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TSM24-45. Elizabeth Mehren The Immigrant Story.
Their Story Matters, with Sara troy and her guest Elizabeth Mehren, on air from November 5thElizabeth’s volunteer work with The Immigrant Story, a small nonprofit in Portland, Oregon, inspired her to write I Lived to Tell the World. Through her involvement, she heard powerful stories of resilience and hope from immigrants and refugees who had overcome incredible challenges. These experiences…
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#AUTHOR#Elizabeth Mehren#Elizabeth Mehren The Immigrant Story#I Lived to Tell the World.#Immigrant stories#Orchard of Wisdom#podcast#Sara Troy#Their Story Matters#www.selfdiscoverywisdom.com
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Here Are Your 2019 US Coffee Champions
The 2019 US Coffee Championships in Kansas City, Missouri have come and gone, leaving in its wake three days of intense coffee competition taking place across five separate stages. Over 100 coffee professionals descended up KCMO this weekend to vie for one of the coveted spots representing the United States of America in the World Coffee Championships happening next month in Boston.
Competitions this year included the Barista Championship, Brewers Cup, Cup Tasters, Roasters Championships, and for the first time in America, Coffee in Good Spirits, a tournament dedicated to the fine art of the coffee cocktail. There are so many stories to unpack from this weekend, from the powerful message returning Brewers Cup champion Rose Woodard used her platform to deliver to the meteoric rise of lactic acid processing (particularly from La Palma y El Tucan in Colombia) in Barista Championship coffee. Many of these stories, along with competitor interviews and much more, will be featured in the coming days and weeks on Sprudge and on the Coffee Sprudgecast (subscribe now and never miss an episode).
For now, while we catch our breath, let’s take a look back at the weekend that was, and celebrate our new batch of heroes from the 2019 US Coffee Championships.
SprudgeLive’s coverage of the 2019 US Coffee Champs is made possible by Joe Glo and Mahlkönig. All of SprudgeLive’s 2019 competition coverage is made possible by Acaia, Baratza, Faema, Cafe Imports, and Wilbur Curtis.
Catch up on the routines of every single barista competitor in our recaps on Sprudge Live.
2019 US Barista Championship Day One Recap
Anthony Ragler, Counter Culture Coffee, Brooklyn NY
2019 US Barista Championship Semi-Finals Recap
Sam Neely, Switchback Coffee Roasters, Colorado Springs, CO
2019 US Barista Championship Finals Recap
Samantha Spillman, Dillanos Coffee Roasters, Sumner, WA
Your 2019 US Coffee Champions
Barista Championship
Samantha Spillman, Dillanos Coffee Roasters, Seattle, WA
Andrea Allen, Onyx Coffee Lab, Springdale, AR
T. Ben Fischer, Elixr Coffee Roasters, Philadelphia, PA
Dylan Siemens, Onyx Coffee Lab, Springdale, AR
Sam Neely, Switchback Coffee Roasters, Colorado Springs, CO
Emily Orendorff, Boxcar Coffee Roasters, Boulder, CO
Brewers Cup
Kaley Gann, Messenger Coffee, Kansas City, MO
Justin Goodhart, Sweet Bloom Coffee, Denver, CO
Lance Hedrick, Onyx Coffee Lab, Springdale, AR
Jacob White, Bird Rock Coffee Roasters, San Diego, CA
Jennifer Hwang, Klatch Coffee, Rancho Cucamonga, CA
Chelsey Walker-Watson, Atlas Coffee Importers, Seattle, WA
Coffee In Good Spirits
Matt Foster, Kaldi’s Coffee Roasting Co, St. Louis, MO
Sam Schroeder, Olympia Coffee, Olympia, WA
Brodie Lewis, Madcap Coffee Co, Grand Rapids, CO
Nathanael Mehrens, Stay Golden, Nashville, TN
Joel Cronenberg, Provision Coffee, Gilbert, AZ
Dakota Graff, Onyx Coffee Lab, Springdale, AR
Cup Tasters
Jen Apodaca, Royal Coffee, Oakland, CA
Summer Zhang, Onyx Coffee Lab, Springdale, AR
Samuel Gurel, Sövda Coffee, Portland, OR
Helen Choi, Luce Ave Coffee Roasters, Houston, TX
Cameron Metzinger, Backyard Beans Coffee Co, Lansdale, PA
Roman Deshong, Amethyst Coffee Co, Denver, CO
Roasters Championship
Shelby Williamson, Huckleberry Roasters, Denver, CO
Hugh Morretta, La Colombe Coffee Roasters, Philadelphia, PA
Mark Boccard, Southdown Coffee, Huntington, KY
Janine Cundy, Joe Bean Coffee Roasters, Rochester, NY
Steve Cuevas, Black Oak Coffee Roasters, Ukiah, CA
Eric Stone, Mudhouse Coffee Roasters, Charlottesville, VA
A version of this article ran on Sprudge Live by Zac Cadwalader. Catch up on all the weekend activities over at our sibling site Sprudge Live, on Twitter @SprudgeLive and on Instagram @sprudge.
Thank you to our Sprudge Live coverage team Zac Cadwalader, Elizabeth Chai, Charlie Burt, Colin Whitcomb, and Laura Clark.
SprudgeLive’s coverage of the 2019 US Coffee Champs is made possible by Joe Glo and Mahlkönig. All of SprudgeLive’s 2019 competition coverage is made possible by Acaia, Baratza, Faema, Cafe Imports, and Wilbur Curtis.
The post Here Are Your 2019 US Coffee Champions appeared first on Sprudge.
Here Are Your 2019 US Coffee Champions published first on https://medium.com/@LinLinCoffee
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Here Are Your 2019 US Coffee Champions
The 2019 US Coffee Championships in Kansas City, Missouri have come and gone, leaving in its wake three days of intense coffee competition taking place across five separate stages. Over 100 coffee professionals descended up KCMO this weekend to vie for one of the coveted spots representing the United States of America in the World Coffee Championships happening next month in Boston.
Competitions this year included the Barista Championship, Brewers Cup, Cup Tasters, Roasters Championships, and for the first time in America, Coffee in Good Spirits, a tournament dedicated to the fine art of the coffee cocktail. There are so many stories to unpack from this weekend, from the powerful message returning Brewers Cup champion Rose Woodard used her platform to deliver to the meteoric rise of lactic acid processing (particularly from La Palma y El Tucan in Colombia) in Barista Championship coffee. Many of these stories, along with competitor interviews and much more, will be featured in the coming days and weeks on Sprudge and on the Coffee Sprudgecast (subscribe now and never miss an episode).
For now, while we catch our breath, let’s take a look back at the weekend that was, and celebrate our new batch of heroes from the 2019 US Coffee Championships.
SprudgeLive’s coverage of the 2019 US Coffee Champs is made possible by Joe Glo and Mahlkönig. All of SprudgeLive’s 2019 competition coverage is made possible by Acaia, Baratza, Faema, Cafe Imports, and Wilbur Curtis.
Catch up on the routines of every single barista competitor in our recaps on Sprudge Live.
2019 US Barista Championship Day One Recap
Anthony Ragler, Counter Culture Coffee, Brooklyn NY
2019 US Barista Championship Semi-Finals Recap
Sam Neely, Switchback Coffee Roasters, Colorado Springs, CO
2019 US Barista Championship Finals Recap
Samantha Spillman, Dillanos Coffee Roasters, Sumner, WA
Your 2019 US Coffee Champions
Barista Championship
Samantha Spillman, Dillanos Coffee Roasters, Seattle, WA
Andrea Allen, Onyx Coffee Lab, Springdale, AR
T. Ben Fischer, Elixr Coffee Roasters, Philadelphia, PA
Dylan Siemens, Onyx Coffee Lab, Springdale, AR
Sam Neely, Switchback Coffee Roasters, Colorado Springs, CO
Emily Orendorff, Boxcar Coffee Roasters, Boulder, CO
Brewers Cup
Kaley Gann, Messenger Coffee, Kansas City, MO
Justin Goodhart, Sweet Bloom Coffee, Denver, CO
Lance Hedrick, Onyx Coffee Lab, Springdale, AR
Jacob White, Bird Rock Coffee Roasters, San Diego, CA
Jennifer Hwang, Klatch Coffee, Rancho Cucamonga, CA
Chelsey Walker-Watson, Atlas Coffee Importers, Seattle, WA
Coffee In Good Spirits
Matt Foster, Kaldi’s Coffee Roasting Co, St. Louis, MO
Sam Schroeder, Olympia Coffee, Olympia, WA
Brodie Lewis, Madcap Coffee Co, Grand Rapids, CO
Nathanael Mehrens, Stay Golden, Nashville, TN
Joel Cronenberg, Provision Coffee, Gilbert, AZ
Dakota Graff, Onyx Coffee Lab, Springdale, AR
Cup Tasters
Jen Apodaca, Royal Coffee, Oakland, CA
Summer Zhang, Onyx Coffee Lab, Springdale, AR
Samuel Gurel, Sövda Coffee, Portland, OR
Helen Choi, Luce Ave Coffee Roasters, Houston, TX
Cameron Metzinger, Backyard Beans Coffee Co, Lansdale, PA
Roman Deshong, Amethyst Coffee Co, Denver, CO
Roasters Championship
Shelby Williamson, Huckleberry Roasters, Denver, CO
Hugh Morretta, La Colombe Coffee Roasters, Philadelphia, PA
Mark Boccard, Southdown Coffee, Huntington, KY
Janine Cundy, Joe Bean Coffee Roasters, Rochester, NY
Steve Cuevas, Black Oak Coffee Roasters, Ukiah, CA
Eric Stone, Mudhouse Coffee Roasters, Charlottesville, VA
A version of this article ran on Sprudge Live by Zac Cadwalader. Catch up on all the weekend activities over at our sibling site Sprudge Live, on Twitter @SprudgeLive and on Instagram @sprudge.
