Game Day

A dozen last night

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Shaughnessy Residences – 3- & 4-Bedroom Pre-Construction Marpole Townhomes by Alabaster

At a Glance

• Located at 8123 Shaughnessy Street
• 15 4-storey townhomes
• 3- & 4-bedroom floor plans
• ideal for families
• near schools, shopping, recreation, rapid transit

Traditional Architecture, Contemporary Interiors
From the developer of Osler Residences and Oak + Park, these 15 Marpole townhouses offer an attractive opportunity to enjoy the perks of living in a quiet residential South Vancouver neighbourhood. Near David Lloyd George Elementary and Sir Winston Churchill Secondary, an International Baccalaureate School, Shaughnessy Residences is an ideal location to raise a family.

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Shopping and leisure opportunities are close at hand. For groceries, choose from the new Safeway at Granville and 70th Avenue or the brand new T&T supermarket at Marine Gateway, where a new Cineplex has also opened. Oakridge Centre Mall and the McArthurGlen Designer Outlet are less than a 10-minute drive by car. Just five minutes away, the Marine Drive Canada Line station offers easy rapid transit access to YVR Airport and Downtown Vancouver. And to keep fit, enjoy Oak Park’s grass playing fields, tennis courts, baseball diamond, and walking trails.

Pricing for Shaughnessy Residences
Sales start May 2016. Sign up to our VIP list above to ensure you’re immediately informed of Shaughnessy Residences pricing as soon as they’re released. Alabaster’s recent project, Osler Residences, sold out quickly, so we expect the same level of interest for these spacious homes.

Floor Plans for Shaughnessy Residences
Alabaster has yet to release floor plan details for Shaughnessy Residences’ 3- and 4-bedroom townhomes.

Amenities at Shaughnessy Residences
Details have yet to be determined.

Parking and Storage
Alabaster has not released details, but we expect at least one underground parking stall per residence.

Maintenance Fees at Shaughnessy Residences
As this development is in pre-construction, maintenance fees have not yet been finalized.

Developer Team for Shaughnessy Residences
Alabaster Homes is a boutique Vancouver developer inspired by the city’s neighbourhoods. From the classic beauty of Shaughnessy to the urban energy of Oakridge, their vision is to enhance communities and create new legacies.

Alabaster has teamed up with Formwerks Architectural and Occupy Design to create Shaughnessy Residences. Formwerks has a reputation for sensitive, user-friendly architecture that embodies clients’ functional requirements within an artistic building form. Their experience ranges from single-family homes to multi-family projects and commercial buildings. Similarly, Occupy Design seeks to achieve the best experience for those using the spaces.

Expected Completion for Shaughnessy Residences
To be announced.

Are you interested in learning more about other homes in Marpole, South Vancouver, or near the Cambie Corridor?

Check out these great Marpole presales!

The post Shaughnessy Residences – 3- & 4-Bedroom Pre-Construction Marpole Townhomes by Alabaster appeared first on Vancouver Real Estate by Mike Stewart 604-763-3136.

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Arne Vancouver – 20 Danish-Inspired Mount Pleasant Pre-Construction Townhomes by MONDEVO

At a Glance

• located at 321 East 16th Avenue
• courtyard-separated, 3-storey twin buildings
• 1-, 2- and 3-bedroom contemporary townhomes
• 29 area transportation options
• 115 nearby eateries
• boutiques, cafes, shops within walking distance
• close to parks, schools, churches

Danish-Inspired Modernity
Arne by MONDEVO is a boutique collection of twenty Mount Pleasant townhomes with a clean, warm expression that balances architectural modernity with flexible layouts. Its floor space ratio, open courtyard layout, outdoor stroller lockers, and proximity to a park with a playground make this development ideal for young families. Arne’s first two storeys are a very crisp cube in white brick veneer, with form and material emphasizing the individuality of each dwelling. The upper storey is a more subtle, contrasting expression of metal faux wood siding that recedes from view, giving the impression of a smaller external facing.

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Situated in eclectic Mount Pleasant, vibrant Main Street, with its wide assortment of independent businesses, is just outside your doorstep. From bakeries, cafes, and eateries, to boutiques, shops, and professional services, here is where you’ll find your everyday needs. Nearby parks, schools, Mount Pleasant Community Centre, Science World, and False Creek ensure families need not travel far for their educational and recreation needs. To venture further afield, frequent trolley bus service on Main Street is a popular way for neighbourhood residents to conveniently access other parts of the city.

