The 2018 US Coffee Championships Prelims: Weekend Three

Over one action-packed weekend in Greenville, Denver, and Washington, DC, brewers and baristas preliminarily competed in competitions, the third such weekend this season. These competitors are on the journey to the much-anticipated US Coffee Championship Qualifiers rounds, happening either this year or early next. From there, the national competition, where only two will be crowned US Brewers Cup and US Barista Champion. We had folks on the ground taking glorious photos of the three events and here they are in full color.

Washington, DC
Photographer: Farrah Skeiky

Participants in Washington, DC crowded Dolcezza Gelato. Absolutely *crowded* it—with over 2,400 tickets registered on EventBrite, this was by far the most attended preliminary in its short history. The coffee community in DC and surrounding areas poured in to witness this spectacle, made possible by the folks at Coffee District. Alexander Gable of Coffee District told Sprudge “[they] just to love to host people and throw parties. When Victor [Vasquez] and I first discovered that the SCA was taking applications from members to host the preliminaries, we signed up immediately because we knew it was going to be rad getting to do this in our hometown. D.C. often gets stigmatized by its obvious political conundrum, gentrification, and downtown tourist attractions, but this place can be magical if you stay out of the way of all that sour milk.”

Sponsors of the event also included Stumptown, Dolcezza, Small Planes, Vigilante, La Marzocco, Modbar, Five Acres Farms, Swiss Water Decaf, Pacific Foods, Curtis Wilbur, and Dim Sum DC Media (who took photos for us during the event!) The preliminary took place during Coffee District’s Coffee Fest, with events across the city. A post-competition feast was provided by Madeline Lewsen of The Dabney and the folks at Tail Up Goat, providing BBQ for the participants, with a case of Susucaru natural wine to wash it all down.

When we asked what made this event special, Alexander Gable said, “I think the space and the people involved made it special. We made a ton of amazing new friends, and all comments about how the event went were geared towards everyone having an exceptionally good time and it being very inclusive, and I think that’s all we could have asked for.”

Cara Nakagawa of Toby’s Estate competes in the Barista Competition.

Jenna Gothelf of Everyman Espresso, the top ranking barista reacts to the announcement in Washington, DC.

Washington, DC Preliminary Barista Competition Results:

Washington, DC Preliminary Brewers Cup Results:

Greenville, South Carolina
Photographer: Lem Butler

Ally Coffee hosted the Greenville “Southern” Preliminaries. A wedding venue was converted into a full-fledged competition arena. Nearly 140 people showed up with over seventy participants. “We chose to host this event because we believe in the power of competitions to advance the coffee industry,” said Ally Coffee US Sales Manager James Tooill. Ally’s support of the competitions goes further than hosting, as they sponsor origin travel prizes at the US Nationals and World level, sponsor green coffee for the US Roasters Competition and World Cup Tasters. When the opportunity to organize a preliminary event presented itself, “it made perfect sense for us to host because we have already been doing so much to support competitions globally that we also wanted to support locally!”

“We had originally planned to host this event as a grand opening party for our new office which is going to be 7,000 sq ft of coffee lab awesomeness,” Tooill explained, “Unfortunately, permitting delays prevented this. It was a lot of work for our team to host this offsite and I’m very proud of Team Ally for pulling it off. Of course, what really made it special was every single person that took the time and energy to build coffee community!”

You can’t host a preliminary on your own, and sponsors Ancap, Mahlkonig, Nuova Simonelli, Due South Coffee, Counter Culture Coffee, 1000 Faces, and Spirit Tea all helped make this event an action-packed, coffee/tea-fueled professional development rager.

Here are the Southern Prelim rankings:

Greenville Preliminary Barista Competition Results:

Greenville Preliminary Brewers Cup Results:

Denver, Colorado
Photographer: Daniel Mendoza

Participants from California, Utah, Arizona, Texas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Kansas took part in the preliminary programming in Denver, Colorado. The Rocky Mountain Craft Coffee Alliance threw the shindig, with the support of Novo Coffee and about twenty coffee companies across the country.