Thank you to our Sprudge Live coverage team Zac Cadwalader, Elizabeth Chai, Charlie Burt, Colin Whitcomb, and Laura Clark.
SprudgeLive’s coverage of the 2019 US Coffee Champs is made possible by Joe Glo and Mahlkönig. All of SprudgeLive’s 2019 competition coverage is made possible by Acaia, Baratza, Faema, Cafe Imports, and Wilbur Curtis.
The post Here Are Your 2019 US Coffee Champions appeared first on Sprudge.
seen 1st on http://sprudge.com
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Here Are Your 2019 US Coffee Champions
The 2019 US Coffee Championships in Kansas City, Missouri have come and gone, leaving in its wake three days of intense coffee competition taking place across five separate stages. Over 100 coffee professionals descended up KCMO this weekend to vie for one of the coveted spots representing the United States of America in the World Coffee Championships happening next month in Boston.
Competitions this year included the Barista Championship, Brewers Cup, Cup Tasters, Roasters Championships, and for the first time in America, Coffee in Good Spirits, a tournament dedicated to the fine art of the coffee cocktail. There are so many stories to unpack from this weekend, from the powerful message returning Brewers Cup champion Rose Woodard used her platform to deliver to the meteoric rise of lactic acid processing (particularly from La Palma y El Tucan in Colombia) in Barista Championship coffee. Many of these stories, along with competitor interviews and much more, will be featured in the coming days and weeks on Sprudge and on the Coffee Sprudgecast (subscribe now and never miss an episode).
For now, while we catch our breath, let’s take a look back at the weekend that was, and celebrate our new batch of heroes from the 2019 US Coffee Championships.
SprudgeLive’s coverage of the 2019 US Coffee Champs is made possible by Joe Glo and Mahlkönig. All of SprudgeLive’s 2019 competition coverage is made possible by Acaia, Baratza, Faema, Cafe Imports, and Wilbur Curtis.
Catch up on the routines of every single barista competitor in our recaps on Sprudge Live.
2019 US Barista Championship Day One Recap
Anthony Ragler, Counter Culture Coffee, Brooklyn NY
2019 US Barista Championship Semi-Finals Recap
Sam Neely, Switchback Coffee Roasters, Colorado Springs, CO
2019 US Barista Championship Finals Recap
Samantha Spillman, Dillanos Coffee Roasters, Sumner, WA
Your 2019 US Coffee Champions
Barista Championship
Samantha Spillman, Dillanos Coffee Roasters, Seattle, WA
Andrea Allen, Onyx Coffee Lab, Springdale, AR
T. Ben Fischer, Elixr Coffee Roasters, Philadelphia, PA
Dylan Siemens, Onyx Coffee Lab, Springdale, AR
Sam Neely, Switchback Coffee Roasters, Colorado Springs, CO
Emily Orendorff, Boxcar Coffee Roasters, Boulder, CO
Brewers Cup
Kaley Gann, Messenger Coffee, Kansas City, MO
Justin Goodhart, Sweet Bloom Coffee, Denver, CO
Lance Hedrick, Onyx Coffee Lab, Springdale, AR
Jacob White, Bird Rock Coffee Roasters, San Diego, CA
Jennifer Hwang, Klatch Coffee, Rancho Cucamonga, CA
Chelsey Walker-Watson, Atlas Coffee Importers, Seattle, WA
Coffee In Good Spirits
Matt Foster, Kaldi’s Coffee Roasting Co, St. Louis, MO
Sam Schroeder, Olympia Coffee, Olympia, WA
Brodie Lewis, Madcap Coffee Co, Grand Rapids, CO
Nathanael Mehrens, Stay Golden, Nashville, TN
Joel Cronenberg, Provision Coffee, Gilbert, AZ
Dakota Graff, Onyx Coffee Lab, Springdale, AR
Cup Tasters
Jen Apodaca, Royal Coffee, Oakland, CA
Summer Zhang, Onyx Coffee Lab, Springdale, AR
Samuel Gurel, Sövda Coffee, Portland, OR
Helen Choi, Luce Ave Coffee Roasters, Houston, TX
Cameron Metzinger, Backyard Beans Coffee Co, Lansdale, PA
Roman Deshong, Amethyst Coffee Co, Denver, CO
Roasters Championship
Shelby Williamson, Huckleberry Roasters, Denver, CO
Hugh Morretta, La Colombe Coffee Roasters, Philadelphia, PA
Mark Boccard, Southdown Coffee, Huntington, KY
Janine Cundy, Joe Bean Coffee Roasters, Rochester, NY
Steve Cuevas, Black Oak Coffee Roasters, Ukiah, CA
Eric Stone, Mudhouse Coffee Roasters, Charlottesville, VA
A version of this article ran on Sprudge Live by Zac Cadwalader. Catch up on all the weekend activities over at our sibling site Sprudge Live, on Twitter @SprudgeLive and on Instagram @sprudge.
Thank you to our Sprudge Live coverage team Zac Cadwalader, Elizabeth Chai, Charlie Burt, Colin Whitcomb, and Laura Clark.
SprudgeLive’s coverage of the 2019 US Coffee Champs is made possible by Joe Glo and Mahlkönig. All of SprudgeLive’s 2019 competition coverage is made possible by Acaia, Baratza, Faema, Cafe Imports, and Wilbur Curtis.
The post Here Are Your 2019 US Coffee Champions appeared first on Sprudge.
from Sprudge https://ift.tt/2Ob2Bpw
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Looking Back At The US Coffee Championships Nashville Qualifying Event
It’s official. The field for the 2019 US Coffee Championships is set. After learning the first 62 competitors to punch their tickets at last month’s Denver Qualifying Event, we now know the other 70 coffee professionals to round out the field for the national stage of competition, taking place in just a few short months in Kansas City, Missouri.
From a list of 200 coffee professionals spread across five competitions—Barista Championship, Brewers Cup, Coffee in Goods Spirits, Cup Tasters, and Roasters Championship—the field was winnowed down by nearly two-thirds to a tight 70. There were names new and old—both in terms of competitor and coffee company represented—but as they so often do, the familiar veteran names often found their way to the tops of the list.
That’s not to say that the first-timers didn’t make a splash in Nashville. There were more than a handful of those new to competition who walked away with some wooden hardware, poised to take their rightful place as one of the wily vets in the 2020 season and beyond.
We’re still two months away from the US Coffee Championships storming the Kansas City Convention Center in March, and you can expect the 130+ coffee professionals making the trip will use those 58 days to ramp up their practice time and fine tune their performances. We’ve witnessed a lot of coffee competition already, but we haven’t seen anything yet. Now is when it gets really real.
But before all the really really realness, let’s take a few minutes to enjoy what transpired over the weekend. Let’s look back at the US Coffee Championships Qualifying Even in Nashville, Tennessee.
SprudgeLive’s coverage of the 2019 US Coffee Champs is made possible by Joe Glo and Mahlkönig. All of SprudgeLive’s 2019 competition coverage is made possible by Acaia, Baratza, Faema, Cafe Imports, and Wilbur Curtis.
Barista Championship
A common thread throughout most of the 10-minute routines at the Barista Championship was a general sense of cool collectedness. Participants stayed within themselves even in the face of the oppressive time constrictions. Even though the competition was split pretty evenly between veterans and rookies, the overarching zeitgeist was one of, “we’ve been here before.” The event felt more academic than ecstatic.
Until it didn’t. Competitors like Adam JacksonBey, Rodrigo Vargas, Anthony Ragler, and the undeniable crowd favorite Sara Gill—”you can call me Mama Mocha”—blew the roof off the Track One events space. Their energy was infectious, riling up the otherwise polite crowd into a frenzy of full-throated yowls and even the occasional post-routine interview bum-rush for a 20+ person 4:20 selfie.
Juan Diaz of Deeply Coffee Co.
Amid all the excitement, after the dust settled there was one clear winner: La Palma y El Tucan. The esteemed Colombian farm produced the coffees used by the top three finalists (who all just so happened to go back-to-back-to-back at the end of Day Two). The only other two competitors to use La Palma in the Nashville Barista competition, Juan Diaz and Shane Hess, also found their way to nationals by taking 14th and 16th, respectively.
