Black Coffee is back.

The original live event from creative director Michelle Johnson (The Chocolate Barista, Sprudge) returns for two exclusive engagements on the American east coast, happening in NYC on October 15th and Washington DC on October 19th.

Exploring the intersection of race and coffee culture, Black Coffee takes the form of a lively on-stage panel discussion—a dialogue that centers the voices and experiences of Black coffee professionals and enthusiasts alike, all with unique perspectives that span intersectional identities and roles on the retail end of the coffee chain. The program launched earlier this year in Portland, Oregon, and you can watch a full video presentation of that evening right here.

On Monday, October 15th Black Coffee is in Manhattan at the Classic Stage Company (136 East 13th) in an evening sponsored by La Marzocco USA, Revelator Coffee, Oatly, Everyman Espresso, and Oren’s Coffee Co. This conversation is hosted by Michelle Johnson, with co-hosts Tymika Lawrence (Genuine Origin) and Ezra Baker (Oren’s Coffee Co.). Panelists include Lem Butler (Black & White Roasters), Kristina Hollie (Intelligentsia), Winston Thomas (Barista Champion of South Africa/Urnex Ambassador), and Candice Madison (Irving Farm).

Buy tickets now for Black Coffee NYC. Sales benefit Brownsville Community Culinary Center.

Black Coffee PDX (left to right, bottom to top) Zael Ogwaro (Never Coffee), Michelle Johnson (The Chocolate Barista), Ian Williams (Deadstock Coffee), Adam JacksonBey (The Potter’s House), D’Onna Stubblefield (Icon Coffee), Cameron Heath (Revelator Coffee Company), Gio Fillari (Coffee Feed PDX) and Ezra Baker (Oren’s Coffee Co). Photo by Shaunté Glover for Sprudge.

On Friday, October 19th Black Coffee is in Washington DC at The Line Hotel (1770 Euclid St NW) in an evening sponsored by La Marzocco, Oatly, Revelator Coffee, and The Line Hotel. This conversation is again hosted by creative director Michelle Johnson, with co-host Adam JacksonBey (The Potter’s House/Barista Guild of America). Panelists include Aisha Pew (Dovecote Cafe), Candy Schibli (Southeastern Roastery), Reggie Elliott (Foreign National), Victoria Smith (The Cup We All Race 4), and Donte Gardner (Vigilante Coffee Company).

Buy tickets now for Black Coffee DC. Sales benefit Collective Action for Safe Spaces. 

Poster art by Taylor McManus. 

Read Michelle Johnson’s original statement of intent for Black Coffee. 

All Black Coffee coverage on Sprudge. 

The post Black Coffee Is Coming To New York City And Washington DC appeared first on Sprudge.

Black Coffee, the new event series from creative director Michelle Johnson (The Chocolate Barista) recently staged major events in New York City (October 15th) and Washington DC (October 19th) at the Classic Stage Company in lower Manhattan and The Line Hotel in Adams Morgan. Hosted by Michelle Johnson, produced by Sprudge, and featuring NYC co-hosts Tymika Lawrence (Atlas Coffee) and Ezra Baker (Oren’s Coffee Co.) and DC co-host Adam JacksonBey (The Potter’s House, Barista Guild of America Executive Council), these events centered the voices and experiences of Black coffee professionals and enthusiasts alike, all with unique perspectives that spanned intersectional identities and roles on the retail end of the value chain.

The NYC event was sponsored by La Marzocco USA, Revelato,r Coffee, Oatly, Everyman Espresso and Oren’s Coffee Co. and featured panel guests Lem Butler (Black & White Roasters), Kristina Hollie (Intelligentsia), Winston Thomas (Barista Champion of South Africa/Urnex Ambassador), and Candice Madison (Irving Farm). Extra special thanks to the team at Everyman Espresso and Classic Stage Company for helping support this event onsite, and to Oren’s Coffee Co., Discovery Wines and Make My Cake for afterparty support. (Special thanks to D’Onna Stubblefield for music, party logistics, life advice, et. al.) Live Instagram coverage and event photography was produced by Noemie Tshinaga.

