There has been a TON of local coffee news in Indianapolis over the last few weeks (and months), so I figured I’d compile it all in one place to make all of our lives easier!

At least once a year or so, the local coffee community gets a boost of news coverage. I’ve been known to get a smidge upset at the often careless way local news organizations report on the local coffee shops and roasters in Indianapolis. In the last year or so, there has definitely been a shift in how professional local news orgs treat local coffee, and thankfully, it’s been for the better. We’ve seen huge publications make up information and skip fact-checking names and spellings which made me (and many of you) feel like they weren’t taking local coffee seriously. You can see why I’d have an issue or two with that (and not even because I’m the Indianapolis Coffee Guide).

But alas! They’re finally starting to catch on and figure out that our amazing local coffee scene is worth the bigger stories, longer air times, and extra effort to get all of the information right. We truly love to see it.

Alright, let’s get to it.

Indy Star says local coffee is booming

I’m only partly sorry it is behind a paywall, but the Indianapolis Star recently published a huge article about how local coffee is booming in Indianapolis. Claire Rafford, a reporter for the Star, reached out to me a few times, and we had some great chats about the local coffee scene. She also interviewed a handful of key folks in the community—like Blue Mind and Tinker— to get their perspectives on the business side of local coffee and how the scene seems to be rapidly growing.

I obviously have a ton of thoughts about this topic, and I am so glad I was able to be part of this conversation. Make sure to check out the article: Forget about craft beer. Local coffee shops are booming in Indy.

Listen, an Indy Star subscription really isn’t that expensive, and LOCAL JOURNALISM IS VERY IMPORTANT. So I highly suggest starting a subscription—it comes in handy more often than not.

Indy Now Live loves local coffee

You already know we love our friends at Indy Now Live at Fox59 (maybe you remember the time I was on with Noble Coffee & Tea or more recently with Coye from Chalet). Recently, the Indy Now team had our friends from The Spark Coffee in Speedway on to talk about their fun current drink specials.

Check out The Spark Coffee on Indy Now! Watch the segment here.

Our friend Robyn from Noble Coffee & Tea was also on Indy Now this week to share some fun St Patrick’s Day coffee drinks with the studio (she always does such a good job). You can watch her segment on the Fox59 website.

Update: Since this original post, our friends at Illumine Coffee were also featured on Indy Now! You can watch Illumine Coffee on the Fox50 website.

Team Indy Coffee rocks the US Coffee Championships in Denver

If you aren’t following along with Team Indy Coffee on Instagram, I’ll give you a moment to stop what you’re doing and follow them: @team.indycoffee . Got it? Great! Thanks.

Team Indy Coffee is a group of local coffee professionals that provide free guidance and training to coffee folks who want to compete professionally in coffee. Hugo Cano, owner of Amberson Coffee & Grocer in Fletcher Place (and cover model for Batch 2) founded Team Indy Coffee after competing professionally for over 10 years.

It is so fun following along with them and all of the hard work they are doing with so many people in the local coffee community.

Recently, a handful of local coffee folks went to the US Coffee Championship Qualifying Event in Denver after training for literally months. They competed for a chance to go to the USCC National Competition in Portland later this year.

Check out Sprudge’s full rundown of everyone who competed and see the Indy names on the list: Here’s Everyone Moving On From The US Coffee Championships Qualifying Event In Denver

Image courtesy of Tinker Coffee.

All the new coffee shops opening soon

I recently published an article about ALL THE NEW COFFEE SHOPS OPENING IN INDY, and I truly can not believe how well it went over. Y’all…really love coffee as much as I do! Listen, I took a Journalism 101 class in college (one of the few classes I took in the 3 semesters I actually completed, whoops!), but I am not a journalist. If anything, I’m a Community Journalist, which is very different from a newspaper or magazine writer.

REGARDLESS, since I published that article, I’ve made a ton of updates because a handful of the cafés have opened, more have been announced, and I finally can tell you what is going into the old Thirsty Scholar space (hint: it’s coffee, but also so much more). So maybe revisit that: New Coffee Shops Coming in 2023.

Exploring neighborhood coffee shops with Maywright Property Co.

Recently, I teamed up with our friends (and Batch 2 sponsors) at Maywright Property Co. to travel around the city and explore Indy’s neighborhoods. We chatted a lot about how a neighborhood’s values are reflected in their local coffee shops, and it was a really cool experience.

I super appreciate Maywright for sponsoring Batch, and for their continued support of the Indianapolis Coffee Guide and the local coffee community as a whole. If you haven’t had a chance, make sure to check out our adventures.

Other recent local coffee news

There have been a number of other articles written about Indianapolis coffee in the last few months that we’ve talked about quite a bit already but are always worth resharing and talking about. Here are some highlights:

Okay, so, that’s plenty to read and watch! I just really love local coffee, and I am so happy that huge local news organizations are finally starting to catch on and admire it as much as we do.

Appreciate you reading along with me. Can’t wait to keep making news with you all.

Scott