Pricing for Arne
As this development is in pre-construction, details are still forthcoming. Don’t miss out on an opportunity to buy into Arne. Subscribe to our VIP list above for priority announcements.

Floor Plans for Arne
Although MONDEVO has not published any plans for Arne, there will be a mix of flexible layouts for nine 1-bedroom units with private patios on the ground floor, two 2-bedroom homes, and nine 3-bedroom townhomes with rooftop patios.

Amenities at Arne
A central courtyard with a hopscotch design will act as a community social space where children can be easily supervised while playing outside in a secure environment. Each ground level home will have private outdoor patios that are planted and screened to accommodate barbecues. Townhomes will offer relaxing rooftop patios. For more open spaces, Tea Swamp Park is on the next block and Robson Park is three blocks northeast.

Parking and Storage
Resident parking will be available in one level of underground. Six Class B bike stalls are slated for the front, east-side yard, and there will be outdoor stroller lockers.

Maintenance Fees at Arne
As with pricing, these are to be determined.

Developer Team for Arne
MONDEVO and b Squared Architecture, who brought us the successful Skala development just one block away, have partnered to demonstrate, yet again, artful homebuilding.

Vancouver-based MONDEVO combines cutting-edge design and smart floor-planning to create highly functional, stunning homes that exude urban sophistication. b Squared Architecture is a young Vancouver design firm that was founded in 2005. Their penchant for crisp, modern design has attracted the accolades of a young and optimistic client base. In 2008, b Squared was awarded the BC Wood Works Award for the Multi-Family Division.

Expected Completion for Arne
Date pending.

Are you interested in learning more about other homes in Mount Pleasant, East False Creek, or the Cambie Corridor?

Check out these great Mount Pleasant presales!

The post Arne Vancouver – 20 Danish-Inspired Mount Pleasant Pre-Construction Townhomes by MONDEVO appeared first on Vancouver Real Estate by Mike Stewart 604-763-3136.

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Toronto: At Reunion Island’s Flagship Cafe, Coffee Is The Welcome Mat

In the bustling neighborhood of Roncesvalles, a primarily Polish community located in Toronto, Canada, Reunion Island Coffee Roasters opened their flagship location on a prime corner lot in July 2015. Reunion Island has been in wholesale operations for 20 years, but the company wanted its very own flagship to show new and old customers alike “just how great our coffee can be,” according to the company’s Director of Relationships Adam Pesce, whose family started the business in 1995.

Everything about the cafe is minimal, bright, and inviting. From the moment coffee goers step foot into the cafe, each moment is striking. Customers are welcomed with a now internet-iconic black and white tile floor that spells out “COFFEE”. Pesce says, “Some people have ‘welcome’ mats, we have coffee.” The whole space seems thoughtful and, well, highly Instagrammable, with tables adorned with succulents and air plants, and stark white walls filled out by commissioned art pieces by longtime friend and artist Steph Hung, dedicated to the Roncesvalles neighborhood.

The minimal focus of the shop was something that was not lost on Pesce and his team. “We want to make it very clear, this is a place for coffee.” Inside the shop, General Manager Derek Hamers oversees the day-to-day of the coffee bar where guests can saddle up to the pour-over station at any time of day, or enjoy the latte art offerings from barista Yuna. The roasting side of the business stays heavily involved in every step in the chain, from the farm level to brewing parameters at the shop. Reunion Island wants to ensure that everyone gets a chance to drink their coffees at their best, and that care shows through in the cup.

Beyond the roasting, sourcing, and attention to brewing and presentation that are Reunion Island’s visible focus, the company maintains a strong commitment to sustainability. The company is a certified B Corp, which Pesce says “is telling of who we are as a company.” The company’s carbon-neutral operations are powered by renewable energy, and sourcing focuses on relationship-traded coffees with organic, Fair Trade, and/or Rainforest Alliance certifications.

For the espresso program, Reunion Island uses both a washed and a natural processed coffee–washed for espresso and Americanos, and natural for milk-based drinks made even sweeter with Harmony Organic whole milk. “It took a bit of explanation at first,” says Pesce, “but our customers have really taken to it and have totally come to accept and love the flavor of naturals.” Single-origin filter offerings—like a recent experimental coffee lot from Guatemala’s Finca La Soledad—change regularly, every four to six weeks.

