Drinking Coffee May Help With The Early Diagnosis Of Parkinson’s

The healthful effects of coffee are far-reaching, to the point that every time a new benefit is found, I have to scour old articles (that I’ve written) to see if Sprudge has already reported on it. One of these benefits is coffee’s ability to prevent Parkinson’s disease (Sprudge has NOT reported on that. But here we are, doing it now. Coffee prevents Parkinson’s. You’re welcome). And a new study shows that drinking coffee may also help with the early identification of the disease.

The findings come from the Juntendo University School of Medicine in Tokyo. Led by Nobutaka Hattori, a group of researchers found that how the body processes coffee—specifically caffeine and caffeine byproduct serum levels—may be used as a biomarker for Parkinson’s Disease, which could lead to earlier detection. Surveying 139 people, both men and women with and without the disease, researchers analyzed the blood serum of the participants for caffeine and “its 11 so-called downstream metabolites — small molecules produced during caffeine-induced metabolic processes in the human body.”

They found, according to a press release, that “the serum levels of caffeine and of almost all metabolites, including theophylline, theobromine and paraxanthine — caffeine’s main byproducts — were lower in patients with Parkinson’s disease.” The researchers do note that concentrations of caffeine and its byproducts aren’t indicative of the severity of the disease.

So drink up, everyone. Not only does coffee prevent Parkinson’s, it may just help doctor’s identify the disease during its earlier stages.

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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Come Party With Sprudge At SXSW

SXSW is coming! Now in its 31st year, the SXSW Festival (or “Southby”, which is what everyone involved with Southby calls it) is North America’s premiere convergence of the interactive, film, music, progressive education, and cutting-edge food industries, and for the very first time this year it’ll host a coffee exhibition. Sprudge has teamed up with the festival to co-curate a brand new Roasters Village zone as the Official Media Partner of SouthBites, SXSW’s innovative food programming and flavor culture fest. Service is open from Saturday, March 10th through Monday, March 12th.

We are really excited about all of this! The Roasters Village is starting small in this, its pilot year, with just a dozen or so brands joining us at the festival, including Stumptown Coffee, Deadstock Coffee, Slingshot Coffee, Five Elephant Coffee Intelligentsia Coffee, Swiss Water Decaf, Irving Farm Coffee Roasters, Tweed Coffee Roasters, Upruit, Third Wave Water, Vega, and perhaps a few more surprises to launch at the show. Sprudge Media Network will be there live at the fest bringing coverage of all the coolness, so be sure to watch this space and follow us on Instagram and Twitter all weekend long in March.

And it wouldn’t be SXSW, er, “Southby” without a rocking slate of afterparties. We’ve teamed up with Austin local heroes Department of Brewology and Caffé Medici, plus everyone’s favorite Yemeni coffee wunderkind Mokhtar Alkhanshali of Port of Mokha, for a very special evening of delicious coffee, ice cold beer, convivial hangs and even some live podcast #content. This all happens on Monday, March 12th from 6:00 until 9:00-pm at Caffé Medici Downtown (200 Congress Ave) and it’s absolutely free to attend.

• See! A collection of Austin coffee pros, out of town festival exhibitors, and Southby attendees who love coffee!
• Hear! A very special live taping of the Coffee Sprudgecast featuring Mokhtar Alkhanshali, Department of Brewology, and some very special guests that we are currently confirming, and might indeed be quite special, we assure you!
• Drink! An assortment of delicious cold beers for purchase courtesy of our gracious hosts Caffé Medici, who will also be slinging espresso and filter coffee drinks on demand in case you’ve got like five more parties to go to after this one.
• Chill! At this fun, laid-back social occasion that is free to enter, in the heart of Downtown Austin.

Thank you so much to Dept of Brewology’s David Salinas for designing this lovely poster, and to our gracious hosts Caffe Medici. We’ll see you March 10th-12th in Austin (and before that at Czech Stop).

So much more is available for you to explore at the official SXSW website. 

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Asagohan: A Monthly Pop-Up Bringing Brunch To Tokyo Coffee Shops

There was a light drizzle in the air as I made my way to Ampere Cafe. It was 6:45 on a Sunday morning, and a quiet rain fell upon the mostly empty streets of Shibuya. The cafe was down an alleyway, a warm glow of orange light against a backdrop of grey concrete.

I yawned. I couldn’t help wondering what I’d dragged myself out of bed for on an early Sunday morning.

Inside, Eito Ogura and Kazuo Shinbo were preparing coffee and eggs benedict for the sleepy people filtering into Ampere for a weekend breakfast—it’s this food and drink pairing that sits at the heart of the once-a-month pop-up event called Asagohan, or translated to English, simply breakfast.

Ogura and Shinbo say they want to bring early morning coffee and breakfast culture to Tokyo, having discovered it on exchange study trips to Canada and Australia, where they first met. Upon returning to Tokyo, the two looked for a way to combine their interests—coffee and food—and realized that in their shared love of breakfast culture was an opportunity.