When asked why the RMCCA decided to host, Josh Taves (RMCCA Vice Chair and Quality Control and Business Development Manager at Novo Coffee) told us, “The Rocky Mountain Craft Coffee Alliance’s mission statement is that we are a group focused on developing community among coffee enthusiasts, both consumer and professional, through education, collaboration events, and networking all along the Rocky Mountain region. We felt like we had the ideal vision and reach to be able to host a great event through collaboration with the Rocky Mountain Craft Coffee community and that the USCC Preliminaries would be a great way to showcase the hard work and community spirit of our members.

It wasn’t just competitions—oh, no—beverages were flowing for all with a pour-over booth from Spur Coffee, Nitro Cold Brew from Novo Coffee, and a tea service from Spirit Tea. “Fleet Coffee sponsored a cool party also at a board game bar,” Taves added.

Hosts teamed up with Toddy, Novo Coffee, Huckleberry Coffee Roasters, and Sweetbloom Coffee, Logan House Coffee, Moru Coffee, Loyal Coffee, Morning Fresh Farms. Prizes were furnished by Synesso, Rhino Coffee Gear, AeroPress, Amethyst Coffee, Cherry Roast, Middlestate Coffee, La Marzocco, and Corvus Coffee. Rocky Mountain Craft Coffee Alliance.

For Josh Taves, “the comradery and teamwork spirit of the event brought together a huge array of people, companies, and ideas under one roof for a united purpose and it was so cool to be a part of that.”

Denver Preliminary Barista Competition Results:

Denver Preliminary Brewers Cup Results:

The fourth and last weekend of preliminary events take place this weekend in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Louisville, Kentucky. Follow us on Instagram for the latest from these events!

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Sunday: Women-Owned Coffee Only At Equator Benefitting The IWCA

There are so many great events going on in the coffee world this weekend: Night of 1000 Pours happening all across the nation, spotlighting the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, ACLU, Houston Food Bank, and American Red Cross; #CoffeeAyudo in Chicago, benefitting those affected by natural disasters in Puerto Rico and Mexico; and now an event at Equator Coffee on Sunday, benefitting the International Women’s Coffee Alliance.

On Sunday, International Coffee Day, all Equator’s Bay Area cafes will only be serving coffee from Honduras Comucap and Sumatra Queen Ketriara, both women-owned projects. Equator will then donate to the IWCA 75 cents for ever cup of coffee sold as well as $2 for ever bag of these coffees sold in-store or online.

The IWCA is a charity very near and dear to Equator. In fact, Maureen McHugh, Equator’s Vice President, has been working with the charity for over a decade and has on the board for the last three years. The non-profit has 22 chapters worldwide that seek to tell the story of women in coffee. Each chapter is set up and run by local women to address needs specific to their community. Projects have included: changing outdated laws preventing women from registering coffee in their own names (instead of a male relative), applying for grants for education and health screenings, developing trainings to improve coffee quality and increasing per-pound price, and promoting eco-tourism.

So get involved everyone! If you live in the Bay Area, stop into an Equator on Sunday and grab a cup of coffee. If you live anywhere else in the world, buy a bag of Honduras Comucap or Sumatra Queen Ketriara online. Either way, you’re helping make a difference and getting coffee. Pretty sweet deal.

Zac Cadwalader is the news editor at Sprudge Media Network.

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Tonight Is The Night Of 1000 Pours

So we’re pretty much blown away with the outpouring of support from folx all over the country today, uniting to help activate coffee and the wider beverage community as a source of charitable giving. It’s the inaugural Night of 1000 Pours tonight—search for an event in a community near you—and we just want to take a moment today to say thank you to everyone participating, and to highlight some of the leaders who have stepped up big in their communities.

