A new US Barista Champion
The US Barista Championship took place last weekend at Black & White Coffee in Raleigh, North Carolina, and we were there to bring you live coverage all three days of action (Round One, Semis, and Finals). But in the end, there was only one left standing, and it was Kay Cheon of Dune Coffee Roasters (I’m not going to say we called it but we totally called it). It was Cheon at his finest. Cool, precise, a little whimsical. We dive deep into Kay Cheon’s winning routine.
Trends from the 2025 USBC
And speaking of deep dives, we take a look back at all the new and evolving trends in the world of barista competitions, and by extension, the specialty coffee industry. Barista championships are a sort of testing ground of ideas, the most successful of which often impacting the greater coffee industry. It’s the bleeding edge of specialty coffee. The ever-changing landscape of the milk course, hot new producers and varieties, gear and gadgets, and WHO STOLE OUR DRINK TOKENS?! It’s a one-stop shop for all the biggest news and trends from the weekend.
Green coffee theft
With the price of coffee futures skyrocketing on the commodities market, a new danger on the supply chain has begun to emerge: coffee theft. Green coffee theft isn’t exactly new, though. Historically it occurred at origin, from storehouses in remote areas that weren’t well guarded. But now, it’s happening on the demand side, America in particular. Organized gangs are posing as transport companies and stealing bags of coffee by the truckload to sell to unscrupulous coffee roasters.
A coffee tour of Osaka
All who visit Osaka, local or otherwise, know that there’s good coffee here. But many visitors wonder, where is the good coffee? But not all who wonder are lost, thanks to our latest city guide, to Osaka, Japan. Eight cafes representing a variety of styles can be found in the guide, and it’s just the tip of the iceberg in this exciting coffee city.
Good Coffee, Great Coffee, great game
There are a host of coffee games out there right now. Some are hectic, like management sims Espresso Tycoon and Coffee Break. Others are little too relaxed, like narrative game Coffee Talk. In the middle is the sweet spot, where you don’t feel like your hair is on fire but there are still objectives. And this is where Good Coffee, Great Coffee resides. The free mobile app centers drink construction and time management without getting too deep in the weeds. And it’s super cute.
Press Releases
This week, La Marzocco announced its first Connected Days event, a half-hour live-streamed keynote presentation will explore connectivity and its impact on shaping the new generation of espresso machines. For more info, check out Sprudge’s Press Release hub.
The 16th Annual Sprudgie Awards Finalists
Welcome to the 16th Annual Sprudgies! From a global pool of nominees comes a final list of finalists: eight choices per category, plus the opportunity to write in the candidate of your choice. A full list of Finalist can be found here. Please vote using the ballot here, and share this post to encourage your communities to vote. Voting is absolutely free and open to all and is open through Friday, April 4th at 11:59 PM PST.
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…
Heartwood—Bekele Kachara- Murago Natural, Ethiopia
Bekele employs a meticulous approach to coffee farming, using shaded pre-drying beds on-site and nurturing specific coffee varieties. He uses organic methods, fertilizing his farm with compost or agricultural residues. His expertise in coffee processing comes from years of experience, including work at stations in the Bensa and Bona districts of the Sidama region. Bekele Kachara is a single producer and farm owner/operator located in the small area of Murago within the Sidama region.
Our flavor notes: Creamy blueberry, stone fruits, milk chocolate
THE BARN—Huye Mountain Natural
From the ‘Land of 1000 Hills’, our latest espresso is a showcase of terroir and meticulous natural processing. Led by the passionate David Rubanzangabo, our partnership with Huye Mountain goes back over ten years. With creamy notes of strawberry and almond, in the cup this lot reminds us of a sweet frangipane tart.
Madcap Coffee —Miguel Ortiz
The very first producer we worked with out of Santa Bárbara, Honduras, was Miguel Ortiz. Miguel is a lifetime coffee farmer operating his farm, La Guinellera, alongside his wife and children. The climate in Las Flores is cool, making the harvest one of the later ones we find in all of Central America. After harvest, the coffee is first dry fermented for 16 hours. The coffee then moves to a parabolic dryer, an opaque greenhouse that utilizes solar power for drying agricultural products, for roughly 7 days. In this year’s harvest, expect a complex body with notes of cherry blossom, melon, and sweet pink lemonade.
Equator Coffees—Costa Rica Puente Tarrazu Gesha
This fully-washed processed Gesha coffee comes from Finca San Martín, a small farm in the esteemed Tarrazú growing region. We tasted this single origin coffee while visiting San José, Costa Rica and instantly fell in love. Puente Tarrazú is a must-try for fans of Gesha’s sweet and delicate floral profile, showcasing flavors of peach, honey, and jasmine tea.
Partners Coffee—Colombia – Vladimir Calambás
Vladimir Calambás grows borbón de la montaña, a relatively unknown cultivar specific to Inzá, Cauca. Introduced to us last year by our friends at Pergamino, it appears to be a local mutation of bourbon that is well adapted to the area’s highest (and coldest) elevations. A slight departure from the citric acidity we most closely associate with Inzá, we’re tasting more berry and floral notes. Think watermelon, cherry, strawberry, and caramel.
