Will Central Perk Be There For You In The Near Future?

Remember that Central Perk pop-up a few years back, the one by Eight O’Clock Coffee that intrepid Sprudge reporter Eric J. Grimm ventured into one sunny September day? Well, rumor has it that the Friends-inspired coffee shop may become a full-time brick-and-mortar cafe.

According to Food & Wine, Warner Bros. Entertainment has trademarked the Central Perk, which has many speculating that a cafe or entire chain of them may start appearing across the country. The trademark was granted “not only for the name ‘Central Perk,’ but also its logo, for potential use with ‘Coffee shop and café services; coffee bars; tea bars; snack bars.’”

The article notes that simply trademarking the main hangout spot for the sextet doesn’t necessarily mean a coffee shop is in the works. But, given that Warner Bros. already owns the rights to the show, which includes “the rights to the content within the show”—including the fictional cafe—it only makes sense to trademark the Central Perk if they have plans to do something with it. Like, say, opening a coffee shop.

Admittedly, I hope a full-time Central Perk doesn’t actually happen; these TV-inspired cafes are always best as one-off pop-ups. Remember the Luke’s Diners that popped up everywhere and were wildly popular amongst Gilmore Girls fanatics champing at the bit for the new season on Netflix? It was a great idea, but hardly seems the kitschiness of the concept could actually sustain a business long after the excitement had died down and all that was left was the coffee. And then “Luke” (aka actor Scott Patterson) bro’d out a coffee company Scotty P’s Big Mug Coffee, and we all knew it had gone too far. So, please, Friends, quit while you’re ahead. No one wants Matty P’s Could This BE Anymore Coffee.

Zac Cadwalader is the news editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.

*top image via friends.wikia.com.

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The Art Of Pour: An Interview With Coffee Art Author Dhan Tamang

I’ll be the first to admit that my latte arts skills are abysmal. One of the best pours I ever did was a really nice, symmetrical heart (when I was trying to pour a rosetta). If you want a consistent 100g of water per minute poured in concentric circles until the cows come home, then I’m your guy. But if you want anything above a worm or, if you’re really lucky, a sad stalk of wheat on top of your cappuccino, then you’re better suited to look literally anywhere else.

But I’m not the only one; there are dozens of us—DOZENS!—that can’t pour latte art worth a hoot. Dhan Tamang is not one of those people. Tamang is the five-time reigning UK Latte Art Champion, placing as high as fourth in the World Latte Art Championship in 2016. Also the owner of Coffee Lab UK, Tamang is looking to share his knowledge and technique with those who wish to step up their latte art skills in his new book Coffee Art.

Written with the home barista in mind, Tamang’s new book provides step-by-step instruction, including photos, on how anyone (author excluded, I can’t be saved) can create better latte art. Starting with the ABCs of pouring—creating the base and free-pouring—Tamang takes readers through a progression of recognizable patterns: hearts, tulips, and rosettas. With those solidly in hand, the book moves on to more advanced free-pour designs as well as providing instruction on a litany of etching, color, and even 3D art. Tamang also includes designs of his own invention, many of which he used in competition.

To learn more about the book and the person behind it, I sat down with Dhan Tamang (via electronic communique), who was nice enough to take time out of his busy day running six cafes outside London.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

Photo via @DhanTamang1 on Instagram.

Hey Dhan, thanks for speaking with us. Can you tell our readers a little bit about how you got into latte art?

I have been making coffee since 2007, so coming up on 11 years. When I started making coffee—with chocolate syrup—I used to draw just on the top of hot chocolates and mochas and I noticed that the customers’ reactions were priceless. I’ve always believed that keeping customers satisfied and meeting their expectations is the key for any successful business. In fact, I was unfamiliar with anything about latte art at that time.

Gradually my curiosity and questions developed regarding what would happen if I were able to create some wonderful coffee art just like in the hot chocolates and mochas. Then I started to search on the internet, and luckily there were materials on latte art and I commenced learning the techniques and skills all from YouTube. I’ve never been trained from any other latte artist, so massive thanks to YouTube for being my instructor.

Photo by Jason Ingram

Where did the idea for the book come from?

After winning the UK Latte Art Championships, I continually looked for some new challenges. I questioned what initiatives or contributions I could make to benefit the coffee industry as I believe sharing is caring; the more we share the coffee skills and knowledge to the masses, the more the value of the coffee industry will grow and appreciate. Through the route of book, my aspiration is to educate more people about the artistic elements of coffee and share the fun parts of it.

How long did it take you to complete?

It took us around two to three months to complete.

Photo by Jason Ingram

What skill level of latte artist is your book written for?

The fundamental part of this book is that it targets all levels of coffee artist, from very basic to advanced levels (black belt level). It includes 60 incredible coffee art designs with easy-to-follow and entirely demonstrated instructions for all skill levels.

You include many designs of your own creation in the book, many that you used in World Latte Art competitions. Which ones are you most proud of?

Overall, I’m very proud of all of the designs, but there are some of my favorites in the books: the Dragon, the Jumping Dolphin, and the Unicorn.

Photo via @DhanTamang1 on Instagram.

You also include tutorials for types of latte art—3D designs, colorful etchings, etc—that aren’t common in today’s specialty cafes. Would you like to see these things in shops more often? Do you think there is room for them given their generally time-consuming nature?

I believe every coffee shop has a different way of running and their target audiences will all be different, so there will be some cafes that can use 3D designs or some colorful etchings. However, these types of designs are more favorable for the home barista rather than a busy coffee shop.

Photo by Jason Ingram

Ok, last question. When you as a Latte Art Champion are working a bar shift, what’s your go-to pour? What do you find yourself doing most often?

