tommy is great at customer service. There are still customers he hasn’t worked with in close to a decade who still call him for advice, help and to share news of their achievements. Tommy has the rare ability to hold confidence and vulnerability in the same space.
Pack Katisomsakul
Nominated by Alyssa Bell
Pack is a ray of sunshine and ultimate hype man for everyone competing in Brewers Cup. Not only does he crush it on stage, off stage he is a dedicated ambassador of Thai coffee. This year I got to hear about his projects to get more varieties to farmers in Thailand to help them diversify their farms and improve cup quality. He does it all while running his own coffee business, Newbery Street Coffee Roasters. His dedication to coffee excellence as well as his constant aura of positivity makes him my coffee hero.
Leo Koski
Nominated by Robin Wunderlich
Leo Koski is an exceptional young talent in the specialty coffee world, demonstrating a level of dedication, curiosity, and craftsmanship far beyond his years. At just 16 years old, Leo is already deeply involved in coffee roasting through Coco & Nibs, approaching the craft with remarkable precision and passion.
What sets Leo apart is not only his technical ability, but his mindset. He treats coffee roasting as both a science and an art—constantly refining profiles, exploring different origins, and striving for clarity, balance, and expression in every lot he works with. His attention to detail and willingness to learn reflect a maturity that is rare, even among experienced professionals.
Leo represents the next generation of specialty coffee: driven, thoughtful, and uncompromising in quality. His work already contributes to pushing standards forward, and his trajectory suggests a future leader in the industry.
Recognizing Leo Koski means recognizing the importance of nurturing young talent that is shaping the future of coffee.
Elliott Lau
Nominated by Diana Bianchini
Elliot Lau moved to Los Angeles in 2008 to pursue an entertainment career. He quickly became a friendly and well-known face in Los Angeles’ third wave coffee culture. To date, he has worked at many well-known coffee bars throughout the city and has a deep love for hospitality. Elliott is most recognizable from his days as lead barista and manager at the legendary Handsome Coffee Roasters in the Arts District in downtown. He has also pulled shots at Verve, Blue Bottle, and Stumptown in addition to working in a variety of roles for restaurants and cafes.
After having worked at Nice Coffee in DTLA for over three years, Elliott purchased Nice Coffee in January 2020. The cafe is a walk-up outdoor experience, designed by Gensler located in downtown Los Angeles. As a leader and new business owner, he survived the pandemic in DTLA when all offices were vacant, kept his staff on and happy, brought in talented coffee roaster, Doug Meils in 2023 and offered him co-ownership, launched a roastery and e-comm in 2024, and not in April will launch a full rebrand for the cafe and all digital consumer facing product and experiences. While the fires were not in downtown, that impacted business as well. The fires have impacted all small businesses.
I credit him with making tough decisions to survive and stay resilient as a business owner in LA over these last six years. It has not been easy. Nice Coffee is thriving, expanding, and serving some of the best roasted coffee in California. It’s no feat to stay in business these days and especially in a location like downtown. My hat is off to how Elliott navigates this on the daily and his generous heart leadership with his team shows, many on the team have been with him since day one. He’s created such a special coffee community in Los Angeles.
Hafiz Mangalji
Nominated by Shannon McConnell
Hafiz Mangalji started an incredible space for coffee enthusiasts. Deep in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, Hafiz and his wife Kate have put together an amazing playground for the coffee curious and coffee passionate. Hyunah Coffee Club is a space for those passionate about coffee can come and try out tools and coffees they might not normally have access to. For $30 a month, Hafiz has provided a space where you can try multiple thousand dollar pieces of equipment and coffees that are hard to find. The community he has been able to build is incredible. He is unlocking the next generation of the cafe, building and creating a club where members feel at home and feel empowered to try what’s next in coffee. The space and those in charge are amazing and fully deserve this nomination.
Maxwell Mooney
Nominated by John Malone
Maxwell has been in the industry for well over a decade. He has the most deep rooted, honest, and sincere approach to hospitality that it is essential to who he is. He has majorly impacted both the US & global coffee industry.
Founding Narrative Coffee in Everett, Washington, he built a brand that’s become a key touchstone in what people think of when they think PNW coffee. He has personally been a mentor, friend, and sounding board for the last five years. He has recently stepped into the role of director of Wholesale, Hospitality at Onyx Coffee Lab. I believe he is an essential candidate for the Sprudge Twenty.
