The Reading Room

Thanks to another coffee lover's desire to upgrade a while back, a La Pavoni PBC Conical Burr Espresso Grinder became available. I had been saving for a Preciso but almost picked up a demo La Pavoni like this one that...

This is one in a series of posts on how best to distribute coffee in a portafiliter.  The technique is called the  Stockleths distribution technique- or perhaps more aplty the vaunted Stockfleths distribution technique. This is a video that nearly...

The WDT is short for the Weiss Distribution Technique.  It was invented by John Weiss and at first seems a little silly, but you cannot argue with the results.  There is a reason that hundreds or perhaps even thousands of...

One strategy that works surprisingly well, but is not very widely used is what I like to call the “shake and bake.”  It isn’t as good as some of the methods that take more practice (or the WDT that takes...

I have had a chance to play around with Burundi bwayi that I bought a while ago ( bought 10 pounds of green two years actually!!). I roasted it to a variety of roast level from very light city roast...

Leveling off – it can be done better. As I have written about the importance of dose in espresso, I realized that I have forgotten about some of the issues that I had at first with it.  The exact number...

For the past few day, I have been using the Aeropress exclusively with coffee that are coursely ground. The grind consistency is almost as course as for French press, but a tad finer. On my Capresso Infinity grinder which I...

In my original review of the Eva Solo 0.6 L, which I adore and use more often lately than any other coffee maker I own, I stated that it holds 20 oz. I’d like to revise that figure downward to...

I have been experimenting with using aeropress with courser grind lately and  today, while preparing a cup of my blend which compose of  Burundi/Tarzania in 50/50 ratio, I ran into my first major problem with the Aeropress. As usual, I'm...

Dosers versus doserless grinders When people upgrade and start using commercial grinders at home (yes we have to be insane to do this) they are confronted with a choice – should they get a grinder with a doser or without...

It's always a "nail-biter" for a coffee roaster to submit their products for independent review.   One can never say in advance what the reviewer will think or write.  That's one reason why independent reviews by qualified experts are one...

Timers on coffee grinders One of the most important variables in grinding coffee and making espresso is the dose – in other words how many grams of coffee are in the basket.  Changing by .5 grams will change the way...

As part of my third-place prize package in ROASTe’s iced coffee contest, I recently won a Hario V60 Fretta. I’ve used it several times now and am ready to give my two cents. In short, I think the Fretta’s pretty...

First, I gave up coffee. Stained my teeth. Messed with my sleep some. Interfered with my meditation over the Red Sox box scores. But that was too difficult. No coffee? Is this a life worth living? So I began to...

A friend of mine won his country’s barista championships a few times and has competed in the WBC.  It might not be shocking to hear that he is the best barista I have ever been around.   Our friendship started...

Lately I read all these blogs extolling the virtues of single dosing.  Why? I will not attempt tp defend full hopper dosing in this blog since it needs no defending.  Go to your favorite coffee shop and point to a...

….More thoughts on single dosing…  aka single dosing part II This is a continuation of yesterday's blog on single dosing that started running too long. http://www.roaste.com/CoffeeBlogs/wakeknot/single-dosing Imagine you want to single dose, but your grinder does not perform well under...

Figuring out how a coffee shop should look seems to have been pre-determined by some chain from the Pacific Northwest, the one that invaded each and every nook of the U.S.  By god, every coffee shop looks the same, with varying levels of...

What I am drinking now – Klatch Belle espresso. This is one of my favorite espressos (or should I say espressi?)  It is just an amazingly pleasant easy to drink shot of espresso.  Some would call it a comfort food...

Single dosing is the practice of only putting in enough beans in a grinder to make a single shot of espresso.  The idea is that you decide what coffee you want to drink, how much you want in a given...

It is possible to create great espresso without expensive accessories, but there are some accessories that might qualify as luxuries, but that can be a huge help.  A grouphead thermometer is one of those items. For those who want to...