The Sprudge Report - Coffee Prices In Chaos
Plus other news from around the world of coffee
The price of coffee reaches an all-time high
The commodities market is in chaos right now. Between low output, drought, unpredictable weather, depleted stockpiles, panic buying, etc., the price of coffee futures has continued to increase steadily. And now, with tariffs—and the threat of tariffs—the price has reached an all-time high, pushing past the $4 mark for the first time in history. (In the few days since publishing this article, the price has risen another 11 cents.) We take a look at the status of coffee prices today and try to figure out what it all means.
Bet on black (coffee)
Reusable cup programs are an objectively good thing that help mitigate the amount of waste coffee shops produce. Yet, they are often hard to get folks to adopt. But a new study may have the answer: gambling (probabilistic rewards, if you want to get technical about it). Instead of receiving a $.25 discount each time a customer brings in their own cup, which didn’t really get behind, offering a 5% at a $5 reward (the exact same benefit as $.25 20 times) made folks more likely to participate.
Emma Chamberlain has a coffee shop now
Chamberlain Coffee is the coffee brand for influencer and YouTube star Emma Chamberlain. Traditionally a mail-order brand trading in vibes, Chamberlain Coffee has officially opened its first brick-and-mortar cafe. Inside LA’s Westfield Century City Mall, Chamberlain Coffee if a full-service cafe for Emma fans and it opened last week.
Some bittersweet news
Some people think coffee is bitter. And while we all try to convince them that they are wrong—or may just be drinking the wrong coffee—they may not be able to help it. A new study finds that some people may be genetically predisposed to perceiving bitterness in coffee due to the ability to taste mozambioside and its derivatives, which are 10 times more bitter than caffeine.
Ghost Signs, Walldogs, And Working Class Art In America
We see them everywhere even if we don’t exactly take note. Wall-painted advertisements have been a part of American culture going back decades. Some “ghost signs” still remain years later. In her latest piece, Editor at Large Jenn Chen explores the world of wall paintings in coffee.
Good clean fun
Espresso martinis are very popular. I don’t know why but they are. And there’s a new competition revolving around the ubiquitous cocktail. The Good Clean Fun Competition challenges bartenders around the country to create four espresso martinis and quickly and cleanly as possible. And the winners get a free trip to Sweden.
Press releases
From the press release desk this week, we learned that our friends at The Barn have opened a brand new outpost in Munich. It’s the brand’s latest cafe outside of its home base of Berlin that includes shops across Korea and the United Arab Emirates.
Terry Ziniewicz: The Sprudge Twenty Interview
If you have been in coffee in the Pacific Northwest for any extended amount of time, you no doubt know Terry Z. His résumé speaks for itself: Crazee Espresso, Piccolo Espresso, Cart Parts NW, Espresso Parts, Olympia Coffee Roasting Company, Slayer Espresso, Mavam, Brewista, Bombora Supply, Planetary Design, the list goes on. As part of our Sprudge Twenty feature series that honors the movers and shakers in the industry, we sat down with Ziniewicz to learn more about his decades-spanning career.
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…
THE BARN—Shantawene Anaerobic
In the famous Sidama region, the Shantawene washing station is managed by two brothers who are pushing the boundaries of Ethiopian flavour. A 72 hour anaerobic fermentation delivers a profile that will fill your cup with sweet, funky fruit. Expect notes of passion fruit, strawberry, papaya, and banana, with tropical acidity adding exceptional balance.
Stumptown Coffee Roasters —Papua New Guinea Besser
In Papua New Guinea’s Eastern Highlands, coffee producer Sero Bebes has cultivated more than coffee – he’s built a legacy. A testament to his dedication of producing the very best, this exceptional coffee blends sweet notes of fresh honeycrisp apple, toffee structure, and lingering red currant finish.
Klatch Coffee—Altieri Experimental Processing Geisha Trio
Sample 3 exquisite Geisha coffees from Eugene Altieri’s Mima Estate in Panama with Klatch Coffee’s Experimental Processing Geisha Trio – roasting exclusively on Monday, February 10th. Many of the lots from this award-winning producer are named for Eugene’s family… this unique Trio includes 1 each of the “Chombi,” “Luci” and “Alessa” lots, each highlighting the Natural Dry Fermentation processing method. The microclimates of the Mima Estate (in the foothills of the Baru Volcano), combined with meticulous care from the producer, ensure the best cup, with a special and complex combination of many flavors – including apple, cherry, and peach.
