IMS vs VST: Canastas de Espresso y su Efecto en la Extracción

Las canastas de espresso, son pequeñas pero poderosas. Y a pesar de su importante impacto en la extracción, se pasan por alto.

De hecho, hace un poco más de media década que Vince Fedel de VST lanzó por primera vez sus canastas al mundo del café – años después del surgimiento de otros avances en equipos de especialidad como las máquinas de múltiples calderas con controlador PID en los grupos. Sin embargo, en los últimos años la percepción de las canastas de espresso ha venido cambiando.

Y hoy en día, tenemos una nueva marca en el mercado: IMS. Entonces, ¿Cómo  clasifica el IMS con respecto al VST? Bueno, he decidido ponerlos a prueba en una degustación a ciegas con canastas de diferentes tamaños. Sigue leyendo para descubrir cuales ganaron.

English Version: IMS vs VST: Espresso Baskets and Their Effects on Extraction

 

 

Quién es Quién en el Escenario de las Canastas de Espresso

Aunque las VST fueron revolucionarias, no fueron las primeras en ofrecer mejores canastas que las que llegaban con las máquinas de espresso. Las canastas Synesso, por ejemplo, siempre fueron las más recomendadas. Sin embargo, las VST eran las que investigaban los efectos de la geometría, el diámetro de los orificios y la forma en la extracción. Ofrecían un filtro de consistencia garantizada por su ubicación y forma de los orificios.

Antes de esto, la mayoría de las canastas tenían defectos de diseño. El tamaño de los orificios variaba en gran medida, algunos eran lo suficientemente grandes que dejaban pasar las partículas en el espresso, mientras que otros eran tan pequeños que se bloqueaban fácilmente, todo en una sola canasta.

Además, la geometría de estas canastas normalmente no optimizan un extracción uniforme: el área de la superficie de salida era por lo general más pequeña que la de entrada, obteniendo como resultado un flujo inapropiado del agua a través de pastilla de café.

Así por varios años, las canastas VST se posicionaron como las mejores. Ocasionalmente, escucharás quejas de los baristas que son imperdonables, pero el consenso general (y mi propia opinión) es que una buena distribución y ‘tampeo’ pueden eliminar estos problemas.

Aunque una nueva marca se ha puesto en escena: IMS. Esta empresa italiana comenzó a  producir productos en metal para la industria del espresso un tiempo después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Y ahora lanzaron una nueva gama llamada Competition Filters, de los cuales dicen que ofrece las mismas características de las canastas VST.

Es momento de poner esto a prueba…

No subestimes el poder de una buena canasta

Te puede interesar: Mantenimiento de la Máquina Espresso: Aspectos Esenciales

Testeando las Canastas IMS y VST: La Metodología

Preparamos una variedad de espressos con las canastas para la degustación a ciegas, con un café de Ruanda Cyanika de Colonna Coffee y un Peaberry de Tanzania Hasambo de Roundhill Roastery. Ambos cafés tenían un tueste claro pero bien desarrollado.

El ajuste de la molienda se hizo con un EK43 de “coffee burrs” y los espressos se prepararon en una Mirage de Kees Van der Westen, la cual tiene una restricción del flujo y una baja presión (6.5 bares). Los ratios de extracción se escogieron para optimizar cada grano pero se mantuvieron constantes en los tamaños de las canastas y fabricantes.

Otra cosa a la que tuvimos que prestarle atención fue al tamaño de la molienda. Algo que conocemos desde hace un tiempo es que la finura de la molienda se debe cambiar al cambiar del tamaño de canastas. Esto tal vez suene obvio ya que las canastas más grandes contienen más granos los cuales vuelven más lenta la extracción, pero la variación en el diámetro de los orificios de los tamaños de las canastas debería, en teoría compensar esto. En realidad, la canasta de 15g requiere de una molienda 1 punto más fina que para la de 18g en la escala de un EK para mantener el mismo ratio de extracción en el mismo tiempo.

Resulta interesante que también hubo una variación significante en la finura de la molienda requerida al comparar el mismo tamaño para las canastas IMS y VST. Las canastas IMS requirieron de un ajuste de la molienda entre 1 y 1.5 puntos más fina que para la VST para poder lograr el mismo resultado. Concluimos que esto fue probablemente el resultado del diámetro del orificio pero debido, a que medir algo tan pequeño va más allá de nuestras capacidades, esto es solo una sospecha.

 

El equipo para nuestra prueba

Prueba la Diferencia: Los Resultados de Nuestra Prueba

Bueno, en boca hubo una preferencia general por las canastas IMS, a las cuales se les destacó que producen un poco más de dulzor y delicadeza en taza. Sin embargo cabe destacar que estas diferencias eran muy mínimas. De hecho, eran casi imposibles de detectar en una bebida con leche.

Una posible explicación de los que prefirieron las canastas IMS es que se requería de una molienda más fina para el mismo espresso en términos de ratio de extracción, dosis y tiempo que para un filtro VST. Con esto tal vez se logre una mayor uniformidad de la molienda ya que al ajustarla más fina, los dos picos de la distribución de las partículas tiende a ser más cercano. Pero una vez más, esto es solo una suposición.