The coffee bar has become a bit of a testing ground of sorts for the roastery. Over the past year, they have started working hand-in-hand with their direct trade partners to do some mixed processing. Starting this May at the cafe, not only will Reunion Island offer two different processes of the same coffee but also from the same farm. “We’re hoping that’ll really give customers a wicked experience and the opportunity to taste what effect processing can have on coffee.”

Equipment-wise, the shop has found the Mythos Clima-Pro grinder keeps shots running smoothly on their two-group Modbar espresso system alongside a Mahlkönig EK 43 for their batch-brew and pour-over offerings, a Marco under-the-counter water boiler, and one of Canada’s first Marco Jet brewers.

Peeking out the gorgeous front window that opens out into the community and in turn keeps the staff cool during the summer months, the cafe staff has started thinking of some creative signature drinks to add to the warm-weather menu. Taking ordinary seasonal drinks known to be super sweet, they have created drinks such as the Dulce de Leche Flat White using ingredients made from scratch to create a balance of flavours while still offering something fun and irreverent. As Pesce tells me, “We enjoy taking the piss out of the larger coffee industry.”

Reunion Island Coffee Roasters is located at 385 Roncesvalles Avenue, Toronto, Canada. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Amanda Scriver (@amascriver) is a freelance journalist based in Toronto. This is Amanda Scriver’s first feature for Sprudge.com. 

The post Toronto: At Reunion Island’s Flagship Cafe, Coffee Is The Welcome Mat appeared first on Sprudge.

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The Mechanic

Oh, noes, the noisy doggy toy is broken

I fix it, me

This smells like the right sized wrench

Yep, it is!

Peggy helps her daddy work on machines all the time, handing him tools....making off with tools....and obviously it has rubbed off. BTW, the noisy doggy toy from Hell was not broken, but it could have been....many times over the past few days. 

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Which is better: Western Red Cedar or Yellow Cedar

If you are considering a custom home there are numerous decisions you have to make including what type of logs and timbers to build with? When building a custom home, it’s very important to select the best wood species for your project in order to maximize overall durability, while minimizing cost. Today we are going to look at two of the most popular types of cedar, Western Red Cedar and Alaskan Yellow Cedar. Known for their rich aromatic and being highly decay resistant We will look at the advantages and disadvantages of building with each and the costs associated.

Western Red Cedar

A premium slow growth timber and the most abundant cedar tree available in Western Canada, Western Red Cedar primarily grows in British Columbia and is our preferred choice for many of the custom log home and timber frame structures. Although it is one of the lightest in weight of all commercially important softwood species, Western Red Cedar is very decay resistant and it can yield a larger variety of dimensional lumber. Its abundance and favorable properties make it the dominant choice for building and exports, especially in Europe since it does not have to be heat treated before exporting; and being twice as stable as other softwood species, Western Red Cedar is highly durable and weather resistant. Its natural oils are insect and decay resistant, and left in its natural state it remains beautiful and aesthetically pleasing. Western Red Cedar dries readily with very little shrinkage and has excellent working qualities, machining to a smooth, satiny finish.

Rich in texture, with a unique tactile grain, Western Red Cedar combines visual harmony with stability and durability, making it the common choice for a number of projects such as: siding, decks, fences, planters, screens, and garden furniture. Given its ability to withstand the elements, if you are looking to build your log or timber frame home in an area where extreme weather dominates we would be most inclined to recommend Western Red Cedar.  

Western Red Cedar is also known for their flared butt ends that offers a unique character to many log homes both inside and outside. If you like this type of look and feel for your home western red cedar may be the best type of timber for your home. If you don’t particularly like this look you can still use red cedar without flared ends.

Alaskan Yellow Cedar (also known as Cypress)

The slow growing Alaskan Yellow Cedar is a tough, solid tree and the hardest known cedar in the world, while also boasting exceptional longevity. Due to its straight grain and yellow colour, Yellow Cedar wood is very valuable commercially. It is used extensively for paddles,  boat building, as well as other exterior projects such as bridges, decking, stairs and landscaping. Similar to the Red Cedar, it is highly decay resistant and strongly aromatic when freshly cut, due to its natural oils. However, it’s interesting to note that the Alaskan Yellow Cedar is not in fact a cedar tree, but a cypress tree.

