Starbucks Has A Cold Brew And Beef Jerky Drink

I like to think of myself as a fairly gastronomically open-minded person. “Here, try this cow tongue.” “Don’t forget to suck the head of the crawfish. It’ll make you smarter.” “Here’s some coffee I roasted myself.” Two out of three of those things are always delights and welcome at whatever table I happen to be gathered around. But this new creation from Starbucks, I just don’t know that I’m game. The Pepper Nitro with a Jerky Twist is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: nitro cold brew with a big ole hunk of beef jerky in it.

To be fair, it’s not just cold brew and jerky. According to Food & Wine, the drink also contains “malted pepper syrup, cracked pink peppercorn and layer of cold honey foam on the top,” which doesn’t sound half bad. Until you add the skewer of grass fed beef jerky like some sort of meaty orange peel, that is.

Only available at the Starbucks Reserve in Seattle, this new concoction made specifically for your friend that still wears t-shirts heralding their love of bacon is “accompanied by an uplifting backstory:”

The coffee featured in the beverage—Starbucks Reserve Easter D.R. Congo Lake Kivu—comes from a community that has struggled during the decades-long conflict in the African nation. Farmers have been looking for a sustainable, profitable crop to provide economic stability, which the coffee chain has provided in the forms of not only purchasing the harvest, but also providing infrastructure and education for ethical growing practices.

Though a little gimmicky, this monstrosity of a “coffee cocktail” is at least highlighting a growing region that is having to overcome significant conflict and isn’t a regular part of most roasters’ offering sheets. Personally, I’d rather buy the beans, have it made as an “on-demand” brew, or just as a nitro cold brew, all very beefless alternatives that are available at the Seattle Reserve. But if you want a hunk of dehydrated meat in your coffee, then do you. One person’s Pepper Nitro with a Jerky Twist is another person’s treasure.

Zac Cadwalader is the news editor at Sprudge Media Network.

*top image via Starbucks

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Focus

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Variety Coffee Takes Manhattan

While some New Yorkers might pretend they don’t “see” borough boundaries, it’s rarely true. And while some coffee companies in this fair city hop the river, there are a few whose identities seem particularly Brooklynian. One such devil-may-care roaster, Williamsburg-born Variety Coffee Roasters, has long been one of those.

Until now.

In late spring, Variety opened up its fourth location on the unassuming corner of 25th Street and 7th Avenue in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood. The shop is a stone’s throw from the Chelsea Whole Foods, convenient to the Fashion Institute of Technology, and in the middle of chain stores as far as the eye can see. It’s a far cry from the shop’s original home on Brooklyn’s Graham Avenue, where a quiet storefront with an old sign reading “Cho’s Variety” was once repurposed to give a casual, scene-anchoring coffee shop its name.

We sat down—mafia style, in a parked car outside Variety’s Bushwick roastery on a rainy afternoon—with owner Gavin Compton and Director of Operations Ky Katrensky to get the low down on the growing roaster’s latest move.

Sprudge: How many years have you been doing Variety?

Gavin Compton: Oh god, 9 1/4 years. Wowwee zowee. We can say nine.

Sprudge: Who runs things?

Compton: Pssssshh that’s a really good question. The patients.

Sprudge: How did the Manhattan location come about? It’s very beautiful and perhaps the most “formal” looking Variety shop. Are you all grown up?

Ky Katrensky: Well, we started looking for a new space and looked at like over sixty spaces all around; we didn’t have a neighborhood that we were looking in specifically. When we went to that spot, we just fell in love with that corner. It’s a weird building and has hilarious landlords and an unbelievably weird community.

It was an old fabric store that was so run down and we gutted it entirely, took out the entire storefront—it was a complete overhaul. It maybe looks more grown-up but the model and the technical side of things is an exact copy of what has worked for us.

Compton: We have the bar to the inch of the Graham Avenue store but with nicer equipment. Not used, not cobbled together with Frankenespresso machines. We did the build-out ourselves like everything else, the tile was custom ordered, the arched ceiling wasn’t there before.

Sprudge: How has roasting been going? Have you outgrown yourselves yet?