It’s about as close to a clean sweep as you can expect from a single producer. But the question remains: can they finish the fight or will they lose out to other competition heavyweights like Hacienda La Papaya and Finca Nuguo, the coffees used by the last three years’ winners? We’ll just have to wait until March to find out.
Dylan Siemens, Onyx Coffee Lab
Samantha Spillman, Dillanos Coffee Roasters
T. Ben Fischer, Elixr Coffee Roasters
Jenna Gotthelf, Counter Culture Coffe
Rodrigo Vargas, Rival Bros Coffee Roasters
Isaiah Sheese, Archetype Coffee
Elisabeth Johnson, Venture Coffee Co
Gisel Alvarez, Monarch
Ryan Wojton, Madcap Coffee Co
Anthony Ragler, Counter Culture Coffee
Kay Cheon, Dune Coffee Roasters
Cris Mendoza, Saint Frank Coffee
Samuel Schaefer, Stovetop Roasters
Juan Diaz, Deeply Coffee Co
Ali Abderrahman, State Street Coffee/La Reunion
Shane Hess, Jubala Coffee
Ben Vollmar, Flatlands Coffee
Rachel Diaz, Flatlands Coffee
Brewers Cup
Much of the talk around Track One (and even extending to Twitter) stemmed from the Brewers Cup, where innovative new brewing techniques found their way onto the stage and into the national round of competition in Kansas City. Most notably, 2017 US Brewers Cup runner-up Chelsea Walker-Watson had the people buzzing with her use of a sous vide bath to help keep her brew at a precise temperature.
Not to be out-innovated, Dune Coffee’s Felix Felix came with his own custom-design brewing device that he made using a 3D printer.
Even amongst the progressive takes on brewing, perhaps the most impressive feet was that of Grace McCutchan, a competitor unknown to the national stage of competition but still able to best seasoned vets Jennifer Hwang, Tyler Duncan, and 2018 US Cup Tasters Champion Ken Selby. She’s become one to watch. Will we have back-to-back newcomers taking it all down at the US Brewers Cup? McCutchan is making an argument.
Grace McCutchan, Red Rooster Coffee Roaster
Jennifer Hwang, Klatch Coffee
Tyler Duncan, Topeca Coffee Roasters
John Kruegler, Blanchard’s Coffee Roasting Co
Ben Martin, Madcap Coffee Co
Kenneth Selby, Vashon Coffee Co
Cody Barnhart, Vienna Coffee Co
Gunnar Lagenhuizen, Dune Coffee Roasters
Chelsey Walker-Watson, Atlas Coffee Importers
Elika Liftee, Onyx Coffee Lab
Skyler Richter, LAMILL
Felix Felix, Dune Coffee Roasters
Coffee In Good Spirits
After a slow start in Denver, the Coffee in Good Spirits competition found stronger footing in Nashville, where the number of competitors over quadrupled. The competition really ramped up for the second leg of the Qualifying Event stage. Fire, smoke, ice, the drinks here in Nashville looked as tasty as they did dramatic.
Though only in its first year on American soil, if Nashville is any indication, Coffee in Good Spirits is going to be around for the long haul.
Kris Wood, Black Fox Coffee Co
Nathanael Mehrens, Stay Golden
Matt Foster, Kaldi’s Coffee Roasting Co
Leo-Charles Salerno, Greater Goods Coffee Roasters
Brodie Lewis, Madcap Coffee Co
Rachel Huffman, Dose Nashville
John Martin, LAMILL
Jen McElroy, Klatch Coffee
Brian Beyke, Quills Coffee
Koji Daremo, The Ruin Daily
Dan Hilburn, Backyard Beans Coffee Co
Joel Cronenberg, Provision Coffee
Lindy Schubring, Greyhouse Coffee & Supply Co
Cup Tasters
In case you needed any convincing that Onyx Coffee Lab is really, really good at coffee competition (and, y’know, their Roasters title, Brewers Cup title, and multiple consecutive Finals appearances in the Barista Championship aren’t enough for you), look no further than the Cup Tasters competition in Nashville. Fielding three Tasters—roughly 1/16th of the total competitors—Onyx nonetheless found all three of those competitors moving on, one in five.
But it would be foolish to make any future predictions at this point. With five competitors correctly identifying all six sets and perpetual finalist Samuel Demisse lurking in the field, this is one is still anyone’s to claim.
Matthew McDaniel, Summit Coffee
Summer Zhang, Onyx Coffee Lab
Aaron Lerner, SkyTop Coffee
Sarah Lambeth, Congregation Coffee Roasters
Brandon Hutchingson, Mission Coffee
Rachel Stanich, Red Fox Coffee Merchants
Bear Soliven, Onyx Coffee Lab
Samuel Demisse, Keffa Coffee Importers
Elisabeth Johnson, Venture Coffee Co
Hyoung Wuk Jung, Loit Café
Jeff Mooney, Folly Coffee Roasters
Jarrett Johnson, Lineage Roasting
Cameron Metzinger, Backyard Beans Coffee Co
Joshua Edens, Onyx Coffee Lab
Helen Choi, Luce Ave Coffee Roasters
Roasters Championship
Roasters Championship competitors found themselves with a unique challenge: how to roast a coffee without knowing a thing about it. That coffee, it turned out, was a natural processed Myanmar, which many competitors found to be quite the sticky wicket. How do you ramp up the sweetness and soften the nuttiness?
Ultimately, it was a nut that the roasters (first) cracked. Having personally tasted multiple roasters’ takes on the coffee—thanks in no small part to the Sprudge Live desk being very, very close to the Roasters Village—I can say that many roasters found that balance. The cups were sweet, not overly heavy, with little to no hint of ferment.
If these coffees are any indication of what’s to come in Kansas City, attendees are in for LOTS of really good coffee.
Amanda Hagenbuch, Rival Bros Coffee Roasters
Jeremy Moore, Bonlife Coffee Roasters
Steve Cuevas, Black Oak Coffee Roasters
Eduardo Choza, Mayorga Organics
José René Martínez, J.René Coffee Roasters
Kenneth Thomas, Umble Coffee Co
Anthony Greatorex, Red Rooster Coffee Roaster
Jason Burkum, Archetype Coffee
Matthew Delarosa, Ironsmith Coffee Roasters
Evan Pollitt, Summitt Coffee
Aaron MacDougall, Broadsheet Coffee Roasters
Eric Stone, Mudhouse Coffee Roasters
Photos for Sprudge and Sprudge Live by Elizabeth Chai and Charlie Burt.
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
The post Looking Back At The US Coffee Championships Nashville Qualifying Event appeared first on Sprudge.
Looking Back At The US Coffee Championships Nashville Qualifying Event published first on https://medium.com/@LinLinCoffee
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Looking Back At The US Coffee Championships Nashville Qualifying Event
It’s official. The field for the 2019 US Coffee Championships is set. After learning the first 62 competitors to punch their tickets at last month’s Denver Qualifying Event, we now know the other 70 coffee professionals to round out the field for the national stage of competition, taking place in just a few short months in Kansas City, Missouri.
From a list of 200 coffee professionals spread across five competitions—Barista Championship, Brewers Cup, Coffee in Goods Spirits, Cup Tasters, and Roasters Championship—the field was winnowed down by nearly two-thirds to a tight 70. There were names new and old—both in terms of competitor and coffee company represented—but as they so often do, the familiar veteran names often found their way to the tops of the list.
That’s not to say that the first-timers didn’t make a splash in Nashville. There were more than a handful of those new to competition who walked away with some wooden hardware, poised to take their rightful place as one of the wily vets in the 2020 season and beyond.
We’re still two months away from the US Coffee Championships storming the Kansas City Convention Center in March, and you can expect the 130+ coffee professionals making the trip will use those 58 days to ramp up their practice time and fine tune their performances. We’ve witnessed a lot of coffee competition already, but we haven’t seen anything yet. Now is when it gets really real.
But before all the really really realness, let’s take a few minutes to enjoy what transpired over the weekend. Let’s look back at the US Coffee Championships Qualifying Even in Nashville, Tennessee.
SprudgeLive’s coverage of the 2019 US Coffee Champs is made possible by Joe Glo and Mahlkönig. All of SprudgeLive’s 2019 competition coverage is made possible by Acaia, Baratza, Faema, Cafe Imports, and Wilbur Curtis.
Barista Championship
A common thread throughout most of the 10-minute routines at the Barista Championship was a general sense of cool collectedness. Participants stayed within themselves even in the face of the oppressive time constrictions. Even though the competition was split pretty evenly between veterans and rookies, the overarching zeitgeist was one of, “we’ve been here before.” The event felt more academic than ecstatic.