Kazuo Shinbo

“For Japanese people,” Ogura says, “especially in Tokyo, most people wake up as late as possible, and head straight to work, often without eating breakfast. But when I worked early shifts at cafes in Australia, I noticed lots of people came in early, before work. It was a part of their lifestyle, and I really liked that.”

“I think both our lives changed by living overseas,” adds Shinbo. “We experienced new ways of life, and met people who were making a living doing what they wanted. I think we realized we wanted to do that, too.”

I chatted with a few other visitors at the event—Asagohan’s fourth, which featured Sangenjaya’s Coffee Wrights along with an eggs benedict of smoked salmon and sukiyaki brisket—who were a mixed group of baristas, shop employees, and cafe-hoppers. As we ate and drank, they told me that the getting up part was hard, but that having a kickstart to their Sunday was worth it.

“What we want to do,” says Ogura, “is help make morning culture a part of people’s lives here. If you wake up to a good breakfast, especially on the weekend, you have the whole rest of the day ahead of you. It’s a good feeling.”

“Yeah. I think sometimes Japanese people have a tendency to tilt the work-life balance too far towards work,” says Shinbo, who adds that he hopes his dishes help people enjoy their mornings a little more.

Eito Ogura

Ogura says that their first event—a pairing of avocado toast with Kumamoto’s AND Coffee Roasters—went much better than expected, and opened the door to collaborations with Glitch Coffee Roasters and Trunk Coffee for breakfast dishes like French toast and omelettes.

And while not having a dedicated space of their own yet sometimes makes preparations complicated for the pair, the flip side of setting up in brand new locations each month means making it easier for new people to attend, and giving regulars the chance to explore a new part of Tokyo on their days off.

And though Ogura and Shinbo talk of someday taking Asagohan to rural parts of Japan and setting up a dedicated restaurant for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, for the time being they’re happy simply developing their Tokyo events and building a community of morning people to help spread the word about breakfast culture.

And this community is perhaps the best thing about the event outside of the food and drink itself; the Asagohan event feels unique for the way it brings people together and encourages them to talk. People sit wherever there is space, and because the meal and the coffee are always set, they make for an easy, gentle springboard into conversation with the people at your table.

And so, while I sat sipping at coffee and chatting with a Malaysian and a Taiwanese barista about weekend plans, I felt awake and pleasantly full of food; satisfied and surrounded in a warm buzz of conversation.

I felt like if this was what morning culture meant to Ogura and Shinbo, then I was starting to understand the appeal of getting up a little earlier on the weekends.

Find out more about Asagohan and keep up to date with their events on Facebook and Instagram.

Hengtee Lim (@Hent03) is a Sprudge.com staff writer based in Tokyo. Read more Hengtee Lim on Sprudge.

Photos courtesy of Kazu_Poon.

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Arabica Vs. Robusta: Which Trees Are Better For The Birds?

Coffee is for the birds, but I mean that in a good way. A recent scientific study set out to decipher whether growing arabica or robusta coffee was better for supporting native bird species, and it turns out they are both ecologically friendly. But arabica is still better.

As reported by Forbes, the article explores biodiversity in India’s Western Ghats mountain range, a hotspot for much of the country’s agriculture expansion that is “unusually species-rich,” with many being found nowhere else in the world. According to the article, arabica and robusta production have differing effects on biodiversity in two major ways: how they are grown and farming practices used.

The article notes that arabica is primarily shade-grown, meaning the trees exist under a canopy amongst other types of plants. Robusta, on the other hand, is typically sun-grown in a monoculture. The researchers found that while both types of trees were grown in dense rainforests, arabica was grown under a slightly more dense canopy (“average canopy density score of 94.6% for arabica and 79.2% for robusta”), and this difference led to arabica farms being more species rich, including many birds on the endangered species list.

But robusta has a leg up on farming practices. The study found that only 19 percent of robusta farms used pesticides, compared to the 75 percent of arabica farms. Refraining from the use of pesticides allows for robusta farms to have a “far greater prey diversity and availability for insectivorous birds.”

Overall, the study found that both types of “coffee farms supported higher species richness, endemic richness and greater densities of birds overall when compared to other major cash crops produced in the Western Ghats,” and that coffee farming may actually be beneficial for biodiversity in the Indian mountain range. But because it is primarily shade-grown, arabica coffee reigns ecologically supreme. And it tastes better. It’s a wren-wren situation.

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 Lava Java

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Meet Cafe Steez, The New Subscription Pairing Coffee & Hip-Hop

From Apple to Dropbox to Kickstarter, the concept of “Scratch your own itch” is a central mantra for entrepreneurs. It means, in essence, “be inspired by your own life”—create the thing you wish existed, and see if others dig it. For entrepreneurs Joshua and Lindsey Dugué, that means taking a cherished morning ritual—good coffee paired with good hip-hop on vinyl—and turning it into a curated box set.