First and foremost, our colleagues in New York City have been working over the last few days to raise funds for disaster relief, with a special focus on Puerto Rico. More than 30 cafes around the city have been serving signature drinks over the last few days to help raise funds, and there is a huge event happening tonight in Manhattan at the Counter Culture Coffee Training Center (376 Broome St). A huge thank you to all the participating cafes—Joe NYC, Everyman Espresso, Chalait, Underline Coffee, Toby’s Estate, Variety, Gimme!, and Gregory’s—and to the event organizers Sam Penix, Eric Grimm, and Dandy Anderson. Thanks also to Lin Manuel Miranda and Debra Messing for retweeting info about these events (no, really, it happened).

Speaking of Counter Culture, we have been just astonished by their organizing work and donation of time and resources to support 1000 Pours over the last few weeks. CCC are hosting or sponsoring events across the USA tonight, including events in Asheville, Atlanta, Boston, the Bay Area, Charleston, Chicago, Durham, Los Angeles, the aforementioned NYC event, Miami, Philly, Seattle, and Washington DC. Thank you to all of the folks hosting events nationwide, and to the team at Counter Culture HQ in Durham (especially Jennifer Hoverstad and Brian Ludviksen) for helping support these events.

We also want to shout out some of the folks helping raise funds today in the form of donating a portion of their sales proceeds, or hosting online specials. Onyx Coffee is donating 100% of online profits today to the Houston Food Bank. That’s rad, and if you were uh, you know, in the mood to buy some coffee (who isn’t?) make your first click Onyx to support the Night of 1000 Pours. La Marzocco‘s truly great La Marzocco Cafe in Seattle are donating all of their proceeds today to Direct Relief, and Portland’s Either/Or cafe will donate a portion of sales proceeds today to the Transgender Legal Defense Education Fund.

Speaking of Portland and Seattle, these are pretty good places to help support the Night of 1000 Pours throughout the day. In Seattle? You can support by drinking delicious Olympia Coffee Roasting Company coffee at the La Marzocco Cafe, then check out a party at Sound & Fog in West Seattle (raising funds for TLDEF). Cap off your evening with a very special menu of Mezcal cocktails at Liberty Bar, with funds going to support Mezcal Union‘s relief work in Oaxaca. Or perhaps you live in Portland? Either/Or is the spot for day drinks today, and then tonight please join us tonight at 6pm at Foxy Coffee for a charity natural wine bar pop-up hosted by our sister site Sprudge Wine, along with a rowdy throwdown, funky DJ’s, and surprises galore.

There’s more stuff—the wonderful Fleet Coffee x Department of Brewology collab happening in Austin, the excellent multi-charity fundraiser from Colorado’s Ozo Coffee—but you can read about all of this, and much more, at the official Night of 1000 Pours website. As a last shout out let us thank the team at Oatly USA (especially Bryan Hasho and Sadie Renee), who contacted us when the first round of 1000 Pours events were announced and have generously stepped up to support events tonight in New York and Portland.

Thank you all. Let’s make tonight one to remember, and then heck, move right on to support the incredible #CoffeeAyudo fundraisers in Chicago for Puerto Rico and Mexico relief and Equator Coffee‘s IWCA fundraisers this Sunday. If this is what coffee looks like in 2017—charitable, involved, partying for a cause—we are so here for it.

THANK YOU FROM ALL OF US AT SPRUDGE MEDIA NETWORK!

nightof1000pours.com

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Coffee Beer: White Mountain Porter By Big Island Brewhaus

We’ve all heard of Kona coffee; real coffee nerds know the quality Hawaiian-grown coffee action is happening closer to Kau, home to folks like Rusty’s Hawaiian. But on the Big Island of Hawaii, there’s another local product that’s got island residents and visitors excited, and that’s beer. Big brands like Kona Brewing Company have an international following, but there’s killer little indie breweries all over Hawaii, and on a recent trip to Hilo—on the rainy side of Big Island—I helped myself to a tasty beer or three from Big Island Brewhaus, just up the road in Waimea.