The DC event was sponsored by La Marzocco USA, Oatly, Revelator Coffee, and The Line Hotel, and featured panelists including Aisha Pew (Dovecote Cafe), Candy Schibli (Southeastern Roastery), Reggie Elliott (Foreign National), Victoria Smith (The Cup We All Race 4), and Donte Gardner (Vigilante Coffee Company). Ticket sales at this event benefited Collective Action for Safe Spaces. Special thanks to everyone at The Line Hotel for their incredible support and accommodation for this event—particularly Farrah Skeiky for her exceptional coordination and consideration—and to Gran Cata and Danielle’s Desserts for supporting a delicious afterparty. (Special thanks to Callie Eberdt of Oalty for onsite support and general positivity.) Live Instagram coverage and event photography was produced by Kayla Butler.

Video of the event will premiere in the coming weeks, filmed by Lanny Huang.

Michelle Johnson

A huge thank you again to all of the sponsors—everyone at La Marzocco USA, everyone at Oatly, Cameron Heath and Joshua Owen at Revelator Coffee, Ezra Baker, D’Onna Stubblefield and the team at Oren’s Coffee Co., Sam Penix and the team at Everyman Espresso, and especially to the exceptional facility teams at Classic Stage Company (NYC) and The Line Hotel (DC). You make this work possible—thank you.

Poster by Taylor McManus

You can now listen to both episodes via podcast! Download them here and subscribe.

All images from Black Coffee NYC by Noemie Tshinaga.

All images from Black Coffee DC by Kayla Butler.

The post Black Coffee NYC & Washington DC: The Live Podcasts Are Now Available appeared first on Sprudge.

It’s here! A complete video presentation of Black Coffee events in NYC and DC is now available via Sprudge Media Network on YouTube.

From creative director Michelle Johnson (The Chocolate Barista), Black Coffee centers the voices and perspectives of Black coffee professionals from around the world, each one with unique perspectives from up and down the value chain. These most recent live events took place in New York City (October 15th) and Washington DC (October 19th) at the Classic Stage Company in lower Manhattan and The Line Hotel in Adams Morgan, respectively. Each event was hosted by Michelle Johnson and produced by Sprudge, with video presentation directed by Lanny Huang.

Watch Black Coffee NYC here!

Watch Black Coffee DC here!

And now, a word from creative director Michelle Johnson:

Black Coffee NYC

The NYC event was sponsored by La Marzocco USA, Revelator Coffee, Oatly, Everyman Espresso, and Oren’s Coffee Co. and featured co-hosts Tymika Lawrence (Atlas Coffee) and Ezra Baker (Oren’s Coffee Co.), alongside panel guests Lem Butler (Black & White Roasters), Kristina Hollie (Intelligentsia), Winston Thomas (Barista Champion of South Africa/Urnex Ambassador), and Candice Madison (Irving Farm). Ticket sales for this event benefitted Brownsville Community Culinary Center. Extra special thanks to the team at Everyman Espresso and Classic Stage Company for helping support this event onsite, and to Oren’s Coffee Co., Discovery Wines and Make My Cake for afterparty support. Live Instagram coverage and event photography was produced by Noemie Tshinaga.

Black Coffee DC

The DC event was sponsored by La Marzocco USA, Oatly, Revelator Coffee, and The Line Hotel, and featured co-host Adam JacksonBey (The Potter’s House, Barista Guild of America Executive Council) alongside panelists including Aisha Pew (Dovecote Cafe), Candy Schibli (Southeastern Roastery), Reggie Elliott (Foreign National), Victoria Smith (The Cup We All Race 4), and Donte Gardner (Vigilante Coffee Company). Ticket sales at this event benefited Collective Action for Safe Spaces. Special thanks to everyone at The Line Hotel for their incredible support and accommodation for this event—particularly Farrah Skeiky for her exceptional coordination and consideration—and to Gran Cata and Danielle’s Desserts for afterparty support. Live Instagram coverage and event photography was produced by Kayla Butler.

All images from Black Coffee NYC by Noemie Tshinaga.

All images from Black Coffee DC by Kayla Butler.

The post Watch The Black Coffee NYC + DC Videos Now appeared first on Sprudge.

I don’t think I’m telling any tales outside of school when I say that New York City has one of the best coffee scenes in America. The number of high quality cafes in the Big Apple could easily number in the hundreds, a fact that even as I write this I can’t help but balk at. But there’s a problem: NYC is so big that even the most well-traveled coffee seeker may not have experienced some of the best shops the city has to offer. That’s why Counter Culture is hosting Pop Culture, a brand new pop-up series taking place at their Broome Street Training Center in New York. Starting in April, Counter Culture will turn over the keys to shop to different NYC cafes to bring a world of different coffee services under one roof.

