• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

The Coffee Compass

Your Guide for Craft Coffee

  • Home
  • About
  • Archive
  • Map
  • Contact
  • Shop

Louisville

Quills Coffee Opens New Jtown Location

June 30, 2022 By Michael Leave a Comment

Can any good thing come out of Jtown? I admit, as a former Louisville resident, when I first heard about my former employer’s plan to open a café in Jeffersontown, I was skeptical. Jtown is the burbs. It’s the suburb many of my friends grew up in, but as a transplant to Louisville, it wasn’t on my radar. It certainly wasn’t a destination.

It turns out, I couldn’t have been more wrong. …

Read More »

Filed Under: Coffee Shop Reviews Tagged With: Kentucky, Louisville, Quills Coffee

Quills Coffee Opens New Cafe In Groundbreaking Louisville Library

January 16, 2020 By Michael Leave a Comment

Kentuckiana roaster/retailer Quills Coffee first opened in 2007 under the name “Quills Coffee and Books.” The original Kentucky St. location in Louisville’s Paristown neighborhood– long since closed — featured an entire wall of new and used books. It’s where I bought my first Dave Eggers novel, years before I would work at Quills, first as a barista and later as the company trainer.

Perhaps it’s fitting that Quills’s seventh café also has books. Actually, it has over 100,000 of them, only they’re not for sale….

Read More »

Filed Under: Coffee Shop Reviews Tagged With: Kentucky, Library, Louisville, Quills Coffee

Full Stop Station Opens In Louisville

January 16, 2019 By Michael Leave a Comment

I spent the better part of my twenties in Louisville, Kentucky, a city that, by all accounts, punches above its weight class. From fast casual barbecue to white tablecloth Mayan food, the culinary scene is surprisingly diverse, spurred on by low cost of living and a young, culturally-aware population. Many of the most exciting restaurants and cafés are independent, DIY passion projects– a little rough around the edges but driven by a salt-of-the-earth, Midwestern work ethic, with a generous portion of Southern hospitality. (As a river city straddling the Mason-Dixon line, Louisville is geographically, and culturally, confused.)

…

Read More »

Filed Under: Coffee Shop Reviews Tagged With: Full Stop Station, Louisville

Sunergos Coffee Opens Fourth Louisville Location in Deer Park

May 1, 2018 By Michael 1 Comment

Sunergos Norris

Long time readers of The Compass will remember our first post highlighted an exciting new espresso bar in Downtown Louisville. That espresso bar, of course, was the third retail location for Louisville specialty coffee pioneers Sunergos Coffee. Just shy of 6 years later, the Sunergos retail family is growing again, though their fourth location couldn’t be a sharper contrast from the closet-sized standing room-only espresso bar, in the shadow of Michael Graves’s famed Humana Tower. Sunergos Norris place occupies a refurbished garage, in quiet Deer Park. We caught up with Sunergos’s co-owner Matthew Huested to find out how the project came together….

Read More »

Filed Under: Coffee Shop Reviews, Stories Tagged With: Louisville, Sunergos Coffee

Matt Argo of Good Folks Coffee Talks Rebranding, Origin, and Expansion

April 25, 2016 By Michael 2 Comments

Good Folks Coffee

Matt Argo is quietly building a coffee empire. From humble beginnings in a basement to a brand new roasting facility in Louisville’s Shelby Park neighborhood, Argo’s Good Folks Coffee Company is going places and shows no signs of slowing down. We recently caught up with the Arkansas-bred entrepreneur to ask him what we can expect from Good Folks in the future. 

Tell us a bit about yourself. How did you end up starting a coffee company?

I grew up in Arkansas and spent 8 years in the Army National Guard after high school.  I did a good amount of international travel during that time in the military (one tour in Iraq) as well as with my wife in Africa a few times.  We spent 5 months in Tanzania before we moved to Louisville.  During my time in the military and throughout our travels, we developed a love for coffee. We loved the social aspect as well as the economic impact it has in producing countries.  I knew I wanted to start a business after my military contract was complete, and I loved to travel and work with people from different cultures and backgrounds.  Coffee seemed to be a perfect fit. …

Read More »

Filed Under: Interviews Tagged With: Argo Sons Coffee, Good Folks Coffee, Louisville, Matt Argo

Argo Sons Coffee Announces Louisville Expansion

May 14, 2015 By Michael Leave a Comment

Argo Sons Coffee

Whether it’s making banjos or training horses, Kentuckians prefer to do things for themselves. As I’ve written elsewhere, this Appalachian DIY attitude is behind Louisville’s rich history of coffee roasting.  The most recent addition to Louisville’s long legacy of roasting is Argo Sons Coffee, a (mostly) wholesale-only micro-roaster run by Matt Argo. Over the last several years Argo Sons has carved out a niche providing coffee for many of Louisville’s most beloved coffee shops, including Please and Thank You and Gralehaus. That influence is beginning to be felt internationally as …

Read More »

Filed Under: Stories Tagged With: Access Ventures, Argo Sons Coffee, Louisville, Shelby Park

Cupping with Blueprint Coffee

March 22, 2015 By Guest 1 Comment

Blueprint Coffee

By Eli Keel

Louisville’s craft coffee scene got a swell treat when St. Louis’s Blueprint Coffee stopped by McQuixote Books and Coffee to share a taste of their line of artisanal offerings.