That’s where founder and brewmaster Thomas Kerns is brewing up a bevy of different beers, some you might expect—there’s a coconut cream ale, and an easy-drinking session beer perfect for the beach—and some you can only find here on the Island, like the “Jabba Da Sour,” a sour beer brewed with local jaboticaba fruit (it tastes like sweet grape juice), or the “Big Mac Nut Brown,” a brown ale brewed using local macadamia nuts, then aged in Maker’s Mark whiskey barrels.

But happily enough—and crucial for our purposes here—I was able to score a nice 22-ounce bottle of Big Island Brewhaus’ White Mountain Coffee Porter, a collaboration with White Mountain Coffee on the Hamakua Coast. It’s a cool, smooth take on the coffee porter style, with creamy notes of coconut and a long, complex finish. Perfect for a rainy Hilo sunset.

To learn more, I chatted with Thomas Kerns of Big Island Brewhaus, who spoke with me digitally from the Big Island.

Hey Thomas! Thanks for talking with Sprudge. For starters, why go the porter route for your take on coffee beer?

Our porter comes alive with coffee and toasted coconut. When I make coffee, it’s Hawaii’s best coffee with honey and coconut milk instead of cream or milk. The combination of coffee and coconut play off each other and add layers of complexity to the White Mountain Porter.

Have you ever brewed any other takes on coffee beer for Big Island Brewhaus? 

We do several coffee beers throughout the year: Irish Breakfast Beer (Irish Stout with coffee), Coffee Cream Ale (cream ale with coffee), and our White Mountain Porter you tried.

How did you find this particular roaster to work with? 

White Mountain Coffee is a multiple award winner, and one of our favorite choices for coffee. It’s grown and roasted on the Hamakua Coast of the Big Island by David Steiner, and so we decided to name our beer in line with the coffee for mutual recognition.

In what form did you add the coffee? Was it brewed and added to the beer after brewing, or did you condition using whole beans, or…? 

We use a few techniques of cold press coffee and steeping fresh grounds in the beer itself. We always use a coarse grind.

How about the coconut—what form of coconut did you use for brewing this?

We use coconut chips. We toast them in the oven to a golden brown which releases light delicate oils and flavonoids.  Then we steep the toasted coconut in chilled nearly finished beer.

Describe the town where you brew, Waimea, for folks who might be unfamiliar with the Big Island.

Waimea is an upcountry community with a history heavy of Hawaiian cowboys and the Parker Ranch. We are around 2,500 feet above sea level, which makes for nice, cool evenings to encourage imbibing in delicious beers.

Can folks find your beers outside Hawaii? 

We only distribute and sell in Hawaii, in draft kegs and 22-ounce bottles. You may find us at a festival now and then on the mainland. We love to share the aloha, and we regularly attend festivals like the Great American Beer Festival and the Shelton Brothers Beer Festival. We were recently poured at an event in Kentucky and the year before in Tuscany, Italy.

Thank you, Tom! Big fan of the beers.

Jordan Michelman is a co-founder and editor at Sprudge Media Network. Read more Jordan Michelman on Sprudge. 

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#CoffeeAyudo: Chicago Cafes Are Raising Funds For Mexico & Puerto Rico

Mexico and Puerto Rico are both currently dealing with massive devastation caused by natural disasters. Mexico was rocked by a 7.1 magnitude earthquake south of Mexico City that has taken the lives of over 200 individuals and Puerto Rico is in a state of emergency after Hurricane Maria has left 42% of the population without potable water and the entire island without power.

Chicago’s New Gotham Coffee Community—a non-profit aiming to connect the city’s coffee professionals—have stepped up to help. Called #CoffeeAyudo, eight of Chicago’s cafes are banding together to raise funds to help with relief efforts, and it all starts this Saturday, September 30^th, International Coffee Day.