Partners Coffee—Suke Quto Secret Process
This tiny lot comes to us from Suke Quto, our longest running farm relationship in Ethiopia. Tesfaye Bekele has been a champion of sustainable agroforestry in Guji, growing coffee under native forest spared from wildfires. For years we’ve heard rumors of a Suke Quto “secret process,” seemingly an adaptation of natural processing. Now available to us for the first time, we’re tasting flavors of wild cherry and concord grape, white peach, pineapple candy, passionfruit, and root beer.
Night Swim Coffee—Guiben – Natural
We’re excited to welcome back some of our favorite coffees from 2024 as part of our ongoing effort to highlight underrepresented coffee regions in our world. Say hello once again to Kaku and Guiben—two exceptional washed and natural coffees from the Yunnan Coffee Project in Yunnan, China. The work being done by the Yunnan Coffee Project is nothing short of inspiring. Guiben, a naturally processed coffee, bursts with candy-like fruit notes and has a wonderfully syrupy, sweet body. This year, Guiben is tasting even sweeter, fruitier, and more shareable than ever. We invite you to experience the distinct flavors of this remarkable coffee-growing region! We’re Tasting: Pink Lemonade, Strawberry Candy, Chocolate Malt
Equator Coffees—Honduras Liquidambar Parainema
A single origin favorite returning for its second year, Liquidambar Parainema comes from a farm named after a tree indigenous to Central America and prominent throughout the valley where the farm is located. Established only eight years ago, Liquidambar has already experienced great success: a washed Parainema lot from Liquidambar was one of the winners in 2023’s Cup of Excellence competition in Honduras. This year’s coffee is fruity and creamy with notes of papaya, white chocolate, and candied fennel.
Madcap Coffee—Nelson Moreno
Nelson Moreno inherited his first piece of land, 3 acres at about 1600 meters, from his father Orlando when he was only 16. In the Santa Barbara region, the surname Moreno and quality go hand-in-hand. Generations of Morenos’ work together harvesting each other’s coffee, as well as processing all of their lots together. Their collective effort is what sets the Moreno’s level of quality apart from the rest, and they have the Cup of Excellence awards to prove it. Specialty coffee enthusiasts recognize Santa Barbara, Honduras, as one of the most unique coffee micro-terroirs in all of Central America. This Pacas variety is processed anaerobically, or without oxygen. This innovative processing technique results in a vibrant and expressive cup, with notes of honeydew, lychee, and hibiscus.
Verve Coffee Roasters—Gura AA
Juicy, jammy and expressive, this year’s AA lot from Gura is nothing short of delicious. Tropical guava notes greet your palate with the first sip, followed by a sweet strawberry and fudge finish.
Mr. Espresso—Regenerative Organic Certified Colombia ASAPROFUCAL
Mr. Espresso is pleased to offer its first Regenerative Organic Certified (ROC) coffee: Colombia ASAPROFUCAL. After having reset the standard for sustainability in the wine industry, Regenerative Organic Certification (ROC) is once again setting the gold standard for organic production in coffee. Founded in 2018, this association of growers has standardized their production processes to create coffee that is consistent in the cup and maintains the floral notes, medium acidity and pronounced body that is characteristic of the south of Tolima.
Passenger Coffee—Ethiopia AGARO
Remarkably complex and subtle, our current Agaro lot is soft and nuanced with vanilla and bergamot aromatics. In the cup one finds citrus, apricot, and a juicy melon character in the finish.
Phil & Sebastian—Bekele Yutute Natural
The Bekele Yutute Natural, newly arrived on our shelves, is bursting with fruity flavor. Coffees from the small region of Bensa are grown at a whopping altitude of 2300 meters and are winning nearly every competition in Ethiopia—it’s not hard to see why. This coffee is clean, intense, fruity, and embodies everything we love about Naturals.