When I work a bar shift, I normally pour tulips, rosettas, or swans. But sometimes I prefer a rose or a different etched design, but mostly I stick with free pours.

Thanks, Dhan.

Coffee Art retails for £10 ($12.99 USD) and is available through Octopus Books and major book retailers.

Zac Cadwalader is the news editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.

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DC’s Coffee District Hosts International Throwdowns In New Orleans & Milan

Organizing latte art throwdowns is normally the yeoman’s work of a local coffee community, a night of tangential coffee-related events meant more as a informal hang than a competition of tulip tiers. The keyword here is “normally.” Coffee District, the group behind D.C.’s local coffee events, is breaking that mold by hosting back-to-back international sister throwdowns, one in New Orleans and one in Milan, Italy.

These throwdowns are the first efforts by Coffee District to take their parties on the road and show the rest of the world a good time. The inaugural event will take place February 1^st at Cherry Espresso Bar in New Orleans, the first of what Coffee District hopes to be a yearly tradition of hosting a throwdown in a new city in the US. Then, they will be hopping the pond for the following night’s festivities at Orsonero Coffee in Milan as part of a bi-monthly event series around cafes in Italy.

But this is still a throwdown, so there are going to be prizes for putting milk in espresso with high levels of artistry. The winner of the NOLA throwdown will take home the total of all the entry fees in cash ($160 assuming all 32 spots are filled), a Gesha plant from Coava Coffee, an Acaia Gold Pearl Scale, and a trophy. The Milan throwdown champion wins the entry fees in cash (€96) and a bag of Gardelli Coffees competition coffee!

Both Coffee District events require pre-registration via Eventbrite, which can be done here and here for the NOLA and Milan events, respectively. For more information visit Coffee District’s Facebook event pages.

Zac Cadwalader is the news editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.

*all images via Coffee District

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Art In The Cafe: A Conversation With May Barruel Of Stumptown Coffee

I believe in the power of cafe walls.

Growing up in Tacoma, Washington, my first exposure to visual art and coffee went hand in hand, at long-departed coffee bars like The Usual and Temple of the Bean, whose interior doubled as a rotating gallery space for local artists. There’s something so obvious and intuitive about it, the non-discursive linearity of sipping a mug of something warm and looking at a canvas of something cool. It felt so natural to teenage me: “I’m at a cafe, the coolest place I can possibly imagine, and there is art, of course, because that is also cool.”

20 years (give or take) and a great many cafe hours later, I feel exactly the same way. Coffee bars can remain as glorious repositories of art and culture; I would argue that, in fact, that coffee bars should exhibit art, if they are so able, as a kind of public expression of the greater good, supporting emerging artists along the way. You might not be a professional art critic, or an art collector, but you can go to a cafe that features rotating artists, and that means something.

Here in Portland, where Sprudge is published, we’ve long cherished the ever-changing collections exhibited at places like The Red E Cafe (1006 N Killingsworth St) and The Red Fox (5128 N Albina Ave), and at May Barruel’s extraordinary Nationale (3360 SE Division St), an art gallery, book and magazine shop in the heart of busy SE Division Street. Nationale carries my favorite magazine, and is kaleidoscopic in the range of artists and voices it exhibits, from sculpture to oil painting to photography. Openings and talks are always free to attend, and those looking to purchase work can do so on a payment plan. Nationale’s manifesto on the meaning of art collection is a must-read, and in it, Barruel writes:

…[it is] important to consider the broader positive effects of collecting art. When you purchase a painting, sculpture, photograph, and so forth, you are supporting ideas and creativity, not just of the individual maker but of a larger circle. Every purchase ricochets, especially in a small community such as Portland, and affects more than just the one artist—it creates a culture of collecting in which art and ideas are valued in a very tangible way.

In late 2017, Stumptown Coffee Roasters hired on May Barruel to curate its newly launched Stumptown Artist Fellowship program, continuing her long-running work with the company (she started there as a barista in 2005). Artists selected for the program receive a $2,000 grant from Stumptown, and have their works exhibited at the newly remodeled Stumptown coffee bar in downtown Portland (128 SW 3rd Ave). The first exhibition launched in December, featuring the works of Wendy Red Star, a Portland-based multimedia artist whose work confronts and subverts popular conceptions of Native American cultural representation. It’s a stunning exhibit, and sets a new standard for the cafe as public art space—photos of the exhibit appear throughout this feature.

Wendy Red Star’s show closes this week, making way for the work of artist Jennifer Brommer, a Portland and Brooklyn based portrait and fashion photographer whose photo installation Memphis explores race and class in the American south. In advance of this launch, and with commentary on the last days of the exhibition from Wendy Red Star, I spoke with May Barruel about her role curating the Artist Fellowship at Stumptown, art’s place in the cafe, and why Wendy Red Star’s work feels so vital right now.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. 

Hello May Barruel, and thank you for speaking with me. Give our readers  a little bit of background on how you came to have your current role with Stumptown.

I started working for Stumptown in the spring of 2005, first as a barista and then as the manager for the Annex.

In 2007, when the art curator position became available I applied for it and was offered the Downtown cafe. I’ve been curating that space ever since.

What do you see as art’s role in the cafe?

It’s interesting to be asked this question right after the recent remodel. When we re-opened in early December, we were waiting for everything to be dried and painted before installing Wendy Red Star’s show, and so the walls were bare for almost a week. Walking in the cafe felt very cold, almost as if there were no life to the space. The baristas were all telling me, “I can’t wait for the art to go up!” And once it did, it was a complete transformation. So with that in mind, I’d say a huge role of art in the cafe is for the space to come alive, to have a soul in a way.