Translating to “Coffee Help,” #CoffeeAyudo features specialty coffee shops like Metric, Wormhole, Ipsento, and others. Each shop decides how they want to participate; some may be doing tip matching, some may donate a portion of sales, and others may do something else entirely. Some cafes will even continue the fundraising efforts throughout the weekend and beyond, but the goal for all participating shops is the same: raise money and awareness for the citizens of Mexico and Puerto Rico who were affected by these natural disasters.

If you don’t live in the Chicago area but want to help, the New Gotham Coffee Community suggests giving directly to Topos Mexico and Unidos Por Puerto Rico, both of whom are accepting donations via Paypal. And #CoffeeAyudo is looking for more cafes to join. If your coffee shops wants to be part of the efforts email New Gotham Coffee Community at Hey@NewGothamCoffee.com.

Here are all the cafes currently participating:

Metric Coffee, 2021 W Fulton

Wormhole Coffee, 1462 N Milwaukee

Loba Coffee + Pastry, 3422 N Lincoln

Passion House Coffee Roasters & Cafe, 2631 N Kedzie

Jackalope Coffee, 755 W 32nd

Build Coffee, 6100 S Blackstone

Ipsento 606, 1813 N Milwaukee

Ipsento, 2035 N Western

For more information, visit #CoffeeAyudo’s official website.

Zac Cadwalader is the news editor at Sprudge Media Network.

*top image via New Gotham Coffee Community

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Bending Tradition At Faro – Luminari Del Caffè In Rome

The wifi password at Faro – Luminari del Caffè in Rome is senzazucchero, or, in English, “sugarless.” Despite being a seemingly minor detail, it’s meant to tease Italians for their habit of drinking strong ristrettos, usually made on an old lever machine, full of sugar in order to balance the bitterness. But Dario Fociani, who founded Faro along with two partners, Arturo Felicetta and Dafne Spadavecchia, says that they don’t want to break the sweet tradition. After all, it’s as Italian as an Alfa Romeo.

“Our challenge is simply sharing what we love to do and applying a scientific approach to the brewing of good coffee,” says Fociani, who’s had a long-term international career as a barista, starting in Melbourne and doing stints in several European specialty cafes such as The Barn in Berlin and All Press Espresso UK and Exmouth Coffee in London. His business partner, Felicetta, has years of experience as a bartender, and Spadavecchia is responsible for the communication strategy and the administration of the cafe’s day-to-day operations.

Felicetta, Spadavecchia, and Fociani 

They opened last December in a space with a large shared table that does nothing to remind one of the old cafes of Via Veneto, the fancy Avenue portrayed in Italian films like La Dolce Vita in which the story revolves around a decadent Roman society at the end of the ‘50s. Faro is a little bit far from the main buzzing spots in town, but it is still in a central location and is in the natural path of pedestrians. “We loved this area. It’s not as vibrant as other streets but it has a good balance among tourists, residents, and workers since it’s surrounded by many offices. Besides that, we are open on the weekends, where everything else is closed and this has made us a reference point for many people,” says Fociani. When I visited, down-to-earth customers and baristas greeted one another like old friends, with whole families—kids included—coming for breakfast. 

On that bright summer Sunday at Faro, I tried two brewed coffees—one from Ethiopia roasted by Gardelli Specialty Coffees and another from Brazil by Five Elephant—and a sweet, acidic espresso from Fazenda Agua Limpa in Minas Gerais, Brazil, which was roasted with a profile only served during weekends. During the week, Fociani tries to adjust the espressos to something as close as possible to Italian tastes. He said that Gardelli has created a blend called Cigno Bianco that ties specialty coffee and the classic Italian tradition of stronger, fuller-bodied, and more bitter drinks. It is composed of the harvests from two farms, one Brazilian and another Panamanian, in an attempt to offer a sort of passport to the specialty coffee world. To accompany this Roman experience, Faro offers a range of sourdough bread, cakes, and pies that remind customers over and over that they’re in Italy.

