The Reading Room

What I am drinking now – Paradise roaster’s Brazilian espresso blend.  Interestingly enough I ordered this from Roaste and as I was looking to learn more about it I checked out the Paradise website.  While you can order it here...

At our brewing laboratory, often referred to as my kitchen, my small team tries to find unique and exciting ways of making cold brew better. We laugh, we cry, and sometimes we succeed. This latest experiment is a simple change...

The other day (11/14, to be exact), I cleared my morning and headed downtown to check out the grand opening of the new Four Seasons hotel, the main selling point of which for me is the shiny new LAMILL coffee...

Hey guys, just got back from a trip to Chicago and I had something happen there that kinda annoyed me. I went to the Navy Pier and saw a coffee shop there with a sign exclaiming that they used Intelligentsia...

I've owned my espresso machine for a few months now but I didn't try making a mocha until last week. I had some random chocolates hanging out in the kitchen so I decided to try to make a good  mocha. I...

False pressure Sometimes when you turn on an espresso machine it heats up, but not to the temperature it is supposed to get to.  On a heat exchanger, for example, the steam boiler (the only boiler) may heat up to...

A big prosumer or commercial espresso machine takes between 30 minutes to 90 minutes to reach equilibrium where it is truly ready to go, much longer than just the time it takes to heat up the boiler because the huge...

Every espresso problem has a cause traceable to one of six variables: grind, dose, tamp, temperature, pressure, or freshness. Sour shots, bitter shots, no crema, channeling, weak shots, and inconsistent pulls all have specific fixes. This guide covers each problem, its most likely cause, and exactly what to change.

A coffee latte is a double shot of espresso topped with 6 to 8 oz of steamed milk and a thin layer of microfoam. It is larger and milder than a cappuccino, smoother than a flat white, and more milk-forward than any other espresso drink. This guide covers the correct ratio, latte vs cappuccino vs flat white, and step-by-step instructions for making one at home.

http://www.coffeebreak2day.com/images/cara-jordan.jpg" width="299" vspace="5" hspace="5" height="168" border="0" align="left" title="daughter and son-in-law" alt="daughter and son-in-law" />I'm looking for help making mother-in-law of the year, and the ROASTe community is ideally positioned to help me out. Two years ago, my beautiful daughter married...

They say confession is good for the soul – I am not sure I agree but why not give it a try anyway. Have you ever done something fairly absent minded or embarrassing involving coffee? I have. Among the silly...

This is so exciting! I was the first on line for Black Friday! It was incredible too!  The clerk at Wilco Hess called the police since he got nervous.  He said I freaked him out because I had been standing...

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Also known as  What is the rub?  Coffee, of course! Today I am cooking dinner and finally got a moment for a break to rest.  Our dinner is inspired a little bit by one of the recipes...

What I am drinking now - Paradise Nuevo Espresso Paradise has always been one of my favorite roasters.  One of my favorites of their blends is the Classico and Nuevo is one of my wife’s favorites.  I recently ordered three...

Ever since I started making and drink coffee at home, I rarely drink coffee anywhere else, esprecially places such as Starbucks. Once in a while, when I go to Inteligentsia or Metropolis to get some of their freshly roasted bean,...

Happy Thanksgiving to you all! In honor of the day, here’s a story of thanks that involves coffee. How many ways can you say thanks with coffee? If you’re a New Zealander rugby fan, you might just add it to...

Who's ready for dinner?! Southern Pecan is ALL set to enjoy her Thanksgiving Feast!  Dressed in her everyday best and shining so bright, she's not worried about portion control for this holiday! Now... only a few hours left until the...

/wp/wp-content/uploads/files/uploads/dsc_0012_mgs_resized_and_cleaned_comp_110811.jpg" align="right" height="259" hspace="10" width="220" />Where does Rocket Science meet Espresso? In Josuma Coffee, recently added to ROASTe. The owner of Josuma coffee is Dr. Joseph John,  a former nuclear scientist before opening Josuma Coffee.  From talking with  him over...

Yes, it has finally been proven that two cups of coffee a day help rats to develop the spatial part of their brain. The study was written up originally in Nature Neuroscience and reported in Science News online. The application...

http://coffeebreak2day.com/http://coffeebreak2day.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/espresso-gelatin-parfait.jpg" width="320" vspace="5" hspace="5" height="240" border="0" title="espresso velvet gelain dessert" alt="espresso velvet gelain dessert" /> It's National Espresso Day -- how are you celebrating? I'm a big fan of espresso -- it's hard not to be when you grow up...

For a while now I have been wanting a Buono Kettle – not the one here on ROASTe – that is a fine kettle though. The one I have been waiting for is the model with the electric base so...