Kathy Muir
Nominated by Mario Gomez
I’ve had the privilege of building a life and a business alongside Kathy, and what I’ve seen over the years is someone who doesn’t just work in coffee—she builds spaces where people come together and grow.
Education has been at the center of her work since 2017. As an Authorized SCA Trainer and through the Academia de Café de Puerto Rico, Kathy has committed herself to creating structured, meaningful learning experiences that help people understand coffee beyond the surface. Her approach is intentional—focused on building strong foundations, confidence, and a deeper respect for the craft.
From the very beginning of her journey in coffee, Kathy has also been creating spaces for community. What started as small gatherings—brewing jams, coffee picking at farms, and informal educational moments—grew into leading the organization of barista teams in Puerto Rico and building connections across the local industry. In recent years, that vision has expanded into larger platforms. For the past four years, she has led the Puerto Rico AeroPress Championship, creating an event that brings together competitors, industry professionals, and the public in a way that feels open and energizing. More recently, she has taken on the Cup Tasters Championship, now in its second year, continuing to create opportunities for Puerto Rican coffee professionals to step onto the global stage.
These efforts go beyond competitions—they are spaces where community is built, where people feel seen, and where new paths in coffee begin. What I admire most about Kathy is her consistency. Whether she’s teaching, organizing, or leading, she shows up with care, clarity, and a genuine commitment to others. Kathy is building a legacy in coffee through education, community, and the opportunities she creates for those around her
Emily Potter
Nominated by Amélie Boulanger
Emily has poured everything into making Washed Up Coffee what it is today. From the earliest days of getting our cafe off the ground, hosting pop-ups in parking lots and on sidewalks, not to mention the work of art that was our coffee cart (a piece of plywood held up by two sawhorses lol), to opening our doors in Detroit’s West Village, she has faced every obstacle with a smile on her face and a steadiness that has carried us both through every challenge. She never made it look easy because it was easy, she made it look easy because that is simply the kind of person she is. Unshakeable, warm, vibrant, and committed to doing things right.
What Emily has built in Detroit’s coffee community goes so much deeper than a cafe. She has become a true pillar of this city’s coffee culture, working daily to bring incredible coffees to Detroit and pairing them with the kind of hospitality that makes every single person who walks through our doors feel genuinely cared for. That is not a skill you can teach or ask of someone. That is Emily.
She leads with kindness, always, and she fights fiercely for what she believes in. One of the things I admire most about her is her instinct to lift up others and expand what is possible. Her work in celebrating their story while selling Ghost Town to Detroit is a perfect example of that. Their mission of putting quality, accessible ingredients on every block aligns completely with the way Emily moves through the world, believing that everyone deserves something great.
And then there is the Roast Retreat! Now in its 4th year, this annual gathering that Emily has grown from the ground up brings Michigan roasters together for a full day of celebrating and connecting over coffee. This year she has plans for it to be bigger and better than ever, and that is a reflection of the relationships she has built over years, rooted in mutual respect and a genuine love of her coffee community.
Luciano Repetto
Nominated by Walter Haas
Luciano Repetto is one of the last true old-world coffee craftsmen in America.
An immigrant from Liguria, Italy, he came to the United States as a boy, grew up in his father’s shop, and devoted his life to a singular vision of coffee. After taking over the family business in 1978, Luciano made the rare and prescient decision to invest in fluid-bed roasting, embracing its temperature-driven precision long before most of the coffee world understood its value. He helped pioneer artisan roasting and is a true market intuitive—knowing which coffee innovations matter and which are merely passing fashions.
For decades, he has stayed faithful to Graffeo’s disciplined philosophy: one blend, two roasts (plus a Swiss Water decaf) roasted with extraordinary consistency, in service of what he calls “Simply the world’s finest coffee.” Behind that simplicity is thousands of hours of Luciano’s tinkering, experimentation, to create Graffeo’s signature smooth and integrated Dark Roast.
I bought Graffeo from Luciano, but he remains an owner and still comes into work every day. Even now, in his 80s, he is there making sure his famed fluid-bed roasted dark beans are done exactly right. His coffee has earned the loyalty of Michelin-starred restaurants, Bay Area institutions, and admirers such as The New York Times’ Ruth Reichl.
Luciano is an artisan genius. He represents something increasingly rare in coffee: a life spent in total devotion to craft, one standard, and a crystal clear vision for excellence.