Compton: We haven’t outgrown it yet but we are looking for wholesale facilities that can house roasting and cold coffee production, like everyone else. I don’t know if the space is going to be a hybrid of all of those things but more realistically it’s going to be a fifth store and at the beginning of next year we could transition into a larger facility.

We don’t do avocado toast. We don’t do food. We focus on coffee, and that’s what we do and have always done and will continue to always do. Maybe the most successful part of the cafe is the people that work there. It’s not me doing the work, it’s the people that work here doing the work, and they’re why it is successful. It’s not some magic wand, it’s treating employees with respect and you get that back. It’s proven to go a long way.

Sprudge: Why the lips on the coffee box?

Compton: Yeah, they’re weird. They’re there ‘cos they’re weird. And I’m sick of everybody putting birds on everything. And if it’s not a bird it’s a star, and if it’s not a star it’s…that’s all people use, birds and stars. Or a horseshoe. Lips are just fuckin’ weird.

Katrensky: I also like them because they’re the one thing in between the person enjoying coffee and the experience. They make you feel uncomfortable, we get that from a lot of people. The lips are, in my opinion, no weirder than our name.

Sprudge: Did you say something about cold coffee production?

Compton: We’ll begin bottling cold brew this fall—single-origin coffee like all of our coffee. It’s roasted lighter than our espresso, it’s fucking delicious, it’s a coffee that we source specifically for cold brew, it’s an expensive coffee…[pauses] that’s kind of pretentious.

Cold brew is notoriously crappy coffee, roasted dark, with not a lot of care going into it. It’s a good garbage can for leftover green or this that and the other, and for us it’s part of what we do. We put just as much care into our cold brew as we do all of our single-origin coffees, because it’s a single-origin coffee and that needs to be expressed, it needs to be fruit-forward and it needs to be delicious.

Sprudge: Are there going to be lips on the bottle?

Katrensky: There aren’t lips on the bottle. Exactly.

Sprudge: What’s it like running a Variety in Manhattan?

Compton: Going to Manhattan has been just as successful, it was done without investment and everything was pretty much the same. We’re not paying someone to raise funds for us, and we’re not hobnobbing with Wall Street people, it’s still DIY and it’s cool, and it is possible to open in Manhattan without deep pockets.

Sprudge: You sound like Bernie Sanders.

Compton: I’m from Vermont, whaddya want from me. It’s like Field of Dreams.

Liz Clayton is the associate editor at Sprudge, and the co-author of Where To Drink Coffee, due fall 2017 on Phaidon Press. Read more Liz Clayton on Sprudge.

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Build-Outs Of Summer: Hi-Top Coffee Of Fresno, California

A referendum is coming to California, perhaps as soon as 2018, in which the great state will clear a path towards seceding from the United States of America.

Stick to coffee, Sprudge! Sure, that’s fine—but no matter where you stand on CalExit, one thing’s for sure: if California becomes its own country, it will be the greatest cafe country in the world. From Venice Beach to the Outer Sunset, Martinez to Redlands, Sacramento to Santa Cruz, every last city and town in the Nation of California will be adjacent to both delicious coffee and In-N-Out.

And that includes Fresno, in the heart of the Central Valley, the agricultural breadbasket that helps drive California’s crop economy. That’s where Hi-Top Coffee is laying down roots. They open in just a few short weeks.

As told to Sprudge by Aaron Bagato.

For those who aren’t familiar, will you tell us about your company?

Karsyn, Spencer, and Aaron all met at a local rock climbing gym. We’ve worked various careers and jobs, some in coffee and some not and that has brought us to this place of opening our own shop. We will be giving our customers a positive and friendly coffee experience with a quality roasted product. Our values are centered around the process and enjoyment of specialty coffee. We are really good friends, a lot of the time our meetings feel more like hangouts. We hope this easygoing and friendly vibe is something the people we serve in our coffee shop experience!

Can you tell us a bit about the new space?

Our space is beautiful and bright. We’ve gutted the entire building and began the remodel process. We are making it a super comfortable space. It will feature natural concrete floors, a custom mural upon entry, wooden table tops, and hexagon tiles lining the counter area. Large windows line our front entry way, allowing natural light to flood in during the day time. We have painted the walls white and the ceiling a light sea foam green. The space will feel modern and bright but not too modern, we are staying away from the feeling that you can’t touch anything or you’ll ruin it.