Sin embargo existe un inconveniente con las canastas de IMS: con cafés de tueste claro y la canastilla más pequeña (15g), llegamos al límite de finura de la molienda de un EK. Esto es difícil de que sea un problema para los molinos de espresso convencionales pero es algo que debes tener en cuenta si usas las “coffee burrs” en tu molino EK.

Las IMS también tienen una canasta de tamaño sencillo, llamado The Single, el cual está específicamente diseñado para producir un espresso sencillo con el mismo tipo de molienda de una canasta doble. En la práctica, por lo menos con nuestros cafés, necesitaban ajustarse un poco más grueso para mantener el mismo rango de flujo de uno doble. Sin embargo, con este sí se obtiene un mejor espresso que el que normalmente se obtiene al dividir el doble utilizando un porta filtro de doble salida.

El Ganador de la prueba del IMS y VST

Basándonos en nuestra prueba, admitiendo que fue bastante limitada, los filtros IMS son un poco mejor en sabor que los VST. La diferencia es mínima y mucho menos notoria que las diferencias entre los fabricantes de ambos productos y los filtros que aún vienen con muchas máquinas de espresso.

Entonces, ¿Cuál es mejor? En últimas depende de la persona y de qué tan bien la canasta trabaje con tus equipos.

Pero de cualquier forma, es emocionante ver más fabricantes de canastas de espresso de alto rendimiento entrando en el mercado. Estoy seguro de que esto conlleva a más innovación y mejoras.

Escrito por J. Prestidge, Director de Repack Espresso

Editado por T. Newton

Traducido por A. Molina y Editado por Karla Ly

Todas las opiniones de este artículo pertenecen al escritor y no reflejan el punto de vista de Perfect Daily Grind. Perfect Daily Grind cree en debatir a profundidad los temas actuales de la industria, de modo que busca representar las opiniones de todas las partes.

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How Can the Filipino Specialty Coffee Scene Continue to Grow?

Being a coffee lover in the Philippines is exciting. Once Filipino coffee used to mean scorching hot milk-based beverages churned out by clanging machines. But now, if you know where to look, you can find specialty coffee served by passionate, knowledgeable baristas. You may even find those baristas are serving Filipino beans.

There’s still plenty of progress to make, however. Read on to discover the state of our specialty coffee industry, consumption and production, and how I believe we can improve it in the future.

SEE ALSO: The Philippine Coffee Board: We Want Producers to Cup Their Coffee

 Filipino coffee professionals. Credit: Pinoy Barista Profile

Specialty Production Methods Are Appearing

Specialty coffee production is on the increase here, with farmers such as Samson “Oking” Abugho of Claveria and Mike and Irene Palaez, to name just a few, passionate about growing good coffee here – not just importing it.

Robusta dominates the industry – Nikkei Asian Review, sister site to the Financial Times, states that it accounts for 90% of our coffee production. The Philippine Coffee Board (PCB) do not see that as an impediment. Specialty Robusta is gaining more attention internationally, and this could have a strong positive impact on the industry.

At the same time, the PCB are encouraging more specialty production methods in Arabica farming, such as selective picking.

This doesn’t mean there aren’t still areas that need improvement. Sometimes producers don’t know what varietals they have of their farm. Another dispiriting fact is that sometimes you’ll see coffees labeled as specialty, based on the cup score of the crop two or three years ago.

Yet overall, we are seeing a positive trend in our coffee production, one that should lead to better and better coffees.

Benguet Arabica coffee cherries growing in the Philippines. Credit: Ivy “Precipitated”

The Philippines Gains Q Graders

Q graders are certified cuppers, able to determine the quality, processing method, roast, and even varietal of a coffee by taste alone. And the Philippines is gaining more and more of these valuable people. Take Silvester “Sly” Samonte, the current Philippine Barista Champion (14th in the World Barista Championship), who works with El Union Coffee and Origin Coffee Network.

What’s more, the PCB recently became a Coffee Quality Institute (CQI) partner, allowing them to certify Filipinos as Q graders. As it becomes easier to qualify, we will no doubt see an increase in numbers.

For the PCB, having local Q graders is an important step in the improvement of coffee quality. They hope it will allow producers to understand what crops they have and how to improve them – much like in Honduras.

Coffee being processed on a Filipino farm. Credit: Stop Bad Coffee Worldwide

Roast Profile Education

Light roasts are fashionable in the specialty world, since the roasting process is less likely to mask any of the coffee’s unique characteristics. Yet not so in the Philippines.

I sat down with Mark Neil, founder of Latte Art Philippines and Managing Director of Coffee Connects Co. “In the Philippines,” he told me, “there are still a lot of roasters who roast medium-dark or even darker.”

That’s not to say that every dark roast is bad – different coffees will suit different profiles – or that there are no Filipino roasters selling light roasts. There are good roasteries here. But I believe that as a country we need to start talking more about roast profiles. It will only lead to better local coffee.

A roaster examines his beans mid-roast at Jack And The First Crack. Credit: ??

Baristas Communicating Specialty

There are a huge number of baristas passionate about their craftwork here in the Philippines. They are keen to discover more ways to improve their coffee. Kevin Fortu became the first National Barista Champion in 2014, which inspired many others.