Until it didn’t. Competitors like Adam JacksonBey, Rodrigo Vargas, Anthony Ragler, and the undeniable crowd favorite Sara Gill—”you can call me Mama Mocha”—blew the roof off the Track One events space. Their energy was infectious, riling up the otherwise polite crowd into a frenzy of full-throated yowls and even the occasional post-routine interview bum-rush for a 20+ person 4:20 selfie.
Juan Diaz of Deeply Coffee Co.
Amid all the excitement, after the dust settled there was one clear winner: La Palma y El Tucan. The esteemed Colombian farm produced the coffees used by the top three finalists (who all just so happened to go back-to-back-to-back at the end of Day Two). The only other two competitors to use La Palma in the Nashville Barista competition, Juan Diaz and Shane Hess, also found their way to nationals by taking 14th and 16th, respectively.
It’s about as close to a clean sweep as you can expect from a single producer. But the question remains: can they finish the fight or will they lose out to other competition heavyweights like Hacienda La Papaya and Finca Nuguo, the coffees used by the last three years’ winners? We’ll just have to wait until March to find out.
Dylan Siemens, Onyx Coffee Lab
Samantha Spillman, Dillanos Coffee Roasters
T. Ben Fischer, Elixr Coffee Roasters
Jenna Gotthelf, Counter Culture Coffe
Rodrigo Vargas, Rival Bros Coffee Roasters
Isaiah Sheese, Archetype Coffee
Elisabeth Johnson, Venture Coffee Co
Gisel Alvarez, Monarch
Ryan Wojton, Madcap Coffee Co
Anthony Ragler, Counter Culture Coffee
Kay Cheon, Dune Coffee Roasters
Cris Mendoza, Saint Frank Coffee
Samuel Schaefer, Stovetop Roasters
Juan Diaz, Deeply Coffee Co
Ali Abderrahman, State Street Coffee/La Reunion
Shane Hess, Jubala Coffee
Ben Vollmar, Flatlands Coffee
Rachel Diaz, Flatlands Coffee
Brewers Cup
Much of the talk around Track One (and even extending to Twitter) stemmed from the Brewers Cup, where innovative new brewing techniques found their way onto the stage and into the national round of competition in Kansas City. Most notably, 2017 US Brewers Cup runner-up Chelsea Walker-Watson had the people buzzing with her use of a sous vide bath to help keep her brew at a precise temperature.
Not to be out-innovated, Dune Coffee’s Felix Felix came with his own custom-design brewing device that he made using a 3D printer.
Even amongst the progressive takes on brewing, perhaps the most impressive feet was that of Grace McCutchan, a competitor unknown to the national stage of competition but still able to best seasoned vets Jennifer Hwang, Tyler Duncan, and 2018 US Cup Tasters Champion Ken Selby. She’s become one to watch. Will we have back-to-back newcomers taking it all down at the US Brewers Cup? McCutchan is making an argument.
Grace McCutchan, Red Rooster Coffee Roaster
Jennifer Hwang, Klatch Coffee
Tyler Duncan, Topeca Coffee Roasters
John Kruegler, Blanchard’s Coffee Roasting Co
Ben Martin, Madcap Coffee Co
Kenneth Selby, Vashon Coffee Co
Cody Barnhart, Vienna Coffee Co
Gunnar Lagenhuizen, Dune Coffee Roasters
Chelsey Walker-Watson, Atlas Coffee Importers
Elika Liftee, Onyx Coffee Lab
Skyler Richter, LAMILL
Felix Felix, Dune Coffee Roasters
Coffee In Good Spirits
After a slow start in Denver, the Coffee in Good Spirits competition found stronger footing in Nashville, where the number of competitors over quadrupled. The competition really ramped up for the second leg of the Qualifying Event stage. Fire, smoke, ice, the drinks here in Nashville looked as tasty as they did dramatic.
Though only in its first year on American soil, if Nashville is any indication, Coffee in Good Spirits is going to be around for the long haul.
Kris Wood, Black Fox Coffee Co
Nathanael Mehrens, Stay Golden
Matt Foster, Kaldi’s Coffee Roasting Co
Leo-Charles Salerno, Greater Goods Coffee Roasters
Brodie Lewis, Madcap Coffee Co
Rachel Huffman, Dose Nashville
John Martin, LAMILL
Jen McElroy, Klatch Coffee
Brian Beyke, Quills Coffee
Koji Daremo, The Ruin Daily
Dan Hilburn, Backyard Beans Coffee Co
Joel Cronenberg, Provision Coffee
Lindy Schubring, Greyhouse Coffee & Supply Co
Cup Tasters
In case you needed any convincing that Onyx Coffee Lab is really, really good at coffee competition (and, y’know, their Roasters title, Brewers Cup title, and multiple consecutive Finals appearances in the Barista Championship aren’t enough for you), look no further than the Cup Tasters competition in Nashville. Fielding three Tasters—roughly 1/16th of the total competitors—Onyx nonetheless found all three of those competitors moving on, one in five.
But it would be foolish to make any future predictions at this point. With five competitors correctly identifying all six sets and perpetual finalist Samuel Demisse lurking in the field, this is one is still anyone’s to claim.
Matthew McDaniel, Summit Coffee
Summer Zhang, Onyx Coffee Lab
Aaron Lerner, SkyTop Coffee
Sarah Lambeth, Congregation Coffee Roasters
Brandon Hutchingson, Mission Coffee
Rachel Stanich, Red Fox Coffee Merchants
Bear Soliven, Onyx Coffee Lab
Samuel Demisse, Keffa Coffee Importers
Elisabeth Johnson, Venture Coffee Co
Hyoung Wuk Jung, Loit Café
Jeff Mooney, Folly Coffee Roasters
Jarrett Johnson, Lineage Roasting
Cameron Metzinger, Backyard Beans Coffee Co
Joshua Edens, Onyx Coffee Lab
Helen Choi, Luce Ave Coffee Roasters
Roasters Championship
Roasters Championship competitors found themselves with a unique challenge: how to roast a coffee without knowing a thing about it. That coffee, it turned out, was a natural processed Myanmar, which many competitors found to be quite the sticky wicket. How do you ramp up the sweetness and soften the nuttiness?
Ultimately, it was a nut that the roasters (first) cracked. Having personally tasted multiple roasters’ takes on the coffee—thanks in no small part to the Sprudge Live desk being very, very close to the Roasters Village—I can say that many roasters found that balance. The cups were sweet, not overly heavy, with little to no hint of ferment.
If these coffees are any indication of what’s to come in Kansas City, attendees are in for LOTS of really good coffee.
Amanda Hagenbuch, Rival Bros Coffee Roasters
Jeremy Moore, Bonlife Coffee Roasters
Steve Cuevas, Black Oak Coffee Roasters
Eduardo Choza, Mayorga Organics
José René Martínez, J.René Coffee Roasters
Kenneth Thomas, Umble Coffee Co
Anthony Greatorex, Red Rooster Coffee Roaster
Jason Burkum, Archetype Coffee
Matthew Delarosa, Ironsmith Coffee Roasters
Evan Pollitt, Summitt Coffee
Aaron MacDougall, Broadsheet Coffee Roasters
Eric Stone, Mudhouse Coffee Roasters
Photos for Sprudge and Sprudge Live by Elizabeth Chai and Charlie Burt.
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
The post Looking Back At The US Coffee Championships Nashville Qualifying Event appeared first on Sprudge.
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Looking Back At The US Coffee Championships Nashville Qualifying Event
It’s official. The field for the 2019 US Coffee Championships is set. After learning the first 62 competitors to punch their tickets at last month’s Denver Qualifying Event, we now know the other 70 coffee professionals to round out the field for the national stage of competition, taking place in just a few short months in Kansas City, Missouri.
From a list of 200 coffee professionals spread across five competitions—Barista Championship, Brewers Cup, Coffee in Goods Spirits, Cup Tasters, and Roasters Championship—the field was winnowed down by nearly two-thirds to a tight 70. There were names new and old—both in terms of competitor and coffee company represented—but as they so often do, the familiar veteran names often found their way to the tops of the list.
That’s not to say that the first-timers didn’t make a splash in Nashville. There were more than a handful of those new to competition who walked away with some wooden hardware, poised to take their rightful place as one of the wily vets in the 2020 season and beyond.
We’re still two months away from the US Coffee Championships storming the Kansas City Convention Center in March, and you can expect the 130+ coffee professionals making the trip will use those 58 days to ramp up their practice time and fine tune their performances. We’ve witnessed a lot of coffee competition already, but we haven’t seen anything yet. Now is when it gets really real.
But before all the really really realness, let’s take a few minutes to enjoy what transpired over the weekend. Let’s look back at the US Coffee Championships Qualifying Even in Nashville, Tennessee.
SprudgeLive’s coverage of the 2019 US Coffee Champs is made possible by Joe Glo and Mahlkönig. All of SprudgeLive’s 2019 competition coverage is made possible by Acaia, Baratza, Faema, Cafe Imports, and Wilbur Curtis.
