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f you have two older brothers and a big sister, you need some- thing—anything—at which to best them. For Andy Sprenger, it's having been born in Colorado. Not that Walla Walla, Wash., where his three siblings were delivered, is any bad shakes when it comes to naturally beautiful settings. Still, Andy likes the fact that he stands alone among the Sprenger offspring as the Colorado kid, where he arrived after the family moved for his dad's then-new job with the Environmental Protection Agency in 1972. Maybe it's in part because Andy can't remember a time when he didn't feel an affinity for Colorado's famously lovely wilderness. As a kid and teenager, he dreamed of a career as a wildlife photographer, played sports in the state's near year-round sunshine, and, having grown into an avid bird-watcher, pursued biology when he got to college. Two pivotal happenstances occurred while Andy was a student at Trinity Western in British Columbia, as a matter of fact. The first was encountering the woman he would later marry, Laurel, in zoology class. The second was a meet-up with friends at Tony's Coffee in Fairhaven, Wash. "I think it was the combination of good friends, really good espresso drinks, and ambiance that convinced me that evening that there was something special about coffee," says Andy, 43, who today is one of the most accomplished American coffee professionals in brewing, cup tast- ing, and roasting competitions, and whose barely 1-year-old Colorado roastery, Sweet Bloom, is churning out coffee that's already being served on the World Barista Championship stage. "I returned many times to Tony's, often with friends, but also by myself to spend the day studying. For me, Tony's was to coffee what binoculars was to bird-watching." It would be a long time, however, before Andy made his way to the other side of the coffee counter. He and Laurel traveled extensively as conservationists after college, before returning to the United States when Laurel accepted a position with the stateside agency associated with their overseas employer. The job was in Annapolis, Md., so Andy— while waiting for word about jobs in the conservation field—looked for temporary work. Until the day he submitted an application at a compa- ny called Caffe Pronto (which was later rebranded as Ceremony Coffee Roasters), Andy's relationship with coffee was nothing more than that of a fond admirer. After landing the job, however, "Coffee quickly changed from being something I enjoyed to something I was passionate about, and Vince's bent toward quality and excellence was contagious," Andy recalls of his former boss, Vince Iatesta, for whom Andy maintains an enormous amount of respect and admiration. Even Andy can't quite believe he ended up spending 10 years with Vince, who gave him opportunities to roast, learn to cup, travel to source, and buy green coffee. Perhaps Andy would have stayed even longer, but a family health scare called him, Laurel, and their three chil- dren back to Colorado in early 2013. "I was very open to finding a job, but also began the process of writ- ing a business plan," he says. "Over the space of five months, we put feelers out, and thought really hard about starting a roaster. Nothing concrete was panning out for jobs, and most everything continued to point toward doing my own thing." Sweet Bloom celebrated its first anniversary in December 2014, and what a first year it has been. Both the roastery and an attached small café have been embraced by the community in Andy's hometown of Lakewood, Colo. He is developing strong relationships with producer partners, and launching a program that prioritizes bringing the produc- ers to meet Sweet Bloom's staff and customers. Perhaps most famously though, something no one saw coming happened to change Sweet Bloom's fate: The Barista Champion of Hong Kong, Kapo Chiu, won second place in the World Barista Championship using Sweet Bloom Coffee. Not only that, he regaled the massive WBC audience (which included around 10,000 of viewers streaming online) with the whole story of how he met Andy in 2012, when Andy was competing in the World Brewers Cup, and how they forged a relationship, and how Kapo then approached Andy about using his coffee at Kapo's Hong Kong cof- feehouse, the Cupping Room, and then went on to seek Andy's help and coffee for the WBC. Overnight, Sweet Bloom became one of the most sought-after specialty roasters in the world. As Andy and his company catapult into their second year, he's more excited than ever. He and Laurel are building something great, both in coffee and as a family, and he's back in the state he loves most, doing the thing he loves most. There's still plenty more to do, however, but Andy's up to the task. Here, he reflects on where it all started, how Sweet Bloom came to be, and where they're headed together. Sarah Allen: You and Laurel finished college and pursued work as conservationists. Where did this work take you, and how did you even- tually land in coffee? Andy Sprenger: Early in our marriage, Laurel and I spent three years overseas in Lebanon working as conservationists to protect a wetland in the middle of the Bekaa Valley. I did a lot of bird studies including cen- sus counts, bird banding, and bird of prey surveys. The wetland (Aamiq Marsh) is now a national reserve, so it's nice to have played a small role "I can remember the absolute awe of my first table full of washed Yirgacheffes. To this day I marvel at the fragrance of a really nice Yirg. If I could only fall asleep each night on a bed of freshly ground Kochere…" I 60 barista magazine