And now the challenge is inspiring the consumer. EDSA Beverage, Yardstick Coffee, and Jack Meets Kaldi Specialty Coffee are just three of a growing number of cafés encouraging customers to appreciate coffee’s diverse range of flavours. Some cafés, however, feel they must obscure the coffee’s natural flavour, muting its acidity, because the customers aren’t open to it.

As specialty becomes more well-known in the Philippines, I hope that more customers will want to try new flavours of coffee. I admire those baristas working to spread knowledge among their customers, coworkers, and coffee-loving friends.

A barista prepares a long black at Jack Meets Kaldi Specialty Coffee. Credit: Ana Franchesca Q. Arce

What’s the Future of the Philippine Coffee Industry?

We’re making slow but steady progress towards specialty. There are many people helping to guide this progress, including Coffee Connects Co., Latte Art Philippines, and Stop Bad Coffee Worldwide.

My vision is of a community united by the goal of creating better coffee. In order for this to happen, I believe we need to focus on the baristas. As they gain more knowledge of specialty, they will lift us to a state of global competitiveness. Achieving this means investing in programmes, such as affordable workshops and on-the-job training; facilities and laboratories; and regular events and competitions that will bring a community together.

It also means recognising the areas in which I believe we can improve – such as roast profiling and coffee labelling – as well as the great improvements in our industry over the last few years. An industry that has boomed thanks to the passion and hard work of café owners, baristas, coffee producers, roasters, and more. Every single one of us helps contribute to the growth of our coffee community.

Written by A. B. Abordo. Feature photo: Jack Meets Kaldi Specialty Coffee. 

All views within this opinion piece belong to the guest writer, and do not reflect Perfect Daily Grind’s stance. Moreover, Perfect Daily Grind is not affiliated with any of the individuals or bodies mentioned in this article, and cannot directly endorse them.

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#ShesTheRoaster Celebrates Women Coffee Roasters 🙋

In Brazil, A Coffee Education For At-Risk Youth

Paulo Gabriel

Paulo Gabriel was just 20 years old when he was brought to Brazil’s Fazedores de Café project by a non-governmental organization. He was complying with social-educational correctional measures at the time, in 2014. “I was in a complicated moment in my life,” he tells me. Gabriel was one of the four teenagers that were selected for the first group of Fazedores (which means roughly, “coffeemakers”), a program for at-risk Brazilian youth in which he spent three months learning about coffee—and making friends for life, including his professor and project coordinator Regina Machado.

It has been a remarkable road for Paulo Gabriel, who was hired by São Paulo’s Octavio Café before even finishing his internship there. The job helps him pay for his dream: culinary school. He is now entering the second semester at college, and, while competing for Octavio, placed seventh at the National Barista Championship in 2015, and sixth at the National Brewers Cup Championship.

Diego Gonzalez. Photo by Marcus Steinmeyer.

Diego Gonzales, owner of Sofá Café, was inspired to create Fazedores after reading about the US-based company TOMS, which donates a pair of shoes to a child in need for each pair of shoes the company sells. Gonzales imagined doing the same with barista courses: for every course Sofá Café sold to a customer, he would grant an underprivileged teen a course at his cafe and roastery, located in Pinheiros, an affluent neighborhood in São Paulo. He even had the right person in mind to coordinate the project: Machado, who at the time worked for Coffee Lab. The project was aimed at young adults age 18 or about to turn 18, from low-income families, and currently enrolled in school or already graduated from high school.

Mariana Dias

Guilherme Gomes

It wasn’t difficult to convince Machado to come and lead such a program. After talking further with Mariana Proença (content manager at Revista Espresso, a coffee magazine in Brazil) and Giuliana Bastos (PR professional and coffee journalist), they realized that there was a huge demand for coffee professionals in São Paulo. With the support of so many companies came the good news: the project did not have to hinge upon a purchase after all—the Fazedores de Café initiative could provide two-and-a-half-month coffee courses, plus one-month supervised internships in coffee shops around the city, all for free.

The three-hour multidisciplinary classes are held from Monday to Friday at the Sofá Café Pinheiros location, and aim to mold true coffee professionals. It is much denser than regular barista courses, as it encompasses coffee production and processing, coffee extraction, coffee drinks, ethics and behavior in the work environment, conflict management, customer support, menu creation, sanitary requirements, mechanics of espresso machines and grinders, and coffee shop business management. Gonzales and Machado started with four partners, and now work with 25 of them, many of whom are teachers of the course themselves—Carol Pontvianne from Urbe Café e Bar administers the coffee shop business class along with Gonzales, for example.

In order to make Fazedores de Café happen, all partners came together and contributed their expertise. With that, they built a classroom on the second floor of Sofá Café and filled it up with coffee equipment (all donated by the participating partners). The room accommodates four to six students each course, and the Sofá Café Atilla roaster located meters away in another room is used for roasting practice.

Gonzales emphasizes that he believes that the project has worked fairly well so far because it is based on a sort of gentlemen’s agreement: there are no contracts obliging the parts to contribute. “In such a bureaucratic business environment, it was nice to have partners collaborate in a natural, organic way,” he tells me. And yet, they never had any problems and always had the resources to carry on with the classes. Sofá Café provides a stipend for the kids—who live far away in most cases—for transportation costs, and also provides them with food every class day. Gonzales also stresses that the project’s goal is to have a positive impact in the teens’ lives. That doesn’t necessarily translate to working in coffee: Mariana Dias, a trained “Fazedora,” is now working at a coffee shop but as a means to afford her architecture college tuition. That alone means that the project has already worked for her, says Gonzales.

