To mark the midway of summer, we are treating this week’s blog as a Hump Day-esque tribute to one of our favorite delights in life: Coffee. As a follow-up to our July 17 post on foodie blogs we swoon, we now offer our most beloved bean blogs. Cheers to caffeine!
Sprudge
Sprudge rhymes with Drudge, and does the association justice as the go-to source for 24/7 coffee news. “What does sprudge mean?” asks and answers the About page. It’s a diptych definition, starting with a made-up meaning as the coffee crumbs, blotches and splats that stain baristas after a long shift, followed by the phonetic mash-up of “espresso” and “Drudge” (the site first launched as a visual parody of The Drudge Report). With equal parts humor and integrity, Sprudge covers every inch of the coffee world around the world, writing about competitions and cafes, gear and growers. Breaking news this week included coverage of the globetrotting Barista Nation in Denver as well as a trend alert about the invasion of succulents in Bay Area cafes. Always entertaining, Sprudge is.
Dear Coffee, I Love You
Designer Brian W. Jones does indeed love coffee, everything about it in fact, from the packaging it comes in to the places where it is poured. With a curator’s eye, Jones hones in “on the intersection of coffee, culture, creativity and design” by writing about all things cool in specialty coffee, from fresh branding to charming videos and the quizzical trend of cat cafes. Particularly attune to community, he often spotlights companies that are giving back in whatever ways they can. We heart coffee with heart.
smdlr
A sartorial take on the daily cuppa. Chérmelle D. Edwards came up with smdlr – a portmanteau of the abbreviations for cup sizes small, medium and large – as an outlet for the pictures she took as a self-proclaimed “coffeetographer” (a term she’s trademarked, smart gal). Loving cafes and coffee in that order, she travels the world documenting independent coffeeshop culture, chronicling people with their cups and sometimes the soundtracks playing in the background. Fashion meets foam.
Coffee N Clothes featuring our own Intelligentsia.
Birds of Unusual Vitality
Meet the people behind the beans. Eileen P. Kenny set out to showcase the personalities working in specialty coffee, a concept that has since begat two print volumes of in-depth profiles and fine photography. From café baristas to green farmers and myriad characters in between, Kenny creates a running narrative of passion and purpose. cargocollective.com/birdsofuv
More Coffee-Soaked Sites
To dive deep into coffee info online, turn to the Specialty Coffee Association of America. As the world’s largest coffee trade association, SCAA is an ultimate resource for members, with information about upcoming competitions and camps, and tools like the coffee drinkers’ Flavor Wheel.
For product reviews and brewing forums, check out CoffeeGeek and The Kitchn’s coffee coverage. For a daily dose of visual caffeine, check out ACuppaDay on Tumblr and Coffee N Clothes. The former makes coffee dregs look beautiful and the latter pairs cool cups with even cooler clothes.