For the inaugural Pop Culture, Counter Culture has teamed up with six different cafes from around New York City, who will each get two consecutive weekends to display their particular brand of coffee service as well as do a few experimental things they may not normally be able to do in their day-to-day cafe life. “New York has got so many visions for what coffee service can and should look like,” Counter Culture’s Matt Banbury tells Sprudge. “[Pop Culture] gives us the opportunity to showcase what makes our partnership unique with these shops.”

Shops participating in this series include: Little Collins, Little Skips, Southside Coffee, Everyman Espresso, Chalait, and Swallow. Each will be interpreting their time at the Training Center however they see fit. Little Collins, for instance, will be serving different toasts as well as heralding the oncoming summer months with an affogato made with Counter Culture’s natural processed Buziraguhindwa from Kayanza, Burundi. There’s even talk of a bit of a fun educational angle about potato defect in coffee and it may or may not include a side of potato chips. Everyman Espresso, on the other hand, will be turning the Training Center into more of a gallery space. Serving a menu focused on Ethiopian coffee, Everyman has plans of bringing in clothing designers and hosting an event with Sarina Prabasi, author of the soon to be released The Coffee House Resistance: Brewing Hope in Desperate Times.

And speaking of clothing, Counter Culture will be releasing a series of limited edition shirts and merch celebrating Pop Culture, which will only be available for purchase at the NYC Training Center.

Branbury tells Sprudge that if all goes well, he’d like to see Pop Culture travel to other Training Centers around the country, perhaps even bringing non-local Counter Culture accounts to takeover for a weekend. But for now, some really great New York shops and giving a whole new set of New Yorkers a chance to see and taste what they are all about.

For more information on Pop Culture and updates on the different pop-up events, make sure you are following Counter Culture on Instagram.

Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.

All images via Counter Culture

Disclosure: Counter Culture is an advertising partner with the Sprudge Media Network

The post Counter Culture Goes Pop-Up With New York City Cafe Series appeared first on Sprudge.

America is a land of immigrants. It always has been, contrary to what this country’s virulent new strain ultra-nationalists and their “shut the door behind you” thinking would have you believe. What makes the USA’s grand experiment worthwhile is the idea that anyone can come here to make a better life for themselves and their families, across generations and decades, no matter where you happen to come from on the planet.

When immigrants arrive in the United States, this fresh crop of new Americans will not only need but want gainful employment. To this end, New York City’s Everyman Espresso is stepping up. Working in collaboration with Counter Culture and Refoodee—a non-profit that helps refugees and asylum seekers find food industry jobs—is training asylum grantees for work in the specialty coffee shops, with jobs waiting on the other side.

Created by Refoodee, the program officially kicked off on Saturday, June 6th, with four trainees who “have fled countries around the globe like Nigeria, Russia, and Venezuela not by choice but out of desperation for a safer community,” Everyman Espresso’s Sam Penix tells Sprudge. With the support of Refoodee and Counter Culture—the latter offering up their NYC training lab, coffee, and curriculum—Penix and Everyman’s Sam Lewontin have organized volunteers from the local barista community to teach small group sessions for the inaugural class.

After 20 hours of training, each individual will then find job placement at some of the best coffee shops in NYC, including Little Collins, Rex, Third Rail, and of course Everyman Espresso. Even in its nascence, the program has already gone national, with Los Angeles cafes Tactile and Roo helping to raise money for the course as retail fundraisers.

Penix had this to say:

How can we as retailers, roasters, and baristas effect positive change? This program is a good start, but it should not be limited to New York and LA. I’d like to invite people all over the world to join us in raising money to fund Refoodee’s training program and develop their own training programs.

Want to get involved? In honor of World Refugee Day on June 20th, Everyman Espresso, Counter Culture, and Refoodee have collaborated on a special-release box set featuring coffee from Burundi, Uganda, and Ethiopia. All the cafe partners will be brewing coffees from this box set the week of the 17th through the 23rd as part of their commitment “to raising cash to fund the training program, spreading the word about the growing refugee crisis, and how it effects the coffee supply chain.” The box set will be available for purchase at all above-mentioned cafes.

These actions from Everyman, Counter Culture, Refoodee and their collaborators show us yet again that the coffee community is willing to step up in the name of support and inclusivity. Wherever you come from in the world, you are welcome here.

Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.

All media provided by Everyman Espresso

The post There’s A New Training Program To Prepare Refugees For Jobs In Coffee appeared first on Sprudge.