Seidy Selivanow
Nominated by Matthew Selivanow
Seidy Selivanow deserves to be recognized in Sprudge Twenty for her impact as a barista competitor, educator, mentor, and co-founder of Kafiex Roasters. Seidy has represented her community on the national stage, placing 8th at the 2024 U.S. Barista Championship and 7th in 2025, while also using her platform to teach and mentor coffee professionals in both English and Spanish. Her work extends far beyond competition. She is a Coffee Fest educator, teaches Introduction to Cupping at World of Coffee events, supports producer education, mentored the Mexican Roasting Champion in preparation for the World Coffee Roasting Championship, and has traveled to Chiapas, Mexico, as a resident speaker at the Women-Powered Coffee Summit. Seidy’s work is rooted in excellence, generosity, and a genuine desire to create more opportunities for people to learn, grow, and feel connected through coffee.
Ivan Solis
Nominated by Matt Patch
Ivan Solis is the owner and founder of Recuerdos Cafe in Atlanta GA. I can’t think of a more serving colleague to monitor for this season of the Sprudge Twenty.
After starting his concept as a coffee cart, highlighting Mexican coffees to pay homage to his parents who immigrated from Mexico to the United States to give him and his sister a better life, he always knew he would one day open a brick-and-mortar location.
I have personally seen Ivan and his wife Carly dedicate so much of themselves to the business but beyond Recuerdos, Ivan is a connector and force in the greater Atlanta coffee community, always showing up for other people’s events and businesses am supporting everyone in the industry in Atlanta.
Through his new cafe, he is able to expand on the person and coffee community leader he already is in Atlanta to help grow and connect the greater community through events and hospitality, and truly showing up and supporting others. Ivan has worked tirelessly to see his own dream come true of opening his shop, but he also has worked hard to support others in the community and always shows up for anyone who needs it. He often times is working hard in the background and rarely wants the attention on himself, but he deserves to be recognized not just for his hard work but the way that he is influential and a connector in the Atlanta coffee community.
I can’t think of anyone more deserving of the Sprudge Twenty than Ivan. I’m happy to be able to call him a friend and colleague.
Richelle Taylor
Nominated by Reyna Callejo
Richelle is the Director of Operations at Olympia Coffee and Moonrise Bakery, but that title doesn’t feel like enough to describe what she does for us and for our community. When she first started with Olympia Coffee, she was part of a small team of 35 people, and almost a decade later, has assisted in tripling the size of the company, building teams and creating systems that didn’t exist until she thought of them. She tirelessly works for our teams, putting in hours of her time into system improvements, providing direct support to our office and roasting team, and heading events and projects that benefit not just our staff, but also our surrounding coffee community.
Last year, she hosted the PNW’s first Women in Coffee, a highly attended event in Downtown Seattle creating an opportunity for women in the PNW coffee community to come together and connect. She’s behind the bar at our annual latte art throwdown, engaging with those who attend and serving them a tasty drink, usually one that she’s recipe-tested and developed herself. In her “free” time, she competes in the US Coffee in Good Spirits Championship, sharing her hospitality and heritage, and has been the runner-up two years in a row! An incredible feat, considering she only started competing in 2025.
The best part about Richelle is actually how she empowers her coworkers to be better, constantly. She applies a constant, gentle pressure to our colleagues and encourages them to pursue more. She primes her teammates for leadership and advocates for opportunities for growth in their positions and in the industry.
Edrey Vega
Nominated by Denys Kolesnyk
Edrey is a seasoned coffee professional with a decade of experience in the specialty coffee industry. He has been manager at my coffee shop for over a year now where he maintains an excellent staff and has helped us grow our specialty coffee menus and reach out to the community. Previously he was coffee director at a local specialty favorite Vice City Bean for seven years where he helped put Miami on the map as a specialty coffee city. Additionally he has competed in the World AeroPress Championship in 2019 and the US Brewers Cup in 2022. On top of managing my coffee shop he also roasts coffee part time with local specialty coffee roaster Golden Bush and founded his own specialty coffee brand focusing on design and apparel called Feed the Barista. He is hard work and humble and deserves this nomination.