Meet Cafe Steez, a new monthly subscription from Chicago. Joshua Dugué has 20+ years of experience in the specialty coffee industry, but this is his first project as an owner. Together with his partner Lindsey, Joshua is translating a lifetime of coffee knowledge and a lifelong love of hip-hop into a unique and deeply satisfying new take on the coffee subscription model. Cafe Steez (the name comes from a Method Man verse from GZA’s seminal 1995 album Liquid Swords) launched in January 2018 with a pairing of Ethiopia Kochere and Little Simz’ Stillness In Wonderland. This coffee was sourced by Heleanna Georgalis of Moplaco Trading Co. and roasted by Chicago’s Four Letter Word, resulting in a complete chain of sourcing, roasting, and music created by women. For their second set (out now) Cafe Steez has paired a coffee from Colombia called La Falda, roasted by Black & White Roasters, with the EP Glitches In The Break from influential Detroit producer and recording artist Black Milk.

I had the chance to sample the latest Cafe Steez boxset in advance of the interview below, and was hooked instantly. The experience is both electric relaxation and deeply analog at the same time, a ritual that fosters contemplation and conversation—good coffee and vinyl has the capacity to make you put your phone down like almost nothing else. And because the human brain is this complex, multifaceted thing, the music actually makes your coffee taste better, and vice versa, resulting in an entourage effect of flavors and sounds riffing together and amplifying each other.

I sat there happily for a full 24 minutes, doing nothing else but drinking coffee, listening to a complete artistic work, thumbing through the liner notes, and letting my mind bliss out. It’s one of the most pleasurable coffee experiences I’ve had in years, and something every coffee lover should try.

A subscription to Cafe Steez starts at $35 USD for a single month, with options up to a full year now available. To learn more I spoke digitally with Joshua Dugué from his home in Chicago.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. 

Sprudge: Hey Joshua—thanks for talking with us. Where did the original idea for this concept come from? How long have you been working on it?

Joshua Dugué: Coffee + hip hop is kind of a family ritual here. I alway start my day that way and I wanted to share that experience with people. I know lots of people who love the two and it just made sense to Lindsey and I to formally pair the two together in a subscription.

Did you start with the coffee and pair to that? Or start with the record and work from there?

It’s a bit of both really and sometimes just a happy accident. The Black & White and Black Milk pairing was more about timing. I was crate digging and grabbed a pressing of “Glitches In The Break.” Later that day I was talking to Rich Futrell (from Genuine Origin) about some our favorite people from our Counter Culture days and Lem’s name came up. It was only a couple moves from there for me to put the two together. Sometimes I’m lucky that way.

How many different coffees did you try out in order to figure out this pairing?

I cupped a few different coffees from B&W and had a few coffees from other roasters on the table. I was pretty much decided on B&W from the outset but I wanted to give myself some options. They sent me some amazing coffees; it wasn’t an easy choice. Ultimately I just loved the sweetness coming out of the La Falda.

Joshua & Lindsey Dugué. Photo courtesy of Cafe Steez.

What’s your favorite track on this record?

Man…okay, so this whole album is insane. It kind of just blares dopeness on every track but “G” featuring Guilty Simpson is my jam! I’ve been a fan of Guilty Simpson for a while. He’s part of that whole Detroit scene with J Dilla, Mad Lib, and Sean Price. A close second is “Cold Day.” I’m a sucker for that laid back flow and some head nod beats. Oh yeah…”Dirt Bells” is another hot one.

How would you describe Black Milk’s music for someone unfamiliar?

Black Milk as an MC has that real easy delivery on some intricate lyricism; he reminds me a lot of Blu. His beats and musicality are impressive as well. Sometimes he can come out of the gates with some cacophonic madness (that’ll be the name of my first hip hop album) like in “There Are Glitches.” But then he almost immediately delivers you some seriously ass-shaking shit. He writes like someone who knows how to perform live and put on a good show…if you’ve seen him live then you know that to be true. If you haven’t, then please do so!

Glitches in the Break came out in 2014—do you think you’ll continue to feature older releases like this? Or will future releases focus on brand new music?

Oh, I’m sure I’ll bring some new stuff to the table. I think in the beginning I want to set a baseline for subscribers. There’s a ton of good stuff that people may not be up on. When we partnered with Four Letter Word Roasters, we paired them with Little Simz’s Stillness In Wonderland. That was a newer item from 2017. I wanted to bring in Rapsody‘s new one too but Little Simz seemed to work better. So yeah…we’ll do some new stuff too.

Do you think you’ll stick with EP length records for future pairings? 24 minutes is kind of the perfect amount of time for a pot of coffee…

I’m with you on that one. I kind of like to play a whole record while I drink coffee and pull myself together. I hate to stop something I’m really feeling because I finished my coffee and I have to hit the road. EP length is perfect for that. That said…I have some stuff coming up that might be a bit longer…but not too long.

