Welcome back to a very, very special new episode of the Coffee Sprudgecast, in which hosts Jordan Michelman and Zachary Carlsen make a Chemex of Touchy Coffee while talking about the fifteenth anniversary of Sprudge!

The Touchy Coffee comes courtesy of the Welcome Conference, the annual New York City hospitality symposium, where six roasters served 1,800 guests on eighteen La Marzocco Linea Mini espresso machines. Touchy Coffee joined forces with roasters Onyx Coffee Lab, Counter Culture Coffee, Parlor Coffee, Black Crown Collective, and Driftaway Coffee. Special thanks to Felicity Jones and Mike Romig for the Touchy Coffee and an extra special thanks to World Brewers Champion James McCarthy of Driftaway Coffee for the espresso!

Celebrating the fifteenth anniversary of Sprudge, Michelman and Carlsen go back to some of their favorite pieces. Look forward to 15 Memorable Features From Fifteen Years of Sprudge also published today right here on the site!  And thank you so much to all of you out there in Sprudge land for reading us over the last decade and a half. It means the world.

This episode of the Coffee Sprudgecast is sponsored by Ceado, Pacific Barista Series, La Marzocco, Ghirardelli, and DONA.

Board game cafes, UK import cafes, colorful cafes, and specialty coffee institution cafes are opening new locations. We cover the gamut during the Build-Outs of Coffee season here at Sprudge. Today, on the Coffee Sprudgecast, our flagship coffee podcast, we wrap up the season with our fourth Coffee Buildcast.

Builds make us thirsty, so we’re delighted to drink coffee from our friends and partners at Partners Coffee in Brooklyn, New York! Using the Cerapotta, a new ceramic coffee brewer/filter, hosts Zachary Carlsen and Jordan Michelman drink a limited offering from Partners—the Mexico Hermanos Luna. The experience is made all the better thanks to exquisite mugs courtesy of Sightglass Coffee Roasters—the HMM W Glass Mug—with amber recycled glass and twelve sides—”it is shaped into twelve angles inspired by the hours on a clock to symbolize the cycle of life.” Love that!

This episode of the Coffee Sprudgecast is sponsored by Ceado, Pacific Barista Series, La Marzocco, Ghirardelli, and DONA.

Is it "nat" summer? Co-host of the Coffee Sprudgecast (and Sprudge co-founder) Jordan Michelman certainly thinks so. On Volume 3 of the 2024 Coffee Buildcast—our celebratory summer podcast spectacular celebrating the spectacular Build-Outs Of Coffee season—we feature four incredible builds from Denton, Texas to Bassano Del Grappa, Italy.

But before diving into the thrill of the build, the hosts dip into some terrific new coffee—naturally processed coffee—from our friends at The Barn in Berlin:

Burundi Bumba Hill Lot 2: This superb coffee was naturally processed, with a slow drying stage that brings out a rich, fruity profile: expect dark chocolate, smooth stone fruit, and a dash of citrus.

Rwanda Huye Mountain Natural: We have been buying coffee from Huye Mountain for over ten years now. Both the quality and cup profile have been very consistent over this whole period. Our natural processed lot has intense flavours of cherry, chocolate, and marzipan.

This episode of the Coffee Sprudgecast is sponsored by Ceado, Pacific Barista Series, La Marzocco, Acaia, Ghirardelli, and DONA.

Today's episode of the Coffee Sprudgecast focuses on builds. That's right, it's the second episode of the 2024 Build-Outs of Coffee Coffee Buildcast podcast series.

Today on the show, we drink coffee from Scandinavian Alps Coffee in Hemsedal, Norway, brewed with the Ceado Hoop Brewer. We met these folks at the 2024 World of Coffee Europe event in Copenhagen, Denmark at the Cafe Imports activation. We love the coffee and the package it comes in!

This episode of the Coffee Sprudgecast is sponsored by Ceado, Pacific Barista Series, Ghirardelli, and DONA.

 

In the last episode of the Coffee Sprudgecast, the Sprudge coffee podcast co-hosted by co-founders Jordan Michelman and Zachary Carlsen, there was a lot of talk about The World of Coffee Copenhagen and what was to come: world competitions, new products, activations, cardamom buns, outside of the box thinking, professional development. Now, the dust has settled, the World of Coffee swooped into Copenhagen, ate up all the butter and cheese sandwiches, and left. What happened?