Barista Championship
A common thread throughout most of the 10-minute routines at the Barista Championship was a general sense of cool collectedness. Participants stayed within themselves even in the face of the oppressive time constrictions. Even though the competition was split pretty evenly between veterans and rookies, the overarching zeitgeist was one of, “we’ve been here before.” The event felt more academic than ecstatic.
Until it didn’t. Competitors like Adam JacksonBey, Rodrigo Vargas, Anthony Ragler, and the undeniable crowd favorite Sara Gill—”you can call me Mama Mocha”—blew the roof off the Track One events space. Their energy was infectious, riling up the otherwise polite crowd into a frenzy of full-throated yowls and even the occasional post-routine interview bum-rush for a 20+ person 4:20 selfie.
Juan Diaz of Deeply Coffee Co.
Amid all the excitement, after the dust settled there was one clear winner: La Palma y El Tucan. The esteemed Colombian farm produced the coffees used by the top three finalists (who all just so happened to go back-to-back-to-back at the end of Day Two). The only other two competitors to use La Palma in the Nashville Barista competition, Juan Diaz and Shane Hess, also found their way to nationals by taking 14th and 16th, respectively.
It’s about as close to a clean sweep as you can expect from a single producer. But the question remains: can they finish the fight or will they lose out to other competition heavyweights like Hacienda La Papaya and Finca Nuguo, the coffees used by the last three years’ winners? We’ll just have to wait until March to find out.
Dylan Siemens, Onyx Coffee Lab
Samantha Spillman, Dillanos Coffee Roasters
T. Ben Fischer, Elixr Coffee Roasters
Jenna Gotthelf, Counter Culture Coffe
Rodrigo Vargas, Rival Bros Coffee Roasters
Isaiah Sheese, Archetype Coffee
Elisabeth Johnson, Venture Coffee Co
Gisel Alvarez, Monarch
Ryan Wojton, Madcap Coffee Co
Anthony Ragler, Counter Culture Coffee
Kay Cheon, Dune Coffee Roasters
Cris Mendoza, Saint Frank Coffee
Samuel Schaefer, Stovetop Roasters
Juan Diaz, Deeply Coffee Co
Ali Abderrahman, State Street Coffee/La Reunion
Shane Hess, Jubala Coffee
Ben Vollmar, Flatlands Coffee
Rachel Diaz, Flatlands Coffee
Brewers Cup
Much of the talk around Track One (and even extending to Twitter) stemmed from the Brewers Cup, where innovative new brewing techniques found their way onto the stage and into the national round of competition in Kansas City. Most notably, 2017 US Brewers Cup runner-up Chelsea Walker-Watson had the people buzzing with her use of a sous vide bath to help keep her brew at a precise temperature.
Not to be out-innovated, Dune Coffee’s Felix Felix came with his own custom-design brewing device that he made using a 3D printer.
Even amongst the progressive takes on brewing, perhaps the most impressive feet was that of Grace McCutchan, a competitor unknown to the national stage of competition but still able to best seasoned vets Jennifer Hwang, Tyler Duncan, and 2018 US Cup Tasters Champion Ken Selby. She’s become one to watch. Will we have back-to-back newcomers taking it all down at the US Brewers Cup? McCutchan is making an argument.
Grace McCutchan, Red Rooster Coffee Roaster
Jennifer Hwang, Klatch Coffee
Tyler Duncan, Topeca Coffee Roasters
John Kruegler, Blanchard’s Coffee Roasting Co
Ben Martin, Madcap Coffee Co
Kenneth Selby, Vashon Coffee Co
Cody Barnhart, Vienna Coffee Co
Gunnar Lagenhuizen, Dune Coffee Roasters
Chelsey Walker-Watson, Atlas Coffee Importers
Elika Liftee, Onyx Coffee Lab
Skyler Richter, LAMILL
Felix Felix, Dune Coffee Roasters
Coffee In Good Spirits
After a slow start in Denver, the Coffee in Good Spirits competition found stronger footing in Nashville, where the number of competitors over quadrupled. The competition really ramped up for the second leg of the Qualifying Event stage. Fire, smoke, ice, the drinks here in Nashville looked as tasty as they did dramatic.
Though only in its first year on American soil, if Nashville is any indication, Coffee in Good Spirits is going to be around for the long haul.
Kris Wood, Black Fox Coffee Co
Nathanael Mehrens, Stay Golden
Matt Foster, Kaldi’s Coffee Roasting Co
Leo-Charles Salerno, Greater Goods Coffee Roasters
Brodie Lewis, Madcap Coffee Co
Rachel Huffman, Dose Nashville
John Martin, LAMILL
Jen McElroy, Klatch Coffee
Brian Beyke, Quills Coffee
Koji Daremo, The Ruin Daily
Dan Hilburn, Backyard Beans Coffee Co
Joel Cronenberg, Provision Coffee
Lindy Schubring, Greyhouse Coffee & Supply Co
Cup Tasters
In case you needed any convincing that Onyx Coffee Lab is really, really good at coffee competition (and, y’know, their Roasters title, Brewers Cup title, and multiple consecutive Finals appearances in the Barista Championship aren’t enough for you), look no further than the Cup Tasters competition in Nashville. Fielding three Tasters—roughly 1/16th of the total competitors—Onyx nonetheless found all three of those competitors moving on, one in five.
But it would be foolish to make any future predictions at this point. With five competitors correctly identifying all six sets and perpetual finalist Samuel Demisse lurking in the field, this is one is still anyone’s to claim.
Matthew McDaniel, Summit Coffee
Summer Zhang, Onyx Coffee Lab
Aaron Lerner, SkyTop Coffee
Sarah Lambeth, Congregation Coffee Roasters
Brandon Hutchingson, Mission Coffee
Rachel Stanich, Red Fox Coffee Merchants
Bear Soliven, Onyx Coffee Lab
Samuel Demisse, Keffa Coffee Importers
Elisabeth Johnson, Venture Coffee Co
Hyoung Wuk Jung, Loit Café
Jeff Mooney, Folly Coffee Roasters
Jarrett Johnson, Lineage Roasting
Cameron Metzinger, Backyard Beans Coffee Co
Joshua Edens, Onyx Coffee Lab
Helen Choi, Luce Ave Coffee Roasters
Roasters Championship
Roasters Championship competitors found themselves with a unique challenge: how to roast a coffee without knowing a thing about it. That coffee, it turned out, was a natural processed Myanmar, which many competitors found to be quite the sticky wicket. How do you ramp up the sweetness and soften the nuttiness?
Ultimately, it was a nut that the roasters (first) cracked. Having personally tasted multiple roasters’ takes on the coffee—thanks in no small part to the Sprudge Live desk being very, very close to the Roasters Village—I can say that many roasters found that balance. The cups were sweet, not overly heavy, with little to no hint of ferment.
If these coffees are any indication of what’s to come in Kansas City, attendees are in for LOTS of really good coffee.
Amanda Hagenbuch, Rival Bros Coffee Roasters
Jeremy Moore, Bonlife Coffee Roasters
Steve Cuevas, Black Oak Coffee Roasters
Eduardo Choza, Mayorga Organics
José René Martínez, J.René Coffee Roasters
Kenneth Thomas, Umble Coffee Co
Anthony Greatorex, Red Rooster Coffee Roaster
Jason Burkum, Archetype Coffee
Matthew Delarosa, Ironsmith Coffee Roasters
Evan Pollitt, Summitt Coffee
Aaron MacDougall, Broadsheet Coffee Roasters
Eric Stone, Mudhouse Coffee Roasters
Photos for Sprudge and Sprudge Live by Elizabeth Chai and Charlie Burt.
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
The post Looking Back At The US Coffee Championships Nashville Qualifying Event appeared first on Sprudge.
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Looking Back At The US Coffee Championships Nashville Qualifying Event
It’s official. The field for the 2019 US Coffee Championships is set. After learning the first 62 competitors to punch their tickets at last month’s Denver Qualifying Event, we now know the other 70 coffee professionals to round out the field for the national stage of competition, taking place in just a few short months in Kansas City, Missouri.
From a list of 200 coffee professionals spread across five competitions—Barista Championship, Brewers Cup, Coffee in Goods Spirits, Cup Tasters, and Roasters Championship—the field was winnowed down by nearly two-thirds to a tight 70. There were names new and old—both in terms of competitor and coffee company represented—but as they so often do, the familiar veteran names often found their way to the tops of the list.
That’s not to say that the first-timers didn’t make a splash in Nashville. There were more than a handful of those new to competition who walked away with some wooden hardware, poised to take their rightful place as one of the wily vets in the 2020 season and beyond.
We’re still two months away from the US Coffee Championships storming the Kansas City Convention Center in March, and you can expect the 130+ coffee professionals making the trip will use those 58 days to ramp up their practice time and fine tune their performances. We’ve witnessed a lot of coffee competition already, but we haven’t seen anything yet. Now is when it gets really real.
But before all the really really realness, let’s take a few minutes to enjoy what transpired over the weekend. Let’s look back at the US Coffee Championships Qualifying Even in Nashville, Tennessee.