Another important role is that the monthly exhibitions in three of our Portland cafes have, in a way, been supporting artists ever since our beginnings in 1999 by providing them a space to show their work in a professional manner, reach new audiences, and hopefully make some sales to pay for that ever more expensive art studio.

Finally, I’m always thinking about our customers and staff, and hope the art I choose can add something special or unexpected to their day, whether it’s visual or something more existential.

Growing up I can think of a few specific cafes in the Seattle and Tacoma area (where I’m from) that featured rotated art shows. These spaces left an impression on me, and I’m curious if you have similar cafes from yesteryear whose approach to art inspired you?

I grew up in France where, as far as I can remember, cafes don’t really show art being made at that moment. After moving to Portland in 2000, I first started noticing art outside of traditional galleries at places like the Albina Press (curated at the time by Gretchen Vaudt), Valentine’s (curated at the time by Jen Olesen), and Stumptown (curated at the time by Daniel Gonzalez). I also remember big art parties like the Alphabet Dress and the Modern Zoo, which were thrown by artist-run DIY collectives. These very much informed my wanting to be involved in the visual arts scene.

How did you come to work with the artist Wendy Red Star?

When I first met our CEO, Sean Sullivan, we talked about his vision for the Downtown cafe, how art was going to have a greater place in it with the remodeling, and he told me to “aim high.” He asked specifically, “If you could show anyone in Portland, who would it be?”  Wendy was one of the first artists who came to mind. I had seen her work last year at the Portland Art Museum and it had a strong impact on me. I reached out to her and she accepted to be the first artist to show at the cafe after the remodel. We did not tell her about the Stumptown Artist Fellowship until we announced the program in early December and her as the first recipient. I love the fact that after showing in numerous museums and larger institutions, she was excited to show in a coffee shop. When I talked to her about that, she mentioned having always wanted to show in a coffee shop and being somewhat disappointed when she was in college that her friends would get shows and she didn’t. So she said she saw the exhibition as her homecoming and loved the idea of being able to show to a large audience here in Portland where she lives.

Why do you think work like Wendy Red Star’s is so vital to exhibit in a public space?  

First of all, I love that people who either can’t afford to visit museums or don’t have the habit, will get to see her work. There is something very democratic about that.

I think it’s important as well to show work which is not just purely visual or “pretty,” but which also asks the audience to take a moment out of their busy lives to reflect on the past and on the world we live in. The series Wendy is presenting is very subtle but also extremely powerful. We have to look at ourselves while looking at these life size portraits of Crow women. Our environment/world is reflected in the work, you might catch someone in the “background” taking a selfie with their latte art, it is such a shocking and somewhat absurd contrast from the world these women inhabited. I’m also thinking about Wendy’s statement. How she wrote, “Since leaving my reservation at age 18 to attend college I have often felt alone,” and so the idea of these Crow children and women being there is important in that they would make her, and others like her, feel less alone when they visit the space.

Thank you. 

Wendy Red Star’s exhibition at Stumptown’s Downtown Portland closes Wednesday, January 31st. A reception for incoming artist Jennifer Brommer will be held on Wednesday, February 7th from 5-7pm. Attendance is free and open to the public. 

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

Disclosure: Stumptown Coffee Roasters is an advertising partner on Sprudge Media Network. 

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New York City’s Little Skips Gets a Little Bigger

How to differentiate yourself? It’s the question on the lips of all small-business owners—especially those in a specialty coffee landscape as densely packed as that of today’s New York City. But for Little Skips owner Linda Thach, the answer to that question always came easily: just be who you are, especially if who you are is full of positive energy.

When last we checked in with Little Skips in 2014, Thach had made a name for her coffee spot with a good-vibes community atmosphere nonpareil, in what seemed then (or when it opened in 2010) to be an unseemly, askew-angled intersection underneath Bushwick’s noisy J/M/Z trains. Today, Skips is a three-shop tiny empire, a family of charming cafes all a bit different—Little Skips, Baby Skips, and 2017’s Little Skips East—each of which effuses the authentic charm and positive energy of the first Skips. And though every new shop is sleeker than the last, they all feel like you’ve stepped into someplace like home, someplace different than everywhere else to get coffee in New York City. And yes, they’re all still camped out under the elevated train tracks.

“When I opened [the first] Skips, I loved the Brooklynness of the space,” says Thach over a sunny morning chat in her newest location, Little Skips East at Broadway and Covert Street. Inside Little Skips East, few traces of her flagship cafe’s boho charm remain, instead making way for new touches such as bright white walls and tile and a lively mural. Accent walls are painted in a vivid aqua Thach tells me is called Poolside Blue, a color that echoes, at least that day, the highlights in Thach’s own hair. Bright orange mini Le Creuset pots dot the tables, part of the owner’s affection for vintage. They form a straight line from her fondness for things old, and loved, to her awakening to more sunny, vivid spaces.

At Little Skips’ original location, Thach says she was enthralled with keeping its original elements—a wood floor patina’d with years of motor oil, brick walls, and the signage from the carburetor shop it once was. “Back in the day when you came to Brooklyn, you’d think of places like that,” says Thach. “Now the shift is happening and you expect places to look like this and Baby Skips, and I enjoy brighter spaces now.”

The brighter spaces—still full of their own unique character—that make up today’s Little Skips family also includes Baby Skips, a pocket cafe adjoining Banh Mi fusion restaurant Little Mo, both of which recently reopened after a months-long Metropolitan Transit Authority project removing part of the M train infrastructure directly overhead. During the shutdown, the MTA covered Thach’s rent, allowing her and business partners Mitch McCann and Hector Marcel to focus on opening the new Little Skips East.