Was the Black & White/Black Milk linguistic connection a happy accident or something you were intentionally drawn to?

I’m not gonna lie, I was feeling the whole aesthetic synergy thing. I was lucky because the album is really good too. I usually try to find a couple different ways to connect the coffee to the hip hop. It’s pretty fun.

How long have you been in coffee for? Tell us a bit more about your career in coffee before starting Cafe Steez.

I’ve been in coffee for a little bit now. I think this is year 24…give or take a few months here and there. Granted, I haven’t always been “doing coffee” in the way I have in the most recent years. I started at Starbucks in high school and kinda just rolled with it. I was a barista for a while through college and managed some shops as well. Coffee has been kind of a life companion for me as I’ve pursued other things. In the most recent years, maybe going back around 10 years, I’ve set up and managed a few shops, I was a tech and trainer at Counter Culture Coffee for 4 years, and I’ve been doing sales, wholesale support, and consulting since then. I’ve also done some guest chef / pop-up events here and there.

I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to learn a lot and do a lot of different things in the coffee industry. If I’m being completely honest, it’s always been more about people for me. I like coffee but I think I like people more and this industry is nothing if it’s not about people.

What’s your favorite way to make coffee in the morning?

I bounce between brew methods. It kind of depends on the coffee, how tired I am, and whether or not my son wants help. Isaiah is really into making coffee with me; I usually give him a mini Kalita Wave and I use my style set. I usually put on some Kids Trap and then we brew. If Isaiah isn’t with me then I usually go out and get some drip somewhere. I was messing around with that sous vide business for a while; it was pretty fun and the coffee tasted pretty good…I don’t like to wait that long for coffee though.

Why is the vinyl part of Cafe Steez important? How does listening to music in that format contribute to the overall feel of this project?

I think vinyl is special, man. Like, you say to yourself, “I’m going to listen to this record” vs. “I’m going to put on some music.” It’s more intentional. Also, if I put on a record I want to hear the whole thing. Artists dream about giving you some great experience in that 20-45 minute listening experience. So why not give it a try? The full and warm vinyl sound combined with a commitment to the ride is a great way to do it. I think it makes the coffee taste better too!

Did you grow up with vinyl in your house or did you discover it as a music listener later in life?

Vinyl was a huge part of my childhood. My dad used to play old Teddy Pendergrass, Anita Baker, and Isley Brothers records. He had a few hip-hop albums in his collection too. He was a huge fan of Erik B and Rakim. I tried to teach myself how to DJ with his L.T.D. record… that was not my best decision.

Do you like natural processed coffees or nah? Would you ever feature one in a Cafe Steez set?

I like natural coffees a bunch. It’s likely that March will be a natural coffee pairing…we’ll see.

Can you share with us what your next collaboration box set is going to look like? Are you seeking more collaborators for packaging, coffee, music…?

Shoot man, I’m so stoked about the next few months. I have some great roasters lined up and some dope vinyl. Here’s a tentative taste of what’s coming out:

March – Stovetop Roasters + The Turn Up by Madlib, Blu, MED
April – Woodburl Roasters + Rap Album 2 by Jonwayne
May – Good Folks + Give Me My Flowers While I Can Still Smell Them by Blu & Exile
June – Anthology Coffee + Rebirth Of Detroit by J Dilla
July – Pilcrow Coffee + ????

I’m definitely looking for packaging collaborators and merch collabs too.

Where do you see this project growing? Does it become a record label someday? A roaster? Where does it go next?

Start a label, run it, sign myself? That’s a major key! But for real, I think Linds and I want to use Cafe Steez as a way to finance a project we’ve had on the back burner for a while. We’d like to focus on training and career development in coffee for at-risk youth. It’s something we talk about a lot, actually. That idea has room to develop into a lot of different avenues. I think there are so many roasters out there doing such a great job and I would love to keep celebrating them; so, I don’t think we’ll roast. I could see us opening a co-roasting space though…that’d be dope.

Thank you so much. 

Visit the official Cafe Steez website for subscription details and more information, and follow Cafe Steez on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. 

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

Photos by Zachary Carlsen for Sprudge Media Network. Top photo courtesy Cafe Steez. 

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The Many Delicious Nut Milks Of Michigan’s Ferris Coffee

It’s no surprise when a plethora of nut milks lands in, say, Los Angeles. But if I were to tell you that one of specialty coffee’s biggest nut milk innovators stakes their claim to America’s Third Coast—Lake Michigan—you might be surprised. Near-centenarian coffee-and-nut-roaster Ferris Coffee operates cafes in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where the company puts its knowledge of both coffee and nuts to the test in a staggering menu of rotating nut milks and beguiling drinks made with said milks. We’re going beyond way, way beyond macadamia here—may I present the Ferris Noon Chai, made with rooibos, pistachio, almond-cashew milk, and smoked salt. Or the Cortado Con Mole, with ancho chile, chocolate, pumpkin seed milk, and espresso. (And pumpkin isn’t even a nut!)