SprudgeLive’s coverage of the 2019 US Coffee Champs is made possible by Joe Glo and Mahlkönig. All of SprudgeLive’s 2019 competition coverage is made possible by Acaia, Baratza, Faema, Cafe Imports, and Wilbur Curtis.
Barista Championship
A common thread throughout most of the 10-minute routines at the Barista Championship was a general sense of cool collectedness. Participants stayed within themselves even in the face of the oppressive time constrictions. Even though the competition was split pretty evenly between veterans and rookies, the overarching zeitgeist was one of, “we’ve been here before.” The event felt more academic than ecstatic.
Until it didn’t. Competitors like Adam JacksonBey, Rodrigo Vargas, Anthony Ragler, and the undeniable crowd favorite Sara Gill—”you can call me Mama Mocha”—blew the roof off the Track One events space. Their energy was infectious, riling up the otherwise polite crowd into a frenzy of full-throated yowls and even the occasional post-routine interview bum-rush for a 20+ person 4:20 selfie.
Juan Diaz of Deeply Coffee Co.
Amid all the excitement, after the dust settled there was one clear winner: La Palma y El Tucan. The esteemed Colombian farm produced the coffees used by the top three finalists (who all just so happened to go back-to-back-to-back at the end of Day Two). The only other two competitors to use La Palma in the Nashville Barista competition, Juan Diaz and Shane Hess, also found their way to nationals by taking 14th and 16th, respectively.
It’s about as close to a clean sweep as you can expect from a single producer. But the question remains: can they finish the fight or will they lose out to other competition heavyweights like Hacienda La Papaya and Finca Nuguo, the coffees used by the last three years’ winners? We’ll just have to wait until March to find out.
Dylan Siemens, Onyx Coffee Lab
Samantha Spillman, Dillanos Coffee Roasters
T. Ben Fischer, Elixr Coffee Roasters
Jenna Gotthelf, Counter Culture Coffe
Rodrigo Vargas, Rival Bros Coffee Roasters
Isaiah Sheese, Archetype Coffee
Elisabeth Johnson, Venture Coffee Co
Gisel Alvarez, Monarch
Ryan Wojton, Madcap Coffee Co
Anthony Ragler, Counter Culture Coffee
Kay Cheon, Dune Coffee Roasters
Cris Mendoza, Saint Frank Coffee
Samuel Schaefer, Stovetop Roasters
Juan Diaz, Deeply Coffee Co
Ali Abderrahman, State Street Coffee/La Reunion
Shane Hess, Jubala Coffee
Ben Vollmar, Flatlands Coffee
Rachel Diaz, Flatlands Coffee
Brewers Cup
Much of the talk around Track One (and even extending to Twitter) stemmed from the Brewers Cup, where innovative new brewing techniques found their way onto the stage and into the national round of competition in Kansas City. Most notably, 2017 US Brewers Cup runner-up Chelsea Walker-Watson had the people buzzing with her use of a sous vide bath to help keep her brew at a precise temperature.
Not to be out-innovated, Dune Coffee’s Felix Felix came with his own custom-design brewing device that he made using a 3D printer.
Even amongst the progressive takes on brewing, perhaps the most impressive feet was that of Grace McCutchan, a competitor unknown to the national stage of competition but still able to best seasoned vets Jennifer Hwang, Tyler Duncan, and 2018 US Cup Tasters Champion Ken Selby. She’s become one to watch. Will we have back-to-back newcomers taking it all down at the US Brewers Cup? McCutchan is making an argument.
Grace McCutchan, Red Rooster Coffee Roaster
Jennifer Hwang, Klatch Coffee
Tyler Duncan, Topeca Coffee Roasters
John Kruegler, Blanchard’s Coffee Roasting Co
Ben Martin, Madcap Coffee Co
Kenneth Selby, Vashon Coffee Co
Cody Barnhart, Vienna Coffee Co
Gunnar Lagenhuizen, Dune Coffee Roasters
Chelsey Walker-Watson, Atlas Coffee Importers
Elika Liftee, Onyx Coffee Lab
Skyler Richter, LAMILL
Felix Felix, Dune Coffee Roasters
Coffee In Good Spirits
After a slow start in Denver, the Coffee in Good Spirits competition found stronger footing in Nashville, where the number of competitors over quadrupled. The competition really ramped up for the second leg of the Qualifying Event stage. Fire, smoke, ice, the drinks here in Nashville looked as tasty as they did dramatic.
Though only in its first year on American soil, if Nashville is any indication, Coffee in Good Spirits is going to be around for the long haul.
Kris Wood, Black Fox Coffee Co
Nathanael Mehrens, Stay Golden
Matt Foster, Kaldi’s Coffee Roasting Co
Leo-Charles Salerno, Greater Goods Coffee Roasters
Brodie Lewis, Madcap Coffee Co
Rachel Huffman, Dose Nashville
John Martin, LAMILL
Jen McElroy, Klatch Coffee
Brian Beyke, Quills Coffee
Koji Daremo, The Ruin Daily
Dan Hilburn, Backyard Beans Coffee Co
Joel Cronenberg, Provision Coffee
Lindy Schubring, Greyhouse Coffee & Supply Co
Cup Tasters
In case you needed any convincing that Onyx Coffee Lab is really, really good at coffee competition (and, y’know, their Roasters title, Brewers Cup title, and multiple consecutive Finals appearances in the Barista Championship aren’t enough for you), look no further than the Cup Tasters competition in Nashville. Fielding three Tasters—roughly 1/16th of the total competitors—Onyx nonetheless found all three of those competitors moving on, one in five.
But it would be foolish to make any future predictions at this point. With five competitors correctly identifying all six sets and perpetual finalist Samuel Demisse lurking in the field, this is one is still anyone’s to claim.
Matthew McDaniel, Summit Coffee
Summer Zhang, Onyx Coffee Lab
Aaron Lerner, SkyTop Coffee
Sarah Lambeth, Congregation Coffee Roasters
Brandon Hutchingson, Mission Coffee
Rachel Stanich, Red Fox Coffee Merchants
Bear Soliven, Onyx Coffee Lab
Samuel Demisse, Keffa Coffee Importers
Elisabeth Johnson, Venture Coffee Co
Hyoung Wuk Jung, Loit Café
Jeff Mooney, Folly Coffee Roasters
Jarrett Johnson, Lineage Roasting
Cameron Metzinger, Backyard Beans Coffee Co
Joshua Edens, Onyx Coffee Lab
Helen Choi, Luce Ave Coffee Roasters
Roasters Championship
Roasters Championship competitors found themselves with a unique challenge: how to roast a coffee without knowing a thing about it. That coffee, it turned out, was a natural processed Myanmar, which many competitors found to be quite the sticky wicket. How do you ramp up the sweetness and soften the nuttiness?
Ultimately, it was a nut that the roasters (first) cracked. Having personally tasted multiple roasters’ takes on the coffee—thanks in no small part to the Sprudge Live desk being very, very close to the Roasters Village—I can say that many roasters found that balance. The cups were sweet, not overly heavy, with little to no hint of ferment.
If these coffees are any indication of what’s to come in Kansas City, attendees are in for LOTS of really good coffee.
Amanda Hagenbuch, Rival Bros Coffee Roasters
Jeremy Moore, Bonlife Coffee Roasters
Steve Cuevas, Black Oak Coffee Roasters
Eduardo Choza, Mayorga Organics
José René Martínez, J.René Coffee Roasters
Kenneth Thomas, Umble Coffee Co
Anthony Greatorex, Red Rooster Coffee Roaster
Jason Burkum, Archetype Coffee
Matthew Delarosa, Ironsmith Coffee Roasters
Evan Pollitt, Summitt Coffee
Aaron MacDougall, Broadsheet Coffee Roasters
Eric Stone, Mudhouse Coffee Roasters
Photos for Sprudge and Sprudge Live by Elizabeth Chai and Charlie Burt.
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
The post Looking Back At The US Coffee Championships Nashville Qualifying Event appeared first on Sprudge.
Looking Back At The US Coffee Championships Nashville Qualifying Event published first on https://medium.com/@LinLinCoffee
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Looking Back At The US Coffee Championships Nashville Qualifying Event
It’s official. The field for the 2019 US Coffee Championships is set. After learning the first 62 competitors to punch their tickets at last month’s Denver Qualifying Event, we now know the other 70 coffee professionals to round out the field for the national stage of competition, taking place in just a few short months in Kansas City, Missouri.
From a list of 200 coffee professionals spread across five competitions—Barista Championship, Brewers Cup, Coffee in Goods Spirits, Cup Tasters, and Roasters Championship—the field was winnowed down by nearly two-thirds to a tight 70. There were names new and old—both in terms of competitor and coffee company represented—but as they so often do, the familiar veteran names often found their way to the tops of the list.
That’s not to say that the first-timers didn’t make a splash in Nashville. There were more than a handful of those new to competition who walked away with some wooden hardware, poised to take their rightful place as one of the wily vets in the 2020 season and beyond.