At Little Skips East, you’ll find Counter Culture Coffee—as at the other Skips—prepared (obsessively, Thach might say) with skills a cut above cafes in the neighboring Bushwick and Bed-Stuy communities. You’ll also find feature roasters here, like Brooklyn locals City of Saints, and vegetarian-forward food options such as a tempeh BLT with vegan cilantro aioli or microgreen-sprinkled avocado toast. The menu realizes the coffee and love portions of the shop’s would-be mantra, COFFEE ART LOVE, painted broadly on the storefront. And the art?

Art was “the reason I moved to New York, the reason I moved to Bushwick,” says Thach, seated in front of billowing wall art by Morgan Winters, whose work festoons the walls of Baby Skips as well. Little Skips’ original store has an exterior mural that rotates throughout the year, and hosts live music and open mic nights as part of its evening entertainment. For Thach, bringing art and artists into the fold is a big part, but just one part, of the essential community-building she works toward at each of her cafes—something hard to do in the crosshairs of rapid gentrification.

“The neighborhood wasn’t gentrified when I opened Little Skips and we had a more diverse clientele then,” Thach admits. “I was able to go down the block and offer our neighbors coffee and invite them in. But that’s something we strive to do still. We look for opportunities to work with people in the community. There’s a women’s shelter down the street that we take food to every night,” Thach says, though she is aware that much has changed in the eight years since Skips was a newcomer.

“I’ve been battling this since I opened and had so much criticism and this and that, and I say look, I didn’t come to gentrify anything, I came to open a business and this was the only place that I could afford,” she says. “Perhaps the neighborhood received me better because I’m Asian. I watched people’s kids, I was invited to BBQs on the block. I really seek out events like that to make sure we’re doing our part and not just existing here and not realizing where we’re at. It’s the responsibility of a business owner to make sure that you’re aware of your presence and your surroundings.”

For now, the surroundings of Little Skips East still don’t feel that gentrified. There are still plenty of 99-cent stores, discount clothiers, and nail salons under these shadowy tracks. But as the shop moves forward—Thach and her partners were just approved for a beer and wine license in early January—its founder emphasizes her hope that it’ll grow in tandem with the neighborhood, not just as a capsule within it.

“We have to allow for integration, no matter who it is,” she says. “If you’re only surrounded by the same type of people, your field of view is just so narrow that you can’t understand someone else. If you have neighbors who are diverse and are different, I feel like everyone should be open to it. If you’re in someone’s neighborhood, everyone needs to be open.”

And will her neighborhood always be this secret playground stretching under the J/M/Z tracks?

“I’m never leaving this train,” Thach says, laughing. “The J/M/Z is just my whole life.”

Little Skips East is located at 1643 Broadway Brooklyn. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Liz Clayton is the associate editor at Sprudge Media Network. Her world coffee guide with Avidan Ross, Where to Drink Coffee, is out now on Phaidon Press. Read more Liz Clayton on Sprudge.

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¿Pods de Especialidad? 7 Conversaciones del Festival de Café en Nueva York

Piensa en la Ciudad de Nueva York, y pensarás en café. Bueno, sí, probablemente también pienses en la Estatua de la Libertad y en el Empire State Building, pero definitivamente has de pensar en café.

Así que cuando Allegra Events organizó el segundo Festival anual de café de Nueva York, no fue sorpresa que este fuera un rotundo éxito. Muchos neoyorquinos asistieron al evento, y también personas de muy lejos vinieron para ser parte de esta exposición que duró dos días y medio. Los expositores exhibieron productos de Corea, Sudáfrica, Kenia, entre otros.

Una gran variedad de equipos para café, comida, música y arte, junto a unos 70 proveedores de café, estuvieron presentes en el evento, así como un laboratorio destinado para la realización de cursos/talleres y competencias de café. En todas partes, la gente tomaba café, miraba café, compraba café y, por supuesto, hablaba de café. Aquí están las siete conversaciones que tuvimos en este magnifico evento.

English Version: Specialty Coffee Pods? 7 Convos at New York Coffee Festival

1. Ciencia del Café

David Donde de Truth Coffee, Ciudad del Cabo

David Donde, propietario de Truth Coffee, es un visionario de Sudáfrica a quien se le atribuye llevar el flat White a la ciudad del Cabo. “¡es mi culpa!” dijo con gestos.

Pero no es esa la razón por la que David estuvo aquí. Se le ocurrió una serie de conceptos únicos, y estuvo presente como juez en las competiciones y como conferencista en el programa de laboratorio. Su tema fue la preinfusión en la preparación de inmersión. Alerta de spoiler: El café sabe mejor si lo preinfusionas con agua tibia durante cinco minutos antes de verter el agua caliente.

Su conferencia, que duró 30 minutos, incluyó una degustación de dos experimentos diferentes realizados por él y su equipo, fue muy emocionante. De hecho, cualquier conversación con él es entretenida. Está constantemente al borde de ofender a la gente, feliz de admitir que es anti orgánico y anti fairtrade, y lleno de un entusiasmo contagioso. Probablemente nunca haya conocido a un extraño y debo decir que su tostador funciona con aceite de cocina.

Veo a Truth Coffee convirtiéndose en un nombre familiar entre los aficionados al café de especialidad, si no es que ya lo es.

VER TAMBIÉN: ¿A Dónde va la Industria del Café? Información del WOC 2017

David Donde de Truth Coffee comparte sus hallazgos sobre la preinfusión en el New York Coffee Festival.