Giuliana Bastos, Mariana Proença, and Regina Machado. Photo by Diogo Brum.

Machado states that the evolution of the kids is clearly visible from the beginning to the end of the course, not only in the coffee spectrum, but also in their attitude towards the other students and the professors, poise, and communication skills. “Many of them barely speak when they get here, out of shyness. A few weeks into the course and they are already making friends and asking lots of questions. It’s great to see that process developing.”

I asked whether they plan to replicate it in other cities in Brazil, and Gonzales and Proença explain they’ve taken steps to turn Fazedoras into a proper institution in order to potentially branch out. The idea is that the project will be operated by an administrative counsel and become more independent from its original creators. Right now, Gonzales, Machado, Proença, and Bastos are working towards that goal. Brazil as a whole will surely benefit from it: there are young kids in need of opportunities like this in practically every major city here, and the lack of well-trained coffee professionals is notorious. We hope we hear more and more stories like Gabriel’s and Dias’ all over the country in the years to come.

Juliana Ganan is a Brazilian coffee professional and journalist. Read more Juliana Ganan on Sprudge.

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The Holiday Coffee Drinks Of Go Get Em Tiger

IIn a time where forced “#PSL season” commercialism and a nonsense controversy around red printed cups have exhausted the minds of coffee consumers, Go Get Em Tiger in Los Angeles are going their own way.

Shop owners Kyle Glanville and Charles Babinski are big turkey day fans; whether they are true Starbucks fans, however, is another matter. In homage (or perhaps parody) to the annual glut of Holiday sugar drinks from Starbucks, Babinski and Glanville have created a new tradition: a one-day-only menu of Starbucks-themed holiday drinks, served each year on Thanksgiving.

The service began four years ago, back in G&B’s pop-up days at SQIRL. With much of Los Angeles closed for business that day, the duo decided instead to remain open, offering patrons a place to drink coffee and perhaps avoid family if necessary. “The idea was to do a special thing, and we thought, like, 10 people would show up… and we got our butts kicked,” Babsinski remembers.

Since then, the yearly Starbucksification of Glanville & Babinski’s menu has become an event in its own right, planned for months in advance with collaborators like Chelsea Scott, Go Get Em Tiger’s pastry chef. From casual brainstorming and tossing ideas to serious meetings and discussion over ingredient preparation (all of which gets made in house, of course), the planning begins as early as June.

“The closer we get to the actual day the closer we go kind of crazy,” Scott admits. “It always gets a little out of control. We always end up being super ambitious with what we end up doing.”

“The thing took off and became something that’s like our Super Bowl,” Babinski affirms. “It’s a big event for us.”

When we talk holiday drink items from Starbucks, we’re not just talking syrups mixed into coffee. This year’s pumpkin spice latte homage featured a miniature house-made kabocha squash & whipped cream pie, resting flakily atop a cup of steamed milk, espresso, house pumpkin spice syrup and nutmeg caramel. One did not simply sip this drink; you had to take a spoon and stab this sucker, pie collapsing into the warm beverage below, with sweet bits crumbling softly into the steaming glass.

The festive crème brulee latte was similarly elaborate: a glass of custard pudding milk tea made with Song Tea’s Old Tree Yunnan, topped with a breakable rum custard sugar seal. Or what about the humble peppermint mocha? At GGET it came served in an edible three-ounce “Chocolate Medansky” cup, containing a single shot of 49th Parallel espresso, mint whipped cream and candied mint leaf. Sip your drink, then chase it by eating the cup whole.

Each year offers a new set of flavors and concepts for the cafe to play with, hanging out alongside annual returning favorites. Their bottled espresso-spiked eggnog latte returns each year, and is a crowd favorite. But the most popular offering in 2016—for both staff and guests alike—was without a doubt the “Cup of Toffee” latte.

With branding mirroring a Nissin Cup of Noodles, the “Cup of Toffee” was served with dry and wet ingredients. in the cup you got sticks of housemade toffee and a sprinkling of Sudden Coffee, today’s updated version ready-to-drink instant coffee. On the side you’re given a little cup of steamed almond macadamia milk. Pour the hot milk into the dry ingredients, combine, and eat, using coffee stir sticks as a kind of poor man’s chopstick to fish out the toffee ribbons. This ramen-esque beverage is their most singular drink yet.

Chelsea Scott says, “It was just one of those things where we were laughing so much just thinking about it, and making it actually happen was a lot of fun.” Guests were also able to pre-order some of Scott’s own pies for pick-up on that day, with flavors like kabocha pumpkin and brown butter pecan. Some 250 pies were prepared by Scott and her team in the two days leading up to Thanksgiving.

With baristas mixing furiously in Christmas sweaters, paper snowflakes hanging from the ceiling, and NSYNC’s holiday album on the speakers, the Thanksgiving tradition at Go Get Em Tiger shows no signs of stopping. Indeed, it’s become something of a certifiable coffee tradition in Los Angeles, a community gathering in a city where the coffee scene can still feel brand new. This event is about so much more than just one day in November; it’s no wonder they start thinking about it in June.