Considerably harder when dry than most commercial softwoods, and therefore much stronger, AYC has excellent strength and wear properties as well as great impact resistance. It is suitable for all types of joinery and carpentry due to its appearance, durability and easy working characteristics. This wood is so easy to work that it has become prized for applications such as joinery and carpentry, decorative panelling, furniture, mouldings and cabinetwork. It also withstands constant wear and load impacts without forming ridges or splitting, and does not splinter.

One of the disadvantages of Alaskan Yellow Cedar is the ability to sourcing large diameter high quality wood. For this reason many builders choose red cedar over yellow cedar.

Cost Comparison: Western Red Cedar vs Alaskan Yellow Cedar 

This chart compares the average cost of Western Red Cedar vs. Alaskan Yellow Cedar depending on the style of timber home you choose:

	Western Red Cedar	Western Red Cedar w/Flared Ends	Alaskan Yellow Cedar
Full Scribe	$55-$75	$65-85	$50-$60
Post & Beam	$40-$65	$45-$70	$35-$55
Timber Frame	$55-$65	N/A	$40-$55

We hope this has given you a better understanding of the differences between the two cedar options available, and why we choose Western Red Cedar. If you have any specific questions we would be happy to discuss them. Please feel free to email us: info@artisanlog.com.

If you would like to know more about the cost associated with building your custom log home you may want to read these articles as well:

• What are the best logs for building my log home?
• How Much Do Log Homes Cost
• How Much Does It Cost To Transport and Export a Log Home
• The Difference Between Timber Frame, Post and Beam and Full Scribe Log Homes

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5 Tips to Restore Well-Being for the Summer

We’ve all been waiting patiently for summer to arrive. Follow these five summer tips to prepare and protect your well-being … Continue reading →

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Welcome Lah!

Did you know the PTA has a welcoming committee? It's called Welcome Lah. The purpose of Welcome Lah is to help new families make a smooth transition into SAS. An important component of this process is the buddy family program. This program partners newly admitted families with current SAS families. Once a buddy family is matched, they contact new families via email in August to help answer questions the new family has and share details about Singapore, SAS, and welcoming event dates. If you are interested in being a buddy family for the 2016-17 school year, please contact Amy McBride, committee chair.

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Thank You Elementary Parents

Thank you elementary parent volunteers for helping make Staff Appreciation Day such a success. We could not have done it without your food contributions, volunteer hours, and involvement in the class projects. Thank you!

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Thank You High School Parents

A HUGE thank you to all of our wonderful high school parents. Your hard work in the kitchen was immensely appreciated by all of our high school teachers and administrators on Tuesday at Staff Appreciation Day. We know it is a very busy time of year, and we are so grateful to have your support for this day that our high school staff looks forward to each year. We couldn't do it without you!

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2000

The origins of the Athletic Conference of Singapore International Schools (ACSIS) date back to the early 2000s. Although IASAS was by this time well established for international competitions, SAS was finding it difficult to organize games against other schools within Singapore. "International schools here would organize friendly games with each other now and then, but there were no leagues or final tournaments," remembers Ms. Mimi Molchan, director of activities and athletics at SAS.

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PTA Volunteer Appreciation Tea

As we near the end of the school year, we would like to invite parents who have supported the school this year with their volunteer efforts to please join us at our volunteer appreciation tea on Tuesday, May 10 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at the residence of US Ambassador to Singapore. Click title to RSVP

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PTA Annual General Meeting

Curious about the PTA? Interested in hearing a recap of activities and funds raised in the 2015-16 school year? Then join us at our Annual General Meeting on Tuesday, May 3 from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. in the drama theater.

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Back-to-School Uniform Sale Volunteers Needed

Plan ahead and volunteer for the PTA back-to-school uniform sale. The sale will be August 1-6. In addition to helping with the biggest fundraiser of the year, you will meet new families and help them transition into SAS. Morning and afternoon shifts are available. Click title to sign up.

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End of Year Bake Sale and Indian Food

Booster bakers will be at the high school cafeteria selling baked goods and Indian food on Thursday, May 5 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Please bring cash! We need bakers and volunteers. Click title for sign up.

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Cooking Class Group Transportation

Lori Watson is looking into getting a max bus to take everyone from Woodlands to the Booster Club sponsored Cook, Love, Eat cooking class and luncheon at the APS Lifestyle Gallery in Boat Quay. Please contact her if you would like a ride at loriwatson16@yahoo.com after you buy your ticket. The more the merrier!