Third wave coffee in Italy is in its infancy, and while most consumers and the media still ignore it, the work of Fociani and others to bring the country fully into the specialty scene is getting attention. An Italian collective media project called Romedia Studio recently released an online documentary, Coffees : Italians Do It Better(?), introducing audiences to the specialty coffee world. And Faro is already buzzing with ideas to take its next step forward, which could include roasting. For now, though, the cafe is focused on the present, working hard to become a reference point for high-quality coffee in the heart of the eternal city.

Faro – Luminari del Caffè is located at Via Piave, 55, 00187 Rome. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook and Instagram.

Paulo Pedroso is a regular contributor to Brazilian newspapers Folha de São Paulo and Valor Econômico, as well as Revista Espresso, a Brazilian specialty coffee magazine. Read more Paulo Pedroso on Sprudge.

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The CDC Releases Report On The Health Risks At Coffee Roasteries

Last year, we reported on the potential dangers of inhaling roast exhaust, specifically as it relates to a higher likelihood of developing lung disease. This was based on research being compiled by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and now they have released the full 67-page report, according to USA Today.

As previously noted in our first article on the topic, the main culprit suspected of causing the lung damage is a chemical called diacetyl, a naturally occurring byproduct of coffee roasting. Per the USA Today article, the National Institutes of Safety and Health “recommends workers not be exposed to more than 5 parts per billion of diacetyl as a time-weighted average over an eight-hour work day… calculated to limit the risk so that no more than 1 in 1,000 workers would be expected to have reduced lung function at those exposure levels over a 45-year work life.”

When testing 49 air samples from around Just Coffee Cooperative’s 16,000-square-foot roasting facility in Madison, Wisconsin—the site where all the collection data occurred—the CDC found 10 samples that exceeded the 5 ppb threshold. From the report, “grinding roasted coffee beans, blending roasted coffee beans by hand, and weighing and packaging roasted coffee were associated with higher diacetyl levels, likely due to the close proximity of the employee’s breathing zone to the roasted beans.” Grinding coffee was tagged with the highest diacetyl exposure levels for employees at 37.6 ppb over a 14-minute time period. The report also notes that the inside roasted coffee storage bins had instances of diacetyl at 99.4 ppb but are not reflective of employee exposure.

The results of this exposure on the workers is not insignificant:

Our findings of upper-respiratory symptoms with a work-related pattern in many employees, four-fold excess of wheeze and abnormalities on lung function testing in about a third of participants suggest a burden of respiratory problems in this workforce.

CDC recommendations for means of reducing exposure to diacetyl include vacuuming instead of sweeping, which just kicks dust around; the use of masks/respirators during higher-exposure tasks; adding exhaust fans over grinding and blending stations; and the use of automated blending devices.

This report is just the first step the CDC is taking to better understand exposure at coffee roasteries. According to USA Today, they are currently doing similar research at 18 roasters across the United States, with results expected in the coming months.

The full report can be found here. To read a statement from Just Coffee regarding the findings, visit their official website.

Comments are open. Sound off below.

Zac Cadwalader is the news editor at Sprudge Media Network.

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Coffee On Instagram: Brian W. Jones Of DCILY

As the specialty coffee world has grown and expanded, so has the design around it, from cafe interiors to coffee making tools. These days, coffee and design seem to go hand in hand, stimulation coming as much from the visual aspects related to coffee and its consumption as from the caffeine intake.

One blog that has been following that evolution is Dear Coffee I Love You, run by Brian W. Jones. A designer by trade, Jones is well-respected in the specialty coffee industry, melding his love of coffee and design into a path that includes everything from coffee branding to co-founding AKA Coffee to writing the book Brew: Better Coffee at Home, with the occasional contribution to Sprudge along the way. Based on the west coast of Sweden, he’s well tapped into the buzz of the Nordic coffee scene, but work also has him spending a lot of time in the coffee-centric San Francisco area. Bridging the two continents, and traveling everywhere in between, leads to a lot of visual inspiration, which you can follow on his popular Instagram feed @DCILY.

We caught up with Jones to learn more about his process and what keeps him inspired.