2. Chocolates & Acompañamiento para el Café

Robert Dunn de Raaka Chocolate, Brooklyn, NY

Brian Beyke de Quills Coffee y I Brew my Own Coffee

Estamos viendo cómo el chocolate de especialidad se está sirviendo cada vez más en las tiendas de café, y así mismo, entendemos que los granos de café y del cacao crecen en regiones similares. Pero Robert Dunn, de Raaka Chocolate, mostró su lado técnico y explicó que hay aún más similitudes entre estos dos placeres. Además de la cafeína, el café y el chocolate, también tienen en común la teobromina, un compuesto químico que te hace sentir bien.

Además, Raaka Chocolate es parte de la tendencia de tratar al cacao como al café: en lugar de tostar los granos, fabrica barras de chocolate utilizando chocolate virgen. Es una práctica similar a la de los tostadores artesanales, que controlan los tiempos de tostado y las temperaturas con la finalidad de preservar los mejores sabores en los granos.

Brian Beyke, de Quills Coffee y coautor del podcast I Brew My Own Coffee, también ha estado explorando el rol del chocolate de especialidad y de origen único, tratando de ver como este encaja en la vida de un aficionado al café. Él ha estado probando su propio paladar para detectar los diferentes matices en el chocolate y, aunque admite que son características diferentes a las del café, cree que hay un mercado para que los dos coexistan.

De hecho, menciona que si bien, el café filtrado es más propenso a la influencia de los ricos chocolates, muchas barras de chocolate especiales pueden ponerse al par de un espresso e incluso resaltar sus notas.

¿Se convertirá la combinación del café y el chocolate, en un maridaje armonioso, como lo es la combinación entre el vino y el queso? Solo el tiempo lo dirá. Pero Brian estuvo feliz de dar fé de que el café balanceado de El Salvador, que él estaba bebiendo, se realzaba con un chocolate de Tanzania. Teniendo en cuenta la concordancia del mismo con las notas florales y de fruta del café. ¿Intrigado? Tal vez es buen momento para ir por una degustación de chocolate y café a una tienda cercana.

Granos de cacao y el chocolate de degustación adornan la mesa Raaka Virgin Chocolate.

3. Mezclas Chai

Brian Haas de Prana Chai, Portland, Oregon

Dona Chai, Brooklyn, New York

¿Por qué exhibir tés con especias en un festival de café? Porque además de que no a todas las personas les gusta el café, beber chai es como beber el otoño en una pequeña taza.

Aunque no es nada nuevo para nuestros amigos australianos, Prana Chai todavía se está abriendo camino en el resto de los continentes, haciendo esto con diligencia y con mucho orgullo. Su chai, “amigable con los baristas”, está hecho con especias enteras y es ligeramente cubierto con miel orgánica, listo para mezclarse con leche para un latte complejo. Brian Haas, MD de Prana Chai North America, presentó sus bebidas usando leche de almendra y soya. Explicó que los sabores de las especias y el té a veces se pueden perder a través del contenido de grasa de la leche de vaca, por lo que, para acentuar realmente el sabor, se utilizan productos alternativos a los lácteos.

Entre los vendedores de té chai, estaba Dona Chai, con sede en Brooklyn. A pesar de tener solo dos años, Dona Chai está disponible en más de 200 cafés, y todavía conserva el ambiente de negocio familiar. Se enorgullece de su “chai de Nueva York”, moliendo sus propias especias y trabajando con vainilla y miel de caña para crear una bebida para los sentidos.

Mezcla de té fragante de Prana Chai en exhibición.

4. Cápsulas de café: La versión de la Especialidad

Ekobrew Coffee Pods

Puede parecer sorprendente que en el New York Coffee Festival hubiera un puesto para los propietarios de máquinas Keurig, y también que Perfect Daily Grind tenga un artículo al respecto. Pero lo que llamó mi atención fue el hecho de que la empresa matriz de Bonavita haya comprado recientemente Eko Coffee Pods.

Sabemos que el precio del café en cápsulas, es de un promedio de US $ 35 / libra, y que las cápsulas generalmente no son reciclables. Pero en la actualidad, Ekobrew ofrece una solución a ambos problemas, y a su vez te permite usar café de especialidad. ¿Usarías café recién molido, recién tostado, y de origen único en una cápsula reutilizable y reciclable, sabiendo que Keurig haría el resto del trabajo? Esta sin duda es una pregunta para reflexionar.

Si bien sabemos que los amantes de la tercera ola adoran los nuevos juguetes, por alguna razón, sería interesante ver hasta qué punto este producto podría ser adoptado en el futuro.

5. Chemex Personalizado

Eliza Grassy de Chemex, Chicopee Massachusetts

La cafetera Chemex Ottomatic sin duda mantiene a la multitud cerca, pero lo que realmente nos atrae de ella son sus nuevas opciones de personalización. El Chemex fue inventado en Brooklyn, y la empresa familiar celebra su aniversario número setenta y cinco este año. El Chemex ahora se puede obtener con grabado de vidrio, grabado láser en el collar y las cuentas y con las bandas de cuero de diferentes colores.

Echa un vistazo a mi video en Periscope grabado durante el festival, que incluye tanto las jarras Ottomatic como las personalizadas.

El nuevo Chemex tiene varias opciones diferentes para personalizarlo.

6. Conversaciones Club del Café

Arnold Byun de NYU Coffee Club, Universidad de Nueva York

Como alumno de la Universidad de California, en Davis, este escritor de Perfect Daily Grind ha seguido con una gran emoción las noticias sobre la colaboración entre UC Davis y “Peet’s Coffee” para la expansión del programa de café de este último. También disfruté percatarme del hecho, que las personas que preparaban el café, en forma manual, en los Chemex más pequeños durante el evento, eran voluntarios del Coffee Club de la Universidad de Nueva York.