Stephen Vick
Nominated by Ritesh Doshi
Stephen Vick is, quietly and without fanfare, one of the most consequential figures in East African specialty coffee over the past two decades. Born in Portland, Oregon, he studied Human Centered Design and Engineering at the University of Washington before beginning his coffee career in 2000 as a barista at Zoka Coffee in Seattle, placing third at the US Barista Championship in 2003. He moved to Portland in 2005 to work as a trainer at Stumptown Coffee Roasters, and in 2006 was invited to serve as an International Jury member at the Cup of Excellence, one of the most rigorous quality arbiters in the industry. He has served as Head Judge ever since.
But what makes Stephen truly remarkable is what he did next: he left. He left the comfort of the global roasting establishment and planted himself in East Africa—not as a tourist, not as an occasional sourcing visitor, but as a resident, a builder, and a believer.
In 2008 he moved to western Tanzania as Quality Control Project Manager for Sustainable Harvest Coffee Importers, implementing rigorous quality systems for thousands of cooperative farmer members. He then worked as East Africa Field Agent for Intelligentsia Coffee, including a year in their Chicago Roasting Works.
In 2012 he headed west to become Green Coffee Buyer at Blue Bottle Coffee, deepening his expertise in sourcing and selection at the highest level of the industry. But East Africa pulled him back, and in 2016 he helped open African Coffee Roasters in Kenya, overseeing the roasting and export of 1,500 tons of coffee annually to the European market and championing the case for roasting at origin.
Today, Stephen calls Nairobi home and his footprint across the value chain is extraordinary. He is the founder of Bahari Coffee, a small seafront cafe at the Shela Jetty on Lamu Island, bringing specialty coffee to one of East Africa’s most storied places. He serves on the board of Spring Valley Coffee, Kenya’s original specialty roastery and its first B-Corp-certified one, where his influence on sourcing standards, roast quality, and coffee culture has been profound. And he serves as Business Development Manager at Siip, a specialty coffee platform and official technology partner of the Cup of Excellence, connecting origin to consumer in ways that benefit farmers.
From cooperative in Tanzania to roasting works in Chicago to green buying in California to roastery in Nairobi to cafe on the Swahili coast, Stephen has operated at every point on the chain. He has also served as a board member of the SCAA’s sustainability council, bringing the same commitment to farmers and ecosystems to the policy level.
What Stephen represents is rare: the complete picture. He knows what the world’s best baristas are looking for. He knows what farmers need to deliver it. And he has spent over two decades bridging that gap—not from an office, but from the soil up, across Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, and Kenya. He has shifted how coffee is grown, processed, roasted, and extracted across East Africa, and he has done it by showing up, staying, and sharing everything he knows.
The Sprudge Twenty honors those who move the needle. Stephen Vick has been moving it—quietly, steadily, generously—for a very long time.
Janette Waston
Nominated by Daniel Brown
I was a fan of her work long before we ever met (a musician, singer, and world-renowned poet whose words still carries so much weight). So when we finally connected, I couldn’t help but ask what she was working on next. Little did I know… that question would become the doorway to her partnering with me at Gilly.
She didn’t come from a coffee background. She came from the arts like me. But what’s been beautiful to witness is her willingness to step into something new, to learn a completely different craft, and to truly become a lover of beverage.
She’s a wonderful mother and an extremely talented individual; a true gift to me, our team and my built-in hype woman; it didn’t take long for me to see how deeply she believes in the vision, mission, and the community we’re building through Gilly. In seasons where I felt discouraged, she lifted me with her words and that meant the world. And if you know anything about specialty coffee, you know this: it is certainly an art form. It’s not just about what’s in the cup. It’s about story. And Janette is one of the most brilliant storytellers in general (especially in coffee) that I know.
That’s when it clicked for me; why she fits so seamlessly in this space. She’s very captivating. Whether she’s standing on a stage performing in front of thousands, or behind the bar serving a single guest, it’s all the same. Just another platform to connect, to serve, to dialogue, and to share story.
Janette is Gilly’s unofficial, built-in ambassador. She may not always be behind our bar, but wherever she goes, she represents us with intention and excellence. And for that, she’ll always hold a special place in my heart. In this season she’s become an extension of Gilly as the manager of an incredible, new Jamaican-Asian restaurant here in Atlanta called Station Eleven (a place Gilly is proud to partner with).
So not only can you experience amazing cuisine in the our city… The coffee and tea program is top tier. That’s no accident. That’s because of my big sis, my friend… Janette.
The Sprudge Twenty feature series is proudly presented by Pacific Barista Series.