Find out on this episode of the Coffee Sprudgecast!

This episode of the Coffee Sprudgecast is sponsored by Ceado, Pacific Barista Series, Ghirardelli, and DONA.

It’s a very special episode of the Coffee Sprudgecast! We’re hours away from the opening of World of Coffee in Copenhagen—the big Specialty Coffee Association trade show, and with it? Competitions. New products. Exquisite activations. Thinking out of the box. So much to do and then some. It’s all our co-hosts Jordan Michelman and Zachary Carlsen can handle to talk about it all.

Read on and listen in for some of our favorite reviewable moments. Along with all the trade show poop, the hosts also get into some sweet treats and delightful coffees on the pod. New offerings hail from Dune Coffee in Santa Barbara, California, a limited release Burundi coffee box set from Pilot Coffee, some quality time with the Ceado Hoop brewer, a cheeky nibble of See’s Candies—it’s an action packed episode, simply begging you to listen to it.

What we’re drinking:

On today’s show we break into the new Dune Coffee Roasters Finca La Papaya offering. We also taste a selection from Pilot Coffee Roaster’s special edition Burundi exploration super pack. There’s also a box of Coffee Lover’s Chocolates, a special release from See’s Candy out of California.

Show notes available here!

This episode of the Coffee Sprudgecast is sponsored by Ceado, Pacific Barista Series, Ghirardelli, and DONA.

 

Born to build it out! Hosts Zachary Carlsen and Jordan Michelman are back with another special Coffee Sprudgecast—the first edition of the Coffee Buildcast—celebrating the annual Sprudge Build-Outs of Coffee summer series—in podcast form!

The 2024 Build-Outs of Coffee is presented by Ceado and Dona. The 2024 Build-outs of Coffee is sponsored by Pacific Barista Series, La Marzocco, and Ghirardelli. 

This episode of the Coffee Sprudgecast is sponsored by Ceado, Pacific Barista Series, Ghirardelli, and DONA.

The Coffee Sprudgecast is back with a fresh, new episode featuring beautiful coffees and teas and an especially beautiful brewer!

The episode starts with a lovely steep of DONA Wah White Peony Tea and segues into a beautiful brew of Sakura Blend with custom neon blue Hario v60SP from our friends at Post Coffee out of Japan.

The fun doesn’t end there as hosts Jordan Michelman and Zachary Carlsen drink a special brew from Vietnam with the warm, woody, sweet, smoky essence of agarwood from Nen Coffee.  “The luxurious fragrance of Agarwood (Oud) has been a precious treasure across many cultures for thousands of years, playing a vital role in traditional medicines, sacred rituals, and as a key ingredient in high-end perfumes,” explains Nen Coffee. The aroma was a delight, and the oud didn’t overpower in the brew.

The hosts round out an epic episode of tastings with the Hot Cold Blend from Ninth Street Espresso in New York City. The blend brings host Zachary Carlsen right back to the mid-aughts, with reflections on working busy shifts at Ninth Street nearly twenty years ago.

Take a look at our Special Projects Desk feature on Indonesian coffee with Mikael Jasin here.

This episode of the Coffee Sprudgecast is sponsored by Pacific Barista Series, Ghirardelli, and DONA.

On the latest episode of the Coffee Sprudgecast, Zachary Carlsen brews BlendIn Coffee Club’s Colombia Los Nogales, the winning 2024 US Brewers Cup Championship coffee (which also happens to be their house decaf coffee!) Weihong Zhang of BlendIn Coffee Club in Houston, Texas, your 2024 United States Brewers Cup champion, took top honors in Rancho Cucamonga using a decaf Typica variety from Colombia, with a coffee he serves on bar every day. Pick up a bag of it online or in their cafe year-round. This is exactly what host Jordan Michelman did the evening Zhang was announced the 2024 champion!

The decaf underwent a decaffeination process developed by Oscar Hernandez of Finca Los Nogales in Huila, Colombia. After de-pulping, the green coffee is then decaffeinated using, in part, its mucilage, which helps “[avoid] off flavors and [enhance] complexity with floral and fruity notes,” Zhang told Sprudge in an interview with Zac Cadwalader.

