Web Feature: Information Gatherers

In 1997, journalist Matt Drudge debuted The Drudge Report, a conservative Web site collecting news articles about politics and more. Drudge’s connections to inside sources helped the site rise to national prominence by breaking major news stories.

Following Drudge’s lead, a couple of well-connected aspiring coffee journalists have created Sprudge.com, a collection of links to articles about all facets of the coffee industry. Sprudge.com (or Sprudge) is the work of longtime friends Zachary Carlsen, a barista at Stumptown Coffee Roasters in Seattle, and Jordan Michelman, a home barista. The pair says the purpose of the site is to make coffee news accessible. “I wanted to make a Web site that coffee enthusiasts could go to and instantly get all the relevant coffee news that’s going on,” says Carlsen.

Sprudge’s design is identical to that of The Drudge Report, from the white background and black headlines to the sparse, boxy pictures and links in all-capital letters. Carlsen and Michelman said they followed Drudge’s design model for both its simplicity and its nostalgic feel. “We’re ’90s retro geeks,” says Michelman. “Doing the Drudge parody came really naturally. That Web site is so tied to that time.”

To stay up to date, the pair relies on a very non-’90s news source: Twitter. “Every coffee professional is on Twitter,” says Carlsen. “We look at that throughout the day. There’s always new links and new technology and new information.” Carlsen and Michelman say the Twitter-generated leads to news sites and blogs constitute about 50 percent of Sprudge’s stories, and the rest are found from either Web research or news tips. “We have informants,” Michelman laughs. “International informants.” Sprudge is updated at least once daily, and often more than once. The Web site takes an often light-hearted approach, particularly in its humor-heavy headlines. “We just try and make each other laugh,” Michelman says.

Though the site is light on original content so far, Carlsen and Michelman plan to make exclusive stories and video a regular component in the future. “We’re trying to come up with different reasons why people want to come and look at the site a couple times a day,” Michelman says. The pair has tiptoed into that realm already, attending October’s Coffee & Tea Show in Vancouver, B.C., and September’s Coffee Fest Seattle and posting videos and stories about the events and the accompanying barista competitions.

Though they’re continuing to tweak the site, Carlsen and Michelman have ambitious plans for what Sprudge could become. “The idea is, if you really care about coffee, then Sprudge will be part of your routine,” Michelman says. “You’ll go and look it up every day.”

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