El club es patrocinado por Chemex (entre otros) y fue una gran oportunidad para que de esta manera los estudiantes formarán parte del  New York Coffee Festival.

El fundador del club, Arnold Byun, explica que la misión del Coffee Club es destacar el espíritu emprendedor de sus integrantes aumentando su conocimiento, sobre el café de especialidad, a través de catas y cursos en los distintas tiendas de café dentro de la ciudad.

Dado que la cultura del café va de la mano con la vida estudiantil, es bueno ver que la educación y la pasión por el café sean fomentadas por las universidades. Y desde que conocí a la gente de NYU Coffee Club, me he encontrado ya con varios clubes universitarios de café. Solo me gustaría saber por qué esto no se miraba antes, como por ejemplo, en el tiempo en que yo aún era un estudiante universitario.

7. Productos de Belleza

Mark Guerino de 2nd Ground, Brooklyn, Nueva York

La reutilización de la molienda sobrante, al colar el café, ha ido creciendo popularmente. Esta tiene funcionalidades que van desde su uso como compostaje hasta servir como un desodorante ambiental. Y también estamos empezando a utilizarla para fabricar productos de belleza.

Mark Guerino, del punk 2nd Ground, la recicla y la convierte en jabón exfoliante y velas aromatizantes. En el jabón, las partículas se concentran en un solo lado, es decir, que un lado de la barra es ideal para exfoliar suavemente y el otro lo es para enjabonar. El nivel de pensamiento que últimamente se le ha puesto a esto, indica cuán serio estamos tomando en cuenta la idea de fabricar productos de belleza ecológicos a base de café.

Borra de café reciclada y convertida en jabón, 2nd Ground.

Había docenas de vendedores, y todos destacaban una amplia gama de cosas: cold brews, accesorios de café, información acerca de las diferentes regiones de café, sustentabilidad ambiental y mucho más. El arte del café junto con la música en vivo mantuvieron a todos emocionados y creativos, y finalmente, llegaría la emoción de los cursos y las competencias de café.

Si hay algo que es cierto, es que los festivales de café son un gran lugar para ver las tendencias de la industria y participar en las innovadoras conversaciones que la conforman. ¿Qué pensaste sobre el festival del año pasado? No dejes de enviarnos tus comentarios y dejárnoslo saber.

VER TAMBIÉN: ¿A Dónde va la Industria del Café? Información del WOC 2017

Escrito por D. Kilbride. Crédito de la fotos: D. Kilbride.

Perfect Daily Grind y editado por Ricardo Gallopp R.

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Pu’er: The Fermented Tea That Everyone Wants to Try

Deep within the forests of Yunnan, China, a special type of tea is made, one that is unlike any other: Pu’er.

Pu’er tea has been sold for hundreds of dollars per pound, has been plagued by fakes, and is a mainstay on a specialty tea menu. But what’s so special about this brew? Let’s find out…

You might also like: Do You Know Your 6 Main Tea Types?

Brewing Pu’er tea. Credit: Ayden Graham, KUURA tea company

Why You Should Know About Pu’er Tea

Pu’er tea (also spelled pu-erh or sometimes puer) has a long history, but it’s only recently that it’s become one of the tea industry’s golden children.

Yunnan is one of the poorest provinces in China, but when you visit this region, you’re also visiting part of the area where tea originated from (P. Okinda Owuor, The Oxford Handbook of Food Fermentations).  Coffee-lovers may also recognize Yunnan as the area that grows most of China’s coffee.

Yunnan’s most famous tea? Pu’er.

Yet until 20 or so years ago, this was one of the cheapest types of tea you could buy, going for mere cents or dollars per kilogram. It wasn’t until the ‘90s and early ‘00s that the boom began – and it soon reached feverish heights. The relaxation of China’s borders helped encourage this. So too did the twin ideas of uniqueness and exclusivity: Pu’er tea gets better with age, meaning each experience is different.

This led to a speculative market, with an ever-increasing demand for scarce supplies of high-quality, old-tree tea material from villages that rose quickly to fame for their terroir. The price rose until 2007, with buyers paying hundreds of dollars for a pound of fresh tea from particular regions, before crashing. It crashed again in 2011. But fast-forward to today and prices continue to rise.

Young plantation tea trees, with taller shade trees interspersed. Credit: Ayden Graham, KUURA tea company

What Is Pu’er Tea?

Pu’er tea starts off not too different from a green tea; in fact, on paper, it even appears to be processed the same way. There is one key difference though.

Tea goes through a “fixing” or “roasting” stage that halts oxidation, the process by which tea leaves darken and gain stronger flavours. (In other words, the darker the tea, the more oxidised it is and the stronger the flavours.)

However, with Pu’er tea, the roasting stages allows enough enzymes to remain active within the leaf that, over the course of several years, fermentation takes place. The tea slowly goes from green to red to brown, and the flavour changes to match: smoother, sweeter, darker, more complex, and with unique aged flavours that you can’t get any other way.

Fresh Pu’er leaves going through roasting stage. Credit: Ayden Graham, KUURA tea company

Not all Pu’er tea is the same, though! In fact, there are two main types: raw (sheng), the type described above, and ripe (shou), which has an extra step.

With ripe Pu’er, the tea is piled together in large amounts (hundreds of kilograms at a time) and sprayed with water. It’s then covered and regularly turned for around two months in a hot and humid environment, leading to a very purposeful fermentation that makes the tea as dark and thick as coffee and as smooth as good chocolate.