Sprudge’s coverage of the 2024 US Barista Championship in Rancho Cucamonga is presented in partnership with Third Wave Water. 

Zachary Carlsen replicates the brew process deployed on the Brewers Cup stage as accurately as possible (with a slightly different hand grinder and variety of Hario V60—listen in to find out more). The process is especially interesting due to its use of two water temperatures and a touch of water bypass at the end.

Hold on to your coffee-loving merchandising trucker hats, because it's time for another action-packed episode of the Coffee Sprudgecast. This week, hosts Zachary Carlsen and Jordan Michelman are all abuzz about the imminent Specialty Coffee Association Expo this weekend in Chicago, Illinois. The comps! The booths! The gallons and gallons of alternative milks! We'll be there—with perhaps a special visit from Buzzy the Bean!

Check out the latest show, and read on for show notes, links, and highlights.

Things we're excited for at the Specialty Coffee Association's Expo in Chicago, Illinois

The competitions: 2024 US Latte Art Championship, 2024 Roasting Championship, and the 2024 Coffee In Good Spirits Championship off-site at the new Lavazza Training Lab.

Our Chicago Guide and special competition coverage on Finals Sunday from Arielle Rebekah!

Tech and innovations reporting from our editor-at-large on the floor Jenn Chen!

The True Artisan Cafe from La Marzocco featuring some of the very best coffee roasters in the country.

Special thanks to Bellwether Coffee, our Presenting Sponsor of our SCA Expo Coverage, and thank you to our coverage sponsors Created Co. and Proper Syrup!

What we're drinking on this episode of the Coffee Sprudgecast

Relevant Coffee Hops Cold Brew from Vancouver, Washington.

We just love RTD! Special thanks to Snapchill Coffee for presenting the Ready To Drink series on Sprudge this year.

Loose Threads

George Howell loves Buzzy the Bean on LinkedIn.

The vegan Doe Donuts' Chocolate Espresso Bear Claw from Portland, Oregon is delicious with a chocolate sauce and espresso glaaaaze.

Lagunitas Hoppy Refresher is a delicious alcohol-free drink.

This episode of the Coffee Sprudgecast is sponsored by Baratza, Pacific Barista Series, Ghirardelli, and DONA.

Our coffee podcast program The Coffee Sprudgecast returns with an episode fresh off the US Coffee Champs première partie at Klatch Coffee in Rancho Cucamonga. Over a sun-soaked Southern California weekend, the 2024 United States Barista Champion, Brewers Cup Champion, and Cup Tasters Champion were crowned. Sprudge co-founders and hosts Zachary Carlsen and Jordan Michelman talk through it with the delicious assist of Klatch Coffee’s seasonal Songbird Blend.

Host Zachary Carlsen had a conversation with a coffee enthusiast who held a strong belief that coffee blends were inherently bad. On the show, we discuss how blends like Songbird from Klatch Coffee (among several others!) are testaments to the delicious possibilities and flavor complexities specialty coffee blends can offer.

How do you feel about coffee blends? Are your feelings about coffee blends true? Can you absolutely know that it’s true? How do you react when you believe that thought? Who would you be without that thought? Remember, there are no right answers—these questions will hopefully lead you toward deeper inquiry.  (h/t Byron Katie)

A big thanks…

This year’s USBC/USBrC/CTC highlights the power of the coffee community. Competitors, judges, volunteers, and sponsors all worked together to showcase both the nation’s top competitors and finest coffees, demonstrating extraordinary talent, dedication, and passion. We’re grateful to Klatch Coffee for hosting this incredible event and making us feel so welcome.

We’re deeply humbled by the kind words from y’all for our US Coffee Championships coverage. All credit goes to the Sprudge Rancho team: Sprudge Managing Editor Zac Cadwalader kept everyone at home in the loop with exceptionally detailed real-time updates as photographer Charlie Burt captured every moment in vivid detail.

A huge thank you to our event coverage partners at Third Wave Water! Their support champions the specialty coffee community, our independent coffee competition coverage, and their products help make coffee even more vibrant. Thank you!

This episode of the Coffee Sprudgecast is sponsored by Baratza, Pacific Barista Series, Ghirardelli, and DONA.