How would friends of yours finish this statement “Brian is….”?

Always drinking wine.

How did DCILY the website get started? How has it evolved since then?

The website began as a way for me to feed my growing curiosity around coffee and to share my discoveries with family and friends. After having that first “aha moment” with good coffee, I wanted to know everything there was to know about it. The site was also an outlet for me as a designer to focus on a specific subject that I found steeped in creativity explore the trends and patterns that I saw happening at the time. As I learned more about coffee, it became a way for me to encourage better appreciation for coffee and inspire people to drink better coffee.

How does your Instagram feed fit into that evolution?

Instagram wasn’t around when DCILY first launched, so it actually took me a while to separate my personal Instagram account and create one dedicated to just coffee. I had a few friends who complained about seeing too many cups of coffee (and now complain about all the glasses of wine), so I separated the two accounts. My personal account almost never shows coffee any longer. But IG has been a way to continue sharing things with people that don’t necessarily require an entire article written about them. I’ve noticed the attention span of many readers has decreased a lot (including my own). Instagram plays into this trend and allows people to engage with visual content, new cafes, packaging, products, without needing to read a lot about them. People can discover things easily and discuss in the comments if they want. It creates a much more interactive forum for certain types of content.

Why do you think that Instagram has become such a popular platform for the community?

I think it’s an easily digestible format, whether for inspiration or just keeping up to date with what others are doing, drinking, brewing with, etc. From a business side, it’s a very easy way to project your brand and share your newest products with customers.

What are some of your favorite images that you have done in the last few months?

I posted an image just last week while I was having coffee at home in Sweden. The morning light was just perfect and I captured the feel of the coffee with such clarity. It’s such a simple image but makes me crave another cup. The images I capture while traveling to new places are usually my favorites. I was recently in Tokyo, and several of those pictures really sum up the magic of Japan, the people there and why I love it. Then there are those really well-composed overhead shots that are incredibly cliché, but still look great. I kicked off my trip to the SCA Expo in Seattle with one of those.

Can you tell us a little bit more about your creative process?

I don’t really have a creative process for my Instagram photos. All of the content I post is mine and captured mostly with an iPhone. I do some light editing with a photo app called Afterlight, but it is still very raw compared to some of the coffee accounts out there. I don’t repost other content and it is very much a visual diary (this is what coffee I’m drinking today, this is the cafe I visited recently). The primary purpose is to simply inspire more coffee lovers and occasionally promote/cover an event or share products that I’m honestly enjoying and excited about. I was hesitant at first, but I’ve grown to love IG stories and the ability to share more fleeting moments with them. I find boomerangs incredibly hypnotic, so I prefer them to videos.

What are some of your sources of inspiration?

I love cabin porn and architecture photography. Also a lot of tattoos and sneakers. Drone photography also really makes me happy and I’ve been trying to justify getting one myself, but so far I’ve talked myself out of it. Generally, I try to look entirely outside the realm of whatever I’m working with for inspiration.

What coffee are you drinking right now?

All this week I’ve been brewing some Catuai from Finca Takesi in Bolivia that The Coffee Collective roasted in Denmark. It’s one of those coffees that has such a unique flavor profile that it makes me really question what I love about coffee. It’s very different than the Geisha variety that Intelligentsia offered from Finca Takesi, but it is still wonderful and I’m always excited when I can get a hold of coffee from this farm.

Favorite coffee shop?

Koppi in Helsingborg, Sweden. I would live there if Anne and Charles ever let me to set up a bedroom in the basement.

If you could drink coffee with anyone in the world, who would it be and why?

This is ridiculously hard to answer. I would probably want to keep it casual, so definitely a comedian. I know Jerry Seinfeld beat me to it, but I would love to have coffee with Aziz Ansari. Also, both Grace Parra and Samantha Bee would be great coffee companions for talking politics, while still laughing about it.

Anna Brones (@annabrones) is a Sprudge.com staff writer based in the American Pacific Northwest, the founder of Foodie Underground, and the co-author of Fika: The Art Of The Swedish Coffee Break. Read more Anna Brones on Sprudge.

