Zac Cadwalader

1 week ago | sprudge.com | Zac Cadwalader

Wayne Gretzky is generally considered to be the greatest hockey player of all time. Maybe you’re more of a fan of Mario Lemieux or Jaromir Jagr (whose first name famously anagrams to Mario Jr) or you’re old school so you’re a Gordie Howe fan. Whoever is your favorite and whatever arguments you have for why they are actually the best, only one player was ever nicknamed “The Great One.” And that’s Wayne Gretzky.

1 week ago | sprudge.com | Zac Cadwalader

At the beginning of the year, David Lynch, a singular voice in television and film, passed away at the age of 78. Over his four decades writing and directing Lynch brought outsider art to the mainstream and was known as much for being a weirdo as he was for the complete sincerity with which he engaged with his more bizarre ideas. And as we eulogized shortly after his passing, Lynch was a coffee fanatic. Coffee was a frequent co-star in his oeuvre.

1 week ago | sprudge.com | Zac Cadwalader

Anthony Bourdain was long the thoughtful keeper of the cool in the culinary world. And since his passing in 2018, he has been elevated to something like sainthood. Bourdain was a fierce defender of street food and cheap beer and dive bars before it was a cool thing to do. If something came with pomp and circumstance, it likely received the sonorous brunt of his silver tongue (save for the occasional Michelin starred meal). So it really isn’t all that much of a surprise that he loved shitty coffee.

2 weeks ago | sprudge.com | Zac Cadwalader

Ratio makes some of my favorite automatic coffee brewers on the market. (It’s between them and Moccamaster and that comes down to aesthetics more than anything.) I even included the Ratio Six in my most recent holiday gift guide for coffee nerds. It’s kind of that perfect middle both in terms of size and price between the Four and the Eight. The Ratio Six is the one I use at home when we have company over and I love it. But if money wasn’t part of the equation, then I’d have the Eight, hands down.

2 weeks ago | sprudge.com | Zac Cadwalader

Memorial Day is just around the corner, Monday, May 26th. It’s an American holiday meant to honor those who have died in service of the country. And because it is traditionally accompanied by a day off work and it falls right on the cusp of summer, Memorial Day is also an occasion to bust out the grill, maybe for the first time of the season, and have a good old fashioned cookout with friends.