The One With Scenery Coffee And Balam Coffee's Vandola

In the 175 episodes of the Coffee Sprudgecast, only a few are truly dedicated and earnestly focused on that most imporant of concepts: Proof of Taste. And on the latest episode, we take proof of taste to 100. Only the flavors matter. Only the best brew will do. Are you on the list? Are you ready to prove your taste once and for all?? On this week's episode of the Coffee Sprudgecast, hosts Jordan Michelman and Zachary Carlsen start by brewing coffee using a gorgeous ceramic Vandola that was thrown, glazed, and fired in Costa Rica. Then we dive into the world of Scenery Coffee, the London-based coffee company that just took home top honors in the Notable Roaster category at the 17th Annual Sprudgie Awards. Experimental processing, traditional brewing methods, coffee and coffee gear from near and far: truly this episode has it all…and then some! A little more on this incredible vessel you see above, courtesy of Coffee Balam, who sent us their beautiful Vandola Coffee Brewer designed by Minor Alfaro Alpízar along with their Alfaro Master Roast coffee blend of Catuai and Caturra grown and processed on Costa Rica's Nicoya Peninsula. Together they made a gorgeous, smooth, and beautiful brew. Coffee Balam donates five percent of proceeds to support cultural preservation projects in the Chorotega community. Trying this brewer + roaster combo was a total surprise to us, and we were thrilled to have such a cool concept come in through the general contact form at Sprudge. If you out there in Sprudge land reading this have something incredible you'd like to send our way for future consideration on the pod, get in touch! Meanwhile, Scenery Coffee took home top honors at our global voted Sprudgie Awards, and were kind enough to send along some coffees to sample at Sprudge HQ, with which everyone on team Sprudge was quite impressed. We brewed two of their lovely coffees on this week's episode—India Ratnagiri Estate LAB-6 and Costa Rica Corazón de Jesús "Los Toños" Java—and spent time learning more about both (Scenery's website is excellent). We brewed those coffees this week with the Miir Coffee Hand Grinder, Miir Pourigami brewer, an Acaia Pearl coffee scale, and enjoyed from Slow Pour Supply 2-Way Cups. Check out these coffee tools and other coffee gear at our popular gear hub Coffee Gear! At the end of the day, taste was well and truly proven. Because that's what it's all about. We really can't say it enough. It's all about…proof of taste.