We collared Ferris Food and Beverage Manager Cody Gallagher for some insights on how Ferris staked its nutty claim in the Great Lakes.

Sprudge: How long has your company been operating in Grand Rapids?

Gallagher: Ferris has been roasting coffee and nuts in Grand Rapids since 1924. It hasn’t been under the same ownership the entire time—the current ownership, the VanTongeren family, took over the business in 1985 and has put much more of an emphasis on specialty coffee and nuts. Our current cafe spaces have been operating for the last four to five years.

Ferris’ Golden Latte with almond-cashew milk.

When did you guys start doing nut milks? What prompted that?

We began making and serving our own nut milks around a year ago. It was always something that had been discussed since opening our cafe locations, but continually got placed on the back burner. Our main reasons for wanting to make our own nut milks are quality, economics, and environmental responsibility.

In regards to quality, we saw faults in several aspects of many commercially available non-dairy milks. First of all, the flavor of many left much to be desired for us. We knew that using our own nuts would provide a much fresher and natural nut flavor. Additionally, I think that most non-dairy milks are polarizing in flavor, dominating the flavor of whatever coffee they’re paired with, with their own flavor. For example, I think most almond milk lattes I’ve had taste more like almonds than they do coffee. To remedy this, most of our house nut milks are blends of nuts, which provides a general nutty flavor to their drinks, instead of a strong flavor of a specific nut.

As far as economics, dealing with the quantities of nuts that Ferris does, we have access to nuts at an incredibly low margin that many other coffee companies do not have the benefit of. In transitioning to producing all of our nut milks in-house, we’ve been able to cut cost on our non-dairy beverages, which in turn means lower prices for our guests.

Making our own nut milks plays into environmental responsibility for us in that far less packaging is going into each “unit” of milk. It also means that we’re able to ensure that the nuts being used for the milk are sourced as consciously as possible.

Tell me a little bit about the rise of specialty coffee in West Michigan and where you see your role in that.

Having the opportunity to observe and be a part of the rise of specialty coffee in West Michigan has been great. When I moved to Grand Rapids around six years ago, there was minimal game in town, Madcap Coffee being the city’s pioneers of specialty. Now there are specialty shops on every block. Madcap has contributed an enormous amount in educating the city’s coffee drinking populace of the value in well sourced, roasted, and brewed coffee, as well as educating that such values outweigh the lower prices and quicker drink times people were used to.

I see Ferris’ role in specialty coffee in West Michigan as upholding such exemplary standards of sourcing, roasting, and service, while making it as approachable for customers and guests as possible. Being an almost 100-year-old company, we have a very broad customer base, who fall in all different levels of coffee appreciation. This provides us with the unique opportunity to be able to show the value of good coffee to those who still enjoy their blueberry cobbler flavored coffees, as well as someone drinking their first single-origin espresso.

Tell me about some of your more adventurous nut milks and/or nut milk drinks?

Experimenting with more adventurous nut milks and nut milk beverages has been a lot of fun. One of the more unique nut milks we’ve made is a lavender-macadamia milk. This is made with a blend of macadamias, dried lavender, and dates, and is used in a lavender-berry granola we serve in the summer.

Two of my favorite nut milk-based drinks which we’ve served are our Cortado con Mole and our Applewood Mocha. The Cortado con Mole played off the ingredients of a traditional mole sauce, featuring pumpkin seed milk, ancho chile, chocolate, espresso, and mole spices. The Applewood Mocha features hazelnut milk, applewood smoke, apple blossom honey, apple cider, espresso, and cocoa.

Where do you source your nuts?

We source nuts globally. It depends a great deal from nut to nut how and where we source our nuts, but we’re guided by the general goal of building relationships through our sourcing. This entails frequent visits and communication with our producers, providing them aid when needed, and sharing their stories to our customers. It ultimately looks a lot like the sourcing of coffee.

Two of the nuts most commonly used for our milks are almonds and cashews, and the difference in their sourcing methods exemplifies the variation in sourcing from nut to nut. For example, we source all of our almonds from California, predominantly from the Modesto region. We source only non-pareil graded almonds, which fall on the top shelf of the almond market. On the flipside, our cashew sourcing involves a truly global network. Many cashew producers don’t have the resources to process and export the nuts themselves, and in many cases will ship the nuts across the world just to be processed. From there, they might even be shipped to another exporting company before being shipped to us.

How do you make the nut milks, and how easy are these drinks and milks to reproduce at home?

The process for almost all of our nut milks involves soaking the nuts for 8-12 hours, blending them with water, and then straining out the milk. We’ve found our own nuanced methods for the respective steps, from the straining device we use (a mash bag for beer brewing works wonders!), to the ratio of nut to water.

