March 9, 2013
For the last two months, I’ve had the privilege of interning with the guys over at Sprudge. Each week, I doodle up a little doodle, and provide a brief recap stew of stories from around the world of coffee.
It’s been a really great experience, and Sprudge has been amazing to work with. You can check out all my recaps right here.
This week’s doodle is a shout out to Cafe Imports and the gang of 2012 US Regional Barista Champions who just got back from running around Costa Rica, learning about coffee and having an amazing experience. If you do anything on Instagram this week, go check Sprudge and the hashtag—there were some amazing pictures coming out of Costa Rica.
January 2, 2013
Last year was a big year for me—I intersected two of my favorite things (coffee + drawing), traveled all over the US and Europe, and in September, my wife and I moved to Italy.
I’ve met a ton of great people this past year, and have been humbled by the support of many within the coffee industry. I never would have thought that something like doodling would take me anywhere, but it’s given me an interesting ride since last January, and has put me on a pretty exciting path. To be completely honest, when I started doing these filter doodles, one of my first goals was to make it onto the DCILY website—something that is a bit funny and embarrassing, but a real testament to all that Dear Coffee, I Love You entails.
Here are some (coffee related) highlights for me in 2012 (in no particular order):
1. Multiple collaborations with Clive Coffee—a video project, as well as providing the illustrations for “The Craft of Espresso.”
2. Artist Series Poster project with Able Brewing
3. Collaboration with Batdorf & Bronson and Kaldi’s Coffee on the “Collabrewation” blend
4. Mug and T-Shirt designs for Kuma Coffee
5. T-Shirt design for Cup Coffee in Australia
6. T-Shirt design for 40 Weight Coffee
7. Design for the Flatlander’s Barista Cup
8. Organized and competed in the Northeast Regional AeroPress Championship
9. Attended “Coffee Con 2012” and heard fantastic presentations from Geoff Watts and George Howell
10. Appearances on DCILY and Sprudge
11. Coffee tours of both Seattle and Portland
I trust that 2012 held excitement for you as well, and that you can point to the areas in your life and craft—whatever it may be—that you’re proud of. Here’s a doodle to bring in the new year.
Clive Coffee’s Ethiopia Yirgacheffe
Chemex: 40g:660mL
August 24, 2012
I just finished up a fun project with Has Bean Coffee out of England that compared three different varietals from the same farm in Nicaragua—Finca Limoncillo.
The guys from Has Bean needed a drawing that outlined some of the differences between the three varietals, tasting notes, and the processing methods used for each. It was a lot of fun to work with Dale and Steve, read their descriptions of the coffees (bubble gum, strawberry milkshakes, toffee apple) and put them down on paper. From my understanding, they’ll use this drawing in a presentation, and will have the ability to zoom in and out of and around the drawing. Should be pretty cool.
I knew that different varietals—even from the same farm—had different characteristics, but actually tasting the coffees completely opened my eyes. Each varietal is extremely unique and different from the other. If you ever get the opportunity to purchase varietals from the same farm, I’d really encourage it. Thanks again to Has Bean for the opportunity!
Read a bit more about the unique relationship Has Bean has with Finca Limoncillo.
August 13, 2012
I’ve been loving my new Able Kone lately, and have found myself wanting to use it in as many ways as possible. If you haven’t gotten your hands on one yet, its a real beauty, and a lot of fun to brew with.
In the past, I’ve gotten great results putting my Chemex and V60 underneath the showerhead of the Bonavita Brewer—no different with the Kone. I was able to use a pretty fine grind—a 20 on the Baratza Virtuoso—and still maintain a pretty good flow rate with the showerhead and Kone.
Nothing tricky here. Great results, though. You may want to play with the grind settings a bit.
Bonavita + Kone + Chemex
30g coffee, medium fine grind (20 on Virtuoso)
500g water
press play and go!
July 15, 2012
If you’re reading this, you probably already know about the fantastic collaboration between Dear Coffee, I Love You, and Simon Alander. That collaboration led to one of the greatest coffee-related shirts ever. Simon recently graduated from Sweden’s Hyper Island where he studied Digital Media. According to Brian Jones of DCILY, “Hyper Island is basically the future of creative education and anyone who attends, will most likely have their choice of opportunities after graduation.”
I’ve been following Simon’s work for the last few months, and its obvious that he has serious talent as a letterer and designer. His work has constantly challenged me, and I look to his work for both inspiration and as an example. I’d love to be able to do what he can do with a pen one day. Not too long ago, Simon and I chatted and thought it would be cool for him to feature some of his work on coffee filters, and to display them here, on Draw Coffee. As usual, he came up with some brilliant work, and I’m privileged to be able to show them to you. Enjoy!
A huge thanks to Simon for putting the work into these, and for even floating the idea. His website, “Coffee Made Me Do It” features many of his projects, and is full of incredible work.
Be sure to check him out on Dribbble.