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Brooklyn’s Little Roy Coffee: The Little Cafe Across The Park

There’s a small, rambling dog-run at Bed-Stuy’s Herbert Von King Park, but few dogs know of it—unless they live off the G train. Little Roy Coffee Co. opened recently across from this park, and the owners, borrowing the name from their late Pomeranian, Roy, want to give unknowing folks more reason to visit the park, one of the oldest in Brooklyn.

“It’s such a friendly, great place that it’s just nice to have a space here to participate,” explained Jannah Greenblatt, who opened Little Roy with her husband, Moe Gabr, after having lived in Bed-Stuy nearly a full decade. While it has less green space than fellow neighborhoods, it’s also where brownstones and block parties reign. The thrumming neighborhood swelled with restaurants and bars over the past decade, but the streets surrounding Herbert Von King Park remained mostly residential—until Little Roy opened its doors.

Von King Park is romantic in this way. Groomed but not manicured, it’s replete with tree-lined paths, basketball courts, playgrounds, and a baseball field; a generous amphitheater vibes with live performances, and shaded lawns host birthday parties and Sunday sunbathers. Here, community thrives.

Greenblatt and Gabr opened Little Roy in order to extend this experience—to offer space for the community to linger, and to enjoy the park—perhaps in a more caffeinated manner.

“We designed the space to connect to the park and atmosphere,” explains Gabr. “The standard approach would have a bigger operations side, which means you have the bar on one side of the interior,” explains Gabr. “But you would really diminish the space for a seating area, and for people to enjoy the park—so our focus was to really give the people the space.”

Gabr has made the most out of 500 square feet. The glass storefront opens into a stylish seating area; its walnut banquette seats plenty along one side, and a handful of tables with black Windsor-style chairs seat more on the other. A cosmic, brass light fixture of interconnecting globes adds contemporary spirit to the already sunlit interiors, and white, geometric wainscoting stretches across the walls and counter to give the cafe its subtle, Brooklyn edge (can you guess that he owns an interior design boutique?).

It’s crisp and minimal, so as not to distract from the bigger picture: the parkside view.

Perfect for a hot Brooklyn summer, Little Roy is pouring necessary cold brews, which they’re making with Caffé Vita’s chocolatey Theo Blend. For espresso, drinks are made with selections from Counter Culture Coffee.

“We’re planning other refreshing non-caffeinated drinks that have an Egyptian, or Middle-Eastern influence, sort of melding it with something that’s accessible or interesting to people here,” says Jannah, paying homage to Moe’s Egyptian roots.

On the menu now, Moe’s Helba Latte is a popular curiosity. Traditionally served with warm milk, Moe crafts his own version in latte form with fenugreek, ginger, turmeric, and honey. In coming months, they plan to add items like iced licorice tea—it’s dark, naturally sweet, and popular in Egypt.

Pastries by local bakers, like Ovenly and Bed-Stuy’s Saraghina, line the counter with croissants and slices of pistachio-cardamom loaves. On the menu, Moe’s heritage embellishes classic cafe fare; an essential avocado toast is front and center, while fig and goat cheese toast gets a sprinkle of za’atar. The house-made hummus was one of the first dishes to land, while an egg-in-a-hole recently made an appearance, along with a grilled cheese that’s brightened with preserved lemon and oregano.

And there’s one appearance you can all but guarantee: You’ll spot the neighborhood’s best friends, from terriers to retrievers, awaiting their owners alongside the cafe’s outdoor benches—here, the water bowl is always on the house.

Little Roy Coffee Co. is located at 571 Greene Ave, Brooklyn. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook and Instagram.

Keith Flanagan is a freelance writer and photographer based in Brooklyn, contributing to Condé Nast Traveler, Tasting Table, USA Today, Paste Magazine, The Robb Report, and more. Read more Keith Flanagan on Sprudge.

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