The milks are incredibly easy to produce at home, and require few materials. We encourage people to experiment with a variety of their favorite raw nuts, at a ratio of approximately 200 grams (or 1.5 cups) of nuts to 1 liter of water. From there, you soak the nuts in water for 8-12 hours, blend for around a minute, and strain through a cheesecloth, or similar material. We also enjoy including some sort of sweetener, such as dates or agave, to provide a natural sweetness and more body to the milk.

Where are you guys with grab and go milks and drinks?

We would love to be able to offer packaged nut milks and grab and go drinks, but currently are unable to, due to packaging and production restraints. We do, however, offer a variety of nut milk based grab and go items as a part of our food selections. One such item which fully celebrates our love for the nut are our “Nutty Cups.” Nutty Cups are parfait cups of overnight oats and quinoa soaked in almond-macadamia milk that’s been blended with a nut butter. They also have granola and nuts as toppings, as well as a fruit and nut compote on the bottom.

Those sound delicious. What’s your fantasy nut milk or nut-milk-based concoction?

I’ve recently been enjoying flax and hemp milks, which has motivated me to incorporate a blend of nuts with non-nut ingredients, such as flax, oat, and hemp. I think those ingredients would help to bolster a milk in ways nuts are not able to, in terms of mouthfeel, steaming qualities, neutrality with coffee drinks, and cost. It would be great to see a milk achieve the best of all worlds in the realm of non-dairy milks.

Ferris Coffee is located at 227 Winter Ave NW, Grand Rapids. 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.

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

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Want To Live To Be 90? Drink Coffee (And Beer)

Photo © Monkey Business/Adobe Stock

I used to want to live forever, but with the current rock bottom our world is nose-diving towards at break neck speeds, I’m not entirely sure I’m all that stoked on making it to my 40s. But if a long, healthy life is something that you’d be into, a new study suggests that you drink coffee and beer on a daily basis.

According to Paste, the “90+ Study” (not to be confused with the Ninety Plus Study) was performed by researchers at the University of California, Irvine who were trying to find common factors in those still alive and kicking past the ripe old age of 90. To do this, researchers spent the past 15 years surveying over 14,000 nonagenarians about their “diet, activities, medical history, medications and numerous other factors,” with follow up visits every six months to perform “perform neurological and neuropsychological tests,” according to the study.

They found that moderate (two cups) daily consumption of both coffee and beer led to a decreased likelihood of “premature death, by 10 percent and 18 percent, respectively, over those who abstained from those liquid fun parts of life. The study also found that exercise and having hobbies—two things that have been widely accepted as beneficial—also lead to a longer life. It stands to reason, then, that if coffee is your hobby, its effects will double. Or maybe they increase exponentially. I’m neither a doctor nor a mathematician so I can’t say for sure, but it sounds pretty airtight.

So if you want to live long enough to see the denouement of this crazy little thing we call humanity, make sure you stay on top of your daily coffee and beer allotments. I’m opting for a caffeine-induced coma. Someone wake me up when we’ve got our shit together.

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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A Good Coffee Drinker’s Guide To Taipei, Taiwan

Taiwan and coffee haven’t always been closely linked in people’s minds. After all, this is the country that invented bubble tea. Yes, exactly. That gooey, mysterious tea-beverage with small tapioca balls orbiting around. But today, Taiwan, and especially the capital Taipei, is a veritable coffee lover’s paradise.

I went there in November last year to participate in the Taiwan International Coffee Show, where I was more than impressed. The show boasted 1,828 booths from all over the world, and almost 200,000 visitors made their way out to the massive Nangang Exhibition Hall during the four days the show was on. Everywhere you turned, there were free samples of rare Geishas, brewed by international barista champions such as Tetsu Kasuya as well as local luminaries Berg Wu and Chad Wang. 

My experience at the show would be indicative of the rest of my time on the island. There is coffee everywhere you look in Taipei, and for the most part, it’s top shelf stuff.

Coffee culture in Taiwan is quite old compared to that of many other Asian countries. The Japanese occupied the island from 1895 to 1945 and brought with them an appreciation of fine coffees.

This influence can still be experienced in many coffee shops in Taipei today; the vibe is similar to that of the Japanese “kissaten”. At the same time, there are plenty of forward-thinking and unique cafes, making Taipei a place where old and new coffee cultures intersect.

Simple Kaffa

Taiwan native Berg Wu won the World Barista Championship in 2016, instantly turning his coffee shop into a must-visit for any coffee lover in Taipei.

Having read the Sprudge interview following his victory, I knew that the lobby of Simple Kaffa, as his place is called, wouldn’t be easy to find. Hidden away in a basement, sharing the locale with a clothing store, it’s an unlikely home for a portafilter magician such as Mr. Wu.

It’s a dimly lit place, with a lot of seats packed into a few square feet. Customers at neighboring tables had hushed discussions, while the baristas on duty were working efficiently behind the brew bar.