We’re still two months away from the US Coffee Championships storming the Kansas City Convention Center in March, and you can expect the 130+ coffee professionals making the trip will use those 58 days to ramp up their practice time and fine tune their performances. We’ve witnessed a lot of coffee competition already, but we haven’t seen anything yet. Now is when it gets really real.
But before all the really really realness, let’s take a few minutes to enjoy what transpired over the weekend. Let’s look back at the US Coffee Championships Qualifying Even in Nashville, Tennessee.
SprudgeLive’s coverage of the 2019 US Coffee Champs is made possible by Joe Glo and Mahlkönig. All of SprudgeLive’s 2019 competition coverage is made possible by Acaia, Baratza, Faema, Cafe Imports, and Wilbur Curtis.
Barista Championship
A common thread throughout most of the 10-minute routines at the Barista Championship was a general sense of cool collectedness. Participants stayed within themselves even in the face of the oppressive time constrictions. Even though the competition was split pretty evenly between veterans and rookies, the overarching zeitgeist was one of, “we’ve been here before.” The event felt more academic than ecstatic.
Until it didn’t. Competitors like Adam JacksonBey, Rodrigo Vargas, Anthony Ragler, and the undeniable crowd favorite Sara Gill—”you can call me Mama Mocha”—blew the roof off the Track One events space. Their energy was infectious, riling up the otherwise polite crowd into a frenzy of full-throated yowls and even the occasional post-routine interview bum-rush for a 20+ person 4:20 selfie.
Juan Diaz of Deeply Coffee Co.
Amid all the excitement, after the dust settled there was one clear winner: La Palma y El Tucan. The esteemed Colombian farm produced the coffees used by the top three finalists (who all just so happened to go back-to-back-to-back at the end of Day Two). The only other two competitors to use La Palma in the Nashville Barista competition, Juan Diaz and Shane Hess, also found their way to nationals by taking 14th and 16th, respectively.
It’s about as close to a clean sweep as you can expect from a single producer. But the question remains: can they finish the fight or will they lose out to other competition heavyweights like Hacienda La Papaya and Finca Nuguo, the coffees used by the last three years’ winners? We’ll just have to wait until March to find out.
Dylan Siemens, Onyx Coffee Lab
Samantha Spillman, Dillanos Coffee Roasters
T. Ben Fischer, Elixr Coffee Roasters
Jenna Gotthelf, Counter Culture Coffe
Rodrigo Vargas, Rival Bros Coffee Roasters
Isaiah Sheese, Archetype Coffee
Elisabeth Johnson, Venture Coffee Co
Gisel Alvarez, Monarch
Ryan Wojton, Madcap Coffee Co
Anthony Ragler, Counter Culture Coffee
Kay Cheon, Dune Coffee Roasters
Cris Mendoza, Saint Frank Coffee
Samuel Schaefer, Stovetop Roasters
Juan Diaz, Deeply Coffee Co
Ali Abderrahman, State Street Coffee/La Reunion
Shane Hess, Jubala Coffee
Ben Vollmar, Flatlands Coffee
Rachel Diaz, Flatlands Coffee
Brewers Cup
Much of the talk around Track One (and even extending to Twitter) stemmed from the Brewers Cup, where innovative new brewing techniques found their way onto the stage and into the national round of competition in Kansas City. Most notably, 2017 US Brewers Cup runner-up Chelsea Walker-Watson had the people buzzing with her use of a sous vide bath to help keep her brew at a precise temperature.
Not to be out-innovated, Dune Coffee’s Felix Felix came with his own custom-design brewing device that he made using a 3D printer.
Even amongst the progressive takes on brewing, perhaps the most impressive feet was that of Grace McCutchan, a competitor unknown to the national stage of competition but still able to best seasoned vets Jennifer Hwang, Tyler Duncan, and 2018 US Cup Tasters Champion Ken Selby. She’s become one to watch. Will we have back-to-back newcomers taking it all down at the US Brewers Cup? McCutchan is making an argument.
Grace McCutchan, Red Rooster Coffee Roaster
Jennifer Hwang, Klatch Coffee
Tyler Duncan, Topeca Coffee Roasters
John Kruegler, Blanchard’s Coffee Roasting Co
Ben Martin, Madcap Coffee Co
Kenneth Selby, Vashon Coffee Co
Cody Barnhart, Vienna Coffee Co
Gunnar Lagenhuizen, Dune Coffee Roasters
Chelsey Walker-Watson, Atlas Coffee Importers
Elika Liftee, Onyx Coffee Lab
Skyler Richter, LAMILL
Felix Felix, Dune Coffee Roasters
Coffee In Good Spirits
After a slow start in Denver, the Coffee in Good Spirits competition found stronger footing in Nashville, where the number of competitors over quadrupled. The competition really ramped up for the second leg of the Qualifying Event stage. Fire, smoke, ice, the drinks here in Nashville looked as tasty as they did dramatic.
Though only in its first year on American soil, if Nashville is any indication, Coffee in Good Spirits is going to be around for the long haul.
Kris Wood, Black Fox Coffee Co
Nathanael Mehrens, Stay Golden
Matt Foster, Kaldi’s Coffee Roasting Co
Leo-Charles Salerno, Greater Goods Coffee Roasters
Brodie Lewis, Madcap Coffee Co
Rachel Huffman, Dose Nashville
John Martin, LAMILL
Jen McElroy, Klatch Coffee
Brian Beyke, Quills Coffee
Koji Daremo, The Ruin Daily
Dan Hilburn, Backyard Beans Coffee Co
Joel Cronenberg, Provision Coffee
Lindy Schubring, Greyhouse Coffee & Supply Co
Cup Tasters
In case you needed any convincing that Onyx Coffee Lab is really, really good at coffee competition (and, y’know, their Roasters title, Brewers Cup title, and multiple consecutive Finals appearances in the Barista Championship aren’t enough for you), look no further than the Cup Tasters competition in Nashville. Fielding three Tasters—roughly 1/16th of the total competitors—Onyx nonetheless found all three of those competitors moving on, one in five.
But it would be foolish to make any future predictions at this point. With five competitors correctly identifying all six sets and perpetual finalist Samuel Demisse lurking in the field, this is one is still anyone’s to claim.
Matthew McDaniel, Summit Coffee
Summer Zhang, Onyx Coffee Lab
Aaron Lerner, SkyTop Coffee
Sarah Lambeth, Congregation Coffee Roasters
Brandon Hutchingson, Mission Coffee
Rachel Stanich, Red Fox Coffee Merchants
Bear Soliven, Onyx Coffee Lab
Samuel Demisse, Keffa Coffee Importers
Elisabeth Johnson, Venture Coffee Co
Hyoung Wuk Jung, Loit Café
Jeff Mooney, Folly Coffee Roasters
Jarrett Johnson, Lineage Roasting
Cameron Metzinger, Backyard Beans Coffee Co
Joshua Edens, Onyx Coffee Lab
Helen Choi, Luce Ave Coffee Roasters
Roasters Championship
Roasters Championship competitors found themselves with a unique challenge: how to roast a coffee without knowing a thing about it. That coffee, it turned out, was a natural processed Myanmar, which many competitors found to be quite the sticky wicket. How do you ramp up the sweetness and soften the nuttiness?
Ultimately, it was a nut that the roasters (first) cracked. Having personally tasted multiple roasters’ takes on the coffee—thanks in no small part to the Sprudge Live desk being very, very close to the Roasters Village—I can say that many roasters found that balance. The cups were sweet, not overly heavy, with little to no hint of ferment.
If these coffees are any indication of what’s to come in Kansas City, attendees are in for LOTS of really good coffee.
Amanda Hagenbuch, Rival Bros Coffee Roasters
Jeremy Moore, Bonlife Coffee Roasters
Steve Cuevas, Black Oak Coffee Roasters
Eduardo Choza, Mayorga Organics
José René Martínez, J.René Coffee Roasters
Kenneth Thomas, Umble Coffee Co
Anthony Greatorex, Red Rooster Coffee Roaster
Jason Burkum, Archetype Coffee
Matthew Delarosa, Ironsmith Coffee Roasters
Evan Pollitt, Summitt Coffee
Aaron MacDougall, Broadsheet Coffee Roasters
Eric Stone, Mudhouse Coffee Roasters
Photos for Sprudge and Sprudge Live by Elizabeth Chai and Charlie Burt.
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
The post Looking Back At The US Coffee Championships Nashville Qualifying Event appeared first on Sprudge.
seen 1st on http://sprudge.com
0 notes
Text
Looking Back At The US Coffee Championships Nashville Qualifying Event
It’s official. The field for the 2019 US Coffee Championships is set. After learning the first 62 competitors to punch their tickets at last month’s Denver Qualifying Event, we now know the other 70 coffee professionals to round out the field for the national stage of competition, taking place in just a few short months in Kansas City, Missouri.