Our building is located in a historic neighborhood of businesses and residential housing alike. It is one of the more progressive neighborhoods in Fresno and has characteristics that are not found anywhere else in Fresno. We are focused on creating a space that is comfortable and welcoming for everyone that walks in our doors, a place that you know you can always go to and see a friendly face.

What’s your approach to coffee?

We believe that making great coffee allows us the opportunity to positively impact the lives of the people who work with us and the people who walk through our doors. We will offer classes, cuppings and tutorials on a monthly basis to our customers.

Any machines, coffees, special equipment lined up?

In our shop we have a matte black two group La Marzocco Strada EP. For grinders, we have the Mahlkönig Peak, a few K30 Airs, and we are still lining up our coffee selection. We have some exciting things in the works!

What’s your hopeful target opening date/month?

August 2017.

Are you working with craftspeople, architects, and/or creatives that you’d like to mention?

We have worked with some amazing people for this project. Joe Parker has been our go to person for a number of things. We couldn’t have done this project without his help. David Baisa is our architect and has done a phenomenal job in getting our building up to code and making it look beautiful. We’ve had photos and video work done by Enrique Meza of Meza Films and these photos came from our friend JP Moya. Quinn Bowman is doing a phenomenal mural inside our shop. Lastly, our friends and family have been super supportive. We can’t thank them enough for cleaning floors, knocking out walls, and feeding us from time to time.

Thank you!

Thank you for featuring us!

Hi-Top Coffee is located at 1306 N. Wishon Ave. in Fresno, CA. Check out their official website and find them on Facebook and Instagram.

The Build-Outs Of Summer is an annual series on Sprudge. Live the thrill of the build all summer long in our Build-Outs feature hub. Got a Build-Out of your own? Get in touch.

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Skreeeee.....

Doesn't look much like a 'baby" does he?

Busy day yesterday, with hay for the boss to bale, broken elevator to fix, hay to unload, and the usual gamut of stuff to do.

However, I found time to investigate the gull-like, three-note screaming coming from the bottom of the driveway for hours on end. It sounded just like a Red-tailed Hawk, but was stationary. Usually when you hear a hawk cry, the sound moves around as the bird is circling overhead. (Of course I found time; it's what I do. lol)

I walked up to the edge of the old horse pasture but couldn't see it. As I said, we were busy so it was a while before I could try going down the driveway itself to look for the screamer....eventually I did however. There it was, in the neighbors' blue spruce tree...it was indeed a Red-tailed Hawk, but it was just sitting there.

And sitting there.

And sitting there. I wondered if it was stuck somehow, but then it flew.

Hmm....

Later the puzzle was solved. The photos showed pale eyes...a mark of a juvenile bird.

Two adults circling overhead offered another clue...this was evidently a youngster who wanted his mommy and daddy. I was pretty tickled to find him and to know that our local Red Tailed pair had nested successfully nearby this year. 

I do some birding from the sitting porch most days in summer

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Polaris by Transca Development – Metrotown

Polaris will be a new 36 storey development at the intersection of Imperial Street and Dunblane Avenue, and overlooks Bonsor Park. This development will feature, studios, 1, 2, and 3 bedroom apartments as well as townhomes. Polaris is within walking distance from Skytrain, Metrotown Shopping Centre, and Crystal Mall.

Transca is a Canadian developer derived from an array of backgrounds established over the course of thirteen years in Asia. They have grown into a well respected real estate company that encompasses property development, property management, interior design, construction and other related industry services.

To request for more details about Polaris, register today.

 

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Eternity by Dimex Group

Eternity by Dimex Group is located in Burnaby’s most vibrant Metrotown neighbourhood and transforming a community to a new style of living. After Dimex’s huge success with Infinity, they have set out to expand horizons by redefining design, function and accessibility with a refreshing approach. Located just off Royal Oak Avenue and Lane Street, Eternity is close to transit, restaurants, grocery stores and shopping.

Three dedicated electric vehicles will be conveniently located Skytrain stations provide future residents with viable transportation options while enhancing the sustainability of their surroundings.

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