As is the case in a lot of the better coffee shops in Taipei, you don’t order at the bar. Rather, a waiter comes to the table to take your order.  

I got a nitro coffee and an Ethiopian natural brewed in the Clever Coffee Dripper, which is actually a Taiwanese invention. Of course, I also had to sample Simple Kaffa’s famous cakes—and settled on a tiramisu and a matcha cake roll. Both were incredibly rich and delicate at the same time. The coffees were balanced and flavorful, but it’s the cakes we’re still raving about.

The Lobby of Simple Kaffa is located in the basement of Hotel V, no 48, Songshan District, Lane 177, Section 1, Dunhua South Road. Visit their official website and follow them Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

 

Rufous

Rufous is the kind of coffee shop where old and new coffee culture intersect and morph into something uniquely local.

The vibe and the decor at this place are akin to the kind of backyard jazz bar that a Haruki Murakami protagonist would frequent, as opposed to a typical modern minimalist-chic coffee shop. The Synesso espresso machine and the sheer volume of coffee paraphernalia on the shelves behind the bar, however, tells you that this place isn’t about booze, but rather caffeine.

With two universities in close proximity, this 10-year-old cafe is a popular hangout for both teachers and students. The day I visited, plenty of patrons were sitting at tables, flicking through notebooks or typing away on laptops. The business hours are from 1:00-11:00pm, which also tells you something about the ambiance: this place is for the night owls and caffeine hounds, not the usual morning coffee crowd.

The coffee is roasted on-site and as is typical from local coffee spots, the selection of light-roasted, single-origin beans is spectacular. You have Geisha from La Hacienda Esmeralda, Panama, and Maragogype from El Injerto, Guatemala.

Asked which item on the menu he’s most proud of, the owner, Xiao Yang—a certified Q grader and former Italian chef—pointed me to the espresso combos: get a cappuccino and espresso brewed from the same coffee, to truly experience its potential.

Rufous is located at No. 339, Section 2, Fuxing South Road, Da’an District, Taipei City. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook and Instagram.

 

Coffee Lover’s Planet

Coffee Lover’s Planet is the kind of place that is likely to divide the true coffee snobs out there. This place is upscale, all right. Located in a high-society mall among shops like Prada and other European fashion houses, the cafe attempts to make some of the world’s finest beans accessible to a crowd that normally doesn’t frequent Third Wave coffee shops. From the moment you enter, waiters rather than baristas guide you through an extensive menu of in-house roasted beans.

The spacious room is dominated by a huge circular brew bar with an eye-catching brewing device prominently displayed. The Ueshima Dripmaster 5000 looks like something out of a sci-fi movie from the 80’s with portholes emitting pulsating neon light.

I ordered a sample set consisting of three different beans from Bali, Ethiopia, and Panama, all brewed on the Dripmaster, and the Japanese brewing machine did well; they were full-bodied and sweet.

Coffee Lover’s Planet is owned by the large Japanese coffee company UCC, and the company occasionally launches new exquisite beans at the cafe. The day I dropped by, coincidentally there was a presentation of a new and ultra-rare Bourbon Pointu from the French island La Réunion taking place, gathering a crowd of local bloggers and coffee geeks.

The shop also serves Geisha from the world famous Esmeralda farm in Panama, as well as the expensive and rare Taiwanese grown Alishan coffee.

Coffee Lover’s Planet is located in the Pacific Sogo mall on Dunhua South Road Section 1 in the Da’an District. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook.

 

The Normal

The Normal belongs to a new breed of coffee shops that truly stands out. Rest assured that the name is wonderfully understated.

The menu here consists solely of beans from the renowned coffee brand Ninety Plus at a very competitive price point. Offering Geishas at around six dollars for a pour-over and Ethiopians for half of that price, it’s cheap both by local and international standards.

The Normal boasts that certain kind of minimalist feng shui that seems to reel in the Instagram crowd. The interior is mostly white, but a royal blue color is used as an accent strategically around the bar and on the staff’s uniform; a futuristic, monochrome mix between a rugged lab coat and a Japanese kimono.

Talking to the owner, Kai Hsiang Kuo, he explained that the cafe is meant as a place where busy people can grab a quick coffee—either to stay or to go. It’s supposed to be world-class coffee without all the fuss and usual rituals. This is illustrated by replacing the old school gooseneck-toting barista with four automatic pour-over Marco SP9 machines. Yes, the robots are coming to steal our jobs; even in specialty coffee.

The coffee shop had only been open for a few weeks when I dropped by, but seeing the professional aura emanating from every little detail, I wasn’t surprised to learn that Kai Hsiang is one of the co-owners of another famous Taipei coffee shop named All Day Roasting Company, also worth a visit.

The Normal is located on No. 413, Section 4, Ren’ai Road, Da’an District. Follow them on Facebook.