Portland Coffee Roasters—Bridge Blend
The Ethiopia component comes from Mustefa Abakeno – a smallholder producer growing coffee varieties from the nearby Jimma Research Center. This coffee is from the Beshasha mill, which specializes in washed processing utilizing good agricultural practices (GAP). Mustefa ferments the pulped coffee for a short period before he moves it to drying beds, where the result is comparable to a beautiful light honey.
The other half of Bridge Blend is from Peru. In Peru, most coffee comes from small farms owned and managed by indigenous people who follow organic farm management practices attuned to their cultural connection to the land. This particular coffee is from the umbrella Norandino cooperative – who ensure meticulous traceability and quality control throughout post-harvest processing. It is fully washed and dried in the sun – preserving natural tasting notes of green grapes and apple blossoms.
Dune Coffee Roasters—Ethiopia Idido
This lot of coffee is processed as a natural, which receives particular attention for ripeness and sorting before drying on raised beds. At Idido, each lot is coded for traceability and tracked for consistency throughout the process, before the coffee is stabilized and exported. In the cup, Idido is full of berry and fruit flavors, with a sweet strawberry and juicy grape quality. As the coffee cools, black tea and dark chocolate complexity develops.
La Barba Coffee—Guatemala | La Senda Arnoldo & Eugenia
This delightfully sweet anaerobic natural from José Arnoldo Perez & Maria Eugenia Escobar is full of tropical fruit notes along with delicate florals and subtle stone fruit (nectarine). The sweetness of this coffee persists from when it’s hot through as it cools, making you want a refill as soon as you finish the cup.
Floral – Passionfruit – Nectarine
PERC—Kenya Ndaro-ini
We’re super excited to bring in another stunner from Kenya. This coffee blew us away on the cupping table. It starts with a juicy punch of green apple and transitions to flavors of warm baking spice. It finishes with a sweet brown sugar note that will have you coming back for more before you put down that empty cup. Don’t miss out on this super tasty coffee, y’all.
Sightglass Coffee—Winter Solstice
Returning for the fifth year, we’re excited to release something exceptional for the holiday season: our Winter Solstice Blend. Named for the longest night and shortest day of the year, Winter Solstice is the perfect accompaniment to cool weather and changing seasons. A time when we crave comfort, warmth, the familiar, and the surprising. For Winter Solstice, we combine two amazing coffees from Kenya and Colombia to evoke flavors of chocolate truffle, marzipan, and blackberry.
Onyx Coffee Lab—Colombia Tio Conejo Gesha Natural
In the high mountains of Caldas, Colombia, Tío Conejo cultivates coffee with a commitment to tradition, community, and resilience. Nestled at 2,000 MASL on rich volcanic soil, their farm’s high altitude and meticulous practices yield exceptional quality. That quality shows in the cup with pungent fruit characteristics throughout the drinking experience, culminating in pink guava and watermelon candy.
Joe Coffee —Rubí Sisters Catuaí
Perched between the Sierra La Esperanza and Santa Bárbara mountains in Las Vegas, Honduras, lies Finca Ruland 2—a specialty coffee farm as beautiful as it is biodiverse, owned and operated by the Rubí-Landaverde family. Notes of Candied Lemon, Almond Paste, Cinnamon.
Pachamama Coffee Farmers—Guatemala
Grown on the volcanic shores of Lago Atitlán, this is an exceptional single origin medium roast coffee from the Manos Campesinas coop in Guatemala.
Olympia Coffee—Alexander Vargas Pink Bourbon
Alexander Vargas is a Cup of Excellence-winning producer for his Pink Bourbon varietal. He continues to innovate in processing and drying, making his coffees an absolute delight for us to roast. The variety is native to Colombia, specifically Huila, with the name inspired by the cherry ripening with a pinkish hue.
CXFFEEBLACK—Fruit Of Our Labor
A HIGA JUNT -NATURAL RWANDA KILIMBI STATION, 1650-1850 MASL
TASTING NOTES: Strawberry, Dark Chocolate, and Passionfruit
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La Marzocco - Technical Support Team Member - Seattle, WA
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