This process was initially developed to mimic the raw Pu’er that had been naturally aged over many years. It lacks the same complexity; however, it’s still incredibly smooth and unique. As of such, it’s produced and enjoyed in its own right.

Both types of tea, once picked and processed, are then sold to various tea buyers before being compressed into small cakes or bricks, wrapped, shipped, stored, sold, and drunk.

Finished tea being blended, weighed, and pressed into the disc shape before being wrapped. Credit: Ayden Graham, KUURA tea company

Pu’er Tea: Why Do Consumers Love It?

Simply put, its unique qualities: a strong, bitter taste that rewards you with intense lingering sweetness; unmatched complexity; and, most importantly, the ability to age it like wine or whisky, accumulating value as the years go by.

There is a Pu’er tea for everyone. Some can be intensely fruity, sweet, and floral; others are more like whisky with subtle flavours of smoke, wood, earthiness, and burly base notes. Depending on how it was stored and its age, all kinds of unique fermentation flavours can make for interesting mature teas.

You might also like Tea Brewing Guide: How Water Quality Affects Flavour

Pu’er drinkers are often obsessive, collecting various teas each year to pad out their collection with various regions and qualities: some tea to drink now; some to drink in 10 years; some tea to invest in and sell down the line when the price has, hopefully, gone up significantly.

Due to Pu’er tea’s rocket to fame, fakes abound. Many famous teas have been faked so frequently that they have become almost impossible to buy, even if you have the money. It becomes a game of connections. Thankfully, there is plenty of great tea to be had that hasn’t been hyped to infinity, but it still pays to have trustworthy suppliers.

The differences in colour between young raw Pu’er, old raw Pu’er, and ripe Pu’er. Credit: Ayden Graham, KUURA tea company

Yunnan: The Key to Incredible Tea

The other main appeal of Pu’er tea that is hard to find anywhere else is the amazing natural resources of Yunnan. Thanks to its historical remoteness and low level of development, the region’s natural environment has been well preserved.

Many other tea-growing regions have become increasingly industrialised, as labour costs have led to mechanisation instead of hand-picking and processing. Yunnan, however, is still home to many groves of old tea trees, growing semi-wild in the mountains and forests. Some of the oldest trees currently known of are in the 1,000 or so years age range but are protected and too old to harvest. That being said, you can buy tea from 100–300-year-old tea trees with a degree of certainty – although you will pay heavily for it, and there are many fakes out there.

Tea tree age has become synonymous with quality and price, and as such there is much more tea made from “800-year-old trees” than actually exists. Old tree tea, referred to as ‘gushu’, is worth the price, though; it’s noticeably thicker, smoother, and with more depth of flavour.

An old tea tree, several metres tall, in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan. Credit: Ayden Graham, KUURA tea company

These old trees, as well as trees that are a “mere” 40 or so years old, are often found growing in lush, untouched natural environments with incredible biodiversity. When you think of a tea plantation, you likely think of neat rows of bushes, all the same and at waist height for easy picking. Yet tea has to be constantly pruned to remain this way. In contrast, many tea gardens in Yunnan are made up of trees that were planted in previous generations and left to grow unattended when tea was worth less than rice. As such, they have grown tall and thick like a proper tree, with deep root structures and a diverse range of plant life surrounding them.

This type of tea has become so valued that many farmers in Yunnan don’t use any agrochemicals and intervene minimally with the plants. They know that this is what customers demand – and will pay the highest price for.

So, is Pu’er tea worth the hype? Yes. With vast diversity in flavours, ages, exact origins, and prices, everyone can enjoy Pu’er. And after all, no two brews will be the same. So why not go ahead and try some for yourself? Discover what all the fuss is about.

You might also like: Do You Know Your 6 Main Tea Types?

Written by Ayden Graham of KUURA tea company.

Perfect Daily Grind

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Grumpy Cat Successfully Sues Coffee Company For $700,000

Remember when things on the internet were cute and fun for the sake of being cute and fun and not for monetary gain? Me neither. According to an article in the Telegraph, Grumpy Cat has successfully sued a coffee company for £500,000 (over $700,000 USD).

The suit alleges that Grenade Beverage—the makers of the Grumppuccino, a bottled ready-to-drink coffee beverage featuring a photo of the nonplussed feline—“blatantly infringed” on the copyrighted image of Grumpy Cat Limited, the corporate overlords involved in all Grumpy Cat-related marketing. Grenade wasn’t sued for the Grumppuccino, though; they paid a whopping $150,000 in order to use the image of Grumpy Cat. They were taken to court because they “had exceeded the deal by selling roasted coffee and ‘Grumppuccino’ T-shirts.”

Not be outdone, Grenade counter-sued Grumpy Cat Limited, for equally lame reasons:

The coffee company counter-sued, claiming their beverages and company weren’t shared on Grumpy Cat’s social media profiles as much as they were lead to believe, or in a television appearance, and also alleged the owners had told them the cat was set to star in a film alongside Hollywood actors Will Ferrell and Jack Black, which did not happen.

So now Grumpy Cat Limited is $700,000 richer, which is a drop in the bucket compared the $100 million the Washington Post states the company may have already made on selling the cat’s image.

If there’s any silver lining to this whole stupid story, it’s that those selected for jury duty—one of the worst forms of civic duty—were treated to a surprise appearance by Grumpy Cat, who did show up to the trial but not the verdict. So that’s fun I guess. The rest of the story, well…

Zac Cadwalader is the news editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.