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2004

Becky and Patrick Green were college friends from Western Washington University and new teachers at Singapore American School in 2004. Spending their December break in Phuket, they experienced the Boxing Day tsunami first-hand where, thanks to Patrick's calm and quick thinking, they lived through an experience that changed how they looked at one another forever.

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2012

As a high school student at SAS, Taos began making introductory animations and effects for The Morning Show. Teaming up with Alex Fortmann (now a filmmaking student at New York University), Bram Xu, Alex Byun, and a team of students, he changed the way SAS had been doing senior videos by adding animation effects. They began creating the Class of 2014 senior video at the beginning of the 2013-14 school year, and several people began dropping out, leaving the core team behind. Their video is now the most viewed SAS senior video of all time, and their names spread to other schools who contacted Taos' team to ask how they created their video.

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Counter Culture Coffee’s New Downtown Durham Digs

This weekend is moving time for the twenty-one year old fiercely independent roasting powerhouse Counter Culture Coffee. The company, a friend and partner of this publication since 2010, will move move its roastworks, offices, and lab space from their deep Durham forest bungalow to a spacious new facility designed by architect Matthew Konar.

Konar and Counter Culture teamed up to convert a grain manufacturing plant into a high tech coffee hub in the center of an up-and-coming area in downtown Durham. Their neighbors include Triangle Brewing and Seeds Community Garden, and the new space is spitting distance from Durham mainstays like Fullsteam Brewery, Motorco Music Hall, Cocoa Cinnamon, and Geer Street Garden.

In a press release, Counter Culture Coffee President Brett Smith said of the location: “We have always called Durham our home, and since we roasted our first pound of coffee 20 years ago, we have wanted to be downtown. After many years of searching, we are incredibly excited to finally have found a new home in East Durham. The facility will accommodate our rapid growth and house a world-class training area for our customers and consumers. The new headquarters will also help Counter Culture accomplish a long-standing goal of being a larger part of the Durham community.”

The folks at Counter Culture Coffee have been keeping busy in recent years. The company opened a new West Coast division in Emeryville, California last year with 2012 US Barista Champion and Quality Control manager Katie Carguilo leading a team of roasters, wholesale trainers, and customer service representatives. Counter Culture opened its tenth training lab in Charleston, South Carolina last summer.

Counter Culture Coffee is one of very few wholesale-only operations in the United States. Its training centers are the closest they get to a retail brick and mortar, and are more a gentle mix of wholesale customer coffee craftwork and deeply involved educational courses. The centers are sprinkled across the country with facilities in New York City; Chicago; Boston; Washington, D.C.; Philadelphia; Asheville, NC; Atlanta; and the aforementioned Emeryville and Charleston spots.

The roasting area at their new Durham HQ will feture a brand new Loring Smart Roast roaster, as well as two vintage Probats. The packing production area has been enhanced, and the green coffee is now stored in a massive climate-controlled area.

The new training space in Durham will be the company’s largest. Architect Konar worked with Counter Culture Wholesale Training Manager and training center developer Jesse Kahn to create a space with sustainability sourced materials (reclaimed wood bleachers, anyone?) and energy-efficient fixtures. The lab will also feature a brand new component: a kitchen-counter set-up to allow for home users to train with world class coffee professionals, like sitting US Barista Champion Lemuel Butler. There’s also a generous outdoor area for post-coffee-tasting chill outs and designed with events in mind, with ample room for food trucks to sidle up and start cookin’.

This coming Saturday, Counter Culture will host a party at the space and welcome the public into their new digs. Slug down a cold one, sling shots with barista champions, and cheers to Counter Culture Coffee’s new Durham digs.

The new Counter Culture Coffee is located at 812 Mallard Avenue. The grand opening party is this Saturday, April 30th, from 10am – 4pm. There will be tours and tastings, food from Chef Ashley Christensen, local beer and entertainment.

Zachary Carlsen is a co-founder and editor at Sprudge.com. Read more Zachary Carlsen on Sprudge. 

Photos provided by Counter Culture Coffee.

 

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A New Cafe (And New Look) For San Francisco’s Ritual Coffee

When Ritual Coffee Roasters’ founder Eileen Hassi opened her flagship coffee shop on Valencia Street in San Francisco, in 2007, specialty coffee wasn’t really a thing yet. People still ardently defended Peet’s Coffee & Tea as the Bay Area’s best coffee, Blue Bottle Coffee amounted to just a handful of farmer market stalls and a kiosk, and the majority of the city’s specialty coffee heavyweights were distant bubbles floating across the collective coffee brain. “We were fighting with people to try our coffee,” Hassi says, “we had to be talking about how we were different from the norm because aside from, like, Peet’s, we were alone in the coffee scene.”

