Ashley Rodriguez

Madison

Managing Editor at Fresh Cup Magazine

award-winning beer writer, but mostly writes about coffee words at @taste_cooking @seriouseats @salon editor @freshcupmag sign up for my newsletter ⬇️ she/her

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Articles

Kay Cheon Is the Champion We All Wanted To See Win

3 weeks ago | freshcup.com | Ashley Rodriguez

Kay Cheon vividly remembers an interaction he had right after winning the 2025 United States Barista Championship, held in March at the Black & White Coffee roasting space in Raleigh, North Carolina. “Someone had come up to me who was part of another competitor’s team,” says Cheon. “They put their hand on my shoulder and said, ‘Hey, obviously I wanted my competitor to win.
Jaymie Lao Is LA Coffee’s Biggest Fan

1 month ago | freshcup.com | Ashley Rodriguez

If you want to know where to drink coffee in Los Angeles, there’s no one better to ask than Jaymie Lao. Lao has worked in the LA coffee industry since 2008, including at some of the city’s most influential shops. She was the retail educator for Intelligentsia Coffee’s Venice store, lauded at the time of its 2009 opening for its unique modular setup, which allowed baristas to engage directly with patrons.
Cxffeeblack and COMOCO Cotton Partner on T-Shirt Made Through World’s First Black-Owned Cotton Supply Chain

2 months ago | freshcup.com | Ashley Rodriguez

On Tuesday, Memphis-based coffee and lifestyle brand Cxffeeblack announced that it will partner with COMOCO Cotton to release an exclusive T-shirt highlighting “Black ownership, cultural restoration, and sustainable innovation.”The project brings together two companies that work with Black producers throughout the supply chain. Their shared goal is creating economic equity in communities from which value has historically been stolen and commodified.
Roastery Breakdown: Café con Jiribilla in Mexico City, Mexico

2 months ago | freshcup.com | Ashley Rodriguez

The Roastery Breakdown series is presented by our partner, Loring. Carlos de la Torre knew nothing about roasting coffee when he started in 2012. But after winning Mexico’s Cup Tasters Competition—a competition in which coffee professionals taste unmarked sets of coffee to try to identify which one is the outlier—roasting seemed like the logical next step. Plus, he thought it’d help him prepare for the upcoming World Cup Tasters Championship, held later that year in Vienna.
15 Easy Dinner Recipes You Can Make in a 9x13

Jan 11, 2025 | simplyrecipes.com | Rachel Knecht |WA. Afterwards |Ashley Rodriguez

Bring the joy of walking tacos to a 9x13 casserole instead of a single-serving Frito bag. You can swap the ground beef for ground turkey but don't skimp on the toppings. My family loves this salmon. It's mildly spicy, has a balanced flavor, and isn't overpowering. You can serve it on a bed of lettuce or with rice (or both!). You're gonna want to print this recipe ASAP. Both the pasta and sauce cook in the same pot, requiring minimal dishwashing.
The Best of Fresh Cup 2024

Dec 26, 2024 | freshcup.com | Ashley Rodriguez

I love this time of year at Fresh Cup. Being the editor of a publication with a frequent posting cadence (we publish three to four stories per week, all of which I read, hear pitches for, and post directly on the site) means we must move quickly. Sometimes, it’s easy to forget just how extraordinary our writers’ work is—or the fact that they manage to regularly put together some of the industry’s most insightful and carefully considered coffee stories.
Rosemary Hot Chocolate

Dec 20, 2024 | alive.com | Ashley Rodriguez

The amount of chocolate here may seem excessive to some, but my ideal hot chocolate is nearly thick enough to eat with a spoon. I will slowly sip on a small quantity of intensely rich hot chocolate, capped with a generous amount of cold, loosely whipped heavy cream, and be at my happiest. With the touch of earthy rosemary mingling with the chocolate—well, I’ve found my new favorite way to get cozy in winter.
Fresh Cup’s 2024 Coffee Gift Guide

Dec 3, 2024 | freshcup.com | Ashley Rodriguez

If you’re making a list—and checking it twice—of people to get gifts for this holiday season, it’s likely you’ll be shopping for at least one coffee lover. But what do you buy for the coffee aficionado who already has everything they could possibly need to stay caffeinated? Every year at Fresh Cup, we ask our team of coffee experts and beverage fans to pick their favorite coffee-fueled gifts for the year, and 2024 is no different. Here’s a batch of fresh suggestions, from our team to yours.
18 Make-Ahead Breakfast Casseroles for the Holidays

Nov 27, 2024 | simplyrecipes.com | Rachel Knecht |WA. Afterwards |Ashley Rodriguez

Breakfast has always been my favorite meal. I look forward to special holiday breakfasts as much as I do the holiday ham for dinner. But that doesn’t mean I want a sink full of dishes to clean before I’ve had my coffee. I prefer making breakfast before heading off to bed. That's why breakfast casseroles are my breakfast hero during the holidays.
Fresh Cup's Top 2024 Interviews

Nov 26, 2024 | freshcup.com | Ashley Rodriguez

Fresh Cup has been around for nearly three decades, and throughout the publication’s lifespan, we’ve continually evolved our storytelling to best serve our readers. Sometimes, that means taking a risk on a topic or idea that compels us—but often, that means listening to our writers, and trusting that the topics and people they find interesting will also appeal to our readers. That’s what happened with our interview series, first proposed by Fresh Cup writer Lydia Stolper back in 2023.