From a list of 200 coffee professionals spread across five competitions—Barista Championship, Brewers Cup, Coffee in Goods Spirits, Cup Tasters, and Roasters Championship—the field was winnowed down by nearly two-thirds to a tight 70. There were names new and old—both in terms of competitor and coffee company represented—but as they so often do, the familiar veteran names often found their way to the tops of the list.
That’s not to say that the first-timers didn’t make a splash in Nashville. There were more than a handful of those new to competition who walked away with some wooden hardware, poised to take their rightful place as one of the wily vets in the 2020 season and beyond.
We’re still two months away from the US Coffee Championships storming the Kansas City Convention Center in March, and you can expect the 130+ coffee professionals making the trip will use those 58 days to ramp up their practice time and fine tune their performances. We’ve witnessed a lot of coffee competition already, but we haven’t seen anything yet. Now is when it gets really real.
But before all the really really realness, let’s take a few minutes to enjoy what transpired over the weekend. Let’s look back at the US Coffee Championships Qualifying Even in Nashville, Tennessee.
SprudgeLive’s coverage of the 2019 US Coffee Champs is made possible by Joe Glo and Mahlkönig. All of SprudgeLive’s 2019 competition coverage is made possible by Acaia, Baratza, Faema, Cafe Imports, and Wilbur Curtis.
Barista Championship
A common thread throughout most of the 10-minute routines at the Barista Championship was a general sense of cool collectedness. Participants stayed within themselves even in the face of the oppressive time constrictions. Even though the competition was split pretty evenly between veterans and rookies, the overarching zeitgeist was one of, “we’ve been here before.” The event felt more academic than ecstatic.
Until it didn’t. Competitors like Adam JacksonBey, Rodrigo Vargas, Anthony Ragler, and the undeniable crowd favorite Sara Gill—”you can call me Mama Mocha”—blew the roof off the Track One events space. Their energy was infectious, riling up the otherwise polite crowd into a frenzy of full-throated yowls and even the occasional post-routine interview bum-rush for a 20+ person 4:20 selfie.
Juan Diaz of Deeply Coffee Co.
Amid all the excitement, after the dust settled there was one clear winner: La Palma y El Tucan. The esteemed Colombian farm produced the coffees used by the top three finalists (who all just so happened to go back-to-back-to-back at the end of Day Two). The only other two competitors to use La Palma in the Nashville Barista competition, Juan Diaz and Shane Hess, also found their way to nationals by taking 14th and 16th, respectively.
It’s about as close to a clean sweep as you can expect from a single producer. But the question remains: can they finish the fight or will they lose out to other competition heavyweights like Hacienda La Papaya and Finca Nuguo, the coffees used by the last three years’ winners? We’ll just have to wait until March to find out.
Dylan Siemens, Onyx Coffee Lab
Samantha Spillman, Dillanos Coffee Roasters
T. Ben Fischer, Elixr Coffee Roasters
Jenna Gotthelf, Counter Culture Coffe
Rodrigo Vargas, Rival Bros Coffee Roasters
Isaiah Sheese, Archetype Coffee
Elisabeth Johnson, Venture Coffee Co
Gisel Alvarez, Monarch
Ryan Wojton, Madcap Coffee Co
Anthony Ragler, Counter Culture Coffee
Kay Cheon, Dune Coffee Roasters
Cris Mendoza, Saint Frank Coffee
Samuel Schaefer, Stovetop Roasters
Juan Diaz, Deeply Coffee Co
Ali Abderrahman, State Street Coffee/La Reunion
Shane Hess, Jubala Coffee
Ben Vollmar, Flatlands Coffee
Rachel Diaz, Flatlands Coffee
Brewers Cup
Much of the talk around Track One (and even extending to Twitter) stemmed from the Brewers Cup, where innovative new brewing techniques found their way onto the stage and into the national round of competition in Kansas City. Most notably, 2017 US Brewers Cup runner-up Chelsea Walker-Watson had the people buzzing with her use of a sous vide bath to help keep her brew at a precise temperature.
Not to be out-innovated, Dune Coffee’s Felix Felix came with his own custom-design brewing device that he made using a 3D printer.
Even amongst the progressive takes on brewing, perhaps the most impressive feet was that of Grace McCutchan, a competitor unknown to the national stage of competition but still able to best seasoned vets Jennifer Hwang, Tyler Duncan, and 2018 US Cup Tasters Champion Ken Selby. She’s become one to watch. Will we have back-to-back newcomers taking it all down at the US Brewers Cup? McCutchan is making an argument.
Grace McCutchan, Red Rooster Coffee Roaster
Jennifer Hwang, Klatch Coffee
Tyler Duncan, Topeca Coffee Roasters
John Kruegler, Blanchard’s Coffee Roasting Co
Ben Martin, Madcap Coffee Co
Kenneth Selby, Vashon Coffee Co
Cody Barnhart, Vienna Coffee Co
Gunnar Lagenhuizen, Dune Coffee Roasters
Chelsey Walker-Watson, Atlas Coffee Importers
Elika Liftee, Onyx Coffee Lab
Skyler Richter, LAMILL
Felix Felix, Dune Coffee Roasters
Coffee In Good Spirits
After a slow start in Denver, the Coffee in Good Spirits competition found stronger footing in Nashville, where the number of competitors over quadrupled. The competition really ramped up for the second leg of the Qualifying Event stage. Fire, smoke, ice, the drinks here in Nashville looked as tasty as they did dramatic.
Though only in its first year on American soil, if Nashville is any indication, Coffee in Good Spirits is going to be around for the long haul.
Kris Wood, Black Fox Coffee Co
Nathanael Mehrens, Stay Golden
Matt Foster, Kaldi’s Coffee Roasting Co
Leo-Charles Salerno, Greater Goods Coffee Roasters
Brodie Lewis, Madcap Coffee Co
Rachel Huffman, Dose Nashville
John Martin, LAMILL
Jen McElroy, Klatch Coffee
Brian Beyke, Quills Coffee
Koji Daremo, The Ruin Daily
Dan Hilburn, Backyard Beans Coffee Co
Joel Cronenberg, Provision Coffee
Lindy Schubring, Greyhouse Coffee & Supply Co
Cup Tasters
In case you needed any convincing that Onyx Coffee Lab is really, really good at coffee competition (and, y’know, their Roasters title, Brewers Cup title, and multiple consecutive Finals appearances in the Barista Championship aren’t enough for you), look no further than the Cup Tasters competition in Nashville. Fielding three Tasters—roughly 1/16th of the total competitors—Onyx nonetheless found all three of those competitors moving on, one in five.
But it would be foolish to make any future predictions at this point. With five competitors correctly identifying all six sets and perpetual finalist Samuel Demisse lurking in the field, this is one is still anyone’s to claim.
Matthew McDaniel, Summit Coffee
Summer Zhang, Onyx Coffee Lab
Aaron Lerner, SkyTop Coffee
Sarah Lambeth, Congregation Coffee Roasters
Brandon Hutchingson, Mission Coffee
Rachel Stanich, Red Fox Coffee Merchants
Bear Soliven, Onyx Coffee Lab
Samuel Demisse, Keffa Coffee Importers
Elisabeth Johnson, Venture Coffee Co
Hyoung Wuk Jung, Loit Café
Jeff Mooney, Folly Coffee Roasters
Jarrett Johnson, Lineage Roasting
Cameron Metzinger, Backyard Beans Coffee Co
Joshua Edens, Onyx Coffee Lab
Helen Choi, Luce Ave Coffee Roasters
Roasters Championship
Roasters Championship competitors found themselves with a unique challenge: how to roast a coffee without knowing a thing about it. That coffee, it turned out, was a natural processed Myanmar, which many competitors found to be quite the sticky wicket. How do you ramp up the sweetness and soften the nuttiness?
Ultimately, it was a nut that the roasters (first) cracked. Having personally tasted multiple roasters’ takes on the coffee—thanks in no small part to the Sprudge Live desk being very, very close to the Roasters Village—I can say that many roasters found that balance. The cups were sweet, not overly heavy, with little to no hint of ferment.
If these coffees are any indication of what’s to come in Kansas City, attendees are in for LOTS of really good coffee.
Amanda Hagenbuch, Rival Bros Coffee Roasters
Jeremy Moore, Bonlife Coffee Roasters
Steve Cuevas, Black Oak Coffee Roasters
Eduardo Choza, Mayorga Organics
José René Martínez, J.René Coffee Roasters
Kenneth Thomas, Umble Coffee Co
Anthony Greatorex, Red Rooster Coffee Roaster
Jason Burkum, Archetype Coffee
Matthew Delarosa, Ironsmith Coffee Roasters
Evan Pollitt, Summitt Coffee
Aaron MacDougall, Broadsheet Coffee Roasters
Eric Stone, Mudhouse Coffee Roasters
Photos for Sprudge and Sprudge Live by Elizabeth Chai and Charlie Burt.
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
The post Looking Back At The US Coffee Championships Nashville Qualifying Event appeared first on Sprudge.
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