Blueprint is a young company that’s already making a name for themselves, in part by their willingness to show up in strange places and offer people a chance to taste their wares.

Blueprint makes a point of getting out on the road once every couple of months; “It’s fun to get out and meet people and get direct feedback,” said Brian Levine. Levine is one of the six co-owners of Blueprint. Along with Mike Marquard and Kevin Reddy, a full half of Blueprint’s partners were in attendance.

Blueprint likes to keep their line small and diverse. At the cupping they showcased all five of their roasts.

Blueprint Coffee

All their coffee’s are single origins; two from Columbia, one each from Ecuador, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and a decaf from Guatemala.

Co-owner Mike Marquard said a few words before the cupping began, asking if we had any newbies in our midst, and then declared that the noobs were now officially “coffee nerds.”

While no poll was taken, many of the tasters (including myself) gravitated towards the Columbian coffee. “El Derrumbo” had a strong bright taste that managed to avoid an outright acidty.

Blueprint Coffee

The author, contemplating the complexities of a finely roasted coffee.

The attendees showcased a broad swathe of Louisville coffee culture, including (unofficial) representatives from Argo Sons, Quills, Heine Brothers, and of course the hosts from McQuixote. This may speak to an emerging Louisville coffee culture that can focus on beans and love of the craft just as much as market share.

While Blueprint has no current plans to infiltrate the Louisville market, partner Brian Levine has family here, so they will hopefully bring their excellent coffee back for another tasting next time they are out and about the mid-south.

Filed Under: Stories Tagged With: Blueprint Coffee, Louisville, st. louis

Chris Heiniger Wins 2015 Eastern Aeropress Championship

February 1, 2015 By Michael Leave a Comment

Aero02edit

Chris Heiniger of Louisville, Kentucky is the 2015 Eastern Aeropress Champion. The regional competition was hosted on January 31st by Louisville micro-roaster Quills Coffee in partnership with Prima Coffee. Eighteen baristas and coffee enthusiasts from as far as Toledo, Ohio to Washington D.C. participated in the bracket style competition. Heiniger, who competed representing Misc. Goods Co., defeated Dmitriy Zhigunov of Williamsburg, Virginia in the final round. Coffee blogger Brian Beyke took home the prize for third place. Heiniger, Zhigunov, and Beyke all earned a spot at the national championship, which will happen contemporaneously with the US Barista Championship in Long Beach, California. …

Read More »

Filed Under: Barista Competitions Tagged With: Aeropress, Alan Adler, Brian Beyke, Chris Heiniger, Louisville

Louisville to Host US Aeropress Championship Eastern Regional

December 23, 2014 By Michael 2 Comments

aeropress championshipThe Eastern Regional of the US Aeropress Championship will take place in Louisville, KY on January 31, 2015. Louisville-based micro roaster Quills Coffee will host the event, in partnership with sponsors Prima Coffee, Mahlkönig USA, and The Coffee Compass. In each round of the bracket style tournament competitors will have eight minutes to make a single cup of coffee with an Aeropress. A panel of judges select the best cup to advance in a blind tasting.

Competitors will have access to a Mahlkönig EK-43, a Bonavita Variable Temperature kettle, and have the option of using their own coffee or a coffee provided by Quills. The top 3 contestants will automatically earn a spot at the US Aeropress Championship. Prizes include a free trip to the national competition for the winner. Individuals interested in competing in the competition can register at easternaeropress.tumblr.com.

Filed Under: Events Tagged With: Aeropress, Kentucky, Louisville, Prima Coffee, Quills Coffee

Steadfast Coffee: A Nashville Pop-up With Big Ambitions

October 13, 2014 By Michael 3 Comments

Steadfast Coffee Nashville

A small Nashville pop-up shop is on the brink of something big. Currently located inside of Germantown’s collaborative workspace The Skillery, Steadfast Coffee is a collaboration between coffee veteran Sean Stewart and entrepreneur Dale Clay. The two previously founded coffee consulting company Steadfast Coffee will move into their permanent home in January, 2015. …

Read More »

Filed Under: Coffee Shop Reviews Tagged With: Crema, Louisville, Nashville, Sean Stewart, Steadfast Coffee, tennessee

Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Get Fresh Content

Sign up for Free Updates from
The Coffee Compass.

  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2022

 

Loading Comments...