Asser Bøggild Christensen (@thecoffeechronicler) is a Danish journalist based in Asia covering tech and the digital nomad movement for Information, F5, and more. Read more Asser Christensen on Sprudge.

Taipei photo courtesy of Greg Hung.

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Inside Fellow Products’ San Francisco Showroom

If you were walking along the increasingly gleaming corridor of Valencia Street in San Francisco’s Mission District, you might find it odd to saunter past Fellow and it’s assortment of high-end kettles and other beautifully designed coffee knick-knacks. Owner Jake Miller and Brand Manager Hanna McPhee know this to be true, they’ve heard the customers outside.

“It’s my favorite thing,” McPhee says, “walking by and listening to people talk. ‘These guys are going to go bankrupt.'” And in an increasingly gentrifying neighborhood, one where a Reformation sits within walking distance of three ice cream shops, the talk has some weight. Or it would, if just kettles and coffee appliances were all Miller and McPhee were looking to sell. It isn’t though. Fellow seeks to provide not only a coffee brewing experience but education for the laymen and expert alike.

Fellow Brand Manager Hanna McPhee

Miller caught the coffee bug at Caribou Coffee in the Midwest, and having always known he wanted to start a product company, he moved to the West Coast to get his MBA at Stanford. Fellow’s first product—the Duo Coffee Steeper, a stylish “gunk-free” twist on a classic French Press—was born as a class project at Stanford’s vaunted D-School, before Miller got its production budget funded on Kickstarter. With Duo in hand, Fellow was born. Hanna McPhee, a graduate of Brown/RISD who’d majored in bio-design, was the second employee.

The idea behind Fellow’s original line was to design products that were beautiful—and they are—but also functional, for both coffee novices and competitive baristas alike.

“Coffee can be pretentious,” Miller says. “We want to be the approachable friend in our customer’s pursuit of great coffee.” All Fellow’s products, from the Prismo AeroPress attachment to the ultra-popular electronic Stagg EKG kettle, are concepted, prototyped, and tested over and over again as Miller and team search for the “beautifully functional” sweet spot between design and use.

The idea behind a brick-and-mortar space grew out of Miller’s long burning want of a space where customers could not only experience Fellow’s product but receive an education in how to use them to make amazing coffee. Behind the product showroom is what Miller and McPhee have dubbed the Playground, a space where customers can purchase a single test tube of one of Fellow’s featured beans, and with the help of brew guides, learn how best to grind and prepare them using the company’s products. With most of their sales still coming from online, Miller sees the store as something else.

“We didn’t open a store to sell you a kettle,” he says. “We opened a store to teach you how to use it.”

The Valencia space—the first of many they hope—also acts as a product testing ground, a place where Miller and McPhee can receive direct feedback from the people who are buying and using their products.

“We’re reducing the distance between us and the customers to zero,” Miller says. “We take feedback, good and bad, and it influences our future product design.” Every product begins by having organic conversations about how to improve an existing product.

Fellow Owner Jake Miller

“It’s part user research,” McPhee says. “Part gut instinct, and part us just being at trade shows, going to shops, talking to baristas. It’s like learning through osmosis.”

As the company and their line grows—Fellow hopes to introduce five new items this year alone—they’ve started working with competitive baristas to perfect their products. “We work from a point of observation and need,” Miller says. “And an understanding of what the baristas who are using our products like and didn’t like about items already on the market.” With these thoughts in mind, Fellow prototypes new designs and, using a 3D printer, are able to get feedback from baristas on fully functional designs.

Looking down at the sleek, polished surface of the Stagg EKG—the company’s first electronic product—you can almost see the layers of product testing. The device, a kettle with a PID and to-the-degree temperature control, is attractive—sleekly industrial—but it also works, exceptionally well. The Stagg EKG isn’t an outlier in their line either. Everything in the shop looks like it could sit on a coffee table as a piece of art.

In the future, Miller and crew hope to open more Fellow brick-and-mortars in major cities as well as continue to concept and produce products that look great and function better. A Bluetooth-compatible Stagg EKG Plus will arrive soon as well as a host of other coffee-brewing accessories.

The Valencia brick-and-mortar, like all their products, is still a work in progress, with local and not-so-local coffee roasters lining up to teach classes to those seeking to better their knowledge of the various aspects of coffee. “Stumptown wants to come in,” Miller says. “Wrecking Ball wants to teach a class about the flavor wheel. Verve wants to do an event with their coffee truck.” For now, they’ll work on improving the consistency of the Playground—providing scheduled daily brewing classes as well as a cupping every Sunday.

When you walk past the store that only sells kettles on Valencia, it might do you well not to scoff, but step in, converse, and play around for a bit. If Miller and McPhee have their way, you might actually learn something.

Fellow is located at 820 Valencia Street, San Francisco. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Noah Sanders (@sandersnoah) is a contributor based in San Francisco. His writing can be found in SF Weekly, Side One Track One, and The Bold Italic. Read more Noah Sanders on Sprudge.

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