Announcing The 2016 Sprudgie Awards Finalists

From thousands of voters in dozens of countries around the world, you poured in votes for the 2016 Sprudgie Awards, honoring the very best in specialty coffee. Now those votes have been tabulated, and we’re ready to present the nominees in 12 categories for the Eighth Annual Sprudgie Awards.

Each group of finalists takes into account the popular vote from our public nominations process. Visit Sprudge.com/vote to vote for your favorite finalist across each category. Voting closes at 11:59 PM Pacific Standard Time on Sunday, January 1st.

Here they are, your 2016 Sprudgie Award Finalists.

Notable Roaster

Each year our readers nominate outstanding coffee roasters around the world for the Notable Roaster Sprudgie Award. Unlike many of the other categories, Notable Roaster nominees need not be brands or products that debuted in 2016; rather, we look to this award as a way for our readers to honor coffee roasting companies, big and small, that turned in an especially notable year of work.

This year’s nominees are:

Best New Cafe

Cafes are the beating heart of coffee culture, and each year we are delighted to see the cafe form grow and morph in new and exciting ways. Our readers have selected a stunning array of new cafes from around the world for this year’s Sprudgie Awards, each of which opened during the past calendar year.

And the nominees are:

Best New Product

New products drive innovation in the coffee world, for both consumers and professionals alike. Some of these products live behind the coffee bar, making your experience more delicious one cup at a time. Others are bold, public-facing products that speak directly to consumers.

The nominees for Best New Product in 2016 are:

Best Coffee Video / Film

Coffee is a multimedia platform, inspiring expression across a variety of mediums. Each year we honor an excellent coffee video or film as part of our Sprudgie Awards tradition. This year’s nominees include a feature-length film; short promotional videos; a much-discussed speech delivered at a live speaking event; a body of work across an entire YouTube channel; and a coffee-forward dramedy on Netflix.

And the nominees are:

Best Coffee Writing

Coffee’s relationship to the written word is ever-changing. From professional blogs with an industry focus to irreverent Twitter accounts and landmark expressions of personal experience, this year’s crop of Best Coffee Writing nominations takes all kinds.

And the nominees are:

Notable Coffee Producer

Without coffee producers, there would be no coffee. Artisan growers are pushing boundaries every day by creating delicious coffees that express terroir and intent in equal measure. This year’s list of nominees includes some familiar names, plus several first-time noms, including our first-ever nominee from Burundi.

Best Coffee Magazine

We are currently in a golden age for print coffee magazines, with gorgeous new glossies rubbing shoulders with established favorites. We predict a tough, close vote for this year’s Sprudgie Award for Best Coffee Magazine.

Nicest Package

Design and packaging have never been more important to the coffee experience. Each week we feature coffee branding from around the world as part of our Nice Package feature series on Sprudge. This year we’re honoring packaging with the coveted Sprudgie Award for Nicest Package.

Parlor Coffee (Brooklyn, NYC)

Five Elephant (Berlin)

La Cabra (Aarhus, Denmark)

Playground Coffee (Hamburg)

(via Dribble)

Methodical Coffee (Greenville, SC)

(via Packaging of the World)

Square Mile Coffee (London)

Best Coffee Subscription

Each year the field for coffee subscription services becomes more and more crowded, making this particular field of Sprudgie Award noms increasingly essential. Only one of the nominated services can win, but each of the finalists you selected are doing exemplary work for happy subscribers worldwide.

Best Coffee Podcast

It’s never been a better time to be a coffee podcast lover, with long-running series and newcomers alike vying for ear time on your drive home. That’s why we added this new category to the 2016 Sprudgie Awards. For the first time, here are your nominees for Best Coffee Podcast:

Finest Coffee Event

Another new category for the 2016 Sprudgies, this is an opportunity for our readers to honor unique coffee events around the world. From long-running international affairs to plucky brand new indie fairs, our first-ever field of nominees in this category run the gamut of event experiences. The first set of nominees for Finest Coffee Event are:

Outstanding Achievement in The Field of Excellence

The most important Sprudgie Award is the hardest to define—this award is given to groups or individuals our readers seek to honor for their contribution to the wider coffee culture. Past awards have gone to remarkable coffee producers, game-changing green buyers, globe-spanning event organizers, and even an entire nation’s coffee growers. This year we’re overjoyed at the nominees you’ve selected for our Outstanding Achievement in The Field of Excellence. Your nominees are:

Vote below. Problems with the form? Click here.

Voting closes on Sunday, January 1, 2017 at 11:59PM. Tell your friends to vote! #Sprudgies

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