*top image from We Went There: Grumpy Cat At Caffé Medici For SXSW

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A Donut Guide To Providence, Rhode Island

In recent years, Providence, Rhode Island, has seen a growth in coffee culture. Specialty shops have popped up across the city and residents have been reaping the benefits. Rising to the occasion, coffee’s best buddy, the donut, is showing up in force, with a veritable donut renaissance in PVD.

Providence has always had a pro-donut climate. A very unscientific cross-reference of Google Maps and Wikipedia shows that Providence has at least one Dunkin’ Donuts per square mile. Heck, the downtown area’s sports complex is called the Dunkin’ Donuts Center. But something is different now. There’s an excitement in the air and a buzz on social media. The city is geeking out over donuts—special donuts. From old-school bakeries to new-age specialty donut joints, destination dunkers and Instagram donut-lovers alike have made a point of making the most of the Providence donut scene.

Shanel Sinclair of Augusta Street Kitchen is a recent transplant to Providence and a baker of flour-free donuts. She offered some insights as to why the city is a perfect incubator for donuts: “The Providence food scene is small, it’s easy to navigate. The vibe is much more like that of a community. There is a lot of support for food movements here.” When pressed on the donut boom, Sinclair said, “I’m not sure why it’s donuts, but it’s definitely happening.”

PVDonuts’ Everything Bagel Donut

Lori Kettelle, co-founder of PVDonuts, offered similar sentiments over the Providence food scene, “Our state and capital city have so much to offer in such a small space. The community here is incredibly supportive and people come from all over to visit Providence, so we honestly couldn’t have picked a better place.” Kettelle went on to confess her surprise over the attitude towards donuts in the city. “It’s really amazing to see how crazy it got. To be 100% honest, we didn’t open the shop thinking that we were riding some type of wave, we opened it because we just loved donuts and wanted to bring something new and different to the city.”

Adam Lastrina and Todd Mackey, co-founders of Knead Doughnuts, never questioned that Providence would be supportive of the donut cause. “Every great city has a legendary donut shop. We felt that our city lacked that,” said Lastrina. “We only wanted to do this in Providence,” Mackey chimed in, “people support each other here and we wanted to contribute something else to the city.”

Knead Donuts

Rhode Island’s love affair with the donut doesn’t show any signs of letting up. The guys at Knead Doughnuts agree. “Why donuts? Because donuts are magical. There’s lots of nostalgia tied to them,” mused Mackey. Lastrina offered his support, “They aren’t a trend. People will always go out for donuts, just like ice cream.” The line of customers at the counter staring gleefully at the spread of donuts seemed to agree.

Here are a few choice locations for donut lovers:

Knead Doughnuts

Nestled among the 19th-century mercantile buildings of Downcity Providence is Knead Doughnuts. This bakery occupies a historic building and the beautifully restored interior is almost as pretty as the pastries. The doughnuts here are a solid combination of traditional and gourmet. Favorites like the Old Fashioned and Boston Cream nestle in with interesting takes on classics like the Matcha Old Fashioned and the Jelly Filled with peanut butter glaze. All donuts are made from scratch and coffee by Native Coffee Roasters is in great supply.

Knead Doughnuts is located at 32 Custom House St, Providence. Visit their official website and follow them on Twitter and Instagram.

Silver Star Bakery

This Portuguese bakery is stocked from top to bottom with pastry and breads, but on weekends the bakers roll up their sleeves and add some classic donuts to the mix. Silver Star Bakery feels like the magical goodies store you visited with your grandmother; the one your parents refused to let you go to. Fluffy glazed donuts are king here.

Silver Star Bakery is located at 150 Ives St, Providence. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook and Instagram.

PVDonuts

PVDonuts screams fancy. A quick glance at their Instagram reveals explosively colorful treats pulled from the pages of Willy Wonka. Their donuts are handmade and hefty. Perhaps their most iconic donut is the Cereal Milk, a brioche yeasted donut covered with Fruity Pebbles.

Creativity runs in abundance. The excitement of customers in line can only be compared to kids in a candy store. Hot coffee is supplied by local favorite Borealis Coffee Roasters and iced coffee is supplied by The Nitro Cart.

PVDonuts is located at 79 Ives St, Providence. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

DeLuise Bakery

It takes a few extra minutes to find this bakeshop in the far corner of West Providence, but it’s well worth the trip. DeLuise is a time capsule in the best way. For over 70 years the folks at DeLuise Bakery have been creating confections and pleasing locals. Classic donuts that are as relevant now as they were ever. Grab a brown paper bag filled with your favorites and get munching.

DeLuise Bakery is located at 1251 Chalkstone Ave, Providence. Follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Augusta Street Kitchen

Founder Shanel Sinclair never set out to make donuts, but her interesting options, including gluten-free and paleo donuts, are very well received. Her health-oriented brand of donuts are now a staple of Augusta Street Kitchen’s offerings and donut-nuts and health-nerds will be happy to see them get a permanent home soon at 361 Academy Avenue—the bricks and mortar shop has been long in the making.

Augusta Street Kitchen is opening soon at 361 Academy Ave, Providence. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook and Instagram.

The Grange

The Grange is a vegetarian restaurant/cafe that has made its mark through innovative vegan meals and plant-based takes on comfort food. Beyond their great plates, the kitchen also thinks up a new “Sweet Thing” pastry daily. Though this joint isn’t strictly a donut shop they often have an amazing donut offering on weekends. If you’re grabbing a coffee supplied by Stumptown or staying for a meal, be sure to also get a vegan donut when available.

The Grange is located at 166 Broadway, Providence. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

Eric Tessier is a freelance journalist based in Providence, RI. Read more Eric Tessier on Sprudge.

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