Katrina Yentch is a Sprudge contributor based in Los Angeles. Read more Katrina Yentch on Sprudge. 

Photos by Jesse Tenorio courtesy of Go Get Em Tiger. Top photo by Katrina Yentch for Sprudge Media Network.

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VIDEO: Watch Coffee Processing in Papua New Guinea’s Mills

Vast mountain ranges, a tropical climate, fertile volcanic soils… Papua New Guinea may not be a well-known origin in the specialty world, but it has ideal conditions for growing quality coffee. And today, we’re taking a look at how the cherries are processed in this small Oceanian country – courtesy of Sweet Maria’s Coffee.

They take a trip round multiple mills, wet and dry, in this quick video travelogue. From chaff used to fuel mechanical driers to receiving stations and bag marking, you’ll experience it all.

SEE ALSO: Poor Roads: Are They the Biggest Issue Facing Papua New Guinea’s Coffee?

SEE ALSO: VIDEO: 190 Seconds of Coffee Processing in El Salvador

Feature photo credit: Sweet Maria’s Coffee

Please note: Perfect Daily Grind does not own the rights to these videos and cannot be held accountable for their content.

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Mayra Orellana-Powell y Lowell Powell en Precios Bajos del Café

“Las condiciones en las que en este momento viven los productores son vergonzosas para la industria…lo son para todo el que se está tomando una taza de café.”

El café se vuelve cada vez menos rentable. Algunos productores han desistido en el café, otros viven en condiciones de pobreza. Y para Mayra Orellana-Powell y su esposo Lowell, esto es inaceptable. Ellos creen que el precio del café debe incrementar.

Cómo Proveer Mejores Ingresos de Los Productores

Los Orellana-Powell operan Catracha Coffee, una empresa exportadora que se encuentra asociada con Royal Coffee, con el fin de proveer mejores ingresos a los productores. Ambos ofrecen precios más altos por libra que el promedio de empresas del mercado y manejan un esquema de distribución de las ganancias con los productores de Santa Elena, Honduras, la ciudad de Mayra.

Pero ellos también creen que la responsabilidad no termina con los compradores. Como dice Mayra, “siendo consumidora, estoy tomando mis decisiones acerca de cómo estoy comprando”

Te puede interesar: Video: Un Día en La Vida De Un Recolector de Café en Colombia

Crédito de fotografía:

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Want to Understand Korea’s Coffee Boom? Look to Latte Art

South Korea’s coffee industry has exploded over the last five years, with dramatic increases in both import and consumption. This boom has catapulted the small country to its position as the 11th largest coffee market in the world.

But what caused the sudden upswing of the speciality coffee industry? Exposure to new information about coffee? Appreciation for product quality? A strong Western influence? Yes, yes, and yes – but a factor that should also not be overlooked is latte art.

I spoke to several big names in the Korean latte art industry at Cafe Show Korea. Here’s what I learned.

SEE ALSO: Discover the Korean Coffee Scene: A VIDEO Guide

 

A competitor pores over his design at the World Latte Art Battle at Cafe Show Korea 2016. Credit: Christine Seah

A Culture That Values Beauty

In South Korea, beauty is valued. While in some countries beauty is seen as being natural, or even shallow, here it is seen as the product of hard work. And that makes it a goal worth aspiring to.

A recent Vice documentary on Korea’s $6 billion dollar beauty industry explained that one in five women undergo plastic surgery. The country has one of the fastest growing and most technologically advanced beauty industries in the world – it’s no wonder that women all over the world are now buying Korean products in what The Wall Street Journal calls a “beauty boom”.

The Korean passion for all things aesthetic has led to a society of beautiful perfectionists. And it’s not difficult to see how this has spilled over into the speciality coffee industry, breeding a World Latte Art Champion and an entire community of “latte art idols”.

The World Latte Art Battle at Cafe Show Korea 2016. Credit: Christine Seah

Creative Designs

Korean-born latte artist and 2015 World Latte Art Champion (representing Australia) Caleb Cha told me that “Koreans are very dexterous, and they are also very creative when it comes to thinking up new designs. I definitely see us as a latte art powerhouse in upcoming competitions.”

Some of Caleb Cha’s latte art pours. Credit: Caleb Cha

Colourful Additions to the Latte Art Scene

Latte art worldwide started off as 50 shades of brown, but Caleb tells me that Korean artists were one of the first to use food colouring in their designs. And this been catching on quickly worldwide.

Another big presence in the Korean latte art scene, Lee Kang Bin, has taken colourful accents to the extreme with his invention of Cream Art.

Lee Kang Bin’s cream art. Credit: Lee Kang Bin

When does the art become more important than the drink? When one of the most famous pieces of artwork ever is in your cup. Oh, and when there’s no coffee in it.

Surrounded by a crowd of enthusiastic fans at Cafe Show Korea, Lee Kang Bin said,

“I wanted to surpass the limitations of traditional latte art by introducing colours and a wider range of designs. I think it’d be a great addition to the art bar section of the WLAC, and I hope to breathe new life into an otherwise isolated path in the industry.”