Klatch Coffee—Eureka Espresso
Eureka, you’ve struck gold! Our newest espresso is here, and we’re thrilled to welcome it to the Klatch Coffee family. Be among the first to experience Eureka—a smooth, chocolatey delight with notes of caramelized sugar and creamy vanilla. Every sip delivers a golden crema that’s sure to brighten your day. Subscribers to our Barista’s Choice Espresso Club got a sneak peak of Eureka in February 2025, as a members-only exclusive that was sent to Club members before it was offered to the general public. Now, Eureka is available to everyone as part of Klatch Coffee’s collection of award-winning, top-rated espresso whole beans.
Phil & Sebastian—Jose Cuellar Pink Bourbon & Bourbon Aji
ORANGE CREAMSICLE | LEMONGRASS | EARL GREY
This blend of Pink Bourbon and Bourbon Aji comes from Jose Cuellar – a rare coffee producer in Huila, Colombia. He’s been in coffee for a very long time, but his latest venture has taken him out of the normal path of Colombian coffee production. He has planted eight different coffee varieties and has been working through many super cool processing experiments.
Night Swim Coffee—Nano Genji #6
We’re more thrilled than ever to offer a lot from Nano Genji – our first time buying from the co-op. Nano Genji is a part of the Kata Muduga Union, a union of 39 co-ops and washing stations that focus on quality coffees and paying dividends directly to the Union members. Nano Genji is the sibling mill to the famed Nano Challa mill, featured on our menu last year. This lot, #6, from Nano Genji is bright and refreshing, with bold citrus and fruity notes that instantly remind us of cherry-limeade from Sonic or peach green tea on a warm spring/summer day.
La Barba Coffee—Pepe Jijon Typica Wave
With a bright and pleasantly crisp acidity, fruit flavors such as green grape and apple produce a clean first couple sips. Gradually, the cup becomes sweeter, fruitier, and lends a subtle floral note, still maintaining an enjoyably vibrant acidity, making this one of Jijon’s most impressive coffees.
Notes : Green Grape, Apple, Clean
Stumptown Coffee Roasters—Hair Bender
The coffee that started it all: Hair Bender is Stumptown’s signature blend, a recipe perfected over 25 years ago. We can tell you it’s a complex blend with notes of sweet citrus, dark chocolate, and raisin, but we can’t tell you how it’ll make you feel. It just . . . makes you feel things, lots of really good things.
Dune Coffee Roasters—Ecuador Hacienda La Papaya Washed Typica
The Typica variety that Juan grows at Hacienda La Papaya was our first introduction to these coffees, and these coffees have always impressed us with the flavors Juan is able to cultivate and develop from this unique expression of the variety. Juan’s washed process has undergone continuous refinement since the first year we tasted their coffees, with ripe cherries undergoing sorting and floating before a 15 hour fermentation and moving to ultraviolet radiation-protected drying rooms, fitted with temperature and humidity sensors for meticulous drying. This year, Juan’s washed Typica is quintessential of the flavors we’ve come to find from this variety and terroir: sweet citrus, dense caramel and brown sugar sweetness, and white flower florality.
PERC—Colombia Young Producers Program
Our partners at Unblended created the Young Producers program to make coffee farming an exciting and viable career path for young people in Colombia. The program pairs young producers with seasoned veterans to help them with their own coffee. We can’t stop talking about how much we love this coffee. You’ll get an explosion of intense fruit that reminds us of pink Starburst.
Sightglass Coffee Roasters—Spring Equinox
Named for the celestial shift from winter to spring, marked by nearly equal amounts of daylight and darkness across all latitudes, our Spring Equinox blend is crafted from a 50/50 composition of high-altitude coffees from Guatemala and Kenya. The result is a unique blend that celebrates a season of renewal through a deeply sweet and delicately fruited coffee that shines. Roast Level:Medium Dark. Orange Blossom, Tamarind, Strawberry
Olympia Coffee—San Sebastian Reserva
Our San Sebastian Reserva, sourced from producers in San Sebastian De La Plata, Huila, features the highest-scoring lots of the season grown at lofty elevations over 1,700 meters.
Passenger Coffee & Tea—Bhadra
The most recent addition to our Foundational Menu, this delightfully sweet and approachable coffee comes from producers Pranoy and Ajoy Thipaiah of Kerehaklu Estate. Kerehaklu is one of a small group of family-run coffee farms that together make up the Bhadra partnership. All of these estates are located near the Bhadra Tiger Reserve, in the historically significant coffee-growing region of Chikmagalur, India. Notes of citrus, black tea, stone fruit
Mr. Espresso—Java Gunung Tikukur, Washed Process
Part of Mr. Espresso’s limited-edition Collezione di Caffè, this washed micro-lot comes from West Java’s Cipaganti Village. Collected directly from small farmers, coffee varietals include Catimor, Tim Tim, Typica, and Gayo II. The Mr. Espresso sourcing team was exceptionally impressed by this coffee’s vibrancy, showcased by the region’s traditional processing method. Java Gunung Tikukur offers a complex cup, with flavors such as peach, toasted almond, and basil.
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.
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.
CXFFEEBLACK—Fruit Of Our Labor
A HIGA JUNT -NATURAL RWANDA KILIMBI STATION, 1650-1850 MASL
TASTING NOTES: Strawberry, Dark Chocolate, and Passionfruit
New job listings from Sprudge Jobs
Goodboybob Coffee Roasters - General Manager - Santa Monica, CA (hybrid)
Goodboybob Coffee Roasters - Wholesale Sales Manager - Santa Monica, CA (hybrid)
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.
Texas Coffee Traders - Austin, TX
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.