The Flat Vegemite?
Plus the host location for the 2026 US Brewers Cup has been announced.
The Brewers Cup is coming soon
After slow rolling news about 2026 US Coffee Championships (like Yama tower drip slow), the Brewers Cup date and host location have been announced. Taking place at the end of March in Raleigh, North Carolina, the Brewers Cup is heading to the Black & White Coffee Roasters HQ, home of the 2025 US Barista Championship. Registration for this year’s Brewers Cup opens Monday, February 2nd.
A coffee guide to Bordeaux
Bordeaux is synonymous with wine. The city in southwest France is one of the most revered wine producing regions in all the world. But wine isn’t the only beverage having of repute in Bordeaux. The coffee scene is on a steady upward trajectory, trying to match the pace of their Parisian counterparts. So while you may visit Bordeaux for the wine, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the quality of the coffee.
Peet’s closing multiple Bay Area cafes
JDE Peet’s is in the process of being acquired by Keurig Dr Pepper, and while the transaction is expected to be completed some time later this year, Peet’s is already downsizing. The iconic Bay Area coffee company is closing upwards of 30 cafes in and around the San Francisco area in an “effort to align our business with long-term growth priorities and current market conditions.”
The Coffee Agroforestry E-Library
Agroforestry is the practice of shade growing agricultural products, like coffee. It moves away from mono-cropping and focuses on a more holistic, ecologically advantageous approach to production. There is a lot of published information on agroforestry best practices but they are spread across journals and not always easy to find. That’s why Coffee Watch, in collaboration with CATIE, have put together the Coffee Agroforestry E-Library. It’s a free to access compendium of nearly 1,300 scientific articles covering a wide range of topics as they related to agroforestry in the coffee sector.
Coffee and fountain pens
Making coffee, for most coffee lovers, is an act of ritual. It’s a deeply analog experience that goes beyond mere output. The world of fountain pens is much the same. It eschews the digital in favor of tradition, just a piece of paper and a writing implement. So it should come as no surprise that these two worlds have overlap. In her latest feature for Sprudge, editor at large Jenn Chen explores the intersection of coffee and fountain pens.
A decade of Coffee Design
Started back in 2015, Coffee Design is our feature series about branding and aesthetics in coffee packaging. In those ten-plus years, we’ve highlighted hundreds of coffee companies from around the globe. And so as we enter the second decade, we’re looking back at some of our favorite Coffee Design features we’ve run since the series’ inception.
Press releases
From the press desk this week we learned about Mill City Roasters moving fabrication of their coffee roasters to Minneapolis as well as the launch of their all-new M-Series, an American-made line of roasters.
Vegemite be okay?
There is nothing more quintessentially Australian than Vegemite. It’s an acquired taste—some would say aggressively so—that many swear by (mainly Australians). Most first-time Vegemite tasters find the substance to be quite off-putting. Perhaps only good in small doses. But now, Vegemite is being combined with the other source of great Australian kvetching: the flat white. They’re calling it the Flat Vegemite, and it might actually work?
Roaster’s Village
We’re highlighting outstanding coffees from some of our favorite roasting partners each week here in the newsletter. This week’s selection of tasty coffees are…
Stumptown Coffee Roasters – Peru Churupampa
PERC – Colombia Sebastian Ramirez Blackberry Co-ferment
Night Swim Coffee – Bolivia Finca Rosita Java
La Barba – Colombia Andrés Martinez Caturra Floral
Klatch Coffee – Centennial: a Route 66 celebration espresso
Equator Coffees – Ethiopia Suke Quto Organic
Caffe Umbria – Bizzarri Blend
Onyx Coffee Lab – Kenya Elshadai Coffee Estate Natural
Blueprint Coffee – Penrose Espresso Blend
Portland Coffee Roasters – Bridge Blend
Partners Coffee – Ethiopia Suke Quto Secret Process
Madcap Coffee – Guatemala Finca de Dios
Phil & Sebastian x Onyx Coffee Lab x La Cabra – Project III – Finca La Negrita
Verve Coffee – Holiday Blend
Mr. Espresso – Kenya Rung’eto Kii, Washed Process
Presta Coffee Roasters – Colombia Juicy Strawberry Co-ferment
Olympia Coffee – El Salvador Las Tres Estaciones – 1st Place Competition Lot
New job listings from Sprudge Jobs
Joe Coffee - Director of Wholesale & Business Development - New York, NY
Joe Coffee - Director of Roasting - Long Island City, NY
La Marzocco - Accounts Receivable Specialist - Seattle, WA
Do you have a news tip? Feedback? A funny joke? Send us an e-mail, use the contact form on Sprudge, leave a message at 1-888-55-SPRUDGE, or send us a letter at PO Box 86342 Portland, OR 97286.