The Sprudge Report - Calling All Build-Outs!
Our beloved summer feature series returns for 2025
The Builds are back!
The time is now. The sun is high. It’s Build-Outs season, baby—and we’re back with another incredible series for Summer 2025. Submissions are now open for the 2025 season of Build-Outs of Coffee. This feature series is a beloved annual tradition here at Sprudge, featuring new cafes recently opened or under construction all around the world. We love brick and mortars, we love mobile carts, we love remodels, we love it all. For this year’s series, we’re accepting build-out submissions for new cafes that opened at any point in 2025.
An all new cage matcha
We love coffee competitions, but what about tea? Tea can mix it up too you know. Luckily there’s the Silver Chasten, a brand new competition by Spirit Tea. The matcha-based challenge puts baristas through the wringer with three rounds of match madness. The inaugural Silver Chasten takes place in Charlotte in June. Read the article for more details.
Coffee in Bangkok
Bangkok, Thailand is a destination city for a litany of reasons—food, culture, history—and coffee is certainly one of them. The coffee scene in Thailand’s capital city has been exploding the past few years, so much so that our last guide—from 2016—needed a refresh. That’s why, nearly 10 years later, we’re returning to Bangkok to find out what’s new and exciting in coffee, and we’re happy to report that the shops on our 2016 list are still alive and well.
Coffee vs. frailty, and coffee wins
A new study came out recently examining the effect regular coffee consumption has on frailty in older individuals. The study, which followed over 1,000 participants for seven years, found that those who drank two or more cups of coffee on a daily basis had significantly reduced instances of frailty and pre-frailty as they aged. So while coffee hasn’t been shown to make you live forever (yet), it can make sure your years on this earth are good ones.
A coffee seed bank?
One of the ways to secure the future survival of a plant is to keep it in seed form. Thus if the species were to ever go extinct, there would be a way to revive it. But coffee seeds operate a little differently and would require a unique environment in order to be stored indeterminately. In her latest feature, Jenn Chen explores seed banks and how they may be the last line of defense for coffee’s genetic diversity.
Luckin out in NYC
Luckin Coffee is China’s largest coffee chain, larger than Starbucks even. And now, the Beijing-based brand is coming to the States. Luckin is set to open their first US outpost some time later this year in New York City’s East Village. Trade war be damned.
A Blank Street union
Blank Street Coffee is one of the fastest growing coffee chains in America. It’s all about third wave vibes and super-automatic espresso machines. But the brand is also learning about a new facet of modern specialty coffee culture: unions. Seven of their Boston-area cafes voted overwhelmingly in favor of unionizing and are currently waiting to learn if Blank Street will voluntarily recognize it.
From the press desk
It’s been another big week in press release news. First up was the announcement of the launch of the Coffee Futures Fund, a new initiative dedicated to early-stage specialty coffee shop owners. Then it was Klatch and Onyx, both of whom announced new lines, a ready-to-drink cold brew and craft beverage powders known as Barista Provisions, respectively. The Crown, Royal Coffee’s Bay Area training lab, announced the second installation of the multi-day symposium Development Stage. Meanwhile Campbell’s, the parent company for Pacific Barista Series, will be showing up and showing out at the National Restaurant Association Show. And finally, Passenger Coffee announced the release of their 2024 Transparency Report, with all sales going to benefit World Coffee Research.
The Crowka Pot is everything
Moka Pots are cool, but if they were shaped like a bird? And not just any bird, but a crow. Thus is the Crowka Pot, the amazing new Moka Pot-like stovetop coffee brewer. What can be said about the Crowka Pot that isn’t blatantly obvious just by looking at it? Nothing, that’s what. It’s live on Kickstarter now, should you desperately desire one, which you know if you do or not with a single look.
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…
La Barba Coffee – Colombia Andrés Cardona Extended Fermentation Semi-Washed
Equator Coffees – Peru Finca Romerillo Gesha
THE BARN – Rwanda Mahembe
Madcap Coffee – Colombia Juliana Guevara Gesha
Klatch Coffee – Colombia Acevedo Huila Bourbon Ají Thermo-Shock
PERC – Peru Los Quispe Gesha
Heartwood Coffee – Colombia Sebastian Ramirez Pink Bourbon
Passenger Coffee – Peru Fidel Huancas
Phil & Sebastian — Ecuador Lilac Dream (Catuaí – Hacienda Santa Gertrudis)
Mr. Espresso — Colombia La Terraza
Onyx Coffee Lab — Colombia Jairo Arcila Lychee
Portland Coffee Roasters – Anniversary Roast
Stumptown Coffee Roasters – Vivid Bloom
Dune Coffee Roasters – Ecuador Hacienda La Papaya Anaerobic Sidra
Pachamama Coffee – Perú
Partners Coffee – Colombia Vladimir Calambás
Night Swim Coffee – Ethiopia Nano Genji #6
Sightglass Coffee Roasters – Spring Equinox
Olympia Coffee – Colombia San Sebastian Reserva
Verve Coffee Roasters – Kenya Gura AA
Joe Coffee – Honduras Rubí Sisters Catuaí
CXFFEEBLACK – Fruit Of Our Labor
New job listings from Sprudge Jobs
La Marzocco - Technical Account Manager - Orlando or Tampa, FL
Counter Culture Coffee - Regional Sales & Business Development - Washington, DC
Klatch Coffee Roasters - Baristas - Multiple locations in Southern California
Sovda Coffee - Technical Brand Ambassadors - Remote
Glissade Coffee Company - Barista - Aurora, CA
Equator Coffees - Bench General Manager - Culver City, CA
George Howell Coffee - General Manager - Boston, MA
New cafes on Sprudge Maps
Here are new cafes discoverable on our global cafe portal Sprudge Maps. Register your cafe for free—thanks to the support of La Marzocco and Pacific Barista Series.
Ithaca Coffee Company - Ithaca, NY
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 P.O. Box 3943 Portland, OR 97218.