The Reading Room

Gourmet coffee starts with 100% Arabica beans, hand-picked at peak ripeness, carefully processed, and roasted in small batches. Here is exactly what separates it from supermarket coffee and what to look for when you buy.

15 minutes. 12 drinks. 7 judges. The World Barista Championship is coffee competition at its most demanding. Here is exactly how the scoring, judging, and routine structure work.

Something tasted wrong in the espresso made at the European Commission's headquarters in Brussels. And an EU archivist found out why. Something tasted a little bit metallic in the espresso that Alexander Just, an EU archivist, was getting in his...

Coffee and art have been linked since the first European coffeehouses opened in the 17th century. Coffeehouses became the meeting places of writers, painters, philosophers, and musicians , the original creative hubs. This guide covers 5 ways coffee has shaped creative culture, from the coffeehouse era to latte art to coffee as a painting medium.

Are you a germophobe? Here's something to worry about with the coffee served on an airplane. It might even make you jump out of your airplane seat. Fasten your seatbelt before reading...! When flying in a commercial plane, bring coffee...

A coffee grinder only improves your cup if the other variables are right. Here is the honest answer to whether you need one, which type is worth buying, and when to skip it entirely.

French press coffee is the easiest way to start brewing specialty coffee at home. It requires no paper filters, no electricity, and no special technique , just coarsely ground coffee, hot water, and 4 minutes. This beginner guide covers the ratio, grind size, water temperature, steep time, and 4 easy fixes for the most common French press problems.

When we buy coffee, we are often faced with too many choices that might lead to decision paralysis due to information overload. This is known as the Choice Paralysis. Searching for the word coffee in Amazon, under the Gourmet Food...

Coffee health benefits are well-documented in peer-reviewed research. Moderate coffee consumption , 3 to 5 cups per day , is associated with reduced risk of type 2 diabetes, Parkinson's disease, liver disease, and certain cancers. This guide covers 4 key research findings on coffee health benefits, what the FDA says about safe caffeine intake, and when coffee stops being beneficial.

Coffee with milk tastes best when the roast is bold enough to hold its flavor against the dairy. A light roast added to milk disappears , the milk overpowers the origin character. Dark roast coffee with milk produces a balanced cup where both flavors are present. This guide covers why dark roast holds up better, how milk and cream change the coffee flavor differently, and 4 dairy options compared by fat content and flavor impact.

French press coffee at its best requires four locked parameters: 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, coarse grind, 200°F water, and a 4-minute steep. This guide covers the exact ratio, grind size, water temperature, and 5-step method for making French press coffee that tastes the same every time.

Here's a hilarious song and video about the French approach to drinking coffee. It reminds me of the comment, maybe a myth, that the great French philosopher Voltaire used to drink 40 cups of French Coffee a day while writing...

How caffeine works in your brain and body. Absorption timeline, half-life, tolerance, optimal timing, caffeine by coffee type, and how much is safe per day.

(This introduction is taken from the book Uncommon Grounds by Mark Pendergrast) O Coffee! Thou dost dispel all care, thou are the object of desire to the scholar. This is the beverage of the friends of God.--"In Praise of Coffee,"...

Welcome to a column where you get to experience classic blog rambling! The difference about this coffee blog is that it will try to supply you with regular grounds of knowledge about Hawai‘i’s coffee industry- from seed to cup. Truth...

Red Barn serves a delightful lightly roasted coffee out of its store near the entryway to Faneuil Hall in Boston. I enjoyed the smoothness and light roast of a latte at Red Barn, and my wife’s cup of regular coffee...

Here's a great video by Malcolm Gladwell talking about spaghetti sauce but also mentioning coffee.Malcolm Gladwell, author of bestsellers Blink and Tipping Point, gave a talk at the TED annual conference about a revolution in marketing that came from realizing...

For my first breakout from Starbucks, I decided to try a coffee that is roasted near my home in Boston MA. /wp/wp-content/uploads/files/uploads/Jims_Organic_Coffee.jpg" alt="Jim's Organic Coffee " title="Jim's Organic Coffee " align="right" height="320" hspace="10" vspace="10" width="240" /> And I have to...

Because it's my last club of Starbucks for hopefully a long, long time. Not that Starbucks is bad. It's pretty good. But I've gotten into a rut. Buying the same latte fom the same coffee shop in the same city,...

Any milk steaming or milk frothing mechanism you use should work fine as long as you use it correctly and know what your goals are. As a starting point, you can purchase one of the products offered in most coffee...

Mocha roca is a homemade coffee-chocolate toffee , butter toffee cooked to the hard crack stage, poured thin on a baking sheet, then topped with melted dark chocolate and crushed espresso-dusted almonds. The coffee comes from instant espresso dissolved into the toffee base. This recipe covers the full mocha roca method, the hard crack temperature, and 3 variations.