One of Lee Kang Bin’s latte art designs. Credit: Lee Kang Bin

Is Korea Leading Us Into the Future of Latte Art?

Korea’s not just an innovator in terms of latte art designs, though. They’re also creating new latte art technology. The latte art printer on display at Cafe Show, and already in use in Korean cafés, means you can get your selfie printed – in colour – on your coffee in a matter of seconds.

I’ll give you a second to take that fact in.

Yes, that’s me. Selfie latte art at Cafe Show Korea. Credit: Christine Seah

“In five years, I think Korea will dominate latte art competitions. Everyone’s getting super serious and the industry is picking up so fast. Asia in general is the place to look out for in the near future,” Caleb told me, grinning.

It looks like the Korean coffee scene has a bright and beautiful future ahead of it.

Written by Christine Seah, with thanks to Caleb Cha and Lee Kang Bin.

Perfect Daily Grind

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21 Very Merry Holiday Coffee Blends

What could be finer than a holiday blend? Nothing, as far as we’re concerned here at Sprudge. In a tradition that dates back to 2012, we’ve rounded up some of the finest coffee holiday blends known to man. These twenty-some-odd blends, from two beans to whoocs, remind us why this time of year is such a special season to be a coffee lover. Gathered ’round the hearth with friends—or enjoying an 85 degree beach day in Sydney—this year’s guide has something for everyone, and is the biggest holiday blends guide in the history of Sprudge. Armed with mug and candy cane, we invite you to dive in, and happy holidays from all of us at Sprudge!

Counter Culture Coffee — Iridescent — $17.75 — Shop via Counter Culture Coffee

A perennial favorite here at Sprudge HQ, this year’s Iridescent is 92% Huehuetenango Concepción Huista washed, 8% Ethiopia Banko Gotiti natural. Leaders in not just coffee taste-goodery, but coffee do-goodery, Counter Culture are donating a nickel per pound sold to help combat climate change at origin—read more about this remarkable program here. 

Dogwood Coffee — “Snow Emergency” — $18 — Shop via Dogwood Coffee

Most folks would panic in a snow emergency, but not the good people of Dogwood Coffee in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Instead they’re pairing up a Colombian washed coffee from Tolima with a natural Ethiopian coffee from the Guji zone, resulting in a coffee that “pairs well with ski masks, choppers and ice scrappers.

” Okay then.

Ceremony Coffee — “Holiday 2016 — $17 — Shop via Ceremony Coffee

A two-bean blend of Ethiopia Wazzala (washed) and Ethiopia Nefas (natural), this coffee works great for both filter and espresso, and offers “a simultaneously familiar, electric, and fruity” flavor profile. Recommended!

Campos Coffee — “Superior Blend” — $12 — Shop via Campos Coffee

Campos have gussied up their classic Superior Blend with some delightfully elvish holiday art work. Just look at those wee elves, hanging around the espresso machine. They’re digging this blend Latin American and Ethiopian coffees, procured in line with Campos’ ethical quality standards.

Batdorf & Bronson — “Holiday Blend” — $14 — Shop via Batdorf & Bronson

An annual tradition from Batdorf & Bronson, this coffee is comprised of Latin American and African coffees, with flavor notes of “Chocolate and dried fruit, pecans and dates, and cherry liquor”.

Equator Coffees — “Holiday Blend” — $17.95 — Shop via Equator Coffees

A complex blend of washed and natural coffees from Brazil, Costa Rica, and Ethiopia—but not in the order you’d expect. A washed Ethiopian Guji from the Hambela Estate anchors and inspires this blend, which is natural processed coffees from Fazenda Santa Luzia and the Ureña brothers in Tarrazu, Costa Rica, where this style of processing is exceedingly rare. It’s one of the most original holiday blends we’ve seen anywhere this year.

Groundwork Coffee — “Holiday Blend” — $21.95 — Shop via Groundwork Coffee

For “a sweet and juicy blend” meant to evoke warm weather Christmas spirit everywhere—from sunny Los Angeles to Sydney and Cape Town—Groundwork starts with a Guatemalan coffee via TG Labs, and pairs that with an Ethiopian METAD and Uganda Sipi Falls. This is most especially a filter coffee, and would taste great through a home batch brewer.

Bespoken Coffee Roasters — “Holiday Blend” — $17 — Shop via Bespoken Coffee Roasters

Based in tiny Corvallis, Oregon, the husband-wife team behind Bespoken Coffee Roasters are earning praise a bit further up the Willamette River, earning shelf space and hopper time at several of Portland, Oregon’s best coffee bars. Discover this microroaster through their Holiday Blend, a blend of Guatemalan, Ethiopian and Kenyan coffees with notes of “cocoa, plum, and sweet molasses.” We love how Bespoken keeps it real, suggesting their Holiday Blend as a great option for those who dig a little cream and sugar in their post-turkey, post-pie, perhaps-even-post-brandy brew.