Eileen Hassi (center)

Almost a decade later, San Francisco has, to put it modestly, changed. Today, the City by the Bay is one of the world’s premiere specialty coffee destinations, a breeding ground for exceptional roasters and cafes, a mecca for coffee enthusiasts, and a petri dish for new ideas and concepts in the specialty coffee world. And as San Francisco has expanded and evolved, so has Ritual. On Tuesday, April 26, Ritual opened their newest cafe, their sixth location, and the first to open since 2011, on a stretch of Haight Street Hassi has taken to calling “Central Haight,” across from the sloping grass of Buena Vista Park. Along with the new cafe, Hassi and Ritual will introduce the first rebrand of their iconic logo since the shop first opened. And though Ritual has never stopped progressing and tweaking and adapting, the new cafe and the new branding represent a new, somewhat different approach to spreading their passionate belief in the joys of specialty coffee to the masses.

“The coffee culture in San Francisco and in the United States is so different now,” Hassi says, and if Ritual was an upstart punk trying to tear down the norms of commodity coffee in 2007, now, well, it’s a foundational part of the booming American specialty coffee industry. “When we opened,” Hassi says, “we were acting like kids, testing our boundaries and, well, we don’t have to do that anymore.” It starts with the new cafe. Ritual’s flagship store on Valencia (which went through an extensive remodel in 2015) was built as an altar to specialty coffee, a place, as the company’s name implies, for devotees of good coffee to come and worship. “People walk into our Valencia shop, and are like, ‘what is this?’” Hassi says, “Everything about Haight Street is more humble, no one is going to walk into the Haight Street store and not know exactly what it is.”

Which is to say the Haight Street store, designed by Envelope A + D, is a more traditional feeling neighborhood cafe, one with huge light-filled windows that look out onto the park, beaming succulents, platters of croissants and other pastries, and a convivial atmosphere that draws people in. “I’m very picky about location,” Hassi says “and ultimately I chose this spot because it feels like a place I want to drink coffee in the morning. This cafe is easy to sit in and feel like you’re going to have a good day because you started it off on the right foot.” Hassi worked with her architect to “make it feel like you’re in the park,” lining the tops of the walls with huge mirrors that reflect the bright green of Buena Vista into the cafe. The mirrors are also a nod to the European cafes of the 1930s, as Hassi says, “This is a spot that looks back on its history not forward to what’s next, so it felt right to reference cafes of the past.”

It’s been almost five years since Hassi and her team opened their location in the Hayes Valley Proxy Project, a renovated storage container in a parking lot, and both Hassi and the company haven’t been sitting idle. Hassi herself has gotten married and had a kid (“I took five years to have a personal life”), then remodeled the Valencia store, but she’s also dedicated herself to improving the infrastructure of the company. “We needed to figure out all the things that made this place a great place to work,” she says, “we needed our people to feel secure in their jobs and knowing what those jobs were before we could take another step.” Beyond that, Hassi believes in opening her stores organically, when it feels right. “I really want to have the people to do the project before I decide to take on the project,” she says, “If I have to look for people from the outside it’s probably not worth it because it’ll invariably change the culture.”

A change that can be seen, somewhat in the company’s subtle shift in their branding. If Haight Street’s white walls and soft light are the quieter, more recognizable balance to the high ceilings and harsher angles of Valencia Street, then the new design, by Good Stuff Partners (with assistance from designer Emily Craig), “I realized that our branding didn’t reflect us anymore.” Though the iconic star and cup Ritual is recognized by isn’t going anywhere, the almost militant feeling red, black, and white of the original design have been softened, and paired with an organic looking white and gold honeycomb pattern (which adorns the front of the new store’s three-group Synesso Hydra MVP espresso machine).

“For the first few years,” Hassi says, “[the original design] felt like us—aggressive. I mean one of our famous things was a frequent buyer card that said, ‘You’re an asshole without coffee.’” The new design features a more welcoming font, one that still pops from the front of their bags (now made entirely with compostable material), but is more spaced out, and doesn’t have the fist-shaking verve of the former. It’s a friendlier, almost more trusting design, for a company that now has a vast and very trusting customer base, a company that doesn’t need to change the state of coffee, because, well, it’s already done that.