Tim Wendelboe — “Nacimiento Merry Christmas 149” — $17 — Shop via Tim Wendelboe

Not a blend exactly, but a lovely Christmas release all the same from Oslo’s Tim Wendelboe. Nacimiento is a Pacas & Bourbon coffee from the Santa Barbara region of Honduras, from husband & wife producers Jobneel & Fany Caceres Dios. Grown nice and high at 1700 MASL, this coffee matures under limited sunlight and cool temperatures, resulting in a complex, singular expression of terroir in the El Cielito. Winner of the 2016 Nordic Roaster Competition, this light roasted coffee has a wine-like complexity, with fresh and dried fruit notes. Available worldwide and highly recommended!

Intelligentsia Coffee — “Celebration Blend” — $19 — Shop via Intelligentsia Coffee

The celebration continues with Intelligentsia’s annual offering. Comprised this holiday season of coffees from Ethiopia, Kenya and Colombia. Intelli’s online retail excels year in and year out, with multiple bundlings and special edition offerings we’ll be featuring throughout our 2016 holiday guides.

Huckleberry Coffee — “Sister Winter Holiday Blend” — $19 — Shop via Huckleberry Coffee

Denver’s Huckleberry Coffee tell it like it is: this blend would taste great with a splash of booze, especially in the context of a large holiday family gathering. To achieve this balance they’re blending coffees from Guatemala and Ethiopia, resulting in a coffee with downright fruitcake-ish notes. Even better, portion of sales go to help leaf rust recovery in Guatemala.

Madcap Coffee — “Holiday Fusion” — $19.50 — Shop via Madcap Coffee

One of our favorite holiday blends each year, Madcap keeps things simple and quality focused with this two-bean blend of featured coffees. This year’s Holiday Fusion combines Madcap’s Kenya Karinga and Costa Rica Santa Lucia, for a coffee with “notes of cranberry and sparkling acidity.” We definitely recommend this blend!

Onyx Coffee Lab — “FRAMILY: Holiday Blend” — $16 — Shop via Onyx Coffee Lab

A blend in honor of your friends and family—”Framily”—this coffee from Arkansas’ Onyx Coffee Lab combines a washed Ethiopian Hambela with honey processed Colombia La Plata coffees. We’re digging the tasting notes like “German chocolate cake” and “mint and spice.”

Joe NYC — “Rockefeller Holiday Coffee” — $17.50 — Shop via Joe NYC

No matter which holiday you celebrate on December 25th—for some of us this year it’s Hanukkah!—Joe’s got the hookup, in the form of their much-loved annual Rockefeller holiday release. This year Joe’s featuring a single origin coffee from the Marcala region of Honduras, from producer Roger Antonio Dominguez Marquez. $1 from every bag of Rock purchased will be donated to the NY Cares’ Annual Coat Drive—learn more here, and happy sipping.

Quills Coffee — “Yuletide Holiday Blend” — $20 — Shop via Quills Coffee

Lousville, KY coffee heroes Quills Coffee are offering up a holiday coffee that does what it says on the box, with notes of cranberry, spice cake, caramel, and the all-important ‘cheer’. It’s a marriage of Kenyan and Costa Rican washed coffees that somehow doubles as Quills’ first-ever holiday blend, a tradition we hope continues for many years to come.

Klatch Coffee —The Many-Splendored Blends of Klatch — Prices vary — Shop via Klatch Coffee

Not one, not two, but four unique holiday blends are on offer this season from Klatch, including one they describe as “Santa’s favorite Holiday brew, dating back to his days as an Ethiopian reindeer herder.” That’s probably our favorite holiday coffee copy of the 2016 season.

Olympia Coffee Roasting Company — “Holiday Blend” — $17 — Shop via Olympia Coffee Roasting Company

“A complex expression of the Bourbon varietal”, this year’s Holiday Blend from Oly Coffee is a gift perfectly suited for the coffee nerd in your life. Olympia takes an El Salvador Bourbon coffee from producer Ricardo Ariz and blends it with an 100% SL 28 / SL34 bourbon hybrid from the Kagomoini Cooperative in Kenya. The end result is Bourbon on Bourbon, from two very different sets of terroir on opposite sides of the world. Some might think it geeky, but this is very much our idea of fun.

Populace Coffee — Joyeux Holiday Blend — $18 — Shop via Populace Coffee

A lovely little blend from Populace Coffee, a brand with big things on the horizon in 2017. This year’s Joyeux is equal parts Colombian and Kenyan coffee, and should play nicely at any upcoming family gatherings—plus its color scheme is perfect for the stuffing of stockings.

PT’s Coffee — “Abominable Snowbrew” — $14.45 — Shop via PT’s Coffee

This is the People’s Choice winner for this year’s best blend name and coolest holiday blend art—look at the cute little cartoon yeti. He’s terrifying and yet, the coffee he guards is delicious. PT’s are blending up African, South American, and Sumatran coffees for a coffee that pairs well with sumptuous spiced meats and mulled wines.

Stumptown Coffee — “Slay Ride” — $19 — Shop via Stumptown Coffee

The heavy metal music enthusiasts at Stumptown Coffee are offering up a wicked blend for you heshers out there. We don’t know what’s in it, but we know it shreds, man, with flavors of citrus, cinnamon, caramel, and surely some Rainier in there somewhere. Rock on.

Verve Coffee Roasters — “Holiday Blend” — $20.25 — Shop via Verve Coffee Roasters

We’re continually impressed by Verve’s approach to the holiday blend, which they refer to as an “exciting challenge” to curate each year. This year’s blend takes three washed coffees from very different parts of the world: Kenya, Guatemala, and Honduras. Once united you get a coffee with flavor notes like “Molasses, Sugar Plum” and perhaps our favorite flavor note of the season: “Festive”.

Jordan Michelman is a co-founder and editor at Sprudge Media Network, and he loves a nice holiday blend. Read more Jordan Michelman on Sprudge. 

Several of the roasting companies featured in this guide are advertising partners on Sprudge. A complete list of partners is published on the lower right-hand side of each article.

 

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Spitfire Coffee: A Tiny Treasure In The French Quarter

The past and present co-exist in New Orleans. On one side of the French Quarter’s Jackson Square sits Café Du Monde. Since 1862, the classic shop has been serving beignets and chicory coffee to those needing a caffeine boost and a mess of powdered sugar. Except for when iced coffee and soda were introduced in 1988, the cafe has hardly changed.

If you want a completely different coffee, one rooted in the present day, it’s a mere five-minute walk away. Exit Café Du Monde, stroll across Jackson Square, avoid getting caught up in an impromptu jazz band or magician performance in front of the St. Louis Cathedral, and duck down St. Peter’s Street. Don’t blink, or you’ll miss Spitfire Coffee.

There isn’t much room to maneuver when you walk in—Spitfire has a grand total of four seats. The shop punches above its weight due to a strong multi-roaster program, as well as reimagined specialty drinks that involve cocktail bitters such as habanero and mole.

In a way, co-owner Nicholas Christian backed into a barista role. He had been working as a chef and kitchen manager in his native Portland, Oregon, and was interested in the coffee-into-espresso process—a curiosity that was stoked when he crossed paths with a Synesso tech. Christian recalls fixing an espresso machine via a Bluetooth earpiece, with the tech on the other line deciphering the machine’s different sounds. Before moving to New Orleans prior to Hurricane Isaac in 2012, he had stints with Boxcar Coffee Roasters in Boulder, Colorado as a roaster; as a chef back in Portland; and as photographer turned consultant and cafe manager for Dallis Brothers Coffee in New York. After landing in New Orleans, Christian turned back to the chef trade before meeting John Peters, the original owner of Spitfire Coffee, who offered him a consulting job.

“When I first got [to New Orleans], it was a [coffee] ghost town,” Christian says. “There was not much going on at all really [with coffee]. A lot of it was still really dark roast. Lots of bottom, lots of flavors, things like that. That’s one of the reasons I jumped at the consulting job because I thought I might have a chance to actually, slowly change coffee here.”

Peters’ family owned the French Quarter building, which dates back to the 1700s, and the cafe space used to be an art gallery. The cafe’s name comes from the WWII fighter plane; a Spitfire-themed banner hangs behind the register. Christian and his business partner Scott Burlington, who handles the back end of the business, bought Spitfire Coffee from Peters in 2015; an Olan Mills-esque portrait of the two owners hangs in the shop.

The unusual suspects at Spitfire Coffee.

Menus close to the register detail the espresso and filter drinks, plus a list of  specialty drinks and craft chocolate bars. Brewed coffees are made via Hario V60, while iced coffee is available from a Toddy or a Yama. Due to the humidity in New Orleans, Christian found that redialing the espresso on the shop’s Nuova Simonelli Aurelia II had to be done many times every hour. To combat this, he sets the water-boiler temperature as low as 194 degrees F, looks for a five-to-six-second espresso drop, and ends the shot at between 27 and 29 seconds. The lower temperature and slower extraction help keep espresso’s round, balanced notes in the spotlight. According to Christian, the espresso shots are now more consistent and have a thicker, more stable crema, without as many high and low notes.

Miami’s Panther Coffee is the shop’s mainstay, while other roasters featured include Nashville’s Crema Coffee Roasters, Jackson, Mississippi’s BeanFruit, Chicago’s Passion House, and PDX’s Coava and Extracto Coffee Roasters.

Roaster roster.

“I want to try to find roasters from each section [of the country] because we get a huge international crowd here,” Christian says. “I love it when people come in and [say], ‘Oh my god, this is the best cup of coffee I’ve had in the States. Where did it come from?’ I’m like, ‘That one actually came from Chicago. When you are in Chicago, go check this out.’ It’s great for the international market to also see that Americans don’t just have Starbucks.”

Christian also had to win over locals, who were accustomed to the city’s traditional dark-roast coffee and chicory. He said he would put chicory in the pour-overs at first, and slowly removed it over time.

Moving forward, Spitfire aims to open in another neighborhood and try to become a part of the revitalization of a different section of town—something of an extension of Christian’s desire to just change the coffee culture.

“The thing that I love about the coffee scene in this city is that this is the most welcoming, friendly coffee city I’ve ever worked in,” he says. “There’s rivalry, but it’s all friendly. It’s all fun. Everyone sends [customers] to each other’s shops. Being in a tourist city, that’s one of my favorite things to do.”

Spitfire Coffee is located at 627 St. Peter Street, New Orleans. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Evan C. Jones is a Sprudge.com contributor based in St. Louis. Read more Evan C. Jones on Sprudge.

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