A new font and a new neighborhood cafe doesn’t imply that Ritual has changed though, as Hassi says, “I think it’s easy to look at us and say, ‘They’re getting old.’ But it’s more nuanced than that.” Ritual hasn’t lost its edge, it’s just found a modicum of comfort in a San Francisco scene they helped to created. “Our customers trust us now,” Hassi says, “We’re in this whole blossoming scene in San Francisco that people know about worldwide and wanted to do something more approachable because, well, we don’t have to yell anymore.”

Ritual Coffee Roasters is located at 1300 Haight Street, San Francisco. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Noah Sanders (@sandersnoah) is a Sprudge.com staff writer based in San Francisco, and a contributor to SF Weekly, Side One Track One, and The Bold Italic. Read more Noah Sanders on Sprudge.

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Brasília: The Good Coffee Lover’s Guide

Heloisa Checheliski and Vitor Ávila of Los Baristas (Photo by Diego Bresani)

“There is no other place like Brasília,” Oscar Niemeyer, the architect who designed all of the capital’s prominent buildings, once said. Built from scratch on an unoccupied plateau in the interior of Brazil, the Unesco World Heritage center was inaugurated in 1960 in an attempt to further develop the midwest region of the country.

It does not feel like a city, some say. There are planned green areas and bike lanes, designated commercial and residential blocks, and the limited-height buildings do not suffocate. The horizon expands continually, giving rise to the expression azul de Brasília (Brasília’s blue), and one can gaze at the sky from anywhere in the city. Lúcio Costa was the urban planner who idealized Brasília’s so-called pilot plan—setting the shape of the city as an airplane, with North and South Wings.

Since Brasília is an academic and cultural hub as well as a political one, there is a proliferation of coffeehouses. One unique thing about the ones we chose to include here is that there is a strong sense of community between them. They gather for weekly Thursday Night Throwdowns, borrow one another’s beans when facing common logistics challenges, and even launched a coffee “unloyalty” card, encouraging customers to have one espresso at each specialty coffee shop in the capital—the last one being free at any of the handful of participating shops. The next unloyalty card planned will be good for pour-over options only—the idea being to introduce Brasílienses to this method, still not much known among customers. We selected five cafes for this story, four of them in the North Wing, which is the area that brings out a younger, more creative crowd.

Café Cristina

Photo by Daniel Ferreira

Café Cristina is an elegant yet no-frills cafe employing a farm-to-cup approach to specialty coffee. It’s named for the city the beans come from: Cristina, in the south of Minas Gerais, which is home to some of the most awarded coffees in Brazil. Co-owner Daltro Barros has a farm there where they source the majority of the coffee sold at the cafe. Pedro Lisboa, his partner, says Café Cristina was born as a coffee brand back in 2004, while the cafe itself came in 2007, aiming to showcase the beans as well as make its mark in Brasília in the specialty coffee field.

Photo by Daniel Ferreira

The beans are roasted at Barros’s farm, and shipped to Brasília twice a month under Lisboa’s supervision. The cafe’s baristas have been working there for years, and despite their sophisticated poise, will surprise you with their down-to-earth approach to coffee. When you order an espresso, they will usually ask what exactly you are expecting in the cup, especially in terms of volume—since a common practice in other cafes in Brasília is to serve a “longo,” around 60 milliliters of a thin, bland drink. Then they will talk up their shorter version of espresso extracted from a Synesso—the first in Brazil—and invite the customer to try that. You can also have Cristina’s espresso served at the restaurants located on the same block—which is good because the café does not offer food. Cristina has espresso-based drinks plus a V60 pour-over option, with beans sometimes sourced from Barros’s neighbors in Cristina. The cafe hits its peak of activity right after lunch and at the end of the afternoon, where many regulars will come get their caffeine fix before heading home.

Café Cristina is located at CLN 202, Bloco A, Loja 45. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook.

Los Baristas Casa de Cafés

Photo by Diego Bresani

Heloisa Checheliski and Vitor Ávila both have cinema/TV backgrounds, and used to have dates in coffee shops. After way too many bad coffee experiences during their last trip to Patagonia, Argentina, they decided they would open a cafe there. The plan got a little side-tracked, though, and they instead opened one in their hometown of Brasília, on a cozy commercial block close to the University of Brasília and government offices.

The couple say they spent all their savings on a La Marzocco GB5; while waiting for it to arrive, they deepened their barista studies in São Paulo at Isabela Raposeiras Coffee Lab, and also sought out the perfect place for the cafe. Los Baristas Casa de Cafés serves a brunch-style breakfast with an assortment of artisanal sweet and savory selections, among which the bolo de milho (a sweet type of cornbread) and the soft-boiled egg (to be eaten with a spoon and paired with breadsticks) are hits.

Photo by Diego Bresani

To drink, you ask? There are a number of wine options, and of course, coffee from a variety of Brazilian roasters, among them Wolff Café, Pereira Villela, and 4 Beans Coffee Co., available via several methods of extraction: AeroPress, French press, Hario V60 (the best seller), Chemex, and syphon, all of them on the counter visible to customers. Checheliski and Ávila are always at the shop, behind the machines, greeting customers and friends with a smile.

Los Baristas Casa de Cafés is located at CLN 404, Bloco C, Loja 38. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Ernesto Cafés Especiais

Photo by Anturia Viotto

Ernesto Cafés Especiais is the only shop here that is in the South Wing, a somewhat more traditional part of Brasília. Juliana Pedro founded Ernesto in 2011, after having lived in São Paulo for years and patronizing many of that city’s cafes. Pedro says that in the early days, many customers would return their espressos or cappuccinos, with a variety of complaints: it was lukewarm, they missed the cinnamon/cocoa on top, it was too small, etc. Now Pedro can’t remember the last time there was a complaint over the coffee.

Photo by Anturia Viotto

Ernesto always has two espresso options: the house blend, roasted by Wolff Café, and a guest bean (the day I visited it was from Café Terroá). They also have Chemex, Hario V60, AeroPress, and French press alternatives, each extracted in front of the client.

Photo by Anturia Viotto

The breads here are baked in-house, and made daily from scratch. An assortment of independent books are for sale on the shop’s second floor, and there is a beautiful garden at the back (the commercial block the cafe is on connects to the residential block next to it through a green area). Ernesto is also fairly close to Brasília’s airport, so if you find yourself between flights, or just want to have a well-served breakfast and good coffee before taking off, you know where to go.

Ernesto Cafés Especiais is located at CLS 115, Bloco C, Loja 14. Follow them on Instagram.

Objeto Encontrado

Photo by Lucas Hamu

Objeto Encontrado is worth the visit just for the fact that owners Lucas Hamu, Luciana Araújo, and Lussifer Silveira managed to put together, in one place, an art gallery, a whisky bar, and a craft coffee shop. And the coffee is superb: with beans coming from an assortment of roasters (I tried a Red Catuai micro-lot from Pereira Villela beautifully extracted by Hamu), Objeto offers nicely made cappuccinos and Hario V60 or Bravilor filter-coffee options.

Photo by Lucas Hamu

For those who are looking for something else: the whisky menu has more than 60 labels; there is a carefully curated craft-beers list; and healthy, cold-pressed juice offerings, among them one made of pumpkin, raisin, and cinnamon. Araújo carefully plots the food menu: everything is house-made and local, with plenty of vegetarian and vegan options. If you’ve got time to spare, just sit down, sip your beverage of choice, and tune out to one of Hamu’s celebrated playlists.

Objeto Encontrado is located at CLN 102, Bloco B, Loja 56. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Clandestino Café e Música

Photo by Joao Vicente

Clandestino Café e Música is conveniently situated right in front of Parque Olhos D’água, an original savanna park in the North Wing, meters away from the University of Brasília. Rodrigo Balduino, Liana David, and Carolina Balduino opened the Nordic-style coffee shop in 2014, and (if you didn’t guess from the name) promote regular live-music events that bring out much of the Brasíliense music-scene crowd.

Photo by Joao Vicente

The counter with their La Marzocco FB80 is right against one of the shop’s walls, entirely accessible to customers—the idea being to inform and educate about specialty coffee. Like elsewhere in Brazil, the three owners have noticed a change in many customers’ “coffee knowledge” as they dive deeper into the house’s options of AeroPress, French press, or V60. Don’t leave without trying their pudinho—a delicious caramel flan made in-house, as are the rest of the menu options. It goes perfectly with the well-extracted espresso—Clandestino sources its beans from (among others) Isso é Café, 4 Beans, and Pereira Villela.

Clandestino Café e Música is located at CLN 413, Bloco D. Follow them on Facebook and Instagram.

Juliana Ganan is a Brazilian coffee professional and journalist. Read